2018考研英语双语阅读：正在消逝的明信片时代
2018考研复习进行时，考研英语阅读真题中的文章，多摘自英美主流外刊，有时候你认识所有单词、搞清全部语法还不够，还需要了解英美文化，掌握他们的表达方式，这就是阅读的潜台词。下面新东方在线考研整理《2018考研英语双语阅读精选》，速来学习吧！UK’s oldest postcard firm set to close
杯酒敬往事——正在消逝的明信片时代
导读:自1880年以来一直出版明信片和日历的英国最古老明信片家族企业将于今年12月关闭。
When was the last time you sent a postcard?
你上次寄明信片是什么时候?
The UK’s family-owned oldest postcard firm, which has been publishing
postcards and calendars since 1880, will close this December.
自1880年以来一直出版明信片和日历的英国最古老明信片家族企业将于今年12月关闭。
The reason?
原因是什么?
It says instead of penning a card, people are putting photos up on Facebook
or Instagram or using WhatsApp to show friends and family at home just how much
fun they’re having.
人们在Facebook或Instagram上晒照片，或者用WhatsApp足不出户就可以向朋友和家人展示生活中有意思的事情，而不是写一张明信片。
If you get a postcard from someone who’s away somewhere, it’s as much the
thought that they’ve gone through the hassle of choosing a postcard, working out
where to get a stamp from, finding a postbox and then the postcard making that
journey through to you. That’s part of the value of the postcard . But that time
has gone.
如果你收到从某个地方的某个人那里寄来的一张明信片，它寄托了很多心思，正如寄信人经过了挑选明信片，买一张邮票，找到一个邮筒，然后把明信片寄给你的整个麻烦过程一样。这是明信片本身意义的一部分。但是那个时代已经过去了。
Brothers Charles and Harry Salmon, the fifth generation of the family to
run the firm, said the popularity of social media had had a huge impact on the
business.
查尔斯和哈里·萨尔蒙(Charles and Harry
Salmon)是家族第五代经营这家公司的人，他说社交媒体的流行对公司业务产生了巨大影响
People are also tending to take shorter holidays, meaning they are likely
to have arrived home long before their postcards, the brothers - joint managing
directors of the firm - said.
人们也倾向于休更短的假期，这意味着他们很可能早在明信片之前就已经到家了——公司的联席董事总经理说
As a result the business was no longer viable, they said.
他们说，结果是这项生意不再可行了。
"Increasingly challenging trading conditions and changes to the nature and
size of the market for its publications have resulted in uncertainty over the
viability of its trade," the brothers wrote in a letter to suppliers and
newsagents.
“越来越具有挑战性的交易条件，以及对其出版物的市场性质和规模的改变，导致了其贸易可行性的不确定性，”两兄弟在给供应商和新闻机构的一封信中这样写道。
As a result they were announcing "a proposal to withdraw from
publishing".
结果，他们宣布了“结束发行的提议”。
The number of postcards sold each year is reported to have seen a dramatic
slump to about five million from 20 million just 25 years ago.
据报道，每年售出的明信片数量从25年前的2000万张大幅下降到约500万张。
But the firm said that as well as the drop in the number of postcards sent,
"we have also had to consider that there are no more members of the family who
wish to join the business".
但该公司表示，除了寄来的明信片数量下降外，“我们还不得不考虑，没有更多的家庭成员希望加入这项生意里。”
来源:BBC 新闻
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