2009年高考英语全国卷2 - 阅读理解D

The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.
美国报纸已经存在了大约三百年。1721年，本杰明的哥哥詹姆斯·富兰克林创办了《新英格兰报》，这就是我们今天可以承认的真正的报纸。他的报纸上全是一些冒险故事、关于艺术、名人的文章，以及各种各样的政治话题。

Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin's Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed form will remain alive for long, Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago. The chief editor of the Times said recently, “At places where they gather, editors ask one another, 'How are you?', as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case. ” An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guardian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”
富兰克林的《新英格兰报》问世三个世纪后，很少有人相信目前的印刷报纸还会长期存在，报社正在以几年前难以想象的速度失去广告商、读者、市场价值，在某些情况下，还有他们的使命感。《泰晤士报》主编最近说，“在他们聚集的地方，编辑们互相问，‘你好吗？’，就好像他们刚出院或是刚刚败诉。”《卫报》网站上刊登过一篇关于报纸的文章，标题是“还没死”。

Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death. Some American newspapers have lost 42％ of their market value in the past three years. The New York Times Company has seen its stock drop by 54％ since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year. A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock. The Washington Post Comply has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education; its testing and test - preparation service now brings in at least half the company's income.
也许不会消亡，但互联网的兴起，让日报显得很落伍，与世界脱节，带来了真正的死亡感。在过去三年里，一些美国报纸的市值已经下跌42%。纽约时报公司的股票自2004年底以来下跌54%，大部分亏损发生在去年。德意志银行的一位经理建议股票持有人抛售泰晤士报的股票。《华盛顿邮报》已经将部分业务转为教育来避免陷入困境；它的考试和备考服务现在为公司带来了至少一半的收入。