泛读D16|广告对年轻人有不良影响?

Advertising adversely affects your people?

Advertising is ubiquitous. Wherever you go, you are likely to see or hear some forms of advertising, usually for a certain product or service. In fact, some adverts are used to raise public awareness or to educate people. As I see it, most commercial adverts should be placed under strict control or banned.

For one thing, advertisements often withhold the truth from the public. In order to sell more products, advertisements are designed with no concern for the truth. Some of them are outrageous lies, while most of them exaggerate the benefits and hide or downplay the drawbacks of a certain product Consumers can't see the whole picture. Being given to impulsive actions and inexperienced in worldly affairs, young people are often the first to fall victim to those misleading adverts.

For another, most adverts advocate an unhealthy way of life. In most newspaper advertisements or TV commercials people are depicted as leading an exciting and romantic life. Attractive men and women can transform their lives after they used such and such products. But real life is not like that. Daily life is apt to be much simpler and uneventful. As it often happens, young people often get too carried away by the daily onslaught of advertising and become unsatisfied with their lives. They start to try out various products, imitate the trendy lifestyle portrayed in commercials and squander time and money on luxuries.

Additionally, advertising adds to the anxiety of the young. Already under lots of pressure, the young are being told all kinds of problems they are to have if they don't use certain products or services. You are going to lose your attraction to your husband if you don't use our perfume: you are going to lose your health if you don't take our calcium tablets three times a day. What a bunch of lies! Indeed, it is widely agreed that many so called 'diseases' are created by advertisers--they try to find some problems with us at first and then offer the solution with their products. It is nothing more than a tricky business strategy.

Although credits should be given to commercial advertisements for informing the public, strict control should be imposed to rid them of the usual misrepresentation of the truth. Adverts must be truthful or banned altogether. （选自《剑桥雅思写作高分范文》，刘巍巍，方林编著）

 词汇 

ubiquitous adj. 无处不在的

withhold v.拒绝，不给

downplay v.不予重视，低估

impulsive adj.冲动的

fall victim to 成为---的牺牲品

be apt to 倾向于

onslaught n.冲击，猛攻

squander v.浪费

perfume n.香水

calcium tablets 钙片

misrepresentation n.错误陈述

 参考译文 

广告无处不在, 不管你走到哪里, 你都很有可能听到或者看到某种形式的广告。这些广告通常都是宣传某种产品或者服务。事实上, 也有一些广告是用来提高大众意识或者教育大众的。但是我认为大部分的商业广告应该受到严格的控制或者予以禁止。

一方面, 广告经常向公众隐瞒真相。为了销售更多的产品, 厂家在设计广告的时候, 根本就没有考虑是否符合事实真相。有些广告通篇都是假话, 有些则夸大产品优点, 掩饰或者轻描淡写其缺点。消费者无法了解真相。年轻人做事冲动、不谙世事, 所以很容易成为这些误导性广告的牺牲品。

另一方面，大部分广告都宣扬不健康的生活方式。大部分的报纸或电视广告总是渲染充满激情和浪漫的生活。广告力图使人们认为使用了他们的产品后就可以改变生活面貌。但是现实生活不是

那样的日常生活通常是简单和平淡的。而年轻人通常会被这些每天轮番轰炸的广告所影响, 对现实的生活不满。他们开始尝试不同的产品, 模仿广告所描述的时尚的生活方式, 把大量的时间和金钱浪费在奢侈品上。

另外，广告还加剧了年轻人的焦虑心理。年轻人本来就处在很多压力之下了, 广告还告诉年轻人, 如果不用某某产品或某某服务, 就会产生这样或那样的不良后果。如果你不用我们的香水, 你会在你丈夫面前失去吸引力;如果你每天不服用三次我们的钙片, 你的健康就得不到保证。简直是假话连篇! 其实很多所谓的“疾病”都是广告策划人发明的。他们首先尽量找到我们的“毛病”, 然后给我们提供解决方案也就是他们的产品。这只不过是一种狡猎的商业手段而已。

尽管广告在给公众提供信息方面有着积极的作用, 我们应该对广告进行严格的控制以防止广告扭曲事实真相。广告应该是真实的, 否则就应该被完全禁止。