Chapter 2 Social Science 社会科学

Passage 1 Public Trust in the News L1320

I. Warm Up

1.1 Vocabulary

Vocabulary　Definition

circulation [ˌsɜːrkjəˈleɪʃn]

n. 流通；发行量

the extent of dissemination as the average number of copies of a publication sold over a given period

exempt [ɪɡˈzempt]

adj. 被免除的；被豁免的

free or released from some liability or requirement to which others are subject

ombudsman [ˈɑːmbʊdzmən]

n. 调查官；巡视官

one that investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints

conflation [kənˈfleɪʃn]

n. 合并

the act of putting two or more things together to make one new thing

epistemological [ˌepɪˌdiːmiəˈlɑːdʒɪkl]

adj. 认识论的

of or relating to epistemology

slant [slænt]

n. 偏向；偏见

a peculiar or personal point of view, attitude, or opinion

parity [ˈpærəti]

n. 平等；价值对等

the quality or state of being equal or equivalent

citadel [ˈsɪtədəl]

n. 城堡；堡垒

a castle on high ground in or near a city where people could go when the city was being attacked

veracity [vəˈræsəti]

n. 诚实；真诚；真实

the quality of being true; the habit of telling the truth

oblique [əˈbliːk]

adj. 倾斜的

sloping at an angle

contingent [kənˈtɪndʒənt]

adj. 偶然发生的；意外的

happening by chance or unforeseen causes

provisional [prəˈvɪʒənl]

adj. 暂时的；暂定的

serving for the time being

relentless [rɪˈlentləs]

adj. 不间断的；不懈的

not stopping or getting less strong; refusing to give up or be less strict or severe

rival [ˈraɪvl]

n. 对手；竞争者

a person, group, or organization that you compete with in sport, business, a fight etc

embody [ɪmˈbɑːdi]

v. 表现；使具体化

to make concrete and perceptible

reluctance [rɪˈlʌktəns]

n. 不情愿的；勉强

the quality or state of being unwilling or hesitant

uneasy [ʌnˈiːzi]

adj. 心神不安的；不舒服的

apprehensive, worried

credibility [ˌkredəˈbɪləti]

n. 可靠性；可信任性

the quality that somebody/something has that makes people believe or trust them

dumb down

简化；低级化

to lower the general level of intelligence

bluster [ˈblʌstər]

n. 吓唬；嚎叫；怒嚎

loudly boastful or threatening speech

1.2 Background Information

Public Trust（公信力）

公信力是使公众信任的力量，它涉及的领域很广，包括政府、媒体、司法等。

本文讨论的公信力属于媒体范畴。在此范畴内，可以将公信力理解为新闻报道使公众认可的力量，即公众是否认可新闻媒体的权威性和报道的真实性。

1.3 Reading Skills

1.3.1 Skimming

Read the title and make assumption about things that might be discussed in the following passage. List THREE of them.

Read the introduction and conclusion parts, and summarize the main idea of this passage.

1.3.2 Finding the Keywords

The news is a form of public knowledge. Unlike personal or private knowledge （such as the health of one’s friends and family; the conduct of a private hobby; a secret liaison）, public knowledge increases in value as it is shared by more people. The date of an election and the claims of rival candidates; the causes and consequences of an environmental disaster; a debate about how to frame a particular law; the latest reports from a war zone—these are all examples of public knowledge that people are generally expected to know in order to be considered informed citizens. Thus, in contrast to personal or private knowledge, which is generally left to individuals to pursue or ignore, public knowledge is promoted even to those who might not think it matters to them. In short, the circulation of public knowledge, including the news, is generally regarded as a public good which cannot be solely demand-driven.

The production, circulation and reception of public knowledge is a complex process. It is generally accepted that public knowledge should be authoritative, but there is not always common agreement about what the public needs to know, who is best placed to relate and explain it, and how authoritative reputations should be determined and evaluated.

Historically, newspapers such as The Times and broadcasters such as the BBC were widely regarded as the trusted shapers of authoritative agendas and conventional wisdom. They embodied the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of authority as the “power over, or title to influence, the opinions of others.” As part of the general process of the transformation of authority whereby there has been a reluctance to uncritically accept traditional sources of public knowledge, the demand has been for all authority to make explicit the frames of value which determine their decisions. Centres of news production, as our focus groups show, have not been exempt from this process. Not surprisingly perhaps some news journalists feel uneasy about this renegotiation of their authority: Editors are increasingly casting a glance at the “most read” lists on their own and other websites to work out which stories matter to readers and viewers. And now the audience—which used to know its place—is being asked to act as a kind of journalistic ombudsman, ruling on our credibility. The result of democratising access to TV news could be political disengagement by the majority and a dumbing down through a popularity contest of stories.

Despite the rhetorical bluster of these statements, they amount to more than straightforward professional defensiveness. In their reference to an audience “which used to know its place” and conflation between democratisation and “dumbing down,” they are seeking to argue for a particular mode of public knowledge: one which is shaped by experts, immune from populist pressures; and disseminated to attentive, but mainly passive recipients. It is a view of citizenship that closes down opportunities for popular involvement in the making of public knowledge by reinforcing the professional claims of experts. The journalists quoted above are right to feel uneasy, for there is, at almost every institutional level in contemporary society, skepticism towards the epistemological authority of expert elites. There is a growing feeling, as expressed by several of our focus group participants, that the news media should be “informative rather than authoritative;” the job of journalists should be to “give the news as raw as it is, without putting their slant on it” and people should be given “sufficient information” from which “we would be able to form opinions of our own.”

At stake here are two distinct conceptions of authority. The journalists we have quoted are resistant to the democratisation of news: the supremacy of the clickstream （according to which editors raise or lower the profile of stories according to the number of readers clicking on them online）; the parity of popular culture with “serious” news; the demands of some audience members for raw news rather than constructed narratives. In short, they maintain that authority for determining and telling news stories should rest with them. In contrast, some focus group participants seem to be asking for untreated news, without added interpretations and biases. They claim to want to remove the intermediary role of storytellers and opinion shapers, leaving the public to produce its own news narratives. We doubt, however, whether more than a small and unrepresentative minority would be prepared go to the trouble of sifting through and deciphering the entire news feed. Both the public and the journalists are expressing anxieties about the place of authority. The former are concerned about a gulf between public knowledge and public experience which has led over half of the British population think that the news as presented to them does not seem relevant to their lives. The latter are concerned that they are now regularly regarded as amongst the least trusted occupations in society. At the heart of these anxieties is a conflict of views about what it means for news producers to serve the public.

A number of the focus group participants suggested that the media determined rather than reported the news. As the exercise of political power becomes more systemically mediatised, with considerations of message impact often shaping policy decisions, the news media has come to be seen, certainly by academic observers, as implicated in the production of the stories they claim to be reporting upon. Regarded as “insiders,” looking out from the citadels of power rather than outsiders looking in, journalists were perceived as being compromised by their proximity to social power.

Before moving on to consider how focus group participants defined news, and the extent to which news producers share this definition, we should be clear about what we understand by trust in the news. Clearly, there were some concerns amongst focus group participants about the veracity of particular news stories—but these were not common. （Indeed, as we shall see in the next section, journalists were more likely to speak about stories being made up than were focus group participants.） Generally speaking, those in our focus groups did not consider journalists to be dishonest or accounts of the news to be inaccurate. Distrust took a more oblique form. The participants seemed to be questioning the institutional integrity of news production rather than individual news producers. They were concerned, as we shall see, about how news comes to be released; what is left out of the news; who news producers imagine they are talking to; and whether there are certain interpretations of social events that cannot be spoken. As one person put it when asked whether she trusted the news, “I don’t know; I always believe it until I get told otherwise.” In another focus group, a participant concluded that “There comes a point where you have to believe something,” to which another participant responded, “Yes, but it depends who’s telling you.” Trust, it would seem, is contingent and provisional. Authority is permanently vulnerable to refutation. Public knowledge, in such circumstances, can only ever be unstable, the latest news a mere fleeting episode in a relentless process of revision and re-description of reality.

II. Text Structure

Fill in the blank based on the context.

III. Argument Analysis

Claim

The news is a form of public knowledge.

Question 1: Look for the reason to support the claim.

A. Unlike personal or private knowledge （such as the health of one’s friends and family; the conduct of a private hobby; a secret liaison）, public knowledge increases in value as it is shared by more people.

B. They embodied the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of authority as the “power over, or title to influence, the opinions of others”.

C. A number of the focus group participants suggested that the media determined rather than reported the news.

D. Distrust took a more oblique form.

Reason

In their reference to an audience “which used to know its place” and conflation between democratisation and “dumbing down,” they are seeking to argue for a particular mode of public knowledge: one which is shaped by experts, immune from populist pressures; and disseminated to attentive, but mainly passive recipients.

Question 2: Identify the claim for this reason.

A. A number of the focus group participants suggested that the media determined rather than reported the news.

B. As the exercise of political power becomes more systemically mediatised, with considerations of message impact often shaping policy decisions, the news media has come to be seen, certainly by academic observers, as implicated in the production of the stories they claim to be reporting upon.

C. Despite the rhetorical bluster of these statements, they amount to more than straightforward professional defensiveness.

D. The participants seemed to be questioning the institutional integrity of news production rather than individual news producers.

IV. Rhetorical Analysis

The journalists we have quoted are resistant to the democratization of news: the supremacy of the clickstream （according to which editors raise or lower the profile of stories according to the number of readers clicking on them online）; the parity of popular culture with “serious” news; the demands of some audience members for raw news rather than constructed narratives.

修辞 parallelism

分析 标志结构：the...of...

作用 通过重复结构，加深读者印象，强调新闻民主化的三个表现（为记者们带来的是负面影响）。

翻译 之前提到的记者们反对新闻民主化：点击量的绝对权威（编辑们根据读者点击的数量来决定是否扩大某则新闻的公众影响力）；将大众流行文化与“严肃”新闻一视同仁；一些读者要求的是未经精心加工的、纯粹的新闻。

V. Language and Style

5.1 Language Focus

5.1.1 Pronoun Reference 代词指代

The meaning of a pronoun is determined by its antecedent, the noun it substitutes for.

代词的意义是由其先行词，即所指代的名词决定的。

Principal use of the pronoun代词主要用法

Make a pronoun refer clearly to a specific antecedent

代词要清晰指代一个具体的先行词

When the pronoun “this, that, which, or it” refers to a whole idea or situation described in the preceding clause, sentence, or even paragraph, a broad reference occurs. It is acceptable only when the pronoun refers clearly to the entire preceding clause.

当代词this, that, which, it用于指代前一个从句、句子或段落时，产生广泛指代。但这种情况仅在代词可以清晰明确地指代前面整个内容（从句、句子或段落）时成立。

例句 As part of the general process of the transformation of authority whereby there has been a reluctance to uncritically accept traditional sources of public knowledge, the demand has been for all authority to make explicit the frames of value which determine their decisions. Centres of news production, as our focus groups show, have not been exempt from this process.

分析 此处的this process不能换为this，因为它不能指代之前提及的整个句子（as...）。

例句 A participant concluded that “There comes a point where you have to believe something,” to which another participant responded, “Yes, but it depends who’s telling you.”

分析 此处it指代的是之前提及的整个句子（there comes a point...）

Use “it” only one way in a sentence.

在同一个句子里，“it”只能指代一个内容

例句 The job of journalists should be to “give the news as raw as it is, without putting their slant on it.”

分析 此处it只指代news。

Pronoun Drills

Choose the best replacement for the underlined part in each of the following sentences.

1. Scientists have determined that the cause of the disease （for bats） is a fungus that flourishes in cold, wet environments and reproduces by generating spores that can lodge in the floors and walls of caves as well as on their muzzles, ears, wing membranes, and hairless body parts.

A. their

B. its

C. scientists’

D. bats’

2. Despite the important contributions these First Ladies made to American society, her activism often resulted in harsh critiques.

A. her

B. their

C. they’re

D. there

3. Since the molecules do not dissolve in water or blood, they are also transported to various parts of the body by lipoproteins, which breaks down fat in the bloodstream and turns it into energy.

A. they are

B. that is

C. it is

D. this is

4. Although something from the original text is inevitably lost in the translated version, an evaluation of a translation should take into account not only literal consistence to the original essay, but also the creative act that each new work constitutes in their own right.

A. their

B. its

C. it’s

D. there

5. The term “hospitalist” refers to physicians who devote most of their career to the care of hospitalized patients with serious diseases.

A. there

B. their

C. his or her

D. they’re

5.1.2 Comma 逗号

Comma is one of the most frequently used punctuation marks, which customarily indicates a brief pause. It usually functions within sentences to separate elements.

逗号是最常用的标点符号之一，表示短暂停顿。它通常被用于句子之中，起分隔句子成分的作用。

Principal Uses of Comma主要用法

1. Using commas to separate two or more than two elements that function equally in a sentence

使用逗号隔开句子中功能相同的两个或多个成分

Using commas to separate items in a series

使用逗号隔开一系列并列成分（两个以上）

例句 The production, circulation and reception of public knowledge is a complex process.

翻译 公共知识的生产、流通和接收是一个复杂的过程。

分析 本句中为名词并列。

例句 There is not always common agreement about what the public needs to know, who is best placed to relate and explain it, and how authoritative reputations should be determined and evaluated.

翻译 人们在公众需要知道什么，谁是最适合解释这些内容的人，以及如何认定、评价权威及方向仍无法达成一致。

分析 本句中为短句并列。

Using a comma and a coordinating conjunction to separate two independent clauses

使用逗号和并列连词隔开两个独立完整句

Note: A coordinating conjunction is a conjunction that joins two similarly constructed and/or syntactically equal words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence.

并列连词是一种连接句中两个结构相似或句法上功能相同的单词、词组或子句的连词。

例句 It is generally accepted that public knowledge should be authoritative, but there is not always common agreement about what the public needs to know, who is best placed to relate and explain it, and how authoritative reputations should be determined and evaluated.

翻译 人们一致认为公共知识应该有权威性，但在对于公众需要知道什么，谁是最适合解释这些内容的人，以及如何认定、评价权威等方面仍无法达成一致。

分析 此处“, but”隔开了两个独立完整句。

例句 The journalists quoted above are right to feel uneasy, for there is, at almost every institutional level in contemporary society, skepticism towards the epistemological authority of expert elites.

翻译 记者们的不安实属合理，因为在当今社会，只要与制度相关，人们就会质疑专家精英认识的权威性。

分析 此处“, for”隔开了两个独立完整句。

Using a comma to separate coordinate adjectives

使用逗号隔开并列形容词

Note: A set of coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that modify the same word equally. These adjectives may be separated either by and or by a comma.

并列形容词是对同一单词产生同等修饰作用的两个或以上形容词。可以用逗号或and将它们分隔开。

例句 He is a cool, handsome guy.

翻译 他是一个又酷又帅的小伙子。

例句 There are various part-time jobs on campus.

翻译 学校里有各种各样的兼职。

分析 第一个例句中的cool与handsome都是修饰guy的形容词，是一组并列形容词，所以在它们之间要用逗号隔开；第二个例句中的part-time修饰jobs，various修饰part-time jobs，它们所修饰的成分不同，不为并列形容词，所以可以连在一起。

2. Using commas to separate specific elements from the main clause

使用逗号隔开主句与其他成分

Using a comma after introductory elements

在句子的引导性成分后使用逗号

Note: An introductory element modifies a word or words in the main clause that follows. It can be a word, phrase, or subordinate clause introducing an independent clause.

引导性成分是置于独立完整句开头的成分，起修饰主句中的词或词组的作用。它可以是一个单词、词组，也可以是一个从句。

例句 Despite the rhetorical bluster of these statements, they amount to more than straightforward professional defensiveness.

翻译 虽然新闻从业者们已经委婉地在以上言论中表达了反对的意见，但这种反对的声音还是升级到了更直接更专业的程度。

Using commas to set off transitional phrases

使用逗号隔开句中的过渡性短语

Note: Transitional expressions are words or word groups which serve as logical links between ideas within a sentence. Usually, they are adverbs or adverbial expressions. These expressions can indicate time and place, show sequence, cause or effect, give examples or explanations, and make comparisons, contrasts, repetitions, summaries and conclusions.

过渡性短语是在句中起逻辑衔接作用的单词或词组，通常是副词词性。这些短语可以表示时间、地点、顺序、因果关系、举例、解释、比较、对比、重复、归纳与总结。

例句 In short, the circulation of public knowledge, including the news, is generally regarded as a public good which cannot be solely demand-driven.

翻译 简而言之，公共知识的流通，包括新闻，是一项公益事业，它不应仅受需求驱动。

分析 本句中，in short为过渡性短语，起总结作用（Concluding）。

例句 In contrast, some focus group participants seem to be asking for untreated news, without added interpretations and biases.

翻译 相反，一些重点群体的成员似乎要求新闻中不能添加记者的个人解读和主观偏见。

分析 本句中，in contrast为过渡性短语，起对比反衬作用（Contrasting）。

例句 We doubt, however, whether more than a small and unrepresentative minority would be prepared go to the trouble of sifting through and deciphering the entire news feed.

翻译 然而，我们怀疑重点群体所不能代表的少数人群是否能够做好准备对整个新闻源进行信息筛选和解读。

分析 本句中，however为过渡性副词，起观点转折作用。

Inserting commas to set off nonessential appositives, clauses and phrases

插入逗号形成同位语、从句和短语

Adding a comma between the independent clause and the following main clause

在从句和其后的主句之间使用逗号

例句 When I was eight years old, I lived in the countryside with my grandparents.

翻译 当我八岁的时候，我和祖父母一起住在乡下。

分析 如果从句跟在主句后，则此时不需要添加逗号（非限定从句除外）

例句 Thus, in contrast to personal or private knowledge, which is generally left to individuals to pursue or ignore, public knowledge is promoted even to those who might not think it matters to them.

翻译 因此，与人们自己选择去学习或直接忽略的个人或私有知识相反，公共知识甚至得被推广到那些不能认为它与自己无关的人们那里。

分析 which引导的从句是非限定性定语从句，who引导的是限定性定语从句。

Comma Drills

Choose the best replacement for the underlined part in each sentence.

1. The Chef has prepared meals for 7 celebrities, governors, and even President Barack Obama.

A. celebrities, governors, and even President Barack Obama.

B. celebrities, governors and, even President Barack Obama.

C. celebrities, governors, and, even President Barack Obama.

D. celebrities, governors; and even President Barack Obama.

2. As a fashion icon, Baker prided herself in being witnessed numerous times for wearing full male attire, including a winged-collar; bow-tie; and, top hat.

A. a winged-collar; bow-tie; and, top hat.

B. a winged collar; bow-tie, and top hat.

C. a winged collar, bow-tie; and top hat.

D. a winged collar, bow-tie, and top hat.

3. The summer, before her junior year at New York University, Ellen Jones worked as an intern at New York Museum of Art.

A. summer, before her junior year

B. summer, before her junior year,

C. summer before her junior year

D. summer before, her junior year

4. The decaying logs, in contrast; provide nutrients and moisture for these seeds.

A. logs, in contrast;

B. logs, in contrast,

C. logs in contrast,

D. logs, in contrast

5. At one of her stops in Ohio. An estimated 300 people waited to greet her at the airport.

A. Ohio. An

B. Ohio an

C. Ohio, an

D. Ohio: An

6. Jones finally got hit his Lisa Doll to store shelves where it reigned as the most popular toy doll of the 1990s.

A. shelves where

B. shelves, where

C. shelves: where

D. shelves—where

7. While some volunteers are university students who want to help with elementary education campaigns. Others hold actual training for teachers.

A. campaigns. Others hold

B. campaigns, others hold

C. campaigns, others holding

D. campaigns; others hold

8. He wrote down two paragraphs of the essay in his notebook, however, he was not pleased with this first attempt and set it aside.

A. notebook, however,

B. notebook; however,

C. notebook however,

D. notebook however

5.2 Language Analysis

Read the sample exercise, complete the language analysis and translate the following sentences.

Sample

As the exercise of political power becomes more systematically mediatised, with considerations of message impact often shaping policy decisions, the news media has come to be seen, certainly by academic observers, as implicated in the production of the stories they claim to be reporting upon.

语法标签 插入语，伴随状态状语，原因状语从句

分析 As引导原因状语从句，with引导伴随状态状语，certainly by academic observers为插入语；本部分的主句为the news media has come to be seen... be reporting upon。在这里，see的动作发出者和consideration的所属者应是academic observers。

翻译 随着政治权力行使的媒体化程度加深，又因为新闻信息的影响常常能够左右政策决定，学者们认为新闻媒体在对其宣称要如实报道的新闻事件的处理过程已受到影响。

1. As part of the general process of the transformation of authority whereby there has been a reluctance to uncritically accept traditional sources of public knowledge, the demand has been for all authority to make explicit the frames of value which determine their decisions.

2. Public knowledge, in such circumstances, can only ever be unstable, the latest news a mere fleeting episode in a relentless process of revision and re-description of reality.

VI. Exercises

5.1 Vocabulary

Fill in the Blanks

Choose one of the following words to complete the sentences below. Use each word only once. Be sure to pay close attention to the context clues provided.

1. The Wall Street Journal is the largest newspaper in the United States by ______ .

2. The people decided to form a ______ government until a new leader was elected.

3. Any support the Iranian situation lends to oil prices is possibly ______ .

4. Never in his life before had he been so bitter, so cruel, so ______ in his mood.

5. He lost out to his ______ .

6. They deliberately ______ the story to make themselves look good.

7. Who remembers that three months ago there were predictions of dollar ______ with euro?

8. Much of his ______ rose from timidity.

Multiple Choice

Use the context clues from each sentence below, and choose the best definition for the italicized word.

9. Not surprisingly perhaps some news journalists feel uneasy about this renegotiation of their authority. （Paragraph 3）

A. difficult

B. worried

C. nervous

10. Centers of news production, as our focus groups show, have not been exempt from this process.

A. free

B. typical

C. exemplified

11. Public knowledge, in such circumstances, can only ever be unstable, the latest news a mere fleeting episode in a relentless process of revision and re-description of reality.

A. unsympathetic

B. persistent

C. restless

5.2 Text Comprehension

True or False

Indicate whether each statement is true or false by writing T or F in the blank provided.

1. ______ The public has been satisfied with the deliberately processed news stories.

2. ______ Editors’ choice of news stories is heavily affected by the clickstream.

3. ______ News veracity is commonly doubted by members in the focus groups.

4. ______ The circulation of public knowledge is driven by public demand.

5 ______ It is considered that news can be shaped by political power.

Short Answers

Read the passage and answer the questions below.

6. How does journalists’ point of view contradict with that of the general public?

7. Why distrust from the public takes an oblique form?