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    Reading and computer screens don't go together very well.

    If you've ever tried to do lots of online research for a school report,stayed up late playing computer games,or gone on an instant-messaging marathon with some friends,you probably know what I mean.

    Whenever deadlines force me to stare intently at a computer screen for hours,I get terrible headaches.My eyes start to smart.Sometimes,I have to go for a walk or lie down until waves of dizziness pass.As much as I hate to waste paper,I usually print out information I really need,and I get the newspaper delivered every morning so I don't have to read it online.

     Someday soon,though,we might be able to have our computers and read them,too.It would be like having computers built into the pages of a book or a magazine.

     At a company in Massachusetts called E Ink,a team of chemists,engineers,and computer scientists are working to make electronic paper a reality.The battery-powered paper would be easy to read in bright sunlight or in dark subway trains.It would be flexible and foldable.It would feel a lot like paper.

     But electronic paper would also be a display.Coated with a special type of electronic ink,each sheet would be infinitely changeable.Just one page could hold and display the contents of many books.It might even receive e-mails or include full-color video clips,as in Harry Potter's newspaper,The Daily Prophet.