2011 Text 2（英语二）报纸的消亡

Whatever happened to the death of newspaper?

是什么导致了报纸行业死亡？

A year ago, the end seemed near.

一年前，报纸的终结似乎就要来临。

The recession threatened to remove the advertising and readers that had not already fled to the internet.

经济衰退让那些尚未转投互联网的广告商和读者开始动摇。

Newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle were chronicling their own doom.

新闻报纸比如旧金山纪事报当时就在把自己的厄运编档入案。

America's Federal Trade Commission launched a round of talks about how to save newspapers.

美国的联邦贸易委员会多次讨论如何拯救报纸行业。

Should they become charitable corporations?

他们应该成为慈善公司吗？

Should the state subsidize them?

国家应该资助这些报纸行业吗？

It will hold another meeting soon.

下一轮会议马上就要召开。

But the discussions now seem out of date.

但这种讨论已经过时了。

In much of the world, there is little sign of crisis.

放眼全球报业，危机的征兆不明显。

German and Brazilian papers have shrugged off the recession.

德国和巴西的报纸行业对危机不屑一顾。

Even American newspapers, which inhabit the most troubled corner of the global industry, have not only survived but often returned to profit.

即使是栖身于全球经济最混乱角落的美国报纸也不仅幸存了下来，并重新开始盈利。

Not the 20% profit margins that were routine a few years ago, but profit all the same.

虽然利润率不是几年前惯常的 20%，但不管怎样至少现在有钱可赚。

It has not been much fun.

虽然情况好转，却不可过于乐观。

Many papers stayed afloat by pushing journalists overboard.

许多报纸通过裁减记者渡过难关。

The American Society of News Editors reckons that 13,500 newsroom jobs have gone since 2007.

据美国新闻编辑协会统计，2007 年（全美）报社编辑职位缩减了13500。

Readers are paying more for slimmer products.

报纸售价上调，但提供的服务却在减少。

Some papers even had the nerve to refuse delivery to distant suburbs.

一些报纸甚至下决心取消了偏远乡村的报纸配送业务。

Yet these desperate measures have proved the right ones and, sadly for many journalists, they can be pushed further.

这些孤注一掷的措施发挥了效果，也让报社敢于采取更加极端的办法，这对于许多记者来说并不是好消息。

Newspapers are becoming more balanced businesses, with a healthier mix of revenues from readers and advertisers.

随着报业广告收益和发行收益结构更为合理，报业的运营日趋平衡。

American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads.

长期以来，美国报业畸形发展，过于依赖广告收益。

Fully 87% of their revenues came from advertising in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD) .

经济合作与发展组织称：2008 年，美国报业 87% 的利润来自广告。

In Japan, the proportion is 35%.

而同期日本的比例为 35%。

Not surprisingly, Japanese newspapers are much more stable.

理所应当，日本报业更为稳定。

The whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has been concentrated in areas where newspapers are least distinctive.

这场（人事调整的）旋风席卷编辑部，无人幸免，报社中最不具特色的部门损失惨重。

Car and film reviewers have gone. So have science and general business reporters.

汽车和电影评论员黯然离开，科学和普通商业新闻记者也未能幸免。

Foreign bureaus have been savagely cut off. Newspapers are less complete as a result.

驻外办事处被无情的精减，这使得报纸变得不那么全面完整了。

But completeness is no longer a virtue in the newspaper business.