10.Our basic biological challenge is to survive and get into the gene pool, so avoiding danger and taking advantage of opportunities for eating/shelter/mating are cognitively important. Events related to these needs are inherently emotionally arousing, and successful mass media programmers understand this.
10.我们生理上的基本挑战是生存和繁衍后代，因此，躲避危险、利用各种机会来吃、住、 交配被认为是头等大事。与这些需求相关的事件本身就能激发起人的情感。 成功的大众传媒 策划人都了解这一点。
11.People complain about the amount of violence, sexuality, and commercialism in mass media, but let's look at the issue from a TV programmer's perspective. Channel surfers will give a TV program only a few seconds before moving to the next channel, so programmers focus on content sequences with a high probability for emotional arousal - and program content and commercials related to violence, sexuality, and food/shelter do attract and hold attention. Consider the recent media focus on terrorist violence, the Taliban treatment of women, the food/shelter problems now facing the families of those killed and Afghani refugees -- and the resultant widespread outpouring of anger and support.
11.人们抱怨大众传媒中充斥着大量的暴力、性和商业行为，但是让我们从一位电视编导的 角度来看待该问题。 浏览电视频道的观众关注一个电视节目的时间只有数秒钟， 然后就会转到另一个频道去。
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因此，电视编导们关注于内容的顺序，尽可能地激发观众的情感—而与暴 力、性、食物/住房有关的节目和广告的确能吸引并抓住观众的注意力。想想最近的新闻焦点:恐怖主义的暴力，塔利班如何对待妇女，死亡人员家属及阿富汗难民所面临的食物住房问题—以及由此进发出的怒潮和大规模的声援行动。
12.Similarly, other forms of mass media, from churches to sporting events explicitly or implicitly include these attention-getters in their programming (consider hell-and-brimstone and sexual purity sermons and the appeal of church suppers; or football violence, cheerleaders, and drinks-and-chips).
12.同样，其他形式的大众媒体，不管是教会还是体育赛事，均或明里暗里地包含了这些吸 引眼球的东西(例如炼狱般的折磨、关于性纯洁的布道以及诱人的教会晚餐等。或足球暴力、 啦啦队、饮料和炸薯条等)。
13.Mass media thus exploit areas of strong emotional arousal to help shape our knowledge and opinions - such as with our rapid media-driven increase in knowledge of the terrorists and their victims. Osama bin Laden had previously been a peripheral media figure. The several thousands victims had been invisible office workers until many newspapers published a series of anecdotal obituaries of all of them. Police and firefighters across the country were suddenly elevated in esteem - as was New York's mayor, severely criticized prior to September 11. A nation already beset by a finan
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cial downturn had to become emotionally aroused to respond. Charities similarly use examples of a few individuals in desperate straits to encourage contributions for a much broader assistance program.
13.因此，大众传媒利用能够唤起强烈情感的信息领域来帮助我们构建知识、形成观点。例 如，媒体的报道让我们短时间内对恐怖分子和受害者方面的知识急剧增加，而在此前，媒体对本· 拉登鲜有报道。在许多报纸发布一系列带点轶事风格的讣告之前，那几千名受害者都只是些默默无名的上班族，不为我们所知。和纽约市市长一样，全国的警察和消防队员突然 之间受到了前所未有的赞誉，而 9\之前，他们都曾备受苛责。一个深受金融危机困扰的 国家必须将民众的情感调动起来以应对危机。 慈善机构同样会以少数几个身处绝境的个人为 例，鼓励人们为范围更广的援助项目捐款。
14.Given such manipulative potential over our affective processes, it's important to know who determines the content of mass media. A relatively small number of large corporations control much of our nation's print and electronic media (newspapers, publishing houses, radio/TV stations,
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cable systems, etc.). Further, a relatively small number of media stars reach vast audiences-- syndicated newspaper columnists and cartoonists, radio and TV talk show hosts, late night TV comedians. On the other hand, most newspapers include editorial columnists who disagree with each other, and the Sunday morning political TV shows are characterized more by argument than agreement. A major media organization that defines itself too narrowly risks reaching a limited audience when they need a massive audience to survive - so this financial reality forces at least some balance in programming.
14.鉴于媒体具有操控我们的情感过程的潜力，知晓谁在决定大众传媒的内容非常重要。为 数不多的几家大公司控制着我们国家大部分的印刷和电子媒体(报纸、出版社、广播电台/电 视台、有线电视系统等)。此外，为数不多的一些媒体明星，例如辛迪加报业专栏作家和漫 画家、广播和电视谈话节目主持人、午夜电视喜剧演员，也影响着大量的观众。另一方面， 大多数报纸的社论专栏作家们彼此间的意见都不一致， 周日上午的政治电视节目的特点是争论多于统一。一个主要的媒体机构如果定位过于狭窄，它将会面临观众太少的风险，而要生 存下去就必须拥有大量的观众—因此，经济现实迫使其在编导过程中至少需要一定的平衡。
15.Magazines and radio stations are perhaps the most successful narrowly defined mass media formats - typically being upfront about seeking an audience who shares their narrow perspective (e.g., Rolling Stone, Go
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urmet, Ms., The Christian Century, Sports Illustrated - golden oldies, jazz, classical, rock music radio stations)。
15.在狭义的大众传媒形式中，.杂志和广播电台或许是最成功的—其典型做法，是直接地迎合 那些与其旨趣相投的受众(例如， 《滚石》 、 《美食》 、 《女士》 、 《基督教世纪》 、 《体育画报》 、 金曲音乐台、爵士乐台、古典乐台、摇滚音乐台等)。
16.The Computer Age has revolutionized mass media. The Internet allows the universal inexpensive publication of ideas, whether it's an email message sent to everyone on one's list or a narrowly-defined website that's available to anyone. Desktop publication and advances in duplicating technology have reduced the need for authors to go through a publisher. 16.计算机时代彻底改变了大众传媒。互联网让所有人无需太多花费即可发布个人观点，无 论是以电子邮件的形式送达邮件地址簿里的每一个人， 还是发布到一个人人都可浏览的局域 网。桌面出版和复印技术的发展使得作者无需通过出版商即可出版自己的作品。 17.So it's a cultural paradox. We're simultaneously experiencing the centralization of influence in corporate mass media and the rapid expansion of populist mass media. Both pose dangers and opportunities. 17.因此，这就构成了一个文化悖论。我们一方面在见证传媒业日趋集中的势头，而另一方 面又在经历着大众传媒向平民化方向迅猛发展的大潮。这两者都蕴含着危险和机遇。
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