Almost every family buys as least one copy of a newspaper every day.Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers But why do people read newspapers?

　　Five hundred years ago，news of important happenings--battles lost and won，kings or rulers overthrown(推翻)or killed--took months and even years to travel from one country to another.The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate.Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in far away countries on the same day they happen.

　　Apart from supplying news from all over the world，newspapers give us a lot of other useful information There are weather reports，radio，television and film guides，book reviews，stories，and of course.advertisements.The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products.They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for the advertising space，but it is worth the money for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country For those who produce newspapers，advertisements are also very important.Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.

几乎每个家庭每天都会买至少一份报纸。一些人甚至订阅2或3份不同的报纸。那么，为什么人们要读报纸呢?

　　五百年前，重大事件的消息——战争的失败和胜利，国王或统治者被推翻或谋杀——要花几个月甚至数年的时间从一个国家传到另一个国家。这些口头传播的消息往往不准确。现如今，我们可以在报纸上得知当天发生在很远的国家的重大事件。

　　除了提供世界各地的新闻之外，报纸还给我们提供了许多其他有用的信息。比如天气预报，广播电视电影的预告，书评，小说，当然还有广告。那些较大的广告是大公司为了让他们的产品引人注意。虽然他们为了这些广告位付给报纸的经营者几千美元，但是这个钱还是花的值得的，由于广告的作用他们的产品进入了千家万户。对于经营报纸的人，广告也很重要。广告的收入让他们可以以很低的价格出售报纸仍然获利。