问答题
Three hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or letter, and circulated in taverns and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and broadsides. Noted one observer: "The coffee houses particularly are very commodious for a free conversation, and for reading at an easie rate all manner of printed news." Everything changed in 1833 when the first mass-audience newspaper, the New York Sun, pioneered the use of advertising to reduce the cost of news, thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience. The penny press, followed by radio and television, turned news from a two-way conversation into a one-way broadcast, with a relatively small number of firms controlling the media.
Now, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The internet is making news more participatory, social, diverse and partisan, reviving the discursive ethos of the era before mass media.
【正确答案】
【答案解析】三百年前，新闻以口头或书面形式传播，并且以小册子、通讯、简报的形式在小餐馆和咖啡屋中流传。观察家指出：“咖啡屋极为宽敞，是进行自由交谈、自在阅读各种新闻的理想场所。”但是一切在1833年发生了变化，第一份面向大众的报纸——《纽约太阳报》——率先引入广告来降低新闻成本，并因此为广告商寻到更多的观众。报纸以及随后而来的无线电广播、电视，通过控制媒体的少数公司，将新闻从双向的交流变为单向的传播。
现在，新闻产业正在回归到与咖啡屋类似的形式。因特网使新闻变得更易参与，更具有社会性，更多样化，更容易听到不同的声音，让新闻从大众媒体重回百家争鸣的时代。
[解析] (1)引号内的句子主干为The coffee houses particularly are very commodious for...and for...(咖啡屋尤其宽敞，适合……并适合……)，也可意译为“是……的理想场所”。第二个。for实际上为for reading all manner of printed news at an easie rate(自由自在地阅读各种新闻)。
(2)Everything changed in 1833...意为“一切在1833年发生了变化……”，为使译文更流畅，根据语意前面增译“但是”。
(3)The penny press即“便士报纸”，是《纽约太阳报》的别称。文中使用了替代的修辞手法，来泛指所有报纸。
(4)第一段最后一句话，为使译文流畅并符合汉语多短句的表达习惯，在翻译时需要将with介词结构放在谓语前。
(5)第二段第一句中something closer to the coffee house其实就是指后面提到的因特网。
(6)partisan意为“党派的”，文中结合语境译为“不同声音的”。
(7)reviving the discursive ethos of the era before mass media大意为“恢复到大众媒体之前的时代的……”。discursive ethos意为“散漫的社会思潮”，可译为“百家争鸣”，使译文更文雅。