Clearly if we are to participate in the society in which we live we must communicate with other people.
很明显，我们要参与我们所生活的这个社会，我们就必须与其他人进行交流。
A great deal of communicating is performed on a person-to-person basis by the simple means of speech.
大量的交流是在个人与个人的基础上通过简单的说话方式进行的。
If we travel in buses, buy things in shops, or eat in restaurants, we are likely to have conversations where we give information or opinions, receive news or comment, and very likely have our views challenged by other members of society.
当我们乘车旅行，在商店购物或者是到饭店吃饭时，我们很可能与别人说话，在这个过程中，我们会提供信息，发表意见，接受一些消息或评价，而且我们的观点也极有可能会受到其他社会成员的挑战。
Face-to-face contact is by no means the only form of communication and during the last two hundred years the art of mass communication has become one of the dominating factors of contemporary society.
面对面的接触绝不是唯一的交流方式。在过去的200年里，大众传媒艺术已成为当代社会的主导方面之一。
Two things, above others, have caused the enormous growth of the communication industry.
其中有两样最重要的东西带动了通信工业的迅速发展:
Firstly, inventiveness has led to advances in printing, telecommunications, photography, radio and television.
首先，各种各样的发明是的印刷，通讯，图片，广播以及电视等不同行业有很大的发展；
Secondly, speed has revolutionized the transmission and reception of communications so that local news often takes a back seat to national news, which itself is often almost eclipsed by international news.
其次，速度的变化使得信息的传播与接收发生了革命性的变化，这使得地方新闻与国内新闻相比常常处于下风，而国际新闻常常使国内新闻黯然失色。
No longer is the possession of information confined to a privileged minority.
信息已不再仅仅是被那些享有特权的少数人独占。
In the last century the wealthy man with his own library was indeed fortunate, but today there are public libraries.
在上个世纪，那些拥有私人图书馆的富人的确是幸运的，但是如今有了公共图书馆。
Forty years ago people used to flock to the cinema, but now far more people sit at home and turn on the TV to watch a program that is being channeled into millions of homes.
40年前，人们会成群结队地去电影院看电影，但如今更多的人坐在家里打开电视机去看那些通过各种频道传播到千家万户的电视节目。
Communication is no longer merely concerned with the transmission of information.
交流已不再仅仅与信息的传播有关。
The modern communication industry influences the way people live in society and broadens their horizons by allowing access to information, education and entertainment.
现代通信工业使人们有更多的途径获取信息，教育，娱乐，从而影响了社会中人们的生存方式，拓宽了人们的视野。
The printing, broadcasting and advertising industries are all involved with informing, educating and entertaining.
印刷业，广播业以及广告业都与信息，教育，娱乐有关。
Although a great deal of the material communicated by the mass media is very valuable to the individual and to the society of which he is a part, the vast modern network of communications is open to abuse.
尽管很多通过大众媒介传播的东西，对我们个人和我们都是其中一分子的社会是十分有价值的，但现代偌大的信息通讯网络还是容易被人滥用。
However, the mass media are with us for better, for worse, and there is no turning back.
但不管大众传媒是好是坏，它都将和我们在一起，这种趋势是不可逆转的