第26课

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Who won the prize for the biggest biscuit?

谁赢得了最大饼干的奖品？

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No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.

没人能避免受到广告的影响。

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Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste,

尽管我们可能为自己的好品味而自豪，

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we are no longer free to choose the things we want,

但我们不再能自由选择我们想要的东西，

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for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us.

因为广告对我们施加着微妙的影响。

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In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product,

为了说服我们购买这种或那种产品，

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advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.

广告商们已经深入研究了人性，并对我们所有的小缺点进行了分类。

旁白 neutral

Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing.

广告商多年前就发现，我们所有人都喜欢不劳而获。

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An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.

以“免费”这个神奇词语开头的广告很少会出错。

旁白 neutral

These days, advertisers not only offer free samples,

如今，广告商不仅提供免费样品，

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but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well.

还提供免费汽车、免费房屋，以及免费环球旅行。

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They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money.

他们设计了数百种竞赛，使我们能够赢得巨额奖金。

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Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.

无线电和电视使广告商能够通过这种方式吸引数百万人的注意力。

旁白 neutral

During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory.

在一个广播节目中，一家饼干制造商曾要求听众烘烤饼干并寄到他们的工厂。

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They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener.

他们提出为听众烘烤的最大饼干支付每磅10美元。

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The response to this competition was tremendous.

这项竞赛的反响非常热烈。

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Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory.

不久，各种形状和大小的饼干开始运抵工厂。

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One lady brought biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds.

一位女士用独轮手推车运来一块饼干。它重近500磅。

旁白 neutral

A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car.

稍后，一位男士带来一块饼干，它占满了他的汽车后备箱。

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All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed.

所有送来的饼干都被仔细称重。

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The largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this would win the prize.

最大的一块重713磅。这似乎肯定会赢得奖品。

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But just before the competition closed,

但就在竞赛结束前，

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a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2,400 pounds.

一辆卡车运载着一块重达2400磅的巨型饼干抵达工厂。

旁白 neutral

It had been baked by a college student who had used over 1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar,

它是由一名大学生烘烤的，他使用了超过1000磅面粉、800磅糖、

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200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients.

200磅脂肪和400磅其他各种配料。

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It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry.

它太重了，不得不动用起重机将其从卡车上卸下。

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The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the biscuit from the student for $24,000.

制造商不得不支付超出他们预期的金额，因为他们以24000美元从这名学生手中买下了这块饼干。