[size=150][color=brown]Hello again Kitos! I am going to take the test on Sunday! I wish I could do well in all the sections, especially in writing. Thus your time and kindness would not be wasted :D:D[/size]
[size=150]Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
Newspaper is the best way of learning about a foreign country?
With the process of globalization, an increasing amount of population begins to show interests in learning about foreign countries and their cultures. However, most of the people don’t have the chance to travel to the countries they are attracted to; therefore they have to rely on some forms of media, such as pictures, television programs, newspapers and magazines. But, as far as I am concerned, the newspaper is far from an effective way to get information about a foreign country.
To begin with, there are great chances that the countries we really take a like to are not elaborated in the newspaper. Newspapers are mainly for news, and sometimes the headlines only involve the affairs or news of those countries who play important roles in global affairs, such as America, Japan, or Germany. Even if newspapers do mention some of the so-called “minor countries”, due to length limitation, they are not likely to elaborate on the things we would like to know from the perspective of a foreigner. Take myself as an example, recently I have taken a fancy to New Zealand, the relatively small country in Oceania. But I can not find any lengthy description of the country’s topographical features or cultural traditions. To put it simple, newspapers focus basically on political issues, making it unsuitable or too monotonous to for us to get the overall impression of a foreign country.
In addition, too often are newspapers influenced by a country’s politics, as a result of which, many of their reports are modified or distorted to meet the needs of political control. Newspapers, as a form of mass media, must serve the interests of authorities; otherwise they may be oppressed to a certain degree. So their reports are subject to the mainstream moral values in a society. Consequently, the news reports we read in newspapers may not be authentic in our own countries, let alone in foreign countries. Once my American English teacher told me that she was so much surprised at the hospitality and kindness of the people in my country, for, before she came here, all she read about in newspapers is the account of indifferent and reserved characteristics of our people. What a distortion it is.
Therefore, to sum up these two reasons discussed above, I strongly disagree that the most reliable way of learning about a foreign country is reading newspaper. Newspapers are political and succinct, and sometimes they can distort the facts about other countries. All these make newspaper an ineffective way to get information of a foreign country.
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TOEFL listening lectures: Why does the professor mention Cygnus X-1?