零基础4 unit 2.ppt

How Much Do You Know about the World According to a recent study in the United states, the generation under 35 knows less, cares less, and reads newspapers less than any other generation in the past five decades. The surveys most dramatic revelation is the decline in newspaper readership. Only 30 percent of Americans under the age of 35 said they had read a newspaper the previous day. The percentage of people viewing television news programmes is down as well. In other words, many Americans now dont have the information they need to be good consumers, make good business decisions, vote, or understand the current issues of today. We dont have to stay this way, though there are options. For example, we can listen to radio news. most radio stations have a news programme every hour and some have them as often as every half an hour. You can also watch TV news. This is possibly one of the easiest and most accessible options for everyone. But just in case television isnt possible, there is a third option--reading newspapers. Many people shy away from newspapers because they feel theyre too time-consuming or boring. Actually, in order to understand an article, you only need to read the beginning to get the main idea because most news reporters use what is called inverted-pyramid style. That is, they place the most important details or facts at the beginning of the article while the least important ones at the end. Other times you only have to read the headline. Therefore, reading the newspaper does not have to be a chore. All these options are easy as well as important. You may wonder why this is so important. What does it matter if you choose not to be informed? According to the survey, the fact that the generation under 35 is so uninformed makes them an easy target of manipulation. we know of powerful speakers as Martin Luther King, who used his influence for the common good. And we also know of Adolf Hitler, one of the history s worst manipulators, who was als