Exercise 1
Before reading the passage, consider the questions.
1. Do surveys play an important role in our life?
2. Are the figures in the survey always true? Why or why not?
Now read the passage and check your answers with the author's.
Surveys, Surveys and More Surveys
1. In the United States, there's a widespread belief that statistics don't lie. Perhaps that's why surveys are such an important part of American life. For many years, politicians, businesspeople, and scholars have used surveys to find out more about that mysterious and complicated creature, the human being.
2. American newspapers and magazines have been taking public opinion polls since the 1800s. In the 1930s, poll experts such as Elmo Poper and George Gallup began using scientific methods to select and interview participants in political surveys. Since the 1940s, American businesspeople have been developing, naming, packaging, and promoting products with the help of surveys. And also since the 1940s, surveys have been a major research tool among scholars in the social sciences. Psychologists and sociologists have asked people about everything from their religious beliefs to their sexual behavior. The mass media have frequently reported the results of these surveys, and the American public has always been quite interested in the responses.
3. However, the most complete and most important survey for Americans is the national census. A census is the official count of the number of people living in a city, state, or country. The idea of a census has existed for more than two thousand years. In ancient Rome, the government counted its citizens for purposes of taxation and military service. But the first modern census began here in the United States in 1790. In that year, the population of the new nation was 3 929 214. Since 1790, the American government has taken a census every ten years, and the population has been growing steadily every decade. The 1980 census reported a population of 226 504 825.
4. In addition to statistics on the total population, the 1980 census has given us a great deal of information about recent changes in American life. One of the many important changes concerns where people live. Americans are still a mainly urban people with about 75 percent of the population living in or near large cities. But, since 1970, the small communities have been gaining population at a faster rate than the cities or suburbs. American have been moving back to the small towns and the rural areas. This is a dramatic change from the trend in preceding decades. Americans have always done a great deal of moving from one part of the country to another, but, in recent years, the moves have been mostly to the South and West. States in the "Sun Belt" have been gaining population, and states in the Northeast and the Midwest have been losing population.
5. Marriage and family life have been changing, too. Americans have been marrying later, having fewer children, getting more divorces, and living more often as singles or as unmarried couples. The actual number of married couples has risen in recent years, but the percentage of married people has declined. Similarly, the number of actual births has gone up, but the size of the average family has gone down. The average young woman of today plans to have only two children.
6. Along with many other surveys, the national census gives Americans a statistical picture of a changing society. It allows the government and the people to see what's happening and to adjust to the new picture.
New Words
widespread
a. found, placed, etc., in many places 普遍的, 分布广的
belief
n. the feeling that sth. is true or that sth. really exists 相信, 信条
statistics
n. 1.统计, 统计资料 2.统计学
politician
n. 政治家
scholar
n. a learned person 学者
mysterious
a. not easily understood 神秘的, 难以理解的
creature
n. an animal of any kind 生物, 动物
being
n. 1.人, 生物 2.存在, 生存
poll
n. 民意测验
interview
v. 1.采访, 会见 2.对...进行面试
n. 1.采访, 会见 2.面试
participant
n. a person who takes part or has a share in an activity 参加者
package
v. to place in a spesial package before selling to the public 包装, 打包
sociologist
n. 社会学家
sexual
a. 关于性生活的
medium
n. (pl. media) 1. (pl.) the means of mass communication (复数)传播媒介, 宣传工具,
2. 中间, 适中
response
n. 1. an answer 回答, 答复
2. 反应, 响应
census
n. 人口普查
ancient
a. in or of times long ago 古代的
taxation
n. 1.纳税
2.税收
military
a. of, for, by or connected with soldiers, armies, or war fought by armies 军事的
steadily
ad. 稳定地
decade
n. a period of ten years 十年, 十年期
urban
a. of a town or city 城市的, 都市的
rate
n. 1.速度, 速率 2.比率, 率
rural
a. of or like the countryside; concerning country or village life 农村的
dramatic
a. exciting 惹人注目的
trend
n. a general direction or course of development 倾向, 趋势
preceding
a. that came just before in time or place 前面的, 在前的
northeast
n. 1. (一国或一地区的)东北部 2.东北
marriage
n. 结婚, 婚姻
unmarried
a. single 未婚的, 独身的
married
a. 结了婚的
divorce
n. 离婚
decline
v. 下降
statistical
a. 统计的, 统计学的
Phrases and Expressions
for purposes/the purpose of
为了...目的
at a (faster) rate
以(较快的)速度
a great deal of
大量, 许多
go down
下降
along with
和...一起, 和...同时
adjust to
适应
Proper Names
Elmo Poper
艾谟.普波(人名)
George Gallup
乔治.盖洛普(人名)
Rome
罗马(意大利城市)
Text B
PRE-READING TASK
Exercise 1
Before reading the passage, think over the questions.
1. Does advertising play a very important role in our life? Why?
2. Have you bought anything advertised?
3. What kind of business do you think advertising is?
Now compare your answers with those of your neighbours'.
Advertising
1. Advertising is part of our daily lives. To realize this fact, you have only to leaf through a magazine or newspaper or count the radio or television commercials that you hear in one evening. Most people see and hear several hundred advertising messages every day. And people respond to the many devices that advertisers use to gain their attention.
2. Advertising is a big business -- and, to many people, a fascinating business, filled with attraction and excitement. It is part literature, part art, and part show business.
3. Advertising is the difficult business of bringing information to great numbers of people. The purpose of an advertisement is to make people respond -- to make them react to an idea, such as helping prevent forest fires, or to make them want to buy a certain product or service.
4. At the beginning of the 20th century, advertising was described as "salesmanship in print." If this definition were expanded to include radio and television, it would still stand today. The most effective way to sell something is through person-to-person contact. But the cost of person-to-person selling is high. Because it takes a great deal of time, it increases the cost of the product or service. Advertising distributes the selling message to many people at one time.
5. Advertising is very old. It can be traced back as far as the public criers of ancient Greece -- who, for a fee, shouted out messages about their clients' products to one and all. But it first became important in the late 15th century, when the merchants of the rapidly growing cities and towns needed a way to tell people where their goods could be bought.
6. The first printed advertisement in the English language appeared in 1478, more than a century before Shakespeare's first play was produced. This early ad was the work of William Caxton, England's first printer, who used it to advertise religious books from his own workshop. Caxton posted small printed notices along London's main streets. Besides advertising his product, he identified his shop with a red-striped shield so that customers could find it easily.
7. This same sort of simple, informational advertising is still used. Examples are the roadside signs that tell travelers that they can buy fresh corn just down the road or that there is a restaurant in the next town.
8. The industrial Revolution, in the 18th and 19th centuries, brought a new kind of advertising. Large factories took the place of small workshops, and goods were produced in large quantities. Manufacturers used the newly built railroads to distribute their products over wide areas. They had to find many thousands of customers in order to stay in business. They could not simply tell people where shoes or cloth or tea could be bought -- they had to learn how to make people want to buy a specific product. Thus modern advertising was born. Advertising created new markets and helped to raise standards of living as people came to feel that they had a right to new and better products.
9. Advertising agencies began to develop in the United States just after the Civil War. At first these agencies merely sold space in the various media, mainly newspapers and magazines. But they soon added the service of writing and producing advertisements. From these beginnings, advertising has developed into a highly specialized profession.
New Words
commercial
n. 无线电(或电视)中的广告节目
a. 商业的, 商务的
respond
v. 1. to act in answer 响应
2. to answer 回答
device
n. 1.手段 2.装置, 设备
advertiser
n. 登广告的人
fascination
n. (有)魅力
attraction
n. 吸引力
excitement
n. 刺激, 兴奋
literature
n. 1.印刷品, 宣传品
2.文学
advertisement
n. (=ad)广告
react
v. to act in reply 反应
salesmanship
n. skill in selling 推销术
definition
n. an exact statement of the meaning, nature, or limits of sth. 定义
expand
v. to (cause to) become larger 扩大, 扩充
effective
a. producing the desired result 有效的
trace
v. 追溯
fee
n. 费用, 酬金
client
n. 客户, 委托人
merchant
n. 商人
advertise
v. to make sth. known to the public 作广告
workshop
n. 作坊, 车间
besides
prep. in addition to; as well as 除...之外(尚有…)
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