英文报刊选读

Unit Two : Headlines
How to become an efficient newspaper reader?
By understanding news’ story’s format and the theory behind it, you often can tell in less 30 seconds what the report is saying and whether it’s of interest to you.
Structure of the news reporting:
Headlin Lead Elaboration Background Secondary material
Usually the Lead ----- or the first paragraph ---- contains the story’s main point and most critical factors. Therefore, it is important to read it carefully to get a basic idea what the story is about.
The next three or four paragraphs of a news story ---- for example……. ----- usually give essential details of WHAT is happened, WHO is involved, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, WHY it happened. It also gives an immediate result of, or reaction to, the news itself and provides background information to help you understand it.
A person should not have to finish the article to understand it, just the first four or five paragraphs. Direct quotations do not include new information. They either support or simply add color and entertainment.
The rest of s news story contains examples, reactions from people concerned and discussion about the impact of the news.

About Headline
1. What exactly is a headline?
The headline or head of a news story is the line of print appearing above an article, often in bold, large type that summarizes the story. It is usually the first thing we read. In theory the headline has two functions:
First: it summarizes the story in a minimum number of words.
Second: it attracts the readers to read the story.
Headlines are important, so they usually operate within a certain range of restrictions. For example, the space a headline occupies is almost dictated by the layout of the page (the amount of space available). And it has to fill the prescribed space in the best word size possible. For example,
*Communists Fear Split Germany Blame
(The Communists fear that they may be blamed for splitting Germany)
*News From Mice: Men Not Needed
(This one aims at being humorous. It’s only when you read the story that you understand why men are not needed)
2. Language of a Headline
Four points:
A． 由于篇幅有限，尽量用短小的词或缩略词，尽量省略， 如用名词代替形容词，等等。
B． 不影响达意的冠词，助动词，系动词，连词，代词，介词 被省略掉。、
C． 时态的用法简单，灵活。许多报纸用一般时态，除了经常描述的过去的事情。一般时态使题目显得生动，即刻，有趣。(freshness, immediacy, interesting, lively)
D． 运用标点符号。

For example:
A --------?
*Shell to cut up to 2800 jobs (get rid of)
*Gulf Arab states to sign anti- terror pact next month (agreement)
Use abbreviations:
P.M.; IOC; grade; tech; gov’t; m.p.; JV; GM; CFO; dorm; prep; forex; L. America; N. Ireland…
*Shenzhen SEZ to host int’l Trade Meeting
*India PM

signs non-aggression pact (use n. for adj. Even if it is not grammatically correct. India for Indian)
B -------?
*Ann and^Baby Are Well (her)
*Bankers ^Silent (keep)
*FBI questions bombing suspect (The FBI questioned a suspect in a bombing yesterday)
*New Bird Flu Cure this Spring (A new drug will cure bird influenza this spring)
*U.S. widely ^disliked (is)
*Co-operation agreement ^signed (is)
*(A) Cold and Raining Day (is) Expected
C ------?
一般现在时表过去
不定式表将来
进行时表正在延续的动作
*China Daily Delegation flies to US (is leaving by plane)
*China to Repay Big IMF Loans Ahead of Time (is going to)
*Shanxi to invest Large Sums for Tourism
*13 die as crowded Van crosses M4 (died, crossed) M-motorway
*Radio, TV Coverage Widening.
D -------?
a. 用逗号（comma）代替and, 这样可以省略字符。
*China, CIS States May Share Cables (中国与独联体国家合作开发光电通讯)
b. 用冒号（colon）表示所讲的话的出处，还可以代替系动词。
*Health Survey: New Yorkers Fitter, Slimmer
* Owen: Watch Me Get Better
*WTO chief: China a Responsible Country
*China Cooks: Master at Turning a Turnip into a Flower
*Koreans: Grumpy Toward America
c. 用分号代替两层意思。 （semi-colon）
*Militants kill 29, weak peace shattered
d. 用单引号代替双引号。（question marks）
*U.S. ‘In the Dark’ on Bin Laden Note
e. 用破折号表强调或引出说话者。（dash）
*Yeltsin in Hospital --------- Again
*Economy Grows Slowly As Unemployment Inflation Rise----- Economist (经济学家认为，失业率及通货膨胀加剧使经济增长缓慢)
再：在印刷上，美报刊里的实义词，有的连虚词也一样用大写字母，而英国报刊的题目只是第一个字母大写。
3. 标题修辞
英语报刊的标题为了使语言生动有力，鲜明形象，引人注目，常常使用下列修辞手段，旨在造成声色效果，引起读者注意和兴趣。
A. 押韵 ：标题写作常用头韵和尾韵。
* Needy or Greedy?
*Young Wheelers, Big Dealers.
B. 比喻：以人们熟悉的事物去描绘，说明不熟悉或比较抽象的事物，使语言简明生动。标题常使用暗喻 （metaphor）
* House in Two Parts.
*Hookers getting the Hook.
C. 对仗（antithesis）. 对仗可以使语言鲜明形象，从而加强表达力。
*Rich Man, Poor Fan.
*Capital rich, Revenue Poor.
D. 双关：（pun）.不少新闻周刊，尤其是《时代周刊》爱用双关语，使标题产生讽刺和诙谐作用。
*Woes of the Weakened Jock. (jog)
E: 典故。（allusion）.报刊标题使用名著的书名，使语言明快犀利，生动活泼。
*Farewell to Arms.
*The Old Man and the Economic Sea.




Unit Three Leads
A: What leads act in stories?
This period we’ll move on to the lead, an equally important part of d news story, and key to understanding

it. Like the headline, the lead is easy to identify, it is the first paragraph . Sometimes, it extends into the second paragraph. (In the second paragraph , we call it “副导语”)
What exactly is a lead? (1) The lead usually summarizes the entire story so that the readers can learn at a glance what the story is about.
（2）The Lead also has to arouse the reader’s interest to make the person want to read more.
So, a good lead needs important, newsworthy information. If a good
Headline attracts a reader’s attention, it is the lead that keeps the person interested enough to continue.
Example One:
Can you tell from the leads. What the essential or most newsworthy information in the story ?
Answers: a. b c.
B: Questions a lead should answer:
These are the standard journalist questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. The answer to these “5Ws” and a “how” forms the basis of a story.
But since the amount of space for the lead is limited, and some of the answer to these questions may not be important, only the most important answers appear in the lead.
Example Two:
The lead answers:
Who: What: Where: When:
But the “How” and “why” are not answered here as they are considered unimportant.
Example Three:
Find the ‘5Ws“and “how” in the following leads.
News: who| when| where| why| how| what|
C: The Grammar of the lead
Here, we’ll focus on single-sentence leads since they are by far the most common. A lead sentence follows the normal punctuation, grammar, word usage and tense rules. The majority of leads are straight-forward subject-verb-object sentence. Additional information can be added to make the language clear or more interesting. But this may cause understanding problems and make it hard to pick out the subject and main verb, if it complicates the sentence structures.
The following two leads are from Reuters and AP respectively. Their basic idea is the same ------ “Tony Randall has died at 84” ------ but different information is added.
Read them and notice how they become more complicated as the writer adds information.
Example Four : Tony Randall…..
Example Five: The Top intelligence….
Example Six: Former Mayor…..
The following are leads from major western newspapers. Simplify them by putting them in a S---V---O form.
Answers:1)2)3).
D: 在英文报刊中还经常采用“副导语”写作形式。 记者想把导语写得尽量简洁，在第二段里交代次要的新闻要素。因此，在这种情况下，第二段被称为“副导语”。如在导语中出现what, who, 而在第二段中副导语内则出现when, how…
E: Relation between lead and headline:
1) 标题是导语的浓缩语提炼。
2) 导语是标题的扩张。读者在阅读新闻标题是可能会对文章的主要内容不尽了解，但只要阅读一下导语便明了文章的主要内容，弥补从标题上无法得到的准确信息。




Unit

Four Hard News and Soft News
(News and Features)
英文报刊的文章大致可分为新闻摘要（News brief）, 新闻报道（News report ），评论（Review）和特写（Feature）。 其中，News brief and News report 属于Hard news；review and feature属于 soft news.
A: Differences between news and features:
Hard news is essentially a “something happened” story . There are the immediate news reports of “breakingnews”, up-to-the-minute news and events. News story is often shorter than features and have little analysis. They are intended to be objective reports of what happened ----- the writer is not supposed to express his/her opinion. Wars, demonstrations, floods, volcanoes, scientific discoveries, elections, trade agreements, the death of world leaders --- events like these.
However, features tend to be longer than news stories. That’s because they go deeper into the topic and they give more background information or cover related issues of public interest. That might mean covering something that is happening gradually ---
Rather than a single event. Feature writers are more likely to tell us about an interesting person or place, or why a certain fashion is so popular, or how we can improve our health.
Example One :
Answers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
B: Structural differences in news and features:
The two often have distinct writing styles that make their structures differ.
Hard news stories are often short and content is about the event itself ----- that means little background information or comment and style that is clear and simple. The main point is made at the top, in the headline, and in the lead paragraph. The body of the story adds more details and comments from people involved, as well as any background information the writer believes is necessary.
A feature, on the other hand, can have a more complex structure, since it is longer, more ideas and information can be given. To get people’s attention, the journalist can use things like humor, plays on words and colloquial language. This appeals to local readers but can be difficult for non-native speakers to understand. And the main idea of the feature may not come until three or four paragraph into the story. Sometime, you don’t even find the point of the story until you finish it.
General speaking, hard news is easier to understand.
Example Two:
Answers: 1. 2. 3. 4.5. 6. 7. 8.
C: Language differences in News and Features
Hard news stories tend to be more straight forward. They often use short, simple words to keep the story concise and understandable. Features, on the other hand, can choose longer and more difficult words to make their writing more vivid and fresh. This is because the writer has more space to play with ideas. This is especially true for stories on fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle. Many descriptive adjectives can be added. Naturally, these adjectives pose a reading problem for non-native speakers.

Many of the words and expressions can appear completely foreign.
Example Three:
Unit Five Lifting Lid on Hard News

In last 4 chapters we know some basic knowledge about different newspaper stories in details, for instance, their word features, sentence features, grammatical features, etc. This period we just focus on hard news since most of the world’s newspapers take news reporting as their focus. ( We also think this period as a summary)
A: How to locate the hard news page :
As we pointed out last week, hard news refers to “breaking news,” or up-to-the-minute news reports. Topics to be covered by hard news often include: wars, demonstrations, floods and scientific discoveries. Take a glance at P2 and P3 of 21st Century, this paper puts both national and international news under the page heading “News “ for simplicity. In fact, different papers use different terms to label their hard news pages. For example :China Daily puts national news under “Nation” news, and uses “World” to announce its international news. The US’s New York Times uses “International” and “National” while Sunday Times of UK uses “News” for domestic news and “World news” for international events.
To locate the hard news pages of a newspaper , you go to the first few pages and look for key words like “News”, “ Nation”, “World”, “International” at the top. Just be calm, even when you discover that the foreign paper has two-dozen pages of “News”. Most foreign newspapers are very thick.
B: Structure of hard news.
Most hard news follows the “Inverted” (upside down) pyramid” structure in developing the story.
1. lead : usually a summary
2. backup (quotes or facts): explanation of the lead and example
3. supporting points: further details of the 5Ws and a how
4. background: other relevant information
5…...
1 ——>2——>3——>4——>5。。。。。
Most important para.------?important para.----?necessary para.-----?least necessary para…..
The advantage of this structure is that it lets readers know the main idea without reading the whole story. The main idea often appears in the first paragraph, or the lead. A typical hard news story lead gives an overview of the story. A lead often answers 5Ws and a how questions. This 5Ws form the basis of a story.
Example One: Read the article and identify the four parts in pyramid structure.
Answer:
(但：不少新闻学者反对这一模式，认为它是头重脚轻 【top-heavy-form】。指责这种结构浪费篇幅，重要的新闻事件重复三次【标题，导语，正文】。还有的指出这种模式已经不合时宜。面临电子新闻媒介挑战。)
C: Language of the hard news
News stories tend to be straight forward, and they often use short, simple words to keep the story concise and understandable. For example, words like “ban, pact, probe” instead of “prohibit, agreement, inv

estigation” are preferred by many news writers.
And passive voice is sometimes used in hard news to make it sound formal and objective. By putting the object of the verb at the beginning of the sentence, a reporter can call our attention to it. Two sentences : “Three men were arrested” and “Police arrested three men” have the same meaning. But the reporter can focus on the result of the action in the first instead of the people doing the action.
Example Two: Put the following sentences into passive voice and see why that makes them more interesting.
Answer :1)2)
D: Identify Sources
Another way to make the news more reliable and objective is to identify the source of information or opinion. In fact, in most newspapers, this is required. Reporters have to give the details of where a comment came from to make it clear that it is not the reporter who made up the story. The reporter’s job is just to report an event objectively.
Example Three：The following are excerpts of reports. Identify who the source of the facts or opinions was.
Answer : 1) 2) 3)
☆ 在新闻英语中，source 或sources 指消息出处，译成汉语时为：“人士”。 如：不愿意透露姓名的人士：an unidentified source. 消息可靠人士： reliable sources.


Unit Six News About Science Reports
Science often goes with education. Those in the field of education seek not only to teach but also ---- to add new knowledge. Government agencies, industries, hospitals and private laboratories also sponsor many research programs. However, a large percentage of those programs are linked educational institutions, either through special contracts or through the services of educators as consultant.
All forms can be used in writing research stories, whch could rang in length from one paragraph to several columns. If the research has significant value, the straight news format is generally used. As the practical value diminishes , there is a rise in the use of the feature story form to achieve a more interesting presentation.
In reading science reports, we may have much difficulty. Two reasons are attributed to that: one is we are lacking of scientific knowledge; the other is too many new words in it.
To undo the problem we can read some common science stories first, then to those difficult ones. With a big dictionary, we can clear away the new words obstacles.
Actually, it is more easier to understand a science report than literature; art.


Unit Seven News about Economy (Financial Reports)

Economy reports can be divided into two parts according to the contents: One is political economy reports. The readers can understand them without any special knowledge. The other is special economy reports. e.g. reports on stock market. Common readers can not understand them, they just don’t want to understand.
When we study these kinds of reports first we must enlarge our knowledge on economy. Second, we must know some basic words about th

ese reports.
财经行话（jargon）是我们读经济新闻常常遇到的困难。 行话与专业术语完全不一样， 后者凡具备专业知识的读者大多都懂。 我们缺乏专业知识的，只要不怕麻烦，勤翻字典，都可以解决问题。 如： monetarism n.货币数量说
Supply-side n. 供应消费者需要的商业：供应学派
但行话却不好解决。 如：关于远航油轮的报道中有：
Lacked any stems. 只能在航海字典中才能查到：lacked any stems for the supertankers. “超级油轮没有出租“ 。
To stem a ship: to loan a ship within a certain period of time.
★Although there are many terms in this kind of reports that we are
Not familiar with, we can grasp them all. Because these terms
Change a bit. For example: words on Stork Market:
Hit the highs ( new lows) 创新高。（新低）
Burst through 冲破
Below 1.40 dollars 跌到1.40 美元以下
Open 开盘 close 收盘
NYSE 纽约证券交易所
Depress gold 压低黄金价格
A 17-month low 十七个月以来最低记录
Fixing was set at/be fixed at 兑换率定位。。
The dollar ended the day in Tokyo at 322.95 yen. 今天东京外汇交
易以美元兑换322.95日元而结束。
910 advanced 910种股票升值
616 declined 616。。。下跌
Change hands 易手
Reach an all-time high 达到前所未有新水平
★ 再：注意自己在阅读中积累生词表，积少成多。
1 ：讲到经济发展的势头，新闻的措辞往往简短，生动， 不只拘泥于： increase , decrease .. (V.)
1)描述增长的词汇： recover, grow, rise, go up, climb, jump, leap, surge, soar, skyrocket （暴涨）-? to skyrocket costs (物价暴涨)
2）描述下降的词汇： fall, drop, go down, reach a low point, fall off, decline, collapse, cut, dip, reduce, level off, plummet, plunge, slow down, slump……
2: 数字的处理
1） 单一的数字信息和枯燥，所以新闻英语通常也把数字糅合起来，也让对经济外行的人有一定感性的概念。所以在英文财经新闻中，比较级和最高级就经常出现，被充分利用。 e.g.
The market closed higher in the modest trading.
Most shares closed at their highest levels of the day.
2) 大量的程度副词和形容词的使用; 要看懂英语财经新闻一定要熟悉下面常用的副词或形容词。
经贸发展趋势较大或较快时： fairly, rather, a great deal, much, dramatically, drastically, considerably, remarkably, markedly, sharply, significantly, apparently, greatly, tremendously….
经贸发展趋势较小或较慢时： gradually, gently, slightly, slowly…








Unit Eight News about Education Reports

Stories on education cover the activities of all levels of the school systems from the policy-making boards to the teachers in the classroom, from the enrollment trends to the changes on curricula. Large or small, the education beat offers man

y routine stories as well as major ones.
Education stories take various forms. They range from one-feature brief to the multi-feature report of a significant board meeting. In between can be found all story forms, including human interest stories on students and teachers and feature articles on school activities.