VOA标准英语2011--Survey Shows Americans Still Rely on New

Survey Shows Americans Still Rely on Newspapers

Everywhere you turn, there are stories about the rapid ascent¹ of the Internet as Americans’ information medium of choice. The trend line is clearly pointing in that direction, but according to a new national survey, traditional media are far from being outmoded or irrelevant².
The survey, by the independent Pew Center’s Project for Excellence³ in Journalism⁴ and the newspaper-supported Knight⁵ Foundation, broke down local information into 16 topic areas and asked people where they learn about each of them.
Turns out, Americans have developed what the Pew Center’s director, Tom Rosenstiel, calls “a complex ecosystem⁶ in which people rely on different platforms for different topics.”
More than 80 percent of respondents, for instance, said they still turn to local TV first for breaking news. And 89 percent go there, not to the Web, to get the latest weather information.
And newspapers are a long way from being dead as a go-to information source. Newspapers and newspaper websites ranked first or tied for first as the resource Americans rely on in 11 of the 16 key categories - including crime, taxes, and the arts.
Even the oldest communication form of all - word of mouth - ranked second to local TV as respondents’ preferred source of information about their communities.
At the same time, according to the Pew-Knight report, “nearly half of adults occasionally now get local information on mobile devices, though it is still largely a supplemental platform for them.”
The survey of 2,251 American adults is one of the first of nationwide scope that clearly shows the growing complexity⁷ of the media landscape, and the willingness - even eagerness - with which consumers are relying on both old and new formats⁸ to get their information.

1 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

2 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

3 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

4 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

5 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

6 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

7 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

8 formats   

n.（出版物的）版式( format的名词复数 )；[电视]电视节目的总安排（或计划）

参考例句：

• They are producing books in all kinds of different formats. 他们出版各种不同开本的书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. 真正的图形用户界面包括表示文字和图形的标准格式。 来自互联网