Almost every family buys at least one copy of a newspaper every day.Some people subscribe (订阅) to as many as two or thre
Almost every family buys at least one copy of a newspaper every day.Some people subscribe (订阅) to as many as two or three newspapers.But why do people read newspapers?
Five hundred years ago,news of important happenings —— battles lost and won,kings or rulers overthrown (推翻) or killed —— took months and even years to travel from one country to another.The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate.Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in far away countries on the same y they happen.
Apart from supplying news from all over the world,newspapers give us a lot of other useful information.There are weather reports,radio,television and film guides,book reviews,stories and,of course,advertisements.The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products.They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for the advertising space,but it is worth the money,for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country.For those who produce newspapers,advertisements are also very important.Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.
Newspapers often have information on gardening,cooking and fashion as well as a small but very popular section on jokes and cartoons(漫画).
翻译
几乎每个家庭每天最少买一份报纸,有人甚至订阅两到三份报纸.那么,为什么人们要读报呢?
五百年前,诸如战争的失败或胜利、国王或统治者被推翻或砍头等重要新闻,往往要花费数月甚至数年的时间才能从一个国家传到另一个国家.新闻通过人口相传的方式进行传播,永远不会准确.而今天,我们却可以通过看报纸得知其他遥远国度几乎同时发生的重要事件.
纵观全球,除了为我们提供新闻以外,报纸还为我们提供了其他更多有用的信息,如天气预报、广播电视或电影预告,书评、故事等,当然也少不了广告的影子.大公司花几千美元为他们的产品做大篇幅的广告宣传,这笔钱花得相当值,因为他们的产品信息几乎可以走进这个国家的每个家庭.对于报纸发行商而言,广告的地位也是相当重要.由广告带来的效益可以保证其报纸在以较低的价格销售的同时,仍能创造利益.
除此之外,报纸也经常刊载关于园艺、烹饪与时尚方面的信息,同时,如笑话和漫画等小版幅的栏目也深受广大读者的喜爱.
为了文笔的流畅,上述译文基本采用意译的方式翻译,笔者人为添加了若干词汇,保证了文理的顺畅与连贯.