VOA标准英语2011--Restaurant Newsletter Has Global Reach

Restaurant Newsletter Has Global Reach

People who are grabbing coffee or a meal at a restaurant are sure to have some time on their hands while they wait to place their orders and receive their food.
All the while, they often wish they had something quick, light, and interesting to read.
A single, thick sheet of paper fills that need and serves neighborhood businesses in 700 U.S. communities and 400 other places around the world.
It's a weekly publication that's printed, front and back, in three columns, and placed in racks for customers to pick up. The middle column is filled with wise sayings, trivia items, notes about the day in history, weekly horoscopes and offbeat¹ stories, such as a recent item about a horse that stands just 36 centimeters tall. The whole sheet takes about 10 minutes to read.
The two outside columns are packed with ads for neighborhood car washes, wedding photographers, pest-control companies and so forth².
The idea originated in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1982, with a woman named Jean Daum. She had seen restaurant patrons pick up sugar packs from their containers on the table and read the brief, entertaining factoids printed on the back, just to pass the time.
She began distributing a little newsletter, loaded with breezy reading material, to restaurants, coffee shops, barber shops - even hospital waiting rooms. She called it Coffee News. Pretty soon, other businesses started calling her, asking for copies to give to their customers, and it wasn't long before she was selling Coffee News franchises⁴ all across Canada.
When Baum died of cancer in 2007, Bill Buckley purchased worldwide distribution rights. The former potato farmer in the northeastern state of Maine had obtained the first Coffee News franchise³ in the United States 12 years earlier.
Just this week, his representative signed up the first Coffee News franchise in Congo, which joins 300 other overseas outlets⁵ in 20 countries.
The lighthearted reading material in Coffee News is still produced in Winnipeg, then edited in Maine by Buckley's wife, Sue-Ann. Franchisees⁷ pay $8,500 for the right to distribute the publication in territories of up to 50,000 people. The franchisees sell the ads and insert them into the newsletter.
Readers get something new and light, advertisers get a captive audience for their messages, and, if all goes well over the course of a year, the franchisee⁶ makes a good living.

1 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

4 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

5 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 franchisee   

n.特许经营人

参考例句：

• Two groups discussing what qualities a Franchisee should have.两个小组在讨论被特许人需要具备什麽品质。
• Information on prices and conditions of the products,services and equipment provide for the franchisee.向被特许人提供产品、服务、设备的价格条件等情况。

7 franchisees   

n.特许经营人( franchisee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Works on these franchisees' facilities were moving ahead rapidly. 这些专营设施的工程正迅速推展。 来自互联网
• Another good source of information about a franchise is other franchisees. 另一个了解特许经营的可靠信息源是其他经营者。 来自互联网