高等学校研究生英语系列教材综合教程(下)熊海虹【打印】9、10中英对照.doc

Unit 9 Mass media is a deceptively simple term encompassing a countless array of institutions and individuals who differ in purpose, scope, method, and cultural context. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, from a handmade sign to an international news network. Being very pervasive in industrialized countries, they have a powerful impact on how those populations view the world. It is only the most local and personal events that are experienced first-hand. Events in the larger community, the state, the country, and the rest of the world are experienced through the eyes of a journalist. “大众传媒”这个词具有迷惑性，它看似简单，实际上包含了不计其数的一系列机构和个体，这些机构和个体有着不同的宗旨、范围、方式和文化背景。大众传媒包括所有达到大量群众的信息，不管是何种形式—从手制的牌匾到国际化的新闻网络。在工业化国家，大众传媒无处不在，它强有力地影响着人们对世界的看法。人们只能亲身经历当地的和 个人化的事件，而要了解大一点的社区、州、国家和世界的另一些地方，人们就得通过新闻工作者的眼睛了。 大众传媒如何影响我们对现实的认知? 1. Just before September 11, 2001, The U.S. mass media were focused on sports, the lives of various celebrities, and a Congressman’s relationship with a missing staff member. Then everything changed. A skyscraper complex, militant group, and distant country suddenly dominated mass media as people sought to understand what had occurred, what to make of passenger planes turned into missiles, and who to trust for credible information on terrorism. 在2001年9月11日之前，美国媒体的主要焦点是体育赛事，名人轶事，以及某个国会议员与一个失踪职员的关系等。然，911之后一切都发生了改变。一幢摩天大楼，一个武装组织，以及一个遥远的国家突然之间主宰了大众传媒。这是因为美国民众迫切想要弄明白:到底发生了什么事，是什么让载人的客机变成了导弹，谁提供的有关恐怖主义的情报才是真实可信的。 2. That dramatic shift in media emphasis is an excellent recent example of how mass media help to shape our shifting concerns and beliefs. Why could we have been so concerned about celebrity lifestyles one week and so unconcerned the next? Why such a prior general disinterest in an already notorious terrorist group, and in festering Middle East countries and cultures? Why the sudden media shift from a Regularly-Criticized-President to an Esteemed-Leader-President? 这次媒体焦点的巨大转变是近期的一个好例子，它展示了大众传媒如何帮助我们形成迅速变化的关注点和信念。为什