在2014年6月15日的托福阅读考试中有这样一道题：欧洲报纸的发展。针对这道托福考题，新东方谢真真老师来为大家普及一下关于欧洲报纸发展的背景知识，这样有助于考生在面对这类题目时方便作答。

　　托福阅读真题再现：
　　版本一：
　　第三个 关于欧洲报业发展的原因 报纸开始于荷兰 然后第二段的意思：由于荷兰征服管的比较松 所以荷兰报业就NB了 法国开始有了政府赞助的报纸 虽然对加速了报业的发展 但是有的报纸都是政府的观点(这里有一道题) 往下提到了促进报纸发展的几个因素 我还记得一个：就是商业和经济的发展接着 商人们需要报纸上的信息 当时文章中提到了一堆地名LONDON LIVERPOOL啥的 大概意思就是对商人做生意有好处 在往下 提到了报纸的主要市场在英国 英国的国会中很多人喜欢报纸 因为可以利用报纸的社会舆论使得政治上的竞争对手compromise(原词 而且有题) 再往下是邮政系统的发展让报纸NB了 接着 说城里城外很多邮筒(好像是啊)然后各种CAFE什么的就都有了 然后跟着给了一个法国的什么报纸貌似是例子 这个例子除了一个提 最后说报纸变得大众化了 说报纸有什么影响 有一个是加强community之间的交流 这里除了一个非真实信息题 EXCEPT 最后说一句 这个文章有7段 这篇我就记得这么多了
　　版本二：
　　讲欧洲报纸的发展
　　第一段background information说报纸是很有用的传递信息的工具啊什么的。
　　第二段讲最早的报纸是英国的xxx报纸，同时还有一个公司成立。这俩的关系记不太清了。
　　第三段讲政府开始干涉报纸的发展了。首先必须有政府的批准(license)，是为了control who publish the news。然后政府开始资助一些公司，报纸上会有一些关于政府的事件，类似于决策之类的吧。这些上发生的大事(应该是怕影响到他们的交易)。随着报纸的发展，能把报纸运到各种偏远的地方。
　　第五段讲报纸更加大众化。针对的人群页变成了老百姓们。报纸上会报道各种strange event，百姓能更好的接受。其次也能让百姓觉得自己是社会的一部分。最后，报纸上有了可以让百姓自己写评论的地方。
　　新东方谢真真解析：
　　本文是历史性题材，涉及到欧洲报纸发展的原因，之前的考试中有涉及到美国报业的发展，差别不大。本文是同学们读起来不太陌生的背景知识，在阅读过程中同学们需要重点看出来发展的原因是什么，以及发挥了什么作用，最后一题重点根据发展的原因来分角度选择答案。
　　参考阅读
　　The term newspaper became common in the 17th century. However, in Germany, publications that we would today consider to be newspaper publications, were appearing as early as the 16th century. They were discernibly newspapers for the following reasons: they were printed, dated, appeared at regular and frequent publication intervals, and included a variety of news items (unlike single item news mentioned above). The first newspaper however was said to be the Strasbourg Relation, in the early 17th century. German newspapers, like avisis, were organized by the location from which they came, and by date. They differed from avisis in the following manners: they employed a distinct and highly illustrated title page, and they applied an overall date to each issue.
　　The emergence of the new media branch in the 17th century has to be seen in close connection with the spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives it name.
　　During the 17th century, there were many kinds of publications, that told both news and rumours. Among these were pamphlets, posters, ballads etc. Even when the news periodicals emerged, many of these co-existed with them. A news periodical differs from these mainly because of its periodicity. The definition for 17th century newsbooks and newspapers is that they are published at least once a week. Johann Carolus' Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, published in Strassburg in 1605, is usually regarded as the first news periodical.
　　In the beginning of the 17th century, the right to print was strictly controlled in England. This was probably the reason why the first newspaper in English language was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler around 1620. This followed the style established by Veseler's earlier Dutch paper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. However, when the English started printing their own papers in London, they reverted to the pamphlet format used by contemporary books. The publication of these newsbooks was suspended between 1632 and 1638 by order of The Star Chamber. After they resumed publication, the era of these newsbooks lasted until the publication of the Oxford Gazette in 1665.
　　The control over printing relaxed greatly after the abolition of the Star Chamber in 1641. The Civil War escalated the demand for news. News pamphlets or books reported the war, often supporting one side or the other. Following the Restoration there arose a number of publications, including the London Gazette (first published on 16 November 1665 as the Oxford Gazette),[2] the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown. Publication was controlled under the Licensing Act of 1662, but the Act's lapses from 1679–1685 and from 1695 onwards encouraged a number of new titles.