2005年NPR美国国家公共电台十二月-In Defense of Newspapers

Knight¹ Ridder, the second largest newspaper chain in the country may very well be sold in the coming weeks. Its largest shareholder² has demanded that the company be put up for sale even though its newspapers are all turning a profit. To commentator³ Steve Lopez, this is just another sign of the decline of the newspaper business.

I don't know if you've heard the news, but I'm dying. That's right. I'm a newspaperman. Vultures are circling as I speak. I'm vinyl records, I'm VHS, I'm the pony⁴ express. In lieu of flowers, please buy me a drink. They say the cause of imminent⁵ death is the flight of readers and advertisers to cable television and the Internet, but let's not overlook the self-inflicted wounds. In a thirty-year career, I've worked for 7 newspapers and 3 corporate⁶ conglomerates⁷ referred to by some of my peers as the evil axis⁸. Gannett, Knight Ridder and the Tribune Company, despite gargantuan⁹ profits by those behemoths, the wizards in charge have skimped¹⁰ on promoting their own newspapers. Wait a minute, Aren't they in the business of convincing companies that got to advertise to survive? Yes, I understand we're in the midst of a vast, reinvention of the media universe. And some of these forces are irreversible. But if our ship is going down, can't we at least put up a better fight? Make some waves? Send up a flare¹¹? I can't figure out why, but no newspaper executive has ever followed my suggestion on how to properly promote the product.

Here is what I do in my TV ad. A guy is walking down the street, all right, he comes to a newsrack with a fabulous¹² array of headlines and it stops him in his tracks, now the guy reaches into his pocket for 2 quarters, 2 quarters, what else can you buy for 50 cents? The moment he plunks the coins into the box, you see/ a shot of our team on the scene in Bagdad, a local politician in handcuffs after a big Page One expose, the sports column is going toe-to-toe with the Dodger¹³ owner, the car columnist¹⁴ test-driving the sporty new convertible¹⁵ and the perfect shot of the prep stud on a touchdown sprint¹⁶.

I'd point out in my TV ad that 50 cents buys you a seasoned editorial staff of 900 people, covering every corner of the world. And you also get the TV listings, the box scores, the crossword¹⁷ puzzle and enough coupons¹⁸ to cut the cost of dinner in half. For these reasons and more, you're going to miss us when we're gone. Wait till all you've got to choose from is one of the thousands of fly-by-night Internet news sites, or one of the millions of blogs posted by unapologetically biased¹⁹ hacks²⁰ who haven't left the house in five years. Boy, are you going to miss us. If newspapers die, you'll still have radio, sure, but you might also find yourself fiddling²¹ with a laptop that keeps crashing, the moment it finds the story you want. Even in a best case scenario²², it can't pass the A-section to your wife or husband, and take the sports or entertainment page to the bathroom, divorce rates will spike²³. As for you older folks out there, imagine trying to read the news of the new Medicare prescription²⁴ plan on a cellphone screen. All of this unpleasantness can be avoided, you know, and a cost to you, 2 quarters, 50 cents, the last great bargain in America.

Steve Lopez is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

1 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

2 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

3 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

4 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

5 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 conglomerates   

n.（多种经营的）联合大企业( conglomerate的名词复数 )；砾岩；合成物；组合物

参考例句：

• At the surface, radioactivity of the conglomerates is locally as high as 30 X background. 在地表，砾岩的局部地段的放射性高达30倍本底值。 来自辞典例句
• The conglomerates failed to understand that books could not be sold like soap. 这些联合大企业不懂卖书不象卖肥皂那样。 来自辞典例句

8 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

9 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

10 skimped   

v.少用( skimp的过去式和过去分词 )；少给；克扣；节省

参考例句：

11 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。

12 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

13 dodger   

n.躲避者；躲闪者；广告单

参考例句：

• They are tax dodgers who hide their interest earnings.他们是隐瞒利息收入的逃税者。
• Make sure she pays her share she's a bit of a dodger.她自己的一份一定要她付清--她可是有点能赖就赖。

14 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

15 convertible   

adj.可改变的，可交换，同意义的；n.有活动摺篷的汽车

参考例句：

• The convertible sofa means that the apartment can sleep four.有了这张折叠沙发，公寓里可以睡下4个人。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了。

16 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

17 crossword   

n.纵横字谜，纵横填字游戏

参考例句：

• He shows a great interest in crossword puzzles.他对填字游戏表现出很大兴趣。
• Don't chuck yesterday's paper out.I still haven't done the crossword.别扔了昨天的报纸，我还没做字谜游戏呢。

18 coupons   

n.礼券( coupon的名词复数 )；优惠券；订货单；参赛表

参考例句：

• The company gives away free coupons for drinks or other items. 公司为饮料或其它项目发放免费赠券。 来自辞典例句
• Do you have any coupons? 你们有优惠卡吗？ 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

19 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

20 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

21 fiddling   

微小的

参考例句：

• He was fiddling with his keys while he talked to me. 和我谈话时他不停地摆弄钥匙。
• All you're going to see is a lot of fiddling around. 你今天要看到的只是大量的胡摆乱弄。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

22 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

23 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

24 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。