金识源专版高中英语 Unit 4 Making the news Grammar素材 新人教版必修5.doc

a brief history of newspapersthe history of newspapers can date back some five centuries ago. in renaissance europe handwritten newsletters were passed among merchants, bringing information about everything from wars and economic conditions to social customs and human interest. the first printed newspaper appeared in germany in the late 1400s in the form of news pamphlets. in the english-speaking world, the earliest form of newspapers is corantos, small news pamphlets produced only when some important events happened. the first true newspaper in english was the london gazette of 1666. for a generation it was the only officially approved newspaper.in america the first newspaper appeared in boston in 1690, entitled publick occurrences. published without authority, it was immediately stopped, its publisher arrested, and all copies were destroyed. the first successful newspaper was the boston news-letter, begun by postmaster john campbell in 1704. although it was helped by the colonial government, not many people bought it. by the eve of the revolutionary war, two dozen papers were published at all the colonies, although massachusetts, new york, and pennsylvania would remain the centers of american printing for many years. in 1783, by the end of the war, there were forty-three newspapers in print. the press played a vital role in the affairs of the new nation; many more newspapers were started, representing all sides of political opinion. the official approval of the bill of rights in 1791 at last gave freedom of the press, and americas newspapers began to take on a central role in national affairs. in 1830s, advances in printing and papermaking technology led to an explosion of newspaper growth, the emergence of the penny press; it was now possible to produce a newspaper that could be sold for just a cent a copy. before, only the rich people could buy newspapers. the price of a years subscription(订金), usually was over a full weeks pay for a worker. this sudden availability of cheap, interesting reading material was a significant achievement in the history of newspaper.the industrial revolution, as it transformed all aspects of american life and society, also affected newspapers. the numbers of papers continued to rise. in the 1850s powerful, giant presses appeared, able to print ten thousand complete papers per hour. at this time the first pictorial weekly newspapers emerged; they featured for the first time extensive illustrations of events in the news. during the civil war the demand for timely, accurate news reporting changed american journalism into an important force in the national life. reporters, called specials, were loved by the public. newspaper growth continued in the postwar years. by the 1890s the first circulation figures of a million copies per issue were recorded in our time, radio and television have gradually taken the place