No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us.
    没有人可以避免被广告影响。尽管我们大多数人都对自己的品味极其自信，但我们已无法自由选择我们真正想要的东西了，因为广告对我们造成了潜移默化的影响。
    PS：”No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.” 双重否定表肯定强调。
    PS++: A exerts a subtle influence on B, A对B有一个潜移默化的影响。

    In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.
    做广告的人总是力图劝说我们买这买那之前，他们已经研究过人的本性，并就人的弱点进行了分类。

    Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.
    多年以前，做广告的人发现了我们都喜欢免费得到东西。于是以“免费”这个神奇的词汇开头的广告很少跑偏过。
    PS：advertisement rarely go wrong，广告很少跑偏，表示准确。

    These days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well. They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sum of money.
    近日，做广告的人不仅免费提供样品，还有免费的车、房、环球旅行。他们设计上百种竞赛，竞赛中有人可以获得大量的奖金。

    Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
    广播和电视使得他们用这种竞赛方式被成百上千人关注成为可能。
    PS：A captures the attention of B，吸引B关注A。

    During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufactures once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener.
    在一档广播节目里，一家生产饼干的公司请听众自己烘烤饼干并送到他们厂去。他们他们愿意以十美元一磅的价格收购其中最大的饼干。

    The response to this competition was tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory. One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds.
    这次竞赛反响极其热烈。不久后，形状各异、大小不一的饼干就陆续被送去工厂了。一位女士将饼干放在手推车上，它重500磅左右。
    PS：The response to … is tremendous，…反响热烈。

    A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car. All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed. The largest was 713 pounds.
    不一会，一位男士也带来一个大饼干，沾满了他汽车的行李箱。所有送来的饼干都被仔细地称重，最大的有713磅。

    It seemed certain that this would win the prize. But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2400 bounds. It has been baked by a college student who had used over 1000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients.
    这块饼干似乎要获奖无疑了。但就在比赛结束前，一辆卡车驶入了工厂，运来了一个巨大无比、重达2400磅的饼干。它是一个大学生做的，用掉了1000磅面粉、800磅糖、200磅脂肪、和400磅其他原料。

    It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry. The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the biscuit from the student for $24000.
    这个饼干太重了，只能由吊车将其从卡车上拿下来。饼干公司不得不付出比他们预算还多的钱，因为要花24000美元从这个学生那里买饼干。