Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television licence would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 percent more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.
Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of. There is one more point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
If its message were confined merely to information — and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive — advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants.
1.By the first sentence of the passage the author means that_______.
A.he is fairly familiar with the cost of advertising
B.everybody knows well that advertising is money consuming
C.advertising costs money like everything else
D.it is worthwhile to spend money on advertising
2.In the passage, which of the following is NOT included in the advantages of advertising?
A.Securing greater fame. C.Enhancing living standards.
B.Providing more jobs. D.Reducing newspaper cost.
3.The author deems that the well-known TV personality is_______.
A.very precise in passing his judgement on advertising
B.interested in nothing but the buyers' attention
C.correct in telling the difference between persuasion and information
D.obviously partial in his views on advertising
4.In the author's opinion,_______.
A.advertising can seldom bring material benefit to man by providing
B.advertising informs people of new ideas rather than wins them over
C.there is nothing wrong with advertising in persuading the buyer
D.the buyer is not interested in getting information from an advertisement
5.Advertising can be best depicted as_______.
A.distribution of information B.measure of promotion
C.a kind of production cost D.a way to persuade consumer to buy
长难例句分析
［长难例句］Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs.
［结构分析］本句中，主干是I heard a well-known television personality declare...，that引导的是宾语从句。在这个宾语从句中，because it persuades rather than informs是原因状语从句。Recently是副词作状语。
［参考译文］近来，我听到一位电视名人声称，他反对广告，因为广告是在说服人而不是提供信息。
全文参考译文
把钱花在做广告上是我知道的最好的花钱方式。广告直接帮助货物以合理价格快速销售，由此建立稳定的国内市场，并使以竞争价格出口变得可能。通过把人们的注意力吸引到新观念上来，它有助于极大提高生活水平。通过促进需求的增加，它确保对劳动力的需求增加，所以它是应对失业的有效方法。它降低了许多服务的成本，没有广告，日报价格就会增加四倍，电视收视费也会翻番，乘公交车或地铁会多花20％。
最重要的也许是，广告为你所买的产品和服务提供合理的价值保证。除了27个国会法案控制着广告条款这一事实外，没有一家广告商敢于促销与广告内容不符的产品。他可能会通过令人误解的广告，暂时愚弄某些人。但他这样做的时间不会很长，因为，庆幸的是，公众有很好的判断力，他们不会第二次购买质量低下的产品。如果你看到一件物品被连续地做广告，那么这是我知道的最确信的证明，这件物品名副其实，表现出很高的价值。
广告比我所能想起的任何其他手段都更能带给人们物质利益。还有一点我觉得应该涉及一下。近来，我听到一位电视名人声称，他反对广告，因为广告是在说服人而不是提供信息。他过分挑剔了。广告的目的本来就是去说服人。
如果广告仅限于提供信息，其本身即使可能，也会很难实现，因为即使是衬衫颜色的选择这种细节也带有说服性——广告将会如此令人厌烦，以至于没有人会注意。但也许那正是那位电视名人所想要的。
题目答案与解析
1.作者在文章的第一句中指出________。
A.他对广告的费用非常了解 B.人人都知道做广告耗费金钱
C.做广告像其他事情一样需要花钱 D.花钱做广告值得
【答案】D
【解析】第一句作者指出：“花钱做广告是我知道的最好的花钱方式。”正确答案为D项。
2.根据本文，下面哪项不是广告的优点？
A.获得更大声誉。 B.提供更多的工作。 C.提高生活水平。 D.降低报纸成本。
【答案】A
【解析】从文章第一、第二段可以得出正确答案。B项与文章第一段第四句“通过促进需求的增加，它确保对劳动力的需求，因此是抵制失业的有效方法”一致。C项与第一段第三句内容一致。D项与第一段最后一句内容一致。A项在文中未涉及，因此A项正确。
3.作者认为电视名人________。
A.对广告的评价非常精确
B.只想引起购买者的注意
C.对说服和提供信息之间的区别的讲述是正确的
D.对广告的看法明显有偏见
【答案】D
【解析】依据文章最后两段。电视名人的观点在第四段第二句，他反对广告，认为，广告的目的在于劝说而不在于提供信息。第三、四句中，作者提出了自己的观点：“他过分挑剔了。广告的目的本来就是去说服人。”这表明作者不同意电视名人的观点。由此可知。D项为正确答案。
4.根据作者的观点，________。
A.广告不可能通过提供信息给人带来物质利益
B.广告给人们提供新的观念而不是争取购买者
C.广告劝购物者购物并没有错
D.购买者对从广告中获取信息不感兴趣
【答案】C
【解析】从第四段最后一句“广告的目的本来就是去说服人”和最后一段第一句可以得出答案。C项为正确答案。A项与第三段作者的观点相反。B项与作者观点明显不符。D项文章未曾提及。
5.做广告可以描述为______。
A.信息的传播 B.促销的手段
C.一种生产成本 D.说服消费者去购买的一种方式
【答案】A
【解析】本文讲到了做广告的各方面作用：促销产品、产品质量的保证、企业形象等，可以说是综合信息的传播。
