2024年3月31日发(作者：)

新概念第三册课文翻译及学习笔记：Lesson45

In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the

press are rightly condemned. However, this freedom can easily be

abused. Stories about people often attract far more public

attention than political events. Though we may enjoy reading about

the lives of others, it is extremely doubtful whether we would

equally enjoy reading about ourselves. Acting on the contention

that facts are sacred, reporters can cause untold suffering to

individuals by publishing details about their private lives.

Newspapers exert such tremendous influence that they can not only

bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can

even overthrow a government.

The story of a poor family that acquired fame and fortune

overnight, dramatically illustrates the power of the press. The

family lived in Aberdeen, a small town of 23,000 inhabitants in

South Dakota. As the parents had five children, life was a perpetual

struggle against poverty. They were expecting their sixth child and

faced with even more pressing economic problems. If they had only

had one more child, the fact would have passed unnoticed. They would

have continued to struggle against economic odds and would have

lived in obscurity. But they suddenly became the parents of

quintuplets, four girls and a boy, an event which radically changed

their lives. The day after the birth of the five children, an

aeroplane arrived in Aberdeen bringing sixty reporters and

photographers.

The rise to fame was swift. Television cameras and newspapers

carried the news to everyone in the country. Newspapers and

magazines offered the family huge sums for the exclusive rights to

publish stories and photographs. Gifts poured in not only from

unknown people, but from baby food and soap manufacturers who wished

to advertise their products. The old farmhouse the family lived in

was to be replaced by a new $500,000 home. Reporters kept pressing

for interviews so lawyers had to be employed to act as spokes-men

for the family at press conferences. While the five babies were

still quietly sleeping in oxygen tents in a hospital nursery, their

parents were paying the price for fame. It would never again be

possible for them to lead normal lives. They had become the victims

of commercialization, for their names had acquired a market value.

Instead of being five new family members, these children had