报刊作业
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2020年08月01日 13:50
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3.3 The news brief
A New Brief, also called a News Summary, is the shortest form of news reporting covering the latest event at home or abroad. A News Brief is usually 100-to-200-word long and something like the lead of a news report except that it is a little longer and more detailed. The main purpose of a news brief is to tell the reader the consequence of an event. A News Brief sometimes has a title but in most cases it doesn’t. The most important thing in reading a news brief is to find out “who does what to whom, why”. Let’s study the features of news brief by looking at the following two briefs.
e.g.
NATO Exercise
Brussels---The North Atlantic treaty organization launches a two-week exercise today aimed at testing for the first time on a large scale its ability to react to simultaneous crises in northern and southern Europe. The exercise, dubbed Strong Resolve, will mobilize 50,000 men from 25 countries operating under the two main NATO commands, Atlantic and Europe.
Who: The North Atlantic Treaty organization
What: launch a two-week exercise
Why: to test its ability to react to simultaneous crises in northern and southern Europe
参考译文：
布鲁塞尔—北大西洋公约组织今天举行了代号为‘坚强决心’的军事演习。此次演习为期两周，旨在大规模测试其成员国同时应对欧洲北部和南部危机的反应能力。来自其传统大西洋-欧洲防区25个成员国的5万名士兵参加了演习
Exercise
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
--- A 38-year-old Spanish man briefly hijacked a French airliner on Majorca（马略卡岛） Sunday and threatened to blow it up to protest France’s plans to resume nuclear testing, then surrendered in Geneva without a struggle after releasing 298 passengers and crew. An official at Geneva’s Cointrin Airport described the man as unbalanced.
参考译文：
日内瓦—周日，一名38岁的西班牙籍男子劫持了一架飞往马略卡岛的法国班机，并威胁要炸毁飞机以抗议法国的核实验计划。该男子稍后在日内瓦释放了298名乘客和全体机组人员后自首。据日内瓦机场的一名官员描述，该劫机男子精神不太正常。
a．A Spanish man hijacked a French airline to protest France’s nuclear testing.
b. A Spanish man who had threatened to blow up a French airline surrendered in Geneva.
c. A Spanish man who had hijacked a French airline surrendered in Geneva.
答案应为c。这段简讯的关键词是hijack，surrender。在三项选择中，a没有交待劫机者投降，b没有说明劫机，故答案只能是c。
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
---When Compaq Computers and Dell Computer invaded the Japanese market three years age with personal computers selling for half the price of the local variet
ies, rival Japanese companies braced for trouble. But instead of killing the Japanese personal computer industry, the American onslaught liberated it. Proceed by what is known as the ‘Compaq Shock’, Japanese manufacturers have become fiercer competitors, cutting their prices drastically. The result has been a boom in sales that is benefiting the Japanese manufacturers as much as the Americans.
参考译文：
东京—康柏计算机和戴尔计算机公司用了三年的时间进军日本市场，他们以当地市场的半价销售个人计算机，这使得他们的对手日本公司十分烦恼。美国人的入侵不但没有击垮日本的个人电脑工业, 正好相反，而是刺激了日本的个人电脑工业的发展。在‘康柏式打击’的作用下，日本厂商成为了强有力的竞争者, 他们也疯狂地降价。结果使得计算机在日本销量大增，日本厂商和美国公司都因此获益非浅。
a．American and Japanese computer companies compete to win the Japanese market.
b. ‘Compaq Shock’ has benefited Japanese market.
c. Fierce competition between American and Japanese computer companies has helped the computer sales boom in Japan.
答案应c。这段简讯介绍市场竞争使计算机销售在日本大增，关键词是computer，Japanese market，boom in sale。在a、b、c选择中，只有c概括了主题，而a和b都只抓住了部分内容。
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
NATIONS---The United Nations has run out of money to pay its regular operating expenses and is being forced to borrow from peacekeeping funds, which are also strained, an American accounting expert in charge of financial management here told a General Assembly committee Tuesday.
参考译文：
联合国—主管财务的美国会计专家在星期二的联合国大会委员会上报告，联合国经费捉襟见肘，已无法应付正常开支，因而被迫借用原本已很紧张的维持和平资金。
a. UN is short of cash.
b. UN is borrowing from peacekeeping funds.
c. UN cannot pay regular operating expenses.
答案应为a。这段简讯的关键词是UN，run out of money，抓住这几个词，中心思想就很容易确定，那就是a。因为b没有说UN缺经费（并不是没有钱才须借钱，在西方往往有钱才更要借钱），而c用cannot pay更不能说明是经费短缺所致。
ON---An 81-year-old Hamilton woman who fatally stabbed her husband to end his suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease will not have to serve time in jail despite pleading guilty to manslaughter. An Ontario judge, citing Jean Brush’s age and life-long contributions to the community, said she has already suffered more than any punishment the court could impose, and releasing her would endanger no one. He described the mercy killing, after a suicide pact failed, as ‘a desperate attempt to end her and her hus
band’s life with some shred of dignity and without becoming a burden on society’.
汉密尔顿—汉密尔顿一位81岁的妇人被控告杀死了她患有阿尔茨海默氏症的丈夫，但最后被判无罪。一位安大略法官说, 鉴于她的年龄以及她一生所作的贡献，她所遭受的痛苦与折磨远远胜过任何的法律制裁, 而且释放她不会危及任何人. 这位法官认为这是一起仁慈的谋杀, 是在自杀失败后, ‘试图保留她和她丈夫最后的生命尊严和不为社会造成负担的谋杀’。
a．A woman killed her husband.
b. An 81-year-old Hamilton woman pleaded guilty.
c. A woman freed after mercy killing.
答案应为c。这段简讯最关键的词是法官的定性——mercy killing，而不是老妇人是否杀了人。在a、b、c选择中，c高度概括了全段的内容，中心思想明确，而a仅陈述老妇人杀了丈夫，b 则陈述她承认有罪而已。
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
---Two public-opinion polls released yesterday suggest that conservative Jacques Chirac has pulled ahead of his Gaullist rival, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, in the French presidential race. The surveys provide the worst showing so far for Mr. Balladur, who has long been expected to win the two-stage election starting on April 23. Polls have recorded surges by both Mr. Chirac and Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin.
巴黎---昨天，两份民意调查表明，在法国总统选举中，保守党候选人Jacques Chirac领先他的戴高乐主义者对手, 总理Edouard Balladur。尽管Balladur在于4月23日开始的选举前两个阶段呼声很高，但该调查显示他目前的状况不尽人意。调查同时还显示Chirac和社会党候选人Lionel Jospin选票激增。
a. Chirac has won the presidential election.
b. Balladur is losing lead in the presidential race as shown by the polls.
c. The surveys show Balladur is expected to win the election.
答案应为b。这段简讯是关于法国总统竞选的情况调查，希拉克暂时领先。而a称希拉克已获胜，c则含义相反，故答案只能是b。
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
--- A bomb exploded at a crowded street market in Paris near the Place de la Bastille （巴士底狱）Sunday morning, leaving 4 people slightly hurt. The police said that the bomb, packed into a pressure cooker and hidden in a bag under a vegetable stand, did not cause greater damage because of a malfunction. But the incident clearly left a deep impact on government officials who are facing what they believe to be a campaign of terrorism directed by Islamic militants from Algeria. Police did not immediately link the bomb to three devices planted in recent weeks, which killed seven and wounded scores of others in Paris.
参考译文：
巴黎—周日上午，一枚炸
弹在毗邻巴士底广场人潮拥挤的街市爆炸，造成4人轻伤。据警方声称，这枚炸弹装在一个高压锅内，并隐藏在蔬菜摊下的袋子里，由于故障，炸弹未造成更大的伤亡。但该事件使政府确认这是另一起由阿尔及利亚的伊斯兰圣战组织策划的恐怖主义活动。但警方未能立即将此次爆炸与近几周在巴黎其他地区发生的三起造成七人死伤爆炸事件联系起来。
a. A bomb blast at a Paris market hurt four people.
b. Four people were injured in a crowded street market in Paris.
c. Terrorists planted a bomb in Paris that wounded four people.
答案应为a。这段简讯的关键词是bomb，market，four people，hurt。b没有说明是炸弹爆炸的原因，而c则忽略了具体事发地点，故最能概括中心思想的是a。
Answer the following questions concerning the above news briefs
1. What’s the direct result of this bombing?
2. Why didn’t the bomb cause greater damage?
3. Where were the terrorists planting this bomb from?
4. How many bombings had happened before this one?
Read the following news brief quickly and decide which statement is the main idea of this brief?
--- The son of Michael Kovac, the Slovak president, was arrested in neighboring Austria on Friday after apparently being kidnapped in Slovakia and dumped in his Mercedes outside an Austrian police station, police said.
Austrian police said that Mr. Kovac, 34, was arrested on an international arrest warrant and was in custody in Vienna.
hit the headlines in March when a Munich prosecutor said an international warrant had been issued for his arrest on suspicion of fraud. The president has insisted that his son is innocent.
参考译文：
奥地利警方称，斯洛伐克总统Michael Kovac之子上周五被警方拘捕。他之前被绑架到邻国奥地利，随后在自己的奔驰车里被发现，而车当时停在一警察局外。
据奥地利警方说，Kovac，34岁，通过国际通缉令被逮捕，并关押在维也纳。
今年三月，慕尼黑检察官宣布Kovac因涉嫌诈骗并签署了对他发出的国际通缉令，Kovac因此而成为报纸头条新闻（轰动一时）。总统本人则坚持认为自己的儿子是无辜的。
a. The Slovac president’s son was kidnapped.
b. The Slovac president’s son was arrested in Austria on an international warrant.
c. A Munich prosecutor said Kovac was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
Answer the following questions concerning the above news briefs
1. What had happened to the son of the Slovakia before he was arrested?
2. Why was Mr. Kovac arrested?
3. What does “hit the headlines” mean in paragraph three?