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War of Words 媒体战

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本  

At 8 p.m., on Sunday, October 30, 1938, Americans were listening to the dulcet sounds of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra on their radios. Suddenly, the broadcast was interrupted by a live report from New Jersey, where – according to eyewitnesses – a Martian invasion had just begun.

1938年10月30日星期日晚上8点钟，美国民众正收听着收音机里播出罗曼拉瑰罗和他的交响乐团演奏的优美音乐。突然广播被纽泽西来的现场联机报导打断了──依据目击的陈述──火星人刚开始了对地球的攻击。

Despite its fictitious nature, the live one-hour radio play included numerous references to actual people and places, and countries listeners were panic-stricken. Some people “required medical treatment for shock and hysteria” wrote New York Times. Why did so many reasonable people believe the preposterous story of an alien invasion?

虽然整个报导都是虚构，但一小时的收音机现场播出却报导了很多真人实地的指证，令无数听众大为惊恐。纽约时报指出，有些人「因为震惊和歇斯底里而需要送医治疗」。为什么这么多有理性的人会相信这宗荒谬的外星人入侵报导呢？

In 1938, the American public was both innocent of media manipulation and enthralled by the new technology of radio, which routinely brought alarming stories from pre-war Europe into their living rooms. In this atmosphere of uncertain dread, the authenticity of news reports was considered beyond reproach.

1938年时美国人对于媒体操纵还完全不懂，又惑于收音机这项新科技──当时正逢二次大战前，收音机固定会把欧陆吃紧的消息带进民众的家庭里。在这种凡事都不确定的惶恐气氛下，新闻报导的真实性也就不受苛责了。

Today, the media wields even greater influence over public opinion, as evidenced by the controversy over misleading information disseminated by the U.S. and British governments to gain support for the Iraq War. Subsequent media reports convinced most of the war’s inevitability. Though the media may have changed since that Sunday evening in 1938, the public’s faith in the nightly news remains credulous and unscathed.

如今，媒体对于公众意见的影响力更大了。英美政府释出误导的消息，以获得支持攻打伊拉克的争议，即是证明。后续的媒体报导让多数人认为此一战争无可避免。虽然自从1938年的那一个星期日以后，媒体或许已经有所改变，但是民众对于夜间新闻的信赖却丝毫未减。

Vocabulary

单词发音

dulcet [ˋdʌlsɪt] adj. 优美的；悦耳的；怡人的

eyewitness [ˋaɪˋwɪtnɪs] n. 目击者；见证人

Martian [ˋmɑrʃɪən] n. 火星人

fictitious [fɪkˋtɪʃəs] adj. 虚构的；非真实的

reference [ˋrɛfərəns] n. 提及；涉及[U][C][（+to）]

hysteria [hɪsˋtɪrɪə] n. 毫无来由的情绪激动; 歇斯底里

reasonable [ˋriznəb!] adj. 有理智的，有理性的，明智的

preposterous [priˋpɑstərəs] adj. 十分荒谬的，可笑的

innocent [ˋɪnəsnt] adj. 幼稚的；头脑简单的，愚钝的; 天真的,单纯的

manipulation [mə͵nɪpjʊˋleʃən] n. 操纵，控制

enthrall [ɪnˋθrɔl] v. 迷住；吸引住

alarming [əˋlɑrmɪŋ] adj. 令人担忧的﹐令人恐慌的

dread [drɛd] n. 畏惧，恐怖；担心

authenticity [͵ɔθɛnˋtɪsətɪ] n. 可信赖性；确实（性）

reproach [rɪˋprotʃ] n. 责备，指摘

wield [wild] v. 行使（权力）；施加（影响）

disseminate [dɪˋsɛmə͵net] v.【正式】散布﹐广泛传播〔消息﹑观点等〕

inevitability [͵ɪnɛvətəˋbɪlətɪ] n. 无法逃避之事,不可逃避,必然性

credulous [ˋkrɛdʒʊləs] adj. 轻信的﹐易上当的

unscathed [ʌnˋskeðd] adj. 未受伤的；未受损失的

Sentence of the Day

"There's a sucker born every minute." - P.T. Barnum

巴纳姆说：「每分钟都有笨蛋出生。」

sucker [ˋsʌkɚ] n. 易受骗的人

课文讲解

Jerry and Elaine are watching TV at Jerry’s:  杰利和伊莲正在杰利家看电视：

J: You know, watching TV these days, I feel as though I’m being fed a line.

你晓得吗，最近我觉得电视的内容都很唬烂。

E: Yeah, everything seems biased or sensationalized.

是啊，所有事情似乎都很偏颇，或者极尽耸动。

J: Exactly! Take SARS, for example. You’d think there was no SARS problem in the U.S. – the news hardly mentioned it.

正是！就像是SARS的例子。你会以为美国没有SARS问题，因为新闻很少播出来。

E: Was it necessary? After all, the CDC website reported only 421 cases in a population of almost 300 million. That’s hardly as serious as, say, Hong Kong.

有必要吗？毕竟疾病管制中心【注】的网页报导，在近三亿人口只有421件案例。若与香港作个比较，情况可以说是不很严重。

J: And cases were distributed over 42 states! But why didn’t the media report all those states? In any event, the more we hear something stated as fact or presents as normal, the harder it becomes to question its veracity.

而且那些案例是遍及42个州！为什么媒体不报导那些统计数字？无论如何，当我们听到愈多所谓的事实或常态，就愈难去质疑它的真实性。

E: I agree with you that the media shouldn’t be such a strong influence on people’s opinions. Likewise, by constantly seeing atrocious acts presented as entertainment, we become desensitized to them.

我同意你的看法，媒体对民众意见的影响力应该不要这么大。同样地，如果我们经常看到酷行被当成娱乐来播出，就会变得对它无动于衷。

J: Did you know that the average American child watches a thousand violent crimes on TV each year?

妳知道吗，美国小孩平均每年从电视上看到大约一千次的暴力犯罪。

E: You can understand why researchers have found that kids who watch lots of TV often believe the world is more violent than it actually is.

你可以了解为什么研究人员发现，看电视太多的小孩通常相信这个世界比实际上更为暴力。

J: We should teach kids to be critical of the media.

我们应该要教小孩对媒体挑剔。

E: Or better yet, pull the plug!

最好是，把插头拔掉！

【注】：CDC是「疾病管制中心Center for Disease Control」前缀的组合字。

－by Francoise Raunet

Vocabulary

单词发音

feed somebody a line  欺骗某人 to tell someone something which may not be completely true, often as an excuse

sensationalize [sɛnˋseʃənl͵aɪz] v. 使引起轰动；以耸人听闻的手法处理

in any event 不管怎样; 无论如何

veracity [vəˋræsətɪ] n.【正式】诚实; 真实; 讲实话

atrocious [əˋtroʃəs] adj. 凶暴的；残酷的

desensitize [diˋsɛnsə͵taɪz] v. 使麻木不仁; 【医】使失去敏感度

critical [ˋkrɪtɪk!] adj. 吹毛求疵的，爱挑剔的；对……表示不满的[（+of）]

pull the plug 拔掉插头

Sentence of the Day

Many accept TV hook, line, and sinker.

许多人对电视的内容照单全收。

hook, line, and sinker 完全地; 全部地