最近默多克集團竊聽事件鬧得沸沸揚揚。先是《世界新聞報》被迫停刊，接著又有裘德·洛狀告《太陽報》竊聽，這兩天又傳出《明鏡報》也牽涉進來。英國各種報紙一定讓大家暈頭轉向吧，那么，英國報刊是如何分類的呢？有哪些主要報紙呢？為什么發行量那么大的《世界新聞報》只能稱之為tabloid（小報）？一起來看看下面的介紹吧。

British newspapers are among the oldest and most famous in the world. But recently big changes have seen these traditional publications try to fit the modern world. After 216 years, The Timeshas halved its size to become much smaller. In fact, the paper has cut its size in half from a broadsheet to tabloid.

英國報業久負盛名。但幾年來為了適應現代社會的發展，這些傳統出版物進行了較大改革。比如，擁有216年歷史的《泰晤士報》把版面縮小一半，實際上是由傳統的大版面改為了類似小報的小版面。

In Britain the newspaper market is divided between the larger broadsheets and the smaller tabloids. These terms refer to the size of the papers' pages but there is also a clear difference in content. Broadsheets such as The Times, the Guardianand Daily Telegraphare serious papers. They cover a broad range of political, economic and international issues. Their stories are also reasonably long and use quite formal language.

在英國，報紙主要分為兩大類：嚴肅類大版面報紙和小版面通俗小報。這兩類報紙不僅版面大小不同，報紙內容也大相徑庭。像《泰晤士報》《衛報》和《每日電訊》都是嚴肅類報紙。他們內容廣泛，政治、經濟和國際事務都有涉及，文章較長，用語正式規范。

Tabloids have far more stories about less serious issues such as celebrities' love lives. Their stories are shorter and use more simple language. Tabloids often have bigger pictures. Britain's best-selling newspaper, the Sun, is a tabloid and has a naked girl on page three every day.

通俗小報文章量多，但內容絕不嚴肅，多介紹類似于明星戀情等花邊新聞。文章篇幅短小，語言簡練。通俗小報上通常選用大幅照片。例如，英國最暢銷的的報紙——《太陽報》就是通俗小報，它每期報紙第三頁都會刊登一幅裸體女郎的照片。

By changing to the size of a tabloid, The Timesis following in the footsteps of a less famous broadsheet paper the Independent. It changed to tabloid last year and saw its sales increase greatly. Although both papers have switched to the smaller size, the content of the papers has remained the same. They are both still serious papers.