The British are the most voracious newspaper readers in the world. They read newspapers at breakfast; they walk to the bus reading a newspaper; they read a newspaper on the bus, as they go to work;and on the way back home, after work, they are engrossed in an evening newspaper. There are many “morning papers”, both national and provincial. The most famous is The Times. Contrary to what many foreigners believe, this is not a government newspaper. The various newspapers usually have their own views on politics, but they are not organs of the political parties, with the exception of the Communist Morning Star.
Practice 3 You have read the job advertisement below in a newspaper and you want to apply for the job. Write a letter of application to the manager of the company, Mr. Meed, giving all the necessary personal information. You should write approximately 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of your letter. Use“Wang Lin” instead. You do not need to write the address.
Practice 2
One of the most important developments in newspaper organization during the first part of the twentieth century (1)______, which are known as wire services. Wire service companies employed reporters, who covered stories all over the world. Their news reports were sent to papers throughout the country by telegraph. The papers paid an annual fee for this service. Wire services continue (2)______. Today the major wire services are the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). You will frequently find AP or UPI at the beginning of a news story.
Newspaper chains and mergers began to appear in the early 1900s. A chain consists of two or more newspapers (3)______. A merger involves combining two or more papers into one. During the nineteenth century many cities had more than one competitive independent paper. Today in most cities there are only one or two newspapers, and (4)______. Often newspapers in several cities belong to one chain. Papers have combined (5)______. Chains and mergers have cut down production costs and brought the advantages of big-business methods to the newspaper industry.
[A] to play an important role in newspaper operations
[B] was the growth of telegraph services
[C] and they usually enjoy great prestige
[D] they are usually operated by a single owner
[E] in order to survive under the pressure of rising costs
[F] owned by a single person or organization animation
[G] fails to raise enough money.
In this section, there are some letters to a London newspaper followed by a summary. For Questions 1 to 5, read the letters carefully and complete each space in the summary using a maximum of three words from the letters. Remember to write the answers on the Answer Sheet.
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
Practice 2
The British are the most voracious newspaper readers in the world. They read newspapers at breakfast; they walk to the bus reading a newspaper; they read a newspaper on the bus, as they go to work; and on the way back home, after work, they are engrossed in an evening newspaper. There are many “morning papers”, both national and provincial. The most famous is The Times. Contrary to what many foreigners believe, this is not a government newspaper. The various newspapers usually have their own views on politics, but they are not organs of the political parties, with the exception of the Communist Morning Star.
Bold headlines and a variety of photographs are features of the British press. Some newspapers, such as the sober Daily Telegraph and The Times (which belong to the “quality press’’) use photographs sparingly. The more “popular” newspapers, using the small or “tabloid” format, such as the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and The Sun, use pictures extensively and also run strip-cartoons and humorous drawings, some of which present striking pictorial comment on politics.
Besides offering features common to newspapers all over the world, British newspapers specialize in pages devoted to criticism of the arts and a woman’s page. One feature found in many foreign newspapers is missing in British papers: the serial.
Nearly all papers pay special attention to the reporting of sport and athletics. The evening newspapers (the first editions of which appear in the morning!) are often bought because the purchaser wants to know the winner of a race, or to get a good tip for a race that is still to be run.
There is no censorship of the press in Britain (except in wartime), though of course all newspapers-like private persons-are responsible for what they publish, and be sued for libel for publishing articles that go beyond the bounds of decency, or for “contempt for court” (e. g. calling man a murderer while he is still being tried). Such lawsuits are infrequent.
The population of the United Kingdom is now over 55,000,000. About 17,500,000 newspapers are sold every day. The British people, therefore, are great readers of newspapers. There are few homes to which one newspaper is not delivered every morning. Many households have two, or even three, newspapers every day. One newspaper may be delivered at the house, a member of the family may buy one at the station bookstall to read in the train as he goes to town, and someone else in the family may buy an evening newspaper later in the day.
A good newspaper published both _____ and foreign news.
报团(Newspaper Group)