最近一段时间的默多克集团窃听事件闹得沸沸扬扬。先是《世界新闻报》被迫停刊，接着又有裘德洛状告《太阳报》窃听，这两天又传出《明镜报》也牵涉进来。英国各种报纸一定让大家晕头转向吧，那么，英国报刊是如何分类的呢？有哪些主要报纸呢？为什么发行量那么大的《世界新闻报》只能称之为小报？一起来看看下面的介绍吧。

　　British newspapers are among the oldest and most famous in the world. But recently big changes have seen these traditional publications try to fit the modern world. After 216 years, The Times has halved its size to become much smaller. In fact, the paper has cut its size in half from a broadsheet to tabloid.

　　英国报业久负盛名。但几年来为了适应现代社会的发展，这些传统出版物进行了较大改革。比如，拥有216年历史的《泰晤士报》把版面缩小一半，实际上是由传统的大版面改为了类似小报的小版面。

　　In Britain the newspaper market is divided between the larger broadsheets and the smaller tabloids. These terms refer to the size of the papers' pages but there is also a clear difference in content. Broadsheets such as The Times, the Guardian and Daily Telegraph are serious papers. They cover a broad range of political, economic and international issues. Their stories are also reasonably long and use quite formal language.

　　在英国，报纸主要分为两大类：严肃类大版面报纸和小版面通俗小报。这两类报纸不仅版面大小不同，报纸内容也大相径庭。像《泰晤士报》《卫报》和《每日电讯》都是严肃类报纸。他们内容广泛，政治、经济和国际事务都有涉及，文章较长，用语正式规范。

　　Tabloids have far more stories about less serious issues such as celebrities' love lives. Their stories are shorter and use more simple language. Tabloids often have bigger pictures. Britain's best-selling newspaper, the Sun, is a tabloid and has a naked girl on page three every day.

　　通俗小报文章量多，但内容绝不严肃，多介绍类似于明星恋情等花边新闻。文章篇幅短小，语言简练。通俗小报上通常选用大幅照片。例如，英国最畅销的的报纸——《太阳报》就是通俗小报，它每期报纸第三页都会刊登一幅裸体女郎的照片。

　　By changing to the size of a tabloid, The Times is following in the footsteps of a less famous broadsheet paper the Independent. It changed to tabloid last year and saw its sales increase greatly. Although both papers have switched to the smaller size, the content of the papers has remained the same. They are both still serious papers.

　　去年，《独立报》改用小版面，结果销量大增。于是，《泰晤士报》紧跟《独立报》的步伐采用了小版面。虽然两家报纸都改用了小版面，但报纸内容秉承原来风格。它们依然属于严肃类报纸。

　　The two papers claim that people find the smaller size easier to handle when they travel to work on the bus or the train in the morning. The Times says its new size is "compact", not tabloid.

　　这两家报纸都解释说上班途中，小版面报纸在车上更易携带。《泰晤士报》称新版面看起来更紧凑，但它并没有沦为通俗小报。