paperback, version, abridged, expurgated

A much-anticipated new version of the iPhone will go on sale Friday, but Apple Inc. will at the same time take the wraps off another offering that could have a more lasting impact on the mobile phone business.

Obama Arrives in Washington After Train Trip

By JEFF ZELENY

President-elect Barack Obama took an abridged version of Abraham Lincoln’s journey by rail in 1861.

Except for Tomalin and the Pepys professionals, it's safe to say, few people recently have read all six volumes straight through. (If you want to try, they're on the Internet, as part of the Gutenberg project; there is also a convenient abridgment, edited by Robert Latham.)

For a long time, the sexy bits were expurgated, and most of them turn out to have been written in a kind of code-within-the-code, a pidgin of French, Latin and Spanish that today reads like the fevered jottings of a horny and nerdy high schooler. (Pepys was raised as a Puritan, we need to remember.)

abridge 

verb [T]

to make a book, play or piece of writing shorter by removing details and unimportant information:

The book was abridged for children.

abridged 

adjective

I've only read the abridged edition/version of her novel.

abridgment, abridgement 

noun [C or U]
expurgate 

verb [T usually passive] FORMAL

to remove parts of a piece of writing that are considered likely to cause offence:

The book was expurgated to make it suitable for children.

expurgated

adjective FORMAL

Only an expurgated version of the novel has been published so far.

wipe the floor with sb, nerdy

Pidgin English

version Show phonetics
noun [C]
a particular form of something which varies slightly from other forms of the same thing:
The official version of events is that the police were attacked and were just trying to defend themselves.
You can make a reduced fat version of the cheesecake by using cottage cheese instead of cream cheese.
An English-language version of the book is planned for the autumn.
The TV series is a watered-down version of the movie, especially designed for family viewing.

The noun paperback has one meaning: 平裝書在19世紀末即出現
Meaning #1: a book with paper covers
Synonyms: paperback book, softback book, softback, soft-cover book, soft-cover

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The adjective paperback has one meaning:
Meaning #1: (of books) having a flexible binding 這"形容詞和動詞)表示要在20世紀中才用
Synonym: paperbacked 一字在19世紀末即出現


Wikipedia article "Paperback".


妙言:The paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book — it makes a very poor doorstop. — Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980).

Daily Highlights Monday, July 30, 2007

Spotlight

Rows of Paperbacks
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--> When you go to grab a book to take on your vacation or to read in line at the bank, chances are it's a paperback. Thanks to publisher Allen Lane, who released the first Penguin paperback novels in England on this date in 1935, we have lightweight, soft-covered books that we can slip into a pocket or a small bag for easy perusing. In 1960, dollar sales of paperbacks exceeded those of hard-cover books, partially due to the censoring of Penguin's unabridged paperback version of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Publication of the book was challenged under the Obscene Publications Act; the company was acquitted and Penguin sold two million copies during that Christmas season and another 1.3 million copies in 1961.