Introduction to News English

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Introduction to News English
Lecturer Li Junjun Presented by Minnie
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Lets Step into News World

• I. Some basic notions (Review)
• II. About the Course
• III. Skills in Listening to News
• IV. Samples

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I-1 What is News?

• The definition of news may vary from person to
  person. Generally speaking, it is information or
  report that is published in newspapers and
  broadcast on radio and television about recent
  events in the country or world or in a particular
  area of activity.

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I-2 Categories of News

• Region/locality International/world news,
  domestic news and local news
• Theme/the content of coverage politics, economy,
  sports, culture, entertainment, health, science
  and technology, disasters, social issues,
  religion, et.
• Style (in broad sense) features (??), editorials
  (??) / comments, correspondence (??), news
  reports / briefing (????/??), etc.

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I-3 Characteristic of News Facts

• Its the objective reflection of events.
• Recently happened events (??)
• Constantly developing facts (??)
• typical events that can arouse public interest
  and concerns (??)
• Therefore, in order to stick to the
  ever-developing news facts, news is expected to
  be reported in a timely, concrete, comprehensive,
  fair, accurate and objective way.

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I-4 Elements of News

• News is to convey Influential recent events
  concerning social life to the public
• It emphasizes objectivity (???),publicity (???)
  and popularity (???).
• 5 W How
• When and where who did what or what happened?
  Why (causeeffect)? How (detailed information
  about the process of the event)?

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• Sample-Disaster
• Headline Plane Crash Kills 121 In Greece
• Dateline GRAMMATIKO, Greece, Aug. 14, 2005
• Lead paragraph
• (CBS/AP) A Cypriot plane crashed into a hill
  north of Athens on Sunday, killing all 121 people
  aboard a third of them children in Greece's
  deadliest airline disaster. At least one of the
  pilots was unconscious when the plane went down,
  apparently from lack of oxygen. ATIKO, Greece,
  Aug. 14, 2005

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• Main Body More detailed description
• The Helios Airways flight ZU522 was headed from
  Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens International Airport
  when it crashed at 1205 p.m. near the town of
  Grammatiko, about 25 miles north of the Greek
  capital, leaving flaming debris and luggage
  strewn across a ravine and surrounding hills.
• The Boeing 737, carrying 115 passengers and six
  crew, was to have flown onto Prague, Czech
  Republic, after stopping in Athens.
• There were 48 children on board. CBS News
  Correspondent Larry Miller reports the children
  were Greeks returning from a vacation to Cyprus.

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• The cause of the crash was unclear, but it looked
  like a technical problem possibly decompression
  and not terrorism. The first indications, in
  Cyprus and in Greece, are that it was not caused
  by a terrorist act, said Marios Karoyian, a
  spokesman for Cypriot President Tassos
  Papadopoulos.
• The reaction Family members wept in anguish as
  they waited at the Athens and Larnaca airports.
  When news of the crash emerged at Larnaca,
  relatives swarmed the airline counters, shouting
  murderers and you deserve lynching. One
  woman, Artemis Charalambous, said she was the
  mother of one of the pilots.

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• Attributes
• A man whose cousin was a passenger on the plane
  told Greece's Alpha television he received a
  cell-phone text message minutes before the crash.
  He told me the pilots were unconscious. ... He
  said Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen,
  Sotiris Voutas said.
• The head of the Greek airline safety committee,
  Akrivos Tsolakis, described the crash as the
  worst accident we've ever had. He said the
  plane's black boxes had been discovered at the
  scene, containing flight data and voice
  recordings valuable for determining the cause.
• Possible cause There apparently was a lack of
  oxygen, which is usually the case when the cabin
  is depressurized, Tsolakis said

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I-5 What is News Value?

• Simply put, public interest is the touchstone
  (???) of news value.
• To be more exactly put, news value refers to the
  importance of the facts and details in the news
  that can satisfy the public interest (the degree
  of attention the reader pay to the news reports)
  in news.

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I-6 Controversial Newsworthiness

• In order to satisfy public interest, news
  reporters always try their best to cover the
  happening at home and abroad in great details.
• However, public interest tends to be challenged
  by some critics. The gossip column (????)is just
  a case in point. As we know, gossips and
  scandals always sell well in the public, but some
  doubt their news value.

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I-7 Elements of News Value

• Timeliness (??) Is it a recent development or
  old news? Freshness strengthens a news story.
• Proximity (??) Is the story relevant to local
  readers? Close-to-home events naturally are of
  interest to media outlets.
• Eminence (??) or prominence (??) Are noteworthy
  people involved? Some happenings simply are more
  newsworthy when well-known people/celebrities
  (??) are involved.

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• Consequence (??) or impact (??) What effect will
  the story have on readers? For example, the news
  named Crude Oil Price Hit Record High will have
  a immense impact on our daily life economically
  and emotionally as private cars are so widespread
  at present.
• Human interest (??) Even though it might not be
  an earthshaking event, does it contain unique,
  interesting elements? Human interest stories
  often appeal to the emotions of readers, pulling
  them into the lives of others or into subjects of
  broad concern.

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I-8 The factors that determines what news will
be reported

• Instinct (??) of editors and reporters Theyre
  very sensitive to news, and their intuition,
  developed out of their careers, often decides
  what events should be covered.
• The audience Different kinds of newspapers
  appeal to different readerships.

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• Availability (???) of news Depending on what is
  happening locally and in the world, there simply
  are more stories to choose from on some days. On
  slow news days, editors and reporters will
  scratch for stories of borderline value. On fast
  news days, relatively good stories dont merit
  dissemination (??????).
• Philosophy (??) of the media outlet The
  business-oriented Wall Street Journal, for
  example, selects stories based on criteria
  different from those of a metropolitan arts and
  entertainment publication.

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• Pressure from publishers Most publishers try not
  to interfere openly with news process, but most
  editors and reporters are aware of the political
  and social leanings of ownership.
• Influence of advertisers Usually it is a subtle
  (???) consideration, but some editors might think
  twice What news should be granted prominent
  space?

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• The news mix Media outlets often strive to
  balance hard news with soft news and to provide a
  local, national and international smattering of
  (??) stories.
• Competition among media To an extent, morning
  and afternoon newspaper supplement each other, as
  do the print and electronic media. But most media
  try to keep one step ahead of the competition and
  this sometimes affects handling of news.

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I-9 Sources of News

• The news information is obtained from interviews
  or press conferences (?????), collected by news
  agencies (the mass communications media) and
  disseminated by diverse media outlets such as
  newspapers, periodicals (????), television,
  radio, cable, internet, etc.

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I-10 Major News Agencies

• In Britain
• Reuters (???), founded in 1851
• In the US
• the Associated Press (???), founded in 1848,
  managing 6 papers- Sun (???), Herald (???),
  Journal of Commerce (??????), Tribune (???),
  Express (??), Courier and Enquirer (????)
• United Press (???), founded in 1907, merging
  another agency and named United Press
  International (?????)

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II. About the Course

• Broadcast News English is a book to develop
  listening skills about news English at the
  intermediate level of English language learning.
• The teaching of listening to news English has
  focused on the related vocabulary accumulation
  (???????), specific background acquisition
  (???????) and then general understanding of the
  recent news.

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• The assumption has been that students have
  mastered a relatively large range of
  theme-related vocabulary and familiarize
  themselves with the pertinent (???) background
  before listening, therefore reading and
  understanding related news in newspapers,
  magazines or on the Internet is the essential
  premise (??) for listening. In this sense,
  selective reading comes before listening to the
  news.

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II-1 Contents of the Book

• This book is well-organized in 15 thematic units
  altogether, covering politics, economy, culture,
  entertainment, sports, scandal, people,
  education, high tech, foodfitness, health,
  nature, terrorism and religion. Each unit
  consists of five parts, which form an integrated
  whole of the same theme.

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• There are several exercises and different
  projects in these units, but the basic
  organization of the units is similar. The first 4
  parts are theme-related news, containing
  different types of exercises, i.e., spot
  dictation, multiple choice, True-False
  statements, open-ended discussion the fifth part
  is just for entertainment by listening to Andrew
  Rooneys speeches. Youre expected to surf the
  Net to search some answers.
• The sample unit of the current course-book
  adopted for this course are as follows

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• Unit 1 Politics Election Issue
• Part A Spot Dictation
• Snap Judgment
• Part B Multiple Choice
• Hillary Clintons Journey
• Part C True-false Statements
• Who on Earth Wants to Be President?
• Part D Open-ended Discussion
• First Lady Behind the President
• Part E Andrew Rooneys Comments
• If I were Bushs Speechwriter

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• Each unit is matched with related vocabulary for
  learning, pertinent notes for better
  understanding, scripts for further reading and
  translation for deeper comprehension. All this
  will contribute to your listening to news
  English.

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II-2. Teaching Objectives

• Expose learners to more real language environment
  and enhance learners listening skills
• Enlarge learners vocabulary significantly and
  contribute to develop other skills such as
  reading, speaking, writing and translation.

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• Provide learners with large quantities of latest
  information and help them assimilate western
  culture to widen their experience and broaden
  their horizons
• Develop and promote collaborative learning and
  teamwork among the learners by doing projects
  assigned by the book.
• Boost learners interest in learning real English
  from news reports, thus making learning English a
  life-long pursuit.

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II-3 Teaching Plan

• The course is scheduled to last one academic year
  (???) and involves 96 periods (??) in total.
• During this semester, well finish half of the
  book- Unit 1 to Unit 7 plus the first 6 periods
  of introductory course (???). The course will
  have 4 periods for each week and 12 weeks for
  this semester.
• Considering the difficulty level of the news, we
  are planning to teach each unit for 6 periods,
  each part approximately taking 1 period and the
  remaining period left to learn vocabulary and
  background.

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III. Skills in Listening to News

• Accumulate theme-related specialist vocabulary
  (???????????)
• e.g. alternative ??
• Get familiarized with pertinent background
  (??????)
• Focus attention on the headlines (????????????)
  that are reported in the sequence of importance

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• Pay close heed to 5 Ws in news lead sentence
  (?????) and summary sentence (?????) esp. in the
  inverted pyramid format (????) of news reports.
• Make notes about when, where, who, what,
  why and how, esp. some figures (??) in the
  main body of news.
• Note PLS refer to the course wares in Journalist
  English by Tan Lixin and Wang Weirong.
  (??????????)

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• Diverse Skills Concerned
• When listening to each well-chosen news in the
  book, youre exposed to a rich real language
  environment. The listening process is more than
  listening to words and sentences it involves
  thinking (anticipation), the connection with your
  world knowledge, your native language, sifting
  trivial details, making judgments, understanding
  sequences, extracting main ideas, integrating
  ideas, inferencing, using context clues to figure
  out word meanings.

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• Remember, all these skills are learned through
  attentive focus and constant step-by- step
  practice (??????????????????).
• Take your time and patience Begin to accumulate
  vocabulary by reading news and start with
  listening to VOA and BBC special English if you
  feel its such tough work for you to catch the
  main idea of the news in this book. Just persist
  in listening and a flash of insight will strike
  you (??) sooner or later. The sources of
  obtaining other broadcast news are as follows

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• Source of Broadcast News English
• Radio
• VOA (Voice of America) news
• BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news
• Television
• CCTV (?????) English news
• ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation ??????)
  news
• CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System ????????) news

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• Net
• http//www.voanews.com/
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
  index.shtml
• http//www.cctv.com/english/index.shtml
• http//abcnews.go.com/
• http//www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml

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• Other electronic form
• ???? Voice of English http//www.4english.cn
  (VOA????????,?????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????)
• ????gtgt????http//language.chinadaily.com.cn/dialo
  gue/voa/index.html (?????Language
  Tips??????????????????????????
• http//language.chinadaily.com.cn/dialogue/voa/in
  dexnormal.html
• VOA Normal Speed English ????????

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• VOA???????? Quizzes Based On VOA's Special
  English Programhttp//www.manythings.org/voa/
  ??VOA??????,??????????Flash??????,??????Science
  Reports,Science in the News,In the News,American
  Mosaic,This is America,People in
  America,Environment Reports,Development
  Reports,Agriculture Reports,Timed Quizzes,Related
  Pages on This Website.

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• ????gtgt????http//www.listeningexpress.com/
  ???????????????????????????
• ????gtgt????gtgtVOA????http//www.360abc.com/???????
  ???????????????
• ??????gtgt????Special English ????VOA????????????
  ?????? Standard English ????VOA/BBC????????????
  ????????

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• ????gtgt????http//www.vatshow.com/xinwenyanjiang/i
  ndex.htm???????????????????
• Study Mandarin Using VOAhttp//www.ocrat.com/ocra
  t/voa/???????????????????,??????,????,????,??????
  ??
• World Radio Networkhttp//www.wrn.org/ondemand/au
  dio/voa2.ramhttp//wrn.org/ondemand/communication
  sworld.html

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IV. SamplesAccumulate Vocabulary

• Sample 1- VOA Special English Health Report
• SARS ??????(??????????)
• atypical pneumonia(severe acute respiratory
  syndrome)
• ??
• develop / have a fever
• SARS???
• SARS outbreak

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• ??SARS?? / ???
• be (get) infected with SARS viruses /
  contagious illness
• ????
• the suspected case
• ?????
• be suspected as the vector
• ?????SARS??
• confirm the 1st SARS case
• ??????????SARS????
• Those who came into contact with him show no
  symptom of SARS.

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• ?????????
• order the emergency slaughter of some 10,000
  civet cats
• ????
• trigger fears
• ??????????
• spark the strong criticism from the press
• ??
• be hospitalized
• ???
• wild game restaurants

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• ??????
• close the wildlife market
• ????
• bring under control
• ?????
• the Chinese Health Ministry
• ??????????
• The patients condition was reported stable.
• isolate / quarantine / infect / subside

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Specialist Vocabulary for Music

• host ??
• presenter ???
• anchor ????
• MC(emcee) Master of Ceremony ??
• DJ Disc Jockey
• ?????????????
• VJ Video Jockey
• ?????????

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singer-songwriter lyricist composer solo
(artist) lead singer bassist duo /
duet trio quartet quintet

• ???
• ???
• ???
• ????
• ??
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???
• ???

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• act a person or group which performs a short
  piece in a show, or the piece that is performed
  itself
• ??,????????
• vocal the singing in a piece of pop music
• ????(????)
• lead vocalist ??
• choir ?????
• soprano ???
• diva ?????
• e.g.
• Faith Hill is a full-fledged country music diva.

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• demoa brief tape or recording used to illustrate
  the qualities of a musician or other performer
  ????
• soundtrack a commercial phonograph record or
  tape of such music
• ??????/ ?????????
• album a recording containing musical selection,
  a complete play or opera, etc
• ????
• EP extended-play (record) ???????? (LP
  long-playing record, i.e., a record which has a
  long piece of music or several different pieces
  of music on it)

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• ????????
• cover a song or tune which has already been
  recorded by someone else
• ????
• OST Original Soundtrack
• ?????????
• a blockbuster debut album
• ???????
• self-titled English language album
• ???????????
• release the anticipated follow-up / sophomore
  album

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• ????
• best-selling / fast-selling record
• ????????
• a string of hit singles
• ??/??/????
• top / hit (crack) the charts / chart-topper
• ??/???/???????
• climb (the way) to / shoot (go) straight to /
  stay on the top of the charts / the No. 1 spot

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• ??????
• achieve a huge success / a massive hit
• score smash hits
• ????
• become a sensation / a hit overnight
• ????????
• His popularity escalated.
• His fame sky-rocketed.

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• ????????
• feature ones trademark ballad
• ??
• split
• ??
• transform from to
• ????
• come into the limelight / spotlight
• The spotlight is on

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Bear in mind

• Be an Early Bird.
• Early birdcomes from the proverb, "The early
  bird catches the worm."
• 1) Watch ABC or CBS news at 730 a.m.
• 2) Review each unit and keep reading news.
• 3) Surf the Net to keep up with latest news.
• Learn by watching, learn by doing!
• Its your turn to make more practice!