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  3. Change and the Newspaper For the last three hundred years, newspapers have played an important role in the social, political

Change and the Newspaper For the last three hundred years, newspapers have played an important role in the social, political

admin2010-04-12  32
问题                     Change and the Newspaper
    For the last three hundred years, newspapers have played an important role in the social, political, and economic life of the United States. As recently as the middle of the 1980s, there were about 1,800 daily newspapers in the country, but in the following ten years the number dropped to about 1,500. In 1950, each household read about 1.3 newspapers every day. (That means, of course, that some households read more than one newspaper and many read no newspaper.) By 1985, that number had dropped almost by half, and the average number of newspapers read per household was 0.7. In 1970, 80 percent of all adult Americans read a newspaper every day. By 1999 that number had decreased to 40 percent. These numbers suggest that newspapers are disappearing, but that may not be the case.
    It is true that American newspapers are changing. Many papers in the United States are local papers; they are published in smaller towns and cities and are read only in the area where they are published. They carry local news, very little national or international news, and a lot of advertising. Many years ago, when transportation and communication were more difficult, people got more of their news from local newspapers.
    One of the biggest changes affecting newspapers is, of course, television. Television brings information to homes much more quickly than newspapers do, and, more importantly, it does so with pictures and sound. Television can report national and international stories to a large number of people in a short time, and do it cheaply. Interestingly, Americans have greater trust in television news than they do in newspapers. Whereas a majority of people were more willing to believe newspapers than television in the 1950s, by 1990 more than twice as many people trusted television news more.
    A second change is the role of larger newspapers. Until 1980, the United States did not really have a national newspaper.There were papers such as the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal, but the first had a very small circulation and the second was published for a special readership of people interested in business news. The New York Times was also popular, but it was mostly a large-city newspaper that was read by people outside of New York City.
    In 1982, however, a new national newspaper appeared, USA Today. It was different from most other newspapers in that it had many short stories about national and international news, sports, and business, many bright and colorful pictures, national weather maps, and short news stories from every state. At first, USA Today was not very popular. Traveling businessmen read it, but few private homes had it delivered. The newspaper is much more popular today, however, and it now sells about 2 million copies every day, about the same as the Wall Street Journal. A change that has helped both of these papers become more popular is the ability to send the information to be printed to many locations throughout the United States by satellite. The papers are then printed and distributed quickly in many different places, making them as up-to-date as local newspapers. Many people who read newspapers are therefore reading national rather than local papers.
    A third change that is affecting newspapers is the one mentioned above: changes in technology that allow news and information to be communicated quickly and conveniently. Cable and satellite television make international, national, and even local news, weather, sports, and financial information available to most households all day and whenever the residents want to watch it. With fifty to one hundred channels available in many locations, television watchers have many types of information available that they did not have in the early part of this century. Some people even think that too much information is available now.
    Computers are also affecting what and how we communicate. Computer technology allows users to find out many of the same kinds of information we used to read in newspapers but more quickly and more conveniently. Many computer services make news available for reading when the user wants to read it. Some even allow computer users to make a special newspaper for themselves in which they can include only the kind of information that interests them.
    Yet another factor affecting newspapers is the cost of the paper and the problem of disposing of it after it has been read. Newspapers are printed on paper that is made from wood, and the cost of that paper increased almost three times between 1975 and 1990. This increase has contributed to an increase in the cost of newspapers and probably to a decrease in their readership. Disposing of old newspapers is also a problem. Paper, especially newspaper, is the largest part of the garbage that takes up space in landfills, where we dispose of our garbage and trash. Although newspapers can be recycled, the system for recycling is still being developed. The cost of disposal is paid for by the individual households who are reluctant to add newspapers to the trash they have to dispose of.
    With all of these changes, it is surprising that newspapers are doing as well as they are. Considering that more people are watching television and reading magazines and national papers, the local newspaper should be history. Even so, local papers are still surviving, partly because they are working hard to meet local interests and needs. Local papers do a good job of reporting local news and sports, often with pictures that are of local interest. Many smaller newspapers are published in languages other than English. Local papers also include something that newspapers still do best —advertising. Newspaper advertising has increased in the last few decades, especially local advertising and "classified" or private and personal advertising through which people try to sell cars or furniture or pets and employers look for employees. Many people read local newspapers especially for the advertising of local products and businesses.
    The newspaper will certainly be around for some time to come, but just as it has changed it will continue to change. As new ways of communication develop, information will be distributed in a different way. Rather than being replaced, however, the newspaper will probably adapt to meet the new conditions, at least for some time to come.
American newspapers are changing and local papers are changing the most.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案C
解析
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