Consumers are faced with increasing numbers of advertisements from competing companies. To what extent do you think are consumers influenced by advertisements? What measures can be taken to protect them?

　　各种各样的广告充斥电视屏幕、报纸、公交车和几乎所有城市街道。这对于消费者而言既有利也有弊。消费者不可避免会受到影响，但程度是因人而异的。

　　Television screens, newspapers, buses, and almost all city streets are flooded by all kinds of advertisements. This has both advantages and disadvantages to consumers who are unavoidably influenced, though the degrees vary from person to person.

　　因为很多相互竞争的公司所打的广告，消费者得以迅速了解某些新产品。如果一样产品恰好是一些消费者所需要的，他们也许会受到吸引而去购来一试。假如该产品经证实确实好，人们便会开始响朋友推荐，其销售也会快速上升。所以，我们看到这对于消费者和生产商来讲是个双赢的局面。而且，我们还看到：消费者不会马上就受到影响、难以自拔。他们对广告产品树立信心是要花点时间的。

　　Because of the advertisements placed by many competing companies, consumers are able to learn about certain new products rapidly. If a product happens to be what some consumers need, they might be attracted to make a purchase and have trial use. If it turns out to be really good, people would set about recommending it to friends and the sales of this product will go up very quickly. So, we see this is a win-win situation both to consumers and manufacturers and we also see that consumers are not just influenced profoundly all at once. It takes time for them to establish faith in the advertised products.

　　多数情况下，广告产品都不错，值得一买。但也有某样产品的效果和功能被大加夸张了的情况，这肯定会愚弄一些人，让他们立马受到吸引去购买。鉴于一样产品只能凭质量和长期建立起来的声望赢得市场，我们有充足的理由相信：那些虚假的或者是言过其实的产品将最终失去市场份额并走向灭亡。因此，我们看到市场是有选择性的，而消费者从长远角度讲也是理性的。

　　In most cases, the advertised products are good and worth buying. But there are also cases where the effects or functions of a certain product are much exaggerated and it will definitely fool some people when they are attracted all at once and go to buy it. Since a product can only win the market through its quality and its long established fame, there’s every reason to believe that those fake or much exaggerated products will eventually lose their market shares and die out. Thus, we see that the market is selective and consumers are sensible in the long term.

　　发达国家有严格的广告审查和监督体系。如果一家公司打出的一则广告未能产生广告词所宣称的效果就会被定性为欺诈，由此便会违法，导致极为严重的后果。多数情况下，生产厂家会被重罚，从而难以继续生存下去。

　　In developed countries, there are strict censorship and supervising systems regarding advertising. If the advertisement put up by a company fails to honor the advertised effects, it would be termed as fraud, thus violating the law which could lead to really serious result. In most cases, the manufacturing company would be fined so heavily that it would be difficult for it to survive any longer.

　　从前面的论证我们看到：广告的对消费者的影响有积极的一面，也有消极的一面，影响力也因人而异。为了保护消费者，政府可以采用发达国家的做法，执行真正严格的广告审查和监督法。

　　From the foregoing discussion, we can see that advertisements influence consumers both favorably and unfavorably and the degrees of this influence differ from person to person. To protect consumers, governments can follow the practice of developed countries by enforcing really strict censorship and supervising laws in regard to advertising as a whole.

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