Listen who the prize for biggest biscuit?

No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may prideourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want,for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. In their efforts to persuade usto buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human natureand have classified all our little weaknesses.

Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something fornothing. An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely gowrong. These days, advertisers not only offer free samples but free cars, freehouses, and free trips around the world as well. They devise hundreds ofcompetitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money. Radio andtelevision have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention ofmillions of people in this way.

During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once askedlisteners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay$10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener. The response to thiscompetition was tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes beganarriving at the factory. One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow. Itweighed nearly 500 pounds. A little later, a man came along with a biscuit whichoccupied the whole boot of his car. All the biscuits that were sent werecarefully weighed. The largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this wouldwin the prize. But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at thefactory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2400 pounds. It had beenbaked by a college student who had used over 1000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds ofsugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients. It was soheavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry. The manufacturershad to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the biscuitfrom the student for $24,000.

New words and expressions 生词与短语

influence

v. 影响

pride

v. 骄傲

taste

n. 鉴赏力

exert

v. 施加

subtle

aj. 微妙的，难以捉摸的

advertiser

n. 做广告的人新概念英语听力下载

classify

v. 分类

magic

adj. 有奇妙作用

sample

n. 样品

devise

v. 设计，想出

capture

v. 吸引，赢得

manufacturer

n. 生产厂家，制造商

wheelbarrow

n. 独轮手推车

boot

n. (汽车尾部的)行李箱

ingredient

n. 配料

crane

n. 起重机

anticipate

v. 预期，预料

本文参考译文

没有人能避免受广告的影响。尽管我们可以自夸自己的鉴赏力如何敏锐，但我们已经无法独立自主地选购自己所需的东西了。这是因为广告在我们身上施加着一种潜移默化的影响。做广告的人在力图劝说我们买下这种产品或那种产品之前，已经仔细地研究了人的本性，并把人的弱点进行了分类。

做广告的人们多年前就发现我们大家都喜欢免费得到东西。凡是用“免费”这个神奇的词开头的广告很少会失败的。目前，做广告的人不仅提供免费样品，而且还提供免费汽车，免费住房，免费周游世界。他们设计数以百计的竞赛，竞赛中有人可赢得巨额奖金。之声、电视使做广告的人可以用这种手段吸引成百万人的注意力。

有一次，在之声播放的节目里，一个生产饼干的公司请听众烘制饼干送到他们的工厂去。他们愿意以每磅10美元的价钱买下由听众烘制的最大的饼干。这次竞赛在听众中引起极其热烈的反响。不久，形状各异，大小不一的饼干陆续送到工厂。一位女士用手推车运来一个饼干，重达500磅左右。相隔不一会儿，一个男子也带来一个大饼干，那个饼干把汽车的行李箱挤得满满的。凡送来的饼干都仔细地称量。最重的一个达713磅，看来这个饼干获奖无疑了。但就在竞赛截止时间将到之际，一辆卡车驶进了工厂，运来了一个特大无比、重达2,400磅的饼干。它是由一个大学生烘制的，用去1,000多磅的面粉。、800磅食糖、200磅动物脂肪及400磅其他各种原料。饼干份量太重了，用了一台起重机才把它从卡车上卸下。饼干公司不得不付出比他们预计多得多的钱，因为为买下那学生烘制的饼干他们支付了24,000美元。

(兼职编辑：张博)