#145. Do advertisements promote things we do not need or products that may improve our lives?
Over the last twenty years the amount of adverting we are subjected to in our daily lives has increased dramatically. It has got to the point where one can hardly turn his/her head without seeing a wide array of media images. I tend to agree the fact that advertisements more often than not persuade us into buying things that we do not need.
Often it is difficult to discern what a product is from an advertisement. Advertisers prey on our basal emotions, conjuring strong relationships between our primary drives and their product names or logos. A prime example of this is perfume ads. In many of these types of advertisements there are women in compromising positions, but there is no mention of the actual product for sale. These ads draw us in and make us think that we can be better and more beautiful if we have the product.
In addition to being manipulative, advertisements also fill our environments and our consciousness. There is no taboo venue for advertisements; they fill our televisions, radios, streets and elevators. Some advertisers have even taken to placing images of their products in our urinals or on boxers' bodies. It is impossible to get away from them. To illustrate this point, all one has to do is to pick up a popular magazine. While flipping through the pages, one will most likely find that for every page of content there are at least two pages of advertisements. It should also be noted that a significant portion of this so called "content" is actually advertising in disguise.
Finally, advertisements feed on our insecurities and often successfully convince us that we have no value to society without their products. Advertising was originally designed to showcase products and inform us as to how they can improve our lives. This harmless form has been replaced by a medium that viciously attacks our self-confidence and self-esteem.
In conclusion, I posit that the main goal of advertisements is to convince us to buy things that we do not need. As globalization continues to shrink the world, advertising coerces all countries to become consumer nations.
145. 广告是宣传无用之物还是宣传改善生活之物？
在过去的20年里，我们在日常生活中所触及的广告数量急剧增长，发展到一个人很难在四周看不到媒体存在的地步。我赞同的观点是广告商更多地是促使我们买一些我们不需要的东西。
经常很难从广告里判断这个产品是什么，广告商侵蚀我们的基本情感，在我们的原始动机和他们的产品名和商标之间构筑很强的联系。一个最具代表性的例子是香水广告，在很多类型的广告中美女置身暖昧的场景，但是却没有涉及商品本身。这些广告吸引我们并且使我们相信如果拥有这个产品会变得更好，更漂亮。
广告除了具有控制力之外，还充斥着我们周围的环境和我们的思想，广告还没有任何禁忌的地方。他们充满了我们的电视、广播、街道和电梯。一些广告商甚至已经把他们的产品标记印在我们的便池和拳击手的身上。我们已经不可能把这些现象清除，随便拿起一本流行杂志，就能说明这一点。人们翻弄书页时，基本上能发现每看到一页内容就最少能看到两页广告，并且往往所谓的内容中的一个重要部分实际上就是伪装的广告。
最后，广告利用我们的不安全感经常成功地使我们相信：没有他们的产品我们难以立足于这个社会。广告最初用于宣传产品并告诉人们这些产品怎样改善我们的生活，这种无害的方式已经被恶意攻击我们自信和自尊的媒体所取代了。
总而言之，我认为广告的主要目的是说服我们买一些并不需要的东西。全球化继续令世界缩小，广告也强行把所有的国家变成了消费团体。
- discern ［diˈsə:n］ v. 洞悉，辨别
- illustrate ［ˈiləˌstreit］ v. 举例说明，阐明
- prey on 捕食，掠夺
- disguise ［disˈgaiz］ n. 伪装
- manipulative ［məˈnipjələtiv］ adj. 操纵的，控制的
- vicious ［ˈviʃəs］ adj. 恶意的
- esteem ［iˈsti:m］ n. 尊敬，尊重
- consciousness ［ˈka:nʃəsnis］ n. 意识
- coerce ［kəuˈə:s］ v. 强制，强迫
- taboo ［təˈbu:］ adj. 禁忌的，忌讳的