【英语趣味课堂】未来我们是否还会读报纸-If We will Have Newspapers in the Future

Matt: Taking one step back to the newspapers, my impression was that newspapers got all their money from the advertisements, and that people buying newspapers basically paid for the paper, like the actual printing and maybe the delivery. That the actual cost, that any money they make was through advertisements so I don't see how that's any different than if they just had it online where they would get rid of all those costs of delivery and the paper and the printing and then just still have the same advertisement so I don't understand why they can't make that transition¹ more smoothly².

 

Rachel: And actually I heard that they get more money from online advertising³ than from the print advertising so, yeah, I don't know really know why it matters come to think of it.

 

Matt: I'm sure that the newspaper will go the way of the Dodo fairly soon.

 

Rachel: Yeah, yeah.

 

Matt: But again, why is it that people will accept that but not books?

 

Rachel: Cause I think ... I can handle a small article, like one page on screen, but I'm not for a long time. I can't read the same like. And also with news you just want to flick⁴ through it. You don't really ... you don't use it to relax.

 

Matt: That's true. That's true. It's usually more active.

 

Rachel: Yeah, whereas⁵ with a book you can read in the bath, or you could read it on the bed, or just ... it's a pleasurable sort of thing rather than a "OK, I've got to do this to be ..."

 

Matt: Up with current events.

 

Rachel: Yeah.

 

Matt: Yeah, actually, and one nice feature about reading news online and that I've noticed lately when I went to the, I shouldn't say names, but the BBC web site and so I was reading an article. Recently in the news, they were talking about Iran and the elections and things like that, and they mentioned a lot of names of different positions in the government, and on the side was all of these links to background information about those people and about those positions and about the government and the structure of the government and it was really fun to be able to go through it and learn quite a bit quite quickly about the government system in Iran and and that kind of thing. That's much better than a newspaper where you read it and go, "Ooh, where's my encyclopedia⁶?"

 

Rachel: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, I did a similar thing with a report about Iran, and then looking at people who are campaigning against the government and I was like, "I don't know these people. But who are they?" and there was a link and I could find out about more which was cool.

 

Matt: Yeah, it's nice. It's nice. Yeah. So ...

 

Rachel: The death of the newspaper.

 

Matt: The death of the newspaper. I think it's inevitable⁷.

 

Rachel: The book still survives.

 

Matt: Let's keep the books. I like that.

 

重点词汇：

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

take one step back

 

Taking one step back to the newspapers

 

“Taking one step back” means to go back and do something again. Here, Rachel is talking about reading news online and Matt wants to take one step back and talk about newspapers again. Notice the following samples:

 

I’m sorry, I didn’t understand. Could you take one step back and explain that again?

The job is more exciting, but it pays less. I don’t want to take a step back.

make a smooth transition

 

They can't make that transition more smoothly

 

When we “make a smooth transition” we easily change the way we do something. Here are two samples:

 

It was not easy to make a smooth transition from day to night classes.

With high fuel prices, many people are making the transition to smaller cars.

go the way of

 

 

The paper will go the way of the Dodo.

 

The Dodo is a bird that is extinct⁸ (no longer on earth). When Matt says newspapers will go the way of the Dodo, he means they will go away forever. Here are more samples of the phrase “go the way of”:

 

With so many music websites, the CD may soon go the way of the cassette tape.

Some people think high speed broadband internet access will cause Cinemas to go the way of the dinosaur⁹.

flick through

 

You can flick through it.

 

To “flick through” something mean to scan¹⁰ it very fast. We often flick through channels when we watch TV. Notice the two sample sentences:

 

I flicked¹¹ through the channels and was drawn¹² into a show about travel in South America. I looked so beautiful!

I flicked through the pages but the magazine didn’t interest me.

campaign against

 

They are campaigning against the government.

 

We campaign against something we disagree with. We sometimes join an organization to try to change it. There are NGO’s for example that campaign against global warming. Notice the two sample sentences:

 

The town's people campaigned against the opening of a karaoke club next to the school.

At university, I was in a group that campaigned against nuclear power.

 

1 transition   

n.转变，变迁，过渡

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood.青春期是童年与成年之间的过渡时期。
• They all support a peaceful transition.他们全部都支持和平过渡。

2 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

5 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

6 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

7 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

8 extinct   

adj.灭绝的，不再活跃的，熄灭了的，已废弃的

参考例句：

• All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。

9 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

10 scan   

n.审视，浏览，扫描，押韵，细查；vt.细看，浏览，扫描，详细调查，信件扫描（指BBS处理直递邮件或会议邮件时，对所有或特定信区做检查的动作）

参考例句：

• The first scan was bad, so I had to do it again.第一次扫描不好，所以我得重做。
• A scan determines the position of the baby in the womb.扫描可以确定胎儿在子宮中的位置。

11 flicked   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
• I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。