General hints on the British press
Britain is one of the few countries where daily newspapers are delivered at the door, before breakfast. Paperboys and girls push the papers through letterboxes before going to school. It is a luxury for the British, and for the paperboy or girl it is a way of earning extra pocket money.
National newspapers are papers which are sold in all parts of Britain. Nearly all the national newspapers have their head offices in London, but the famous newspaper street, Fleet Street, now houses only one of them, The Daily Express. The rest have moved to cheaper parts of London, particularly Docklands, once part of the port of London.
The national papers can be divided into two main groups: quality papers and popular papers. Quality papers like The Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Financial Times, The Observer, The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph report national and international news very thoroughly. They also publish articles on many general subjects. The popular papers tend to make news sensational, and to publish 'personal' articles which shock and excite. News of the World has the largest circulation in the Western world. Much of its information concerns the private lives of people who are in the news.
Besides the national press there is also the provincial press or newspapers published outside London. They present national as well as local news. Many of them have a good standard but are less well-known. A new development in provincial press is the rapid growth in the number of free newspapers. More than 800 of these local papers are given free of charge to 36,000,000 people each week. They are financed mainly by advertising.
There are 7,000 periodicals published in the UK weekly, monthly or quarterly. Of these, women's magazines have the largest circulations: Woman and Woman's Own. There are magazines and journals for almost every trade, profession, sport, hobby or interest. The most important periodicals for the more serious readers are: The Economist, The Spectator, The New Statesman. It should be noted that Punch, a long-established humorous magazine, also has serious articles.
Do you know these words?
hint намек, совет, зд. некоторые сведения; to hint at smth намекать на что-либо
to deliver поставлять, приносить; to deliver a lecture прочитать лекцию
luxury роскошь
to move to переехать в
thorough [´θ٨rə] полный, тщательный; syn. complete, total, absolute
circulation [٫sə:kju´lei∫n] тираж
free of charge бесплатный, бесплатно; syn. free, gratis, without charge
Exercise 15a. Answer the following questions:
How are daily newspapers delivered to English readers?
What national quality newspapers are published in Britain?
What is Fleet Street famous for?
What is Docklands?
How many periodicals are published in the UK?
Does Punch publish only humorous materials?
b Use the verbs in the right forms, read and translate the sentences:
National newspapers (to sell) in all parts of Britain.
Almost all national newspapers (to have) their head offices in London.
Quality national newspapers (to report) national and international news thoroughly.
They (not to make) news sensational to shock and excite readers.
They also (to publish) various articles on many general subjects in a very objective way.
The provincial newspapers (to publish) outside London.
They (to present) national and local news at a good standard but they (to be) less well-known.
Exercise 16a. Choose the right words from this list, read and translate the sentences:
humorous, periodicals, free of charge, advertising, quarterly, circulations, trade
Many provincial newspapers are distributed ...
Most provincial press is financed by ...
There are about seven thousand periodicals published in the UK weekly, monthly, or ...
Women’s magazines have the largest ...
There are magazines and journals for almost every …, profession, sport, hobby or interest.
The Economist is one of the most important ...
They publish a few ... magazines of which Punch is most popular.
b Translate into English:
В статье говорится о различных газетах и журналах, издаваемых в Англии.
В названиях газет и журналов обычно употребляется определенный артикль, например The Times.
В журналах для женщин обычно много интересного. Иногда в целях рекламы к ним прилагаются образцы кремов, духов.
с Write a plan of the text and retell it accordingly.
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