【推荐2】Visitors to Britain are sometimes surprised to learn that newspapers there have such a large circulation. The “quality” newspapers are often held up as an example of impartial journalism, but the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express usually impress newspapermen even more because they both sell about four million copies every day. British families generally buy a newspaper every morning and frequently take two or three on Sundays, but the vast circulation figures obtained are not only due to the Englishman’s thirst for news.Because the newspapers are all published nationally, copies can be delivered everywhere at the same time.

Though people abroad often know the names of the national papers, they seldom realize that there is another branch of the British press which sells almost as many copies. Local newspapers have a weekly circulation of 13 million. Almost every town and country area has one. Nearly all of them hold their own finance and many of them are very profitable.

These papers are written almost entirely for readers interested in local events — births, weddings, deaths, council meetings and sports — but the content is naturally influenced by the kind of community they serve. Editors prefer to rely on a small staff of people who all know the district well. A great deal of local news is regularly supplied by clubs and churches in the neighbourhood and it does not get out of date as quickly as national news. If there is no room for it in this week’s edition, an item can sometimes be held until the following week.

The editor must never forget that the success of any newspaper depends on advertising. He is usually anxious to keep the good will of local businessmen for this reason. But if the newspaper is well written and the news items are carefully chosen to attract local readers, the businessmen are grateful for the opportunity to keep their products in the public eye.

Local newspapers do not often comment on problems of national importance and editors rarely hold with taking sides on political questions. But they can often be of service to the community in expressing public feeling on local issues. A newspaper can sometimes persuade the council to take action to provide better shopping facilities, improve transport in the area and preserve local monuments and places of interest.

【推荐3】Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people's e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

"The 'if it bleeds' rule works for mass media," says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. "They want your eyeballs and don't care how you're feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don't want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer."

Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication, e-mails, Web posts and reviews face-to-face conversations found that it tended to be more positive than negative, but that didn't necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times' website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the "most e-mailed" list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times' readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.

Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad, The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, "Contagious: Why Things Catch On."

【推荐3】Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve

Published by OUP Press

ISBN: 978-0-192-73455-6

Oliver grew up in a family of explorers—but his biggest adventure is about to begin! Along with his new friends, Oliver goes off to look for his missing parents.

I really like this book because it’s not one of those short stories that are over too quickly, but a longish book that takes time to read. I recommend this book and give it 5 stars.

Ginny, age 8

Published by A H Stockwell

ISBN: 978-0-722-34327-2

Lady Lydia is old and eccentric (古怪的), but she is never lonely. She shares her home with bats and mice and spiders, and all the animals round about are her friends too.

My lovely daughter Alice likes all the pictures of the animals in this book, but she doesn’t like it when the pages have lots of writing on with no pictures. Alice rates this book 2 out of 5.

Alice, age 4

Published by Orion Books

ISBN: 978-1-444-00844-9

Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together.

This book makes my sweetheart Lucie feel lovely inside and the drawing are not as good because the colors are not bright like other books. Lucie rates this book 3 out of 5.

Lucie, age 4

Published by Egmont

ISBN: 978-1-405-26843-1

See Kate and Will’s romance develop from their studying days at Edinburgh through to their happy wedding at Buckingham Palace with the royal family, even the queen, in tow.

My little angel Amy likes the book. The best parts are the wedding and fireworks as she likes fireworks and the colors on the page are really bright. Amy rates it 4 out of 5.

Amy, age 4