【考研真题】1996年阅读2(3/3)

英语自学网

Hints：
本文报到了关于BBC（英国广播公司）的现状及面临的问题。
Corporation
BBC
ain’t broke
ITV
Channel Four
Thatcher Government
Broadcasting Act
3-4s处、33-35s处、50-54s处有破折号；
17s处和21s处有一对括号
Defenders of the Corporation -- of whom there are many -- are fond of quoting the American slogan 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' 'The BBC 'ain't broke,' they say, by which they mean it is not broken (as distinct from the word 'broke', meaning having no money), so why bother to change it?
Yet the BBC will have to change, because the broadcasting world around it is changing. The commercial TV channels -- ITV and Channel Four -- were required by the Thatcher Government's Broadcasting Act to become more commercial, competing with each other for advertisers, and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite channels -- funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers' subscriptions -- which will bring about the biggest changes in the long term.公司的捍卫者中，有很多人喜欢引用美国的口号：“如果东西没坏，就不要修它。”他们说，BBC“没有破产”，意思是说该公司没有垮掉（与“一文不名”一词的含义完全不同，“一文不名”意为没有资金），为什么要自找麻烦去改变它呢?
然而，BBC 将不得不实行改革，因为其周边的广播界正在发生变革——独立电视台和第四频道——根据撒切尔政府的广播法的要求，变得越来越商业化，彼此竞争广告业务，降低成本，裁减员工。但是，从长远来看，会带来最大的变革的正是新卫星频道的出现，因为它们的部分资金来自广告收入，部分来自用户的收视费。