人们为什么喜欢读小报？

英国小报
　　
Anyone checking out the British news-stands must think this is a nation obsessed with celebrity, television, sport and sex--all richly represented in sleazy tabloids and the bright pink print of women's magazines and gossip weekies.
在英国各个大小报刊亭放眼望去，你肯定会认为这是一个极度痴迷于名人、电视、体育以及性的国度——此类内容铺天盖地，充斥于各种低级庸俗的小报、亮粉色的女性杂志以及传播各类花边新闻的周刊。
　　
Britain's large tabloid presence represents a hangover from the old class system: a wide suspicion of intellectualism and an unhealthy disregard for serious news, informed debate or educated opinion. Sales of all five "serious" newspapers together amount to less than the 3.1 million circulation of the nation's best-selling paper, The Sun.
庸俗小报在英国的大量存在是旧有等级制度所留后遗症的体现：对于理智主义的普遍怀疑，以及一种对严肃新闻、有见地的辩论及体现学养之观点的不健康的漠视。五大“严肃”报纸加在一起的发行量也比不上一份《太阳报》，这份全国最畅销报纸的发行量达310万。
　　A recent study by the communications industry watchdog Ofcom in Britain found that only 45 percent of UK adults trust broadsheet newspaper content. Only 19 percent trust tabloid newspapers; 46 percent actually distrust them. So why buy them?
英国传播行业监察机构Ofcom最近开展的一次调查显示，只有45%的英国成年人相信大报上的内容，相信小报的则只有19%。实际上，有46%的人是不相信小报的。那为什么还要买小报呢？
　　
Tabloids appeal to the gut instinct of the masses, who laugh at the crazy headlines, but happily take in the right-wing celebrity columns from Richard Littlejohn (Daily Mail) and Jeremy Clarkson (The Sun/The times). It's hard to resist stories of Britain being taken over by immigrants, or of politicians' sex scandals. They simply strengthen readers' sense of grievance.
小报能够迎合大众发自内心深处的本能，大家可以一边嘲笑那些疯狂的标题，一边愉快地品读理查德·小约翰（《每日邮报》）和杰里米·克拉克森（《太阳报》/《泰晤士报》）观点右倾的名人专栏。诸如英国正被移民所主导以及有关政客们性丑闻的报道确实让人难以抵挡。说白了，它们就是帮读者出恶气的。