《新概念英语》（美音）III-05

Lesson 5 The factS 真相

Listen to the tape ,then answer the question below:

What was the consequence of the editer's insistence on facts and statistics?

编辑一味追求真相和数据的结果是什么?

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics.Last year ,a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an artical on the president's palace in the new African republic.When the artical arrived ,the editor read the first sentence ,then refused to publish it.The artical begin:"Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace ..." The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of the steps and the height of the wall.

The journalist immediatly set out to obtain these important facts ,but he took a long time to send them.Meanwhile, the editor is getting impatient, for the magazine was soon go to press.He sent the journalist two more faxes,but recieved no reply.He sent yet another fax imforming that if he didn't reply soon,he will be fired.

When the journalist again failed to reply ,the editor reluctantly published the artical as it had been originally writen.

A week later ,the editor at last recieved the fax from the journalist.Not only had the poor man had been arrested,but he had been sent to prison as well.However ,he had at last been allowed to send a fax,in which he informed the editor that he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps ,leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.

报社和杂志的编辑们总是极端追求一些并不重要的事实和数据来满足读者.去年,一个记者受到一家知名杂志的要求撰写一篇关于一个新的非洲共和国总统府的报道.收到来稿后,编辑在阅读到第一个句子后就拒绝出版它.文章是这样开头的:"成百上千的阶梯延伸直至总统府外极高的围墙......"编辑立马发送了一则传真给这个记者,让他查清台阶的确切数字和围墙的高度.

这个记者立即着手查找这些重要的数据,但是他花了很长时间才将它们发送出去.与此同时,编辑渐渐失去耐心,因为杂志马上就要出版了.他给这个记者发送了另两则传真,但是没有得到回复.他又发送了另一条传真警告这个记者,如果他再不快点回复他就会被炒鱿鱼.记者还是没有回复.于是编辑极不情愿地出版了这篇文章的原稿.一周以后,编辑终于收到了记者的回复.这个可怜的人不仅被逮捕了,还被送进了监狱.但是,他最终还是获得了发送一条传真的机会,告知他的编辑:他是在数清楚总统府外围通向15英尺高的围墙的1.084级台阶时被捕的.