0017 Reading the Newspaper

0017 Reading the Newspaper.mp3
0017 Reading the Newspaper.pdf

[start of story]

I fell into the habit of reading the newspaper every morning when I was a kid. Back then, there used to be two daily newspapers – a morning edition and an afternoon edition.

Nowadays, of course, most cities in the U.S. have just a morning paper. I'm not too picky about which newspaper I read, although when it comes to national newspapers, I prefer reading the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal over USA Today.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a news junkie. I just like browsing the different sections, reading the headlines, and checking out the classifieds. I usually skip the sport section and the funnies, and only flip through the food and health sections, but I always read the front page and the editorial page. On the weekends, I'll skim the entertainment section for movie listings and reviews.

I'm sort of old fashioned in that I still like reading a real, paper newspaper. Sure, I also read some of my news online, but nothing beats lounging around on Sunday morning reading the big, thick paper. Don't worry, though: I always recycle my stack of newspapers.

[end of story]

I started our story by saying that “I fell into the habit of reading the newspaper when I was a kid.” “To fall into a habit” means to start a habit, or to get a habit. A “habit” is something that you do frequently on a regular schedule, or often. “To fall into a habit” means to start doing something and continue to do that something over and over again in the future. I say that “I fell into the habit of reading the newspaper when I was a kid,” when I was a child. That's quite true. I actually did start reading the newspaper when I was a child. I always enjoyed reading some part of the paper.

I say that “Back then,” meaning when I was a child, many hundreds of years ago, “there used to be two daily newspapers.” “There used to be” means there once were two daily newspapers – newspapers that were published every day. Those newspapers were called the “morning edition” and “afternoon edition.” “Edition” (edition) is the version or the form of the newspaper. When newspapers had more than one edition every day, they would publish one newspaper in the morning and then a second newspaper in the afternoon. We would call the first, “the morning edition,” and the second, “the afternoon edition.” Some newspapers have national editions and local editions. They have one newspaper they publish for just the people in their city and then they have another newspaper they publish for people in other cities. It's a similar but not exactly the same newspaper.

I continue the story by saying that “Nowadays,” meaning now, “many cities in the U.S. have just a morning paper.” They only have a morning paper. I say, “I'm not too picky about which newspaper I read.” “To be picky” (picky) means to be selective, to say, “Oh, I want that but not that.” That would be someone who's picky, who has to have exactly the right thing. I say, “I'm not too picky.” I'm not very picky about which newspaper I read. “Although when it comes to” – when we’re talking about – “national newspapers, I prefer reading the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal over USA Today.” “To prefer one thing over another” means to want one thing more than the other, to like one thing more than the other. I prefer the New York Times, which is the most well-known newspaper in the United States, or the Wall Street Journal, which is the financial newspaper in the United States, over USA Today. USA Today is also a national newspaper but not considered to be a very high quality one – a very good one.

Then I say, “Don't get me wrong.” That expression, “Don't get me wrong,” means “Don't misinterpret what I'm about to say or what I just said. Don't misunderstand me. You might get the wrong idea by listening to what I say so be careful. I'm going to explain to you something you need to understand so that you don't misunderstand me.”

I follow the expression “don't get me wrong,” with the phrase or clause, “I'm not a news junkie.” A “news junkie” (junkie) would be someone who has to have news all the time, who wants as much news as possible. A “junkie” is usually someone who's addicted to some sort of drug like heroin or cocaine, but we use the term now to refer to things that people might like a lot of over and over again.

I say, “I'm not a news junkie. I just like browsing,” or looking through, “the different sections” – the different parts – of the paper. “I like to read the headlines” – the titles of the stories – “and check out,” or look at, “the classifieds.” “The classifieds,” also called the “classified ads,” are small advertisements, small ads in the back of the newspaper, typically for people who are selling things, for people who lost their cat, that sort of announcement, that sort of ad would go in the classifieds.

I then say that “I usually skip the sports section.” “To skip” (skip) here means to ignore, not to look at. So, I don't look at the sports section. I skip the sports section, “and the funnies.” “The funnies” is an informal name for the comics, the comic strips. In American newspapers, at least it used to be that you would have one page of nothing but comic strips, small little drawings with dialogues and people making jokes. You might've heard of the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schultz, with Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the other members of the Peanuts gang. Well, I don't look at the comic strips, the funnies. “I only flip through the food and health sections,” I say. “To flip (flip) through” means to turn the page quickly, just looking at things very quickly, not giving them a lot of your attention. I do that for the food and health sections, the sections of the newspaper where you would find news about health and recipes for food.

I say, “I always read the front page and the editorial page.” “The front page” of a newspaper is, well, the very first page that you read. It's where you can have all the most important news. “The editorial page” is, in an American newspaper, usually in the back of the first section of the newspaper, the first part of the newspaper. It contains people’s opinions. Sometimes they’re the opinions of the editors of the newspaper; sometimes there are the opinions of other writers. These are usually opinions about political topics. I say that “I always read the front page and the editorial page.”

“On weekends” – on Saturdays and Sundays – “I'll skim the entertainment section for movie listings and reviews.” “To skim” (skim) means to look at something quickly, not to read it very carefully. Often, you are just trying to get a general idea of what the text or story says. I say that “I skim the entertainment section.” That's the part of the newspaper which would talk about television programs and movies and art museums and so forth. “I look at the entertainment section for movie listings.” “Movie listings” refers to a list of movies and the times that those movies will start and the names of the theaters where you can see those movies.

So, if you want to see a specific movie, you can look in the movie listings and find the name of the movie and the name of the theater and the time that that movie is “showing,” or will be able to be seen. “Reviews” are people’s opinions about things like movies. So, I look at the movie listings and the reviews – what people are saying about the movie. Is it a good movie? Is it a bad movie? And so forth.

I say, “I'm sort of” – I'm kind of, I'm a little bit – “old fashioned.” “To be old fashioned” means to like things that are no longer popular, to act the way people acted perhaps many years ago. “I’m sort of old fashioned in that I still like reading a real paper newspaper.” Many people now read their news only online, only on the Internet. I say “I like the old traditional paper newspapers.” I say, “Sure, I also read some of my news online but nothing beats lounging around on Sunday morning reading the big, thick paper”

The expression “nothing beats (beats)” means nothing is better than. In this case, “Nothing beats lounging around.” “To lounge (lounge) around” means to sit comfortably in a chair and not do very much work, to relax. On Sundays, in the United States, the daily newspapers publish a larger edition. They publish a newspaper that has several extra sections in it, as well as lots of additional advertising. So, when I talk about a big thick newspaper, I mean a newspaper that's very large, that has a lot of sections. The Sunday paper is always larger than the other days of the week.

“Don't worry,” I say, “I always recycle my stack of newspapers.” “To recycle” (recycle) means to use again. In this case, to put the paper in a place where someone will pick it up and reuse that same paper. A “stack” (stack) is the same as a pile. It's one thing on top of another. If you had 10 paper newspapers all sitting one on top of the other, we would call that “a stack of newspapers.” We use the word “stack” in talking about newspapers and talking about magazines, or just plain old regular white paper. You can have a stack of paper on your desk.

Culture Note
The Least Influential People in the News

Every year, the well-known news magazine Time “compiles” (puts together) a list of the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. “Influential” people are those whose actions, ideas, or products affect a lot of other people, changing the way people think and behave.

Joel Stein, a “columnist” (writer or journalist who writes regularly for a newspaper or magazine) at Time, writes a “humorous” (funny) column or article that appears on the last page of the magazine each week. in 2010, he decided to compile his own list: The 100 Least Influential People of 2010. This list was “divided into” (separated into) four categories: Losers, Flameouts, Morons, and Slimy Bastards. These are all informal terms and insults for people who are undesirable, or that are unpleasant or unwanted, or simply people you don’t want to know or to be friends with.

A “loser” is someone who is not successful in life and often fails at what he or she tries to do. “To flame out” is an informal phrase meaning to fail in a very “conspicuous” (easy to see; seen by many people) way. We usually describe someone as flaming out if that person has tried to do something difficult or very public and failed “miserably” (very badly).

“Moron” is a very insulting term for a very stupid person. It is similar to “idiot,” but is even stronger and describes someone who is very, very stupid. On Stein’s list are several famous people from “reality shows” (shows putting real people in real or unusual circumstances) that he thinks are morons.

The last category is “Slimy Bastard.” The dictionary meaning of “bastard” is a child who is born to an unmarried mother. This is an old-fashion usage of this term and it isn’t used this way very often anymore. Instead, we use “bastard” as a synonym for jerk, someone who does bad things to other people and who deserves to be hated. Bastard is stronger than jerk, so people usually use it when they are very angry. We use “bastard” for men and almost never for women.

We describe someone as “slimy” when that person does dishonest, “immoral” (wrong) things, especially if he is “obsequious,” acting like a servant to other people hoping to gain some benefit from that person. So, a slimy bastard is a person who does bad things in a dishonest way, but always hoping to gain something for himself or herself.

[故事的开始]

我在小时候就养成了每天早上读报的习惯。那时，每天有两份报纸--上午版和下午版。

当然，现在美国的大多数城市只有一份早报。我对读哪份报纸并不太挑剔，不过说到全国性报纸，我更喜欢读《纽约时报》或《华尔街日报》而不是《今日美国》。

不要误会我的意思，我不是一个新闻迷。我只是喜欢浏览不同的栏目，阅读头条新闻，并查看分类信息。我通常跳过体育版和趣闻，只翻阅食品和健康版，但我总是阅读头版和社论版。在周末，我会浏览一下娱乐版的电影列表和评论。

我有点老派，因为我仍然喜欢阅读真正的纸质报纸。当然，我也在网上阅读一些新闻，但没有什么能比在周日早上悠闲地阅读又大又厚的报纸更好的了。不过，别担心：我总是回收我的一叠报纸。

[故事结束]

我在故事的开头说："我小时候就养成了看报纸的习惯。" "养成习惯 "是指开始养成一个习惯，或养成一个习惯。习惯 "是指你经常按计划做的事情，或经常做的事情。"养成习惯 "意味着开始做某件事，并在今后继续反复做这件事。我说，"我小时候就养成了看报纸的习惯"，当时我还是个孩子。这话很对。实际上，我确实在小时候就开始读报了。我总是喜欢读报纸的某些部分。

我说，"那时，"指的是当我还是个孩子的时候，很多年前，"过去有两份日报"。"曾经有 "是指曾经有两份日报--每天出版的报纸。那些报纸被称为 "上午版 "和 "下午版"。"Edition"（版本）是报纸的版本或形式。当报纸每天有一个以上的版本时，他们会在上午出版一份报纸，然后在下午出版第二份报纸。我们将第一份报纸称为 "上午版"，第二份称为 "下午版"。有些报纸有全国性的版本和地方性的版本。他们有一份报纸，只为他们城市的人出版，然后他们有另一份报纸，为其他城市的人出版。这是一份类似但不完全相同的报纸。

我继续说："如今，"意思是现在，"美国的许多城市只有一份早报"。他们只有一份早报。我说，"我对读哪份报纸不太挑剔"。"挑剔"（picky）的意思是有选择性的，说 "哦，我想要那个，但不是那个"。那将是一个挑剔的人，他必须要有完全正确的东西。我说，"我不太挑剔"。我对我读的报纸不是很挑剔。"尽管当涉及到"--当我们谈论--"全国性报纸时，我更喜欢读《纽约时报》或《华尔街日报》，而不是《今日美国》。" "宁缺毋滥 "的意思是，想要一件东西多于另一件，喜欢一件东西多于另一件。与《今日美国》相比，我更喜欢《纽约时报》，它是美国最知名的报纸，或《华尔街日报》，它是美国的金融报纸。今日美国》也是一份全国性报纸，但不被认为是一份非常高质量的报纸--一份非常好的报纸。

然后我说，"不要误会我的意思"。这句话，"不要误解我"，意思是 "不要误解我将要说的话或我刚刚说的话。不要误解我。你可能会因为听了我说的话而产生错误的想法，所以要小心。我要向你解释一些你需要理解的东西，这样你就不会误解我了。"

我在 "不要误解我 "的表达之后，用了一个短语或条款，"我不是一个新闻迷"。一个 "新闻迷"（junkie）将是一个必须一直有新闻的人，他想要尽可能多的新闻。一个 "瘾君子 "通常是指对某种药物上瘾的人，如海洛因或可卡因，但我们现在用这个词来指人们可能喜欢的东西，一次又一次地大量使用。

我说，"我不是一个新闻迷。我只是喜欢浏览，"或翻阅，"报纸的不同部分" - 不同的部分。"我喜欢读标题"--故事的标题--"并查看 "或看 "分类广告"。"分类广告"，也叫 "分类广告"，是小广告，报纸后面的小广告，通常是为卖东西的人，为丢了猫的人，这类公告，这类广告会放在分类广告里。
我接着说，"我通常跳过体育部分"。"跳过"（skip）在这里意味着忽略，而不是看。所以，我不看体育版。我跳过体育版，"还有趣事"。"The funnies "是漫画的一个非正式名称，即连环画。在美国的报纸上，至少在过去，你会有一个页面，只有连环画，有对话和人们开玩笑的小画。你可能听说过查尔斯-舒尔茨的连环画《花生》，里面有查理-布朗和史努比以及花生帮的其他成员。嗯，我不看连环画，不看趣事。"我只翻阅食品和健康部分，"我说。"翻(flip)过 "的意思是快速翻页，只是非常快速地看东西，不给他们很多的注意力。我对食品和健康部分是这样做的，报纸上的这些部分你会发现关于健康的新闻和食品的食谱。

我说，"我总是阅读头版和社论版。" 报纸的 "头版 "是，嗯，你读的第一页。在那里你可以看到所有最重要的新闻。"社论版 "在美国报纸中，通常在报纸第一部分的后面，是报纸的第一部分。它包含人们的意见。有时它们是报纸编辑的意见；有时有其他作家的意见。这些通常是关于政治话题的意见。我说，"我总是阅读头版和社论版。"

"在周末"--周六和周日--"我会略过娱乐版，看看电影列表和评论。" "略读"（skim）的意思是快速查看某样东西，而不是非常仔细地阅读它。通常情况下，你只是想对文本或故事的内容有一个大致的了解。我说，"我撇开娱乐部分"。那是报纸的一部分，会谈论电视节目和电影以及艺术博物馆等等。"我在娱乐版上看电影列表"。"电影列表 "指的是电影列表，以及这些电影将开始的时间和你可以看到这些电影的剧院名称。

因此，如果你想看一部特定的电影，你可以在电影列表中找到电影的名字和影院的名字，以及该电影 "放映 "的时间，或能够看到的时间。"评论 "是人们对电影等事物的看法。因此，我看电影列表和评论--人们对这部电影的评价。这是一部好电影吗？它是一部坏电影吗？等等。

我说，"我有点儿"--我有点儿，我有点儿--"老式"。"老气横秋 "意味着喜欢不再流行的东西，按照人们多年前的方式行事。"我有点老土，因为我仍然喜欢阅读真正的纸质报纸。" 现在很多人只在网上看新闻，只在互联网上看。我说："我喜欢古老的传统纸质报纸。" 我说："当然，我也在网上看一些新闻，但没有什么比在星期天早上悠闲地阅读又大又厚的报纸更好的了"

"没有什么比（beats）"这个说法意味着没有什么比。在这种情况下，"没有什么比闲逛更好"。"闲逛（lounge）"的意思是舒适地坐在椅子上，不做很多工作，放松。在美国，星期天，日报会出版一个较大的版本。他们出版的报纸里面有几个额外的栏目，还有很多额外的广告。因此，当我谈到一份大的厚报纸时，我的意思是一份非常大的报纸，有很多的章节。周日的报纸总是比一周的其他日子大。

"别担心，"我说，"我总是回收我的那堆报纸。" "回收"（recycle）意味着再次使用。在这种情况下，把报纸放在一个有人会捡到它并重新使用同一张纸的地方。一堆"（stack）与一堆是一样的。它是一个东西放在另一个东西的上面。如果你有10份纸质报纸，都是一个放在另一个上面，我们会称之为 "一摞报纸"。我们在谈论报纸和杂志时使用 "堆 "这个词，或者只是普通的普通白纸。你可以在你的桌子上放一叠纸。

文化说明
新闻中最没有影响力的人

每年，著名的新闻杂志《时代》都会 "编制"（放在一起）一份《时代100》的名单，这是一份世界上最具影响力的100人名单。"有影响力 "的人是指那些其行为、想法或产品影响了很多其他人，改变了人们的思维和行为方式。

乔尔-斯坦因是《时代》杂志的 "专栏作家"（定期为报纸或杂志撰稿的作家或记者），他撰写的 "幽默"（搞笑）专栏或文章每周都会出现在杂志的最后一页。2010年，他决定编制自己的名单。2010年的100位最没有影响力的人。这份名单被 "分为"（分隔成）四类。失败者，失意者，白痴，和卑鄙的混蛋。这些都是非正式的术语和侮辱，指的是那些不受欢迎的人，或令人不快或不受欢迎的人，或者干脆是你不想认识或成为朋友的人。

一个 "失败者 "是指在生活中不成功的人，他或她试图做的事情经常失败。"熄火 "是一个非正式的短语，意思是以一种非常 "显眼"（容易看到；被很多人看到）的方式失败。如果某人试图做一件困难或非常公开的事情，并且 "悲惨地"（非常糟糕地）失败了，我们通常会把这个人描述为熄火。

"白痴 "是一个非常侮辱性的术语，指的是一个非常愚蠢的人。它类似于 "白痴"，但更强烈，描述的是非常非常愚蠢的人。在斯坦因的名单上，有几个来自 "真人秀"（将真人置于真实或不寻常的环境中的节目）的名人，他认为他们是白痴。

最后一个类别是 "狡猾的混蛋"。字典上 "私生子 "的意思是指未婚母亲所生的孩子。这是这个词的老式用法，现在已经不经常这样用了。相反，我们用 "私生子 "作为混蛋的同义词，即对他人做坏事的人，他应该被憎恨。混蛋 "比 "混蛋 "更强烈，所以人们通常在非常生气时使用它。我们对男人使用 "混蛋"，而几乎不对女人使用。

当一个人做不诚实、"不道德"（错误）的事情时，特别是如果他 "谄媚"，表现得像其他人的仆人一样，希望从这个人身上获得一些好处时，我们就把这个人描述为 "黏糊糊"。因此，一个黏糊糊的混蛋是一个以不诚实的方式做坏事的人，但总是希望为自己获得一些好处。