If There Were No Advertisements
　　Nowadays, advertisements can be found everywhere in big cities. They shout at us from the television screen and radio loudspeakers, wave to us from every page of the newspaper, signal to us from the roadside billboards all day and flash messages to us in colored lights all night.
　　Faced with a flood of advertisement, some people wonder whether it is necessary to have such huge sums spent on advertising. They often cite in illustration of it the attractive, but false and deceptive advertisements to which many consumers fall victim. Why don't we stop advertising and use the money to reduce the price of goods? It sounds like a good idea, but they fail to notice the contribution advertising makes to our society. Because the production of a better product to compete for customers' money is the goal of advertisers, customers are thus given a chance to compare their products and get the best and cheapest one. Besides, as the advertisement can provide people with a lot of immediate and detailed information as to the availability of a certain product, or a service or a job, it makes life much more convenient. And another thing we mustn't forget: the fact that we pay so little for our daily newspapers and TV programs is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers.
　　Advertising performs such a useful service to our society that we can't imagine what would happen if there were no advertisements.     (198 words)

结构剖析
　文章分为三段
　第一段引入话题简述现在广告很流行这一现象。
　第二段展开话题从正反两方面论述广告的优缺点。
　第三段话题结论总结全文，不能没有广告。

 


假如没有广告
　　现如今在大城市广告随处可见。它们通过电视屏幕和广播的扬声器向我们叫喊，在报纸的每一页冲我们招手，从路边广告牌上整天向我们发送信号，还有整夜的彩灯闪动的信息。
　　面对广告大潮，有些人想知道，我们是否有必要在广告上花费如此之多。他们常引用那些吸引人、但虚假和欺骗的广告做例子，许多消费者成为这些广告的受害者。我们为何不停止做广告，用这些钱来降低商品价格呢？这听起来是个好主意，但是他们没有注意到广告对我们的社会所做的贡献。由于生产好的产品来争夺消费者的钱是刊登广告者的目标，所以消费者有机会去对比他们的产品，并选择最物美价廉的。另外，由于广告能给人们提供许多关于某种产品、服务或工作的可利用性的快速而具体的信息，它使生活更加便捷。另一件我们不应该忘记的事情是： 我们在每天的报纸和电视节目上花费的很少，这完全是因为刊登广告的人花了很多钱。
　　广告为我们的社会提供了如此有用的服务，因此我们不能想象如果没有了广告，会发生什么。

roadside billboards  路边广告牌
illustration  n. 说明，图解
deceptive adj. 骗人的，欺诈的
fall victim  受害
detailed information  详细信息
availability  n. 有效，有益

1. They often cite in illustration of it the attractive, but false and deceptive advertisements to which many consumers fall victim. 他们常引用那些吸引人、但虚假和欺骗的广告做例子，许多消费者成为这些广告的受害者。
2. And another thing we mustn't forget: the fact that we pay so little for our daily newspapers and TV programs is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. 另一件我们不应该忘记的事情是： 我们在每天的报纸和电视节目上花费的很少，这完全是因为刊登广告的人花了很多钱。