【考試題目】News media are important in modern society. Why are they so important? Are their influences generally positive or negative?
【題目翻譯】新聞媒體在當(dāng)代社會(huì)中很重要。它們?yōu)槭裁催@么重要?它們的影響通常是積極的還是負(fù)面的?
【關(guān)鍵詞分析】
media
media來源于拉丁語,是medium的復(fù)數(shù)形式。因此這個(gè)詞在英語中大多是用作復(fù)數(shù)形式,是各種媒體的總稱。具體包括:print media(平面媒體),如newspaper, magazine;broadcast media(電波媒體),如radio, television, 以及new media(新媒體),主要指the Internet. 以上這些媒體又可以稱之為mass media(大眾媒體)。
news media
本文應(yīng)當(dāng)圍繞新聞媒體來展開,不要提到媒體的娛樂功能。
【話題分類與題型】
本題是老題新出,與2005年6月25日、2009年3月5日、2009年8月22日的話題基本一致。屬于“媒體與廣告”類話題的“新聞與媒體”分支。媒體類話題在2011年共出現(xiàn)6次,這次是2012年首次出現(xiàn),上一次出現(xiàn)是在2011年11月17日。
該題屬于混搭類題型(原因+利弊分析),兼?zhèn)湔f明文和議論文的寫法(與09年3月5日的題型一致)。混搭題型是近期說明文考察的重點(diǎn),2011年共出現(xiàn)7次,而標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的說明文(問題+原因+影響+解決方法)僅出現(xiàn)4次,因此在寫作的時(shí)候應(yīng)當(dāng)特別留意混搭題型。
【話題評(píng)價(jià)】
媒體與廣告類話題共有“新聞與媒體”、“媒體審查制度”以及“廣告”三大主題。本題在“十大話題萬能分類題庫”中屬于母題,因此只要做好充足的復(fù)習(xí)準(zhǔn)備,難度不大。
【類似話題】
1. Some people think that the news media nowadays have influenced people’s lives in negative ways. To what extent do you agree or disagree? (050625)
2. Newspapers have an enormous influence on people's ideas and opinions. Why is this the case? Do you think it is positive or negative? (090305)
3. News media is more influential nowadays. Some people think it is a negative development. To what extent do you agree or disagree? (090822)
【題型解析】
混搭題型主要有常見的幾種出題方式:原因+利弊分析、原因+同意與否(針對(duì)題目中所給出的解決方法)、同意與否+解決方法?;卮饡r(shí)一定要緊扣問題。
此題屬于“原因+利弊分析”題型,也是混搭類出現(xiàn)最多的類型。這種題目在解答時(shí)要注意,第二問建議大家寫成雙邊支持,即好處和壞處都有,這樣一來觀點(diǎn)容易構(gòu)思,字?jǐn)?shù)容易達(dá)到,二來考官覺得考生思維比較全面。
大家可以思考一下下面這道相同題型的題目:Some employers think that formal academic qualifications are more important than life experiences and personal qualities when they look for an employee. Why is it the case? Is it a positive or negative development? (071013)
【解題思路】
本文建議采用五段式。正文分三段,分別交代原因、好處、壞處。
原因:信息化時(shí)代information era的到來和全球一體化globalisation的發(fā)展使得現(xiàn)代人越來越依賴于媒體傳遞的信息。
好處:新聞給人們提供了大量的信息。關(guān)于國(guó)家的政治動(dòng)向、政策變化的報(bào)道可以指導(dǎo)個(gè)人和公司的發(fā)展計(jì)劃、投資理財(cái);天氣預(yù)報(bào)、路況信息等為個(gè)人的出行提供了指導(dǎo);一些針對(duì)社會(huì)弱勢(shì)群體的社會(huì)新聞也喚起公眾的同情心,使有困難的人得到社會(huì)的幫助。
壞處:有些新聞來源不靠譜,特別是網(wǎng)絡(luò)媒體。由于人人都可以通過twitter之類的社交網(wǎng)站social networking site來傳播信息,因此給謠言rumour的傳播提供了可能。有些媒體受政黨控制,因此傳遞的是一些帶偏見biased的消息,公眾無法客觀地從媒體中獲取真相。甚至有些無良記者unscrupulous journalists為了引起轟動(dòng)sensation,通過捏造一些假新聞chequebook journalism來吸引讀者眼球。
結(jié)論:國(guó)家可以出臺(tái)相關(guān)的法律法規(guī)related laws and regulations should be constituted,媒體應(yīng)該進(jìn)行自我審查impose auto-censorship,來規(guī)范媒體和記者的行為。而公眾應(yīng)當(dāng)有獨(dú)立思考能力和批判性思維能力independent thinking and critical thinking ability,來辨別新聞的真假。
【參考范文】
I think the news media mainly plays two important roles in modern society – providing information and influencing public opinion – and I think its influence is generally positive.
Obviously, the news media provides people with vast amounts of information in various forms. We can access it by listening to the radio, reading newspapers and magazines, watching television and by surfing the Internet. The ability to access news media is important for individuals and organisations because we make many decisions based on the news provided to us. Some of these decisions are mundane. We check the weather forecast to see whether we should take an umbrella to work. Other news, such as that about the business world, could influence whether we invest our savings in certain companies listed on the stock exchange.
The news is often presented to us in certain ways, using specific words to try to control our feelings and thoughts. This can be the main negative influence of the news media. Very often, the news media portrays people in simplistic ways, giving us some facts, but not the whole story. In the USA, some news media tends to support the Republicans whilst others tend towards the Democrats and the portrayal of individuals can reflect this. This is somewhat inevitable, because the editors, journalists and owners of the news media have opinions and biases. So, I think that it would be better if people checked news stories from different sources instead of only us.