1、Unit 91 Not long ago I was asked to join in a public symposium on the role of the American press. Two other speakers were included on the program. The first was a distinguished TV anchorman. The other was the editor of one of the nations leading papers, a newsman to the core though , aggressive, and
2、 savvy in the ways and means of solid reporting.不久前，我应邀参加了一次有关美国报业的作用的公共研讨会。还有另外两位嘉宾也出席了，一位是知名的节目主持人，另一位是美国一家主要报纸的编辑，他勇敢坚定，咄咄逼人，深谙撰写可靠新闻的之道，堪称一位彻头彻尾的新闻界人士。2 The purpose of the symposium, as I understood it, was to scrutinize the obligations of the media and to suggest the best ways to meet those obl
3、igations.据我所知，本次研讨会旨在审查传媒的使命，提出完成使命的最佳方式。3 During the open-discussion period, a gentleman in the audience addressed a question to my two colleagues. Why, he asked, are the newspapers and the television news programs so disaster-prone? Why are newsmen and women so attracted to tragedy, violence, fail
4、ure?在公开讨论时，观众席中的一位男士向两位嘉宾提问， 为什么报纸和电视新闻都充斥灾难？为什么新闻界的男男女女对悲剧、暴力和失败有如此关注?4 The anchorman and editor reached as though they had been blamed for the existence of bad news. Newsmen and newswomen, they said, are only responsible for reporting the news, not for creating it or modifying it主持人和编辑的反应是，好像他们为坏消
5、息的存在受到了责难。他们回答说，新闻界人士只负责报道新闻而不创造或修改新闻。5 It didnt seem to me that the newsmen had answered the question. The gentleman who had asked it was not blaming them for the distortions in the world. He was just wondering why distortions are most reported. The news media seem to operate on the philosophy that
6、 all news is bad news. Why? Could it be that the emphasis on downside news is largely the result of tradition the way newsmen are accustomed to respond to daily events?我认为他们没有回答那位先生的问题。那位先生的问题。那位提问的先生并没有责怪他们，让他们为世上的不实复杂。他只是想弄明白为什么报道的最多的是扭曲的现实。新闻传媒的运作理念似乎凡是新闻皆坏事。为什么？难道突出负面新闻是传统？是新闻业内人士对日常事件的习以为常的反应？6
7、 Perhaps it would be useful here to examine the way we define the world news, for this is where the problem begins. News is supposed to deal with happenings of the past 12 hours - 24 hours at most. Any sniper kills some pedestrians; a terrorist holds 250 people hostage in a plane; OPEC announces a 2
8、5 percent increase in petroleum prices; Great Britain devalues by another 10 percent; a truck conveying radioactive wastes collides with a mobile cement mixer.或许看一下我们如何定义新闻一词会有所帮助，因为这是问题的起因，新闻应该是报道过去十二小时，最迟二十四小时内所发生的事情。然而突发事件往往是具有爆炸性的：一名狙击手枪杀几名行人，一名恐怖分子劫持飞机上250 名人质，欧佩克宣布原油价格上涨 25%，英国货币又贬值 10%一辆载有放射性
9、废料的卡车与一架水泥搅拌车相撞。7 Focusing solely on these details, however, produces a misshapen picture. Civilization is a lot more than the sum total of its catastrophes. The most important ingredient in any civilization is progress. But progress doesnt happen all at once. It is not eruptive. Generally, it comes
10、 in bits and pieces, very little of it clearly visible at any given moment, but all of involved in the making of historical change for the better.然而，一味聚焦这些报道，则是是真的画面。人类文明成果远远多于灾难总和。每个文明进步最重要的组成元素是进步，但进步不是一蹴而就的，不具被爆发性。一般来说，它是一点一滴逐步发展的，在某个特定的时刻是微不足察的，但是所有微小的进步都参与了历史性巨变的实现，是社会更加美好。8 It is this aspect o
11、f living history that most news reporting reflects inadequately. The result is that we are underinformed about positive developments and overinformed about disasters. This, in turn, leads to a public mood of defeatism and despair, which in themselves tend to be inhibitors of progress. An unrelieved
12、diet of eruptive news depletes the essential human energies a free society needs. A mood of hopelessness and cynicism is hardly likely to furnish the energy needed to meet serious challenges.这就是人类活生生的历史，绝大多数的新闻媒体没有予以充分的反映，才导致我们对社会的正面发展了解不足，对灾难却知之甚多，这又使人产生失败和绝望的情绪，而这些情绪阻碍社会进步。爆发性新闻大餐叫人忧心忡忡，大大消减了自由社会所
13、需的人的动力，绝望和愤世的情绪使人没有动力迎接严峻的考验。9 I am not suggesting that “positive” news be contrived as an antidote to the disasters on page one. Nor do I define positive news as in-depth reportage of functions of the local YMCA. What I am trying to get across is the notion that the responsibility of the news media
14、 is to search out and report on important events- whether or not they come under the heaven and hell, and both sectors call for attention and scrutiny.我并非暗示可以编造“积极”的新闻来抵消头版上灾难报道的作用，也没有把对亲年基督会作用的深刻报道定义为“正面”新闻。我要传递的观点是，新闻媒体的职责是搜索及报道重大事件，无论他们是否有关冲突、对抗或灾难。这世界既有光明的一面又有阴暗的一面，两个方面都要引起人们的关注和思考。10 My hope is
15、 that the profession of journalism will soon see its responsibility in a wider perspective. The time has come to consider the existence of a large area of human happenings that legitimately qualify as news. For example, how many news articles have been written about nitrogen-fixation - the process b
16、y which plants can be made to “fix” their own nitrogen, thus reducing the need for fertilizer? Scientists all over the world are now pursuing this prospect in the hope of combating famine. How much is known about the revolutionary changes being made in increasing the rice harvest in the Far East? Th
17、ere are literally dozens of similar important development in the world that are worthy of inclusion in any roundup of major new stories.我希望新闻界人士能以更广阔视野来看待传媒的责任。已经到时候了，该认识到人类事件中可以作为新闻来报道的领域是及其宽广的。举例来说，有几篇新闻报道过固氮作用这是使植物锁定自身的氮气，从而减少对化肥需求的过程？全世界的科学家都在为这一前景而努力，希望借此解决饥荒，对远东地区水稻产量提高的巨大的进步又了解多少？事实上，世界还有许多类似
18、的重要发展，这些都值得做重要的新闻综合报道。11 The anchorman and editor were right in saying that newsmen and women are not responsible for shaping the world. But they are responsible for affecting our attitudes. We are only what we think we are; we can achieve only those goals we dare to envision. News people provide us
19、 with the only picture we have of ourselves and of the world. It had better be a true portrait and not a caricature for it is this picture on which we will base our decisions and around which we will plan our future.主持人和编辑说新闻界人士并没有责任来塑造世界，这是无可厚非的。但是他们有责任来影响我们的观点。我们认为自己是怎样的，那我们就是怎样的。我们只能实现那些我们敢于设想的目标
20、。新闻界人士为我们提供我们对自身以及这个世界认识的写照这种写照最好是逼真的肖像，而不是扭曲的漫画像，因为我们就是根据这一写照来做决定，筹划未来的。12 The journalist, to paraphrase Walter Lippmann, is the publics philosopher. “ The acquired culture,” Lippmann wrote, “is not transmitted in our genes. The good life in the good society, though attainable, is never attained an
21、d possessed once and for all. What has been attained will again be lost if the wisdom of the good life in a good society is not transmitted.”按照华特里普曼的说法，新闻记者都是大众的哲学家。他曾经写道：后天习得的文化并非基因遗传，美好社会的甜美的生活虽然可得但却不是一旦拥有就永远不会失去。如果美好生活正的智慧没有被传下来，所得一切也将会化为乌有。13 With an accurate report of the good life in the good
22、society, we can begin to use the news as Bernard de Chartres suggested we use history boosting ourselves up on our experiences, “like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants,” enabled, thus, “to see more things than the Americans and things more distant.”美好社会的美好生活有准确报道。伯纳德 德 查特斯建议我们这样善用历史，借鉴经验教训，鼓舞
23、我们的士气， “就像矮子站在巨人的肩膀上”使得我们“比前人看得更远，看到更多” 。我们也可以这样善用新闻报道。Unit 91, 如果对这器械有什么不清楚的地方，你可以写信到我们总公司去询问。If there is anything you are not clear about the device, address your inquiry to your head office.2, 在执行计划之前，我们最好把它的每一个方面仔细考虑，看看是否切实可行。Before we put the new plan into practice, we had bitter scrutinize eve
24、ry aspect of it to make sure that it is practicable.3, 在新的规章执行后，我们预期这地区的情况会有好转。We expect that there will be a change for the better in this area after the new regulations are implemented.4, 不要把他的话当真，他仅仅是开个玩笑而已。Dont take his words literally. He is just cracking a joke.5, 在农业中应用固氮作用良好。The prospect of
25、employing nitrogen fixation in agriculture is promising.6, 他想发明一种不留痕迹的改正液的企图以失败告终。 His attempt at contriving a correcting fluid which leaves no marks on paper ended in failure.7, 那个外国人不会说汉语。他用手势表达他的要求。但是他无法把他的意思表达出来。The non-Chinese-speaking foreigner gestured to make a requested, but he just couldnt get his idea across.8, 他不考虑这件事的迫切性而断然拒绝了。不留一丝余地。Without considering the urgency of the matter, he gave us a flat refusal, once and for all.
