考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:假新闻和标题党，供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:假新闻和标题党
Should the government determine what counts as quality journalism?
好的新闻应该由政府来确定吗?
Or should the job be left to private companies?
或是让私人公司来确定?
The news is not what it used to be. These days most consumers get most of their bulletins online. Since online publishing is cheap, a profusion of new sources have sprung up.
新闻已经不是过去的样子了。如今，大多数人都从网上看新闻。由于在线出版的成本低廉，大量新的媒体如雨后春笋般涌现。
Websites run by established newspapers compete with newer, online-only outlets and professional (or amateur) blogs, not to mention the mix of articles, digital chain-letters and comments curated by the algorithms of social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
老牌新闻媒体运营的网站正在与更新的、仅提供在线资讯的网站以及专业(或业余)的博客相互竞争，更不用说由 Facebook 和 Twitter 等社交媒体网站基于算法的文章、用户间连续转发和评论的组合拳了。
Established media have struggled. Much of the advertising that used to pay journalists’ salaries has gone to Facebook and Google, the two big technology firms that dominate the market for online advertising.
老牌媒体一直在苦苦挣扎。过去用于付给记者们薪水的广告大部分都流向了 Facebook 和谷歌，这两大科技公司主导着在线广告市场。
Print circulation has collapsed. Local papers have been particularly hard hit, with many going bust.
报刊印刷量大幅下降。地方小报受到的打击尤为严重，许多甚至都破产了。
Social-media algorithms prioritise attention-grabbing clickbait over boring truth, which helps propel nonsense around the world. Collins, a dictionary-publisher, declared “fake news” its 2017 neologism of the year.
社交媒体的算法会优先考虑吸引眼球的标题党新闻，而非无聊的真新闻，这导致世界各个角落都充斥着假新闻。词典出版商柯林斯甚至把“假新闻”一词评为2017年的年度新词。
In 2018 the government asked Dame Frances Cairncross, an economist (and former journalist on this newspaper) to ponder what, if anything, it should do about all this. On February 12th her report was published. It mostly rejects the idea that journalism deserves a bail-out.
2018年，英国政府向(本报前记者)弗朗西丝·凯恩克罗斯请教，如果可以的话，政府应该为此做些什么呢。2月12日，她发表了一份报告，报告在很大程度上反对新闻业应该得到纾困这一观点。
Mostly, but not entirely. Dame Frances argues that public-interest journalism is undersupplied by the market, and that the government should support it via tax breaks or direct funding. Two types of journalism in particular deserve support.
但也并非完全反对。弗朗西丝认为，公共利益新闻在市场上供不应求，政府应该通过减税或直接资助来予以支持。尤其是两类新闻应该得到支持。
One is that which investigates corruption and the abuse of power. Despite its cachet, such work is expensive, difficult and—from a commercial point of view—generally not worth it.
一类是调查腐败和滥用权力的新闻。这类新闻颇具威望，但其所需做的工作也是昂贵和困难的，而且从商业角度来看通常是不值得的。
The other is the sort of thing local newspapers used to provide: writing up planning meetings, trials in local courts and the like.
另一类过去常常出现在地方小报上：刊登计划会议、地方法院的案件审判等等。
It is hard to imagine any news less likely to go viral. Yet the report cites research suggesting that a lack of it undermines voter turnout and civic engagement.
很难想象这类新闻能够病毒式的传播开来。然而，该报告援引的研究表明，这类新闻的缺乏会导致选民投票率和公民参与度的降低。
The most eye-catching recommendation, though, is that online platforms such as Google and Facebook be given a “news quality obligation”, backed by a regulator, requiring them to promote only news from reliable outlets.
然而，最引人注目的建议是，谷歌和 Facebook 等在线平台应该被赋予一项 “新闻质量义务”，并且得到监管机构的支持，这项义务要求它们只能推广来自可靠渠道的新闻。
“This is really unprecedented,” reckons Rasmus Nielsen of the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford (which is funded partly by the press and big tech firms). “I can’t think of another democracy in which there is a call for regulatory oversight of what constitutes ‘quality’ in the news.”
牛津大学路透研究所(该研究所部分是由媒体和大型科技公司资助的)的拉斯穆斯·尼尔森说:“这真是史无前例，我实在想不出还有哪个民主国家会呼吁人们对新闻‘质量’进行监管的。”
But it fits with growing worries that the ability of a small number of technology firms to amplify and disseminate news may be unhealthy. Politicians have called for the likes of Google to censor everything from fake news stories to articles about suicide and self-harm.
但这也正应了人们对于少数科技公司日益增加的担忧，这些公司所拥有的放大和传播新闻的能力可能是有害的。政界人士呼吁谷歌等这类公司对所有内容(从假新闻到自杀和自残的文章)进行审查。
Resistant at first, firms are trying to comply. But they are walking into a minefield. The smartphone version of Edge, Microsoft’s web browser, for instance, now warns users about sites it deems untrustworthy.
起初，各公司都很抵触，但如今正在试图遵守。但他们正在步入雷区。例如，微软的网络浏览器Edge的手机版现在对于它认为不值得信任的网站会向用户发出警告。
In January it flagged MailOnline, the widely read website of the pearl-clutching Daily Mail, for “generally [failing] to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability”. After the Mail complained, the warning was removed.
今年1月，《每日邮报》旗下拥有众多读者的网站MailOnline被Edge标为“此网站通常无法达到新闻准确性和责任性的基本标准”。在遭到每日邮报的投诉后，警告才被删掉。
Having governments rate the media would be an awkward policy for a liberal democracy. But the report argues that the alternative—leaving it to the judgment of private companies—is even worse.
对一个自由民主的国家来说，让政府对媒体进行评级将是一项尴尬的政策。但弗朗西丝的报告认为，替代方案(让私人公司来判断)更糟糕。
[重难点词汇]
denounce [dɪ'naʊns] vt. 谴责;告发;公然抨击;通告废除
bourgeois [,bʊr'ʒwɑ] n. 资本家;中产阶级的人 adj. 资产阶级的;中产阶级的;贪图享受的
splurge [splɝdʒ] vi. 挥霍;卖弄 n. 挥霍;炫耀 vt. 挥霍;夸耀
confiscate ['kɑnfɪsket] vt. 没收;充公;查抄 adj. 被没收的
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:假新闻和标题党”，希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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