在科技日新月异的今天,人们都习惯了使用智能手机、电子阅读器(Kindle)、平板电脑(Ipad),大家的工作学习也离不开电脑。无论是在路上还是在车里,总有很多低头族,眼睛盯着那发光的屏幕,乐此不疲。随着智能化时代的到来,人们的生活方式在不知不觉中发生了巨大的改变。利用电子产品进行阅读就是变化之一。
电子媒介、网络已经成为现代人生活、学习和工作中不可或缺的一部分。传统的纸质媒体也早已适应了新兴科技的发展变化,形式多样、风格鲜明生动的电子出版物相继问世。这些电子书通过互联网及时、迅捷地传递到各式各样的电子阅读器上。在传统的英语教学课堂上,为提高学生的英语阅读能力并掌握外界丰富的信息,教师会根据学生需求开设英语报刊阅读课程,从众多的海外报刊媒介上获取各类英语文章,提供给学生阅读学习。显然,这种从纸质媒介获得信息的渠道无论是在信息的容量还是传播的时效性方面都无法再与智能时代的电子媒体和网站相比了。
《英语媒体文章选读》就是基于这样的时代发展背景,在传统的《英文报刊选读教程》基础上,利用丰富的互联网媒体资源,选择国外著名英语报刊网站上的各种热点文章,根据英语专业阅读教学的需要,对所选取的不同题材和体裁的文章进行编辑而成的教材。本书旨在提高学生阅读英语媒体文章的理解能力和语言水平,并通过增加一些科技、体育、娱乐等与西方文化相关的“软新闻”和每个单元穿插讲述的新闻传播学知识、世界主要通讯社、报刊阅读技巧以及与课文相关的一些背景知识等拓宽学生的知识面,提高学生对新闻时事的兴趣。
本教材的编者多年从事英语报刊阅读教学工作,深刻意识到教材内容对教学效果的重要性。
本教材在编撰过程中既继承了旧版《英文报刊选读教程》的优点,又吸收和借鉴了同行的成果,克服了同类教材选材难度大、时效性不强等局限性,考虑到了不同背景和不同层次学生的接受能力,重视教师在课堂教学上应发挥的作用。本教材适用对象为英语专业本科生、专科生,也可供非英语专业已完成大学英语基础阶段学习的本科生和具有同等外语水平的学习者使用。
本教材在编撰过程中,得到了嘉兴学院、江西师范大学等高校师生的大力支持,并被列为嘉兴学院重点建设教材。本教材虽然是编者经过反复使用,不断收集学生的反馈信息,多次加以修改而成,但由于时间仓促,编者水平有限,书中疏漏和缺憾在所难免,敬请同行和读者批评指正,以便再版时修正。
编 者
2017 年3 月
Section 1 World News
1. EU Charges Facebook with Giving “Misleading” Information over WhatsApp . 2
2. Refugee Boat Sinking: Dozens Including Children Drown off Greek Island 6
3. Nations Approve Landmark Climate Accord in Paris 11
4. Donald Trump Is Elected President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment .18
Section 2 National News
5. Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters as Ferguson Rage Unabated . 34
6. Trump Says Building a US— Mexico Wall Is “Easy”. But Is It Really? .41
7. If Theresa May Wants to Call an End to the Cameron Era, the Honours List
Is a Good Place to Start 47
8. Scottish Independence: David Cameron Delivers Emotional Plea for Scotland to Stay 54
Section 3 Features and Opinion
9. China’s New Rich Learn to Flaunt It . 68
10. External Pressure, Not Empty Talk Can Rescue Venezuela 74
11. Five Myths About Oceans 79
12. Britain Begins Its Journey to a False Promised Land 86
Section 4 Environment
13. Talking Rubbish 100
14. It May Be Too Late For China to Save the Yangtze Goddess .106
15. Is the Paris Climate Accord Too Little, Too Late? .112
16. Political Animals .118
Section 5 Business
17. In a Recession, the Consumer Is Queen . 134
18. Six Key Steps in Job Interview Prep .139
19. How to Make Money the Buffett Way 144
20. Tesla Home Battery: Worth the Cost? Depends Where You Live .149
Section 6 Technology and Web
21. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop Transportation Is Doable. But Will It Be Too Expensive? 162
22. Say So Long to an Old Companion: Cassette Tapes 167
23. Cellphone Tracking Services: Friend Finder or Big Brother? .173
24. Facebook: a Tale of Two Media Models .179
Section 7 Culture and Lifestyle
25. Why So Many Americans Switch Religions .190
26. The Languages of Extinction: the World’s Endangered Tongues .195
27. At Elvis Presley’s Memphis, You Can Snap a Selfie with the Pink Cadillac and
Eat Like the Kings 200
Section 8 Sports and Entertainment
28. Match Report: Manchester United-o, Barcelona-2 . 216
29. Susan Boyle Keeps Millions Switched on to Britain’s Got Talent 222
30. Burn More Calories in Less Time 226
31. Terminator Salvation: the Buzz Review .232
Section 9 Health and Science
32. Rosetta Comet Probe Given Termination Date . 248
33. Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy? 253
34. Bloomberg’s Supersize Soda Ban 258
35. At-home Euthanasia Vets Provide a Peaceful Death 263
Section 10 Backgrounders
36. How Hillary Clinton Got Hot After Years of Being Stuck With a Cold Image .280
References 296
1. Aegean: 爱琴海。世界著名旅游胜地,位于希腊半岛和小亚细亚半岛之间,属于地中海的一部分。海域南北长610 千米,东西宽300 千米,海岸线非常曲折,港湾众多,岛屿星罗棋布,所以爱琴海又有“多岛海”之称。海中最大的一个岛叫克里特岛,面积约
8 300 平方千米,东西狭长,是爱琴海南部的屏障。爱琴海是黑海沿岸国家通往地中海以及大西洋、印度洋的必经水域,在航运和战略上具有重要地位。它不仅是西方欧洲文明的摇篮,对世界各国旅客来说,更是浪漫情调旅程的象征。
2. Athens News Agency: ( 希腊)雅典通讯社,成立于1896 年,每日提供来自希腊政治、经济、体育和文化等领域的新闻,与世界主要通讯社均有联系。
3. Angela Merkel: 安杰拉· 默克尔。德国政治家,素有“铁娘子”之称,是欧洲最具影响力的女性领导人之一,被认为是欧盟的实际领袖。2005 年,她成为德国历史上首位女性联邦总理,也是两德统一后首位出身于前东德地区的联邦总理。2015 年12 月,默克尔当选《时代周刊》2015 年度风云人物。《时代周刊》总编赞扬了她在欧洲主权债务、中东难民及俄罗斯干预乌克兰等危机期间所展现的非凡领导能力。
4. International Organisation for Migration(IOM): 国际移民组织。一个政府间国际组织,前身为在美国和比利时倡议下于1951 年12 月5 日在布鲁塞尔召开国际移民会议时成立的欧洲移民问题政府间委员会(Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration,ICEM)。其主要目的是为帮助因“二战”流离失所的人重建居住地。1987 年5 月更改章程,新章程于1989 年11 月14 日生效。根据新章程,组织正式名为“国际移民组织”,名称也反映了该组织经历半世纪后,从原本的物流业务转为专司移民事务。
5. Christos Zois: 赫里斯托斯· 索伊斯,时任希腊临时海军部长。
New Words
capsize v. (船)翻覆,倾覆
pluck vt. 从危险中拖出;救出
toddler n. 学步小孩;幼童
brand vt. 指责;损害声誉
Aegean n. 爱琴海
Athens n. 雅典
asylum n. 避难所
heartwrenching adj. 痛心的;痛彻心扉的
plight n. 困境;处境
interim adj. 临时的;暂时的
influx n. 流入;涌入
chancellor n. ( 德国、奥地利等国)
总理
9
Section 1 World News
Exercises
Comprehension
Read the following statements and decide whether they are true (T), false (F) or not
mentioned (NM).
1. It found that 68 refugees drowned in this report. ( )
2. Eight of the victims were found by coastguard divers in the hold of the boat. ( )
3. The death of a toddler whose lifeless body was photographed washed up on a Turkish beach becomes
a heart wrenching symbol of the plight of asylum seekers fleeing war. ( )
4. The International Organisation for Migration has said less than 430,000 migrants and asylum seekers
had crossed the Mediterranean to Europe. ( )
5. A Greek navy ship was taking the bodies to Rhodes while the survivors were being transported to
Crete. ( )
6. The German chancellor rejected to make more effort to protect the refugees. ( )
7. Christos Zois also issued a statement to highlight the “daily superhuman struggle” of the Greek
coastguard and that money needed to be gathered to help those smugglers. ( )
Vocabulary
Find the words or expressions in the article based on the following definitions.
1. protection or safety, especially that given by a government to people who have been forced to leave
their own countries (Para.1) ____________
2. a person who has escaped from their own country for political or economic reasons or because of a
war (Para.2) ____________
3. a city in southern Greece that is the capital of Greece (Para.2) ____________
4. pull something, especially with a sudden movement, in order to remove it (Para.5) ____________
5. a young child, especially one who is learning or has recently learned to walk (Para.9) ____________
6. cause great sadness (Para.9) ____________
7. temporary and intended to be used or accepted until something permanent exists (Para.11)
____________
8. the fact of a large number of people or things arriving at the same time (Para.12) ____________
10
Selected Readings from Online Newspapers and Magazines
9. a person in a position of the highest or high rank, especially in a government (Para.13)
____________
10. feel or express great sadness, especially because of someone’s death (Para.16) ____________
Translation
Translate Para. 5, Para. 12 and Para. 14 into Chinese.