没有人能够避免受到广告的影响。
No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.
尽管我们可能为自己的好品味而自豪，我们已不再能自由地选择自己想要的东西，因为广告对我们施加着潜移默化的影响。
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.
为了说服我们购买这样或那样的产品，广告商们深入研究了人类本性，并将我们所有的小弱点一一归类。
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.
广告商们很早以前就发现，我们所有人都喜欢白得东西。
Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing.
一则以"FREE（免费）"这个神奇词汇开头的广告，几乎不可能失败。
An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.
如今，广告商们不仅提供免费样品，还提供免费汽车、免费住房，以及免费环游世界的旅行。
These days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well.
他们设计了数以百计的比赛，使我们有机会赢得巨额金钱。
They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money.
广播和电视使广告商有可能以这种方式吸引数百万人的注意力。
Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
在一档广播节目中，一家饼干生产商曾经请听众烤制饼干，并将其送到他们的工厂。
During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory.
他们承诺以每磅 10 美元的价格购买听众烤制的最大饼干。
They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener.
这场比赛的反响十分热烈。
The response to this competition was tremendous.
不久之后，各种形状和大小的饼干开始陆续送达工厂。
Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory.
一位女士用独轮手推车推来了一块饼干。它重约 500 磅。
One lady brought biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds.
稍晚一些，一名男子带着一块饼干出现了，那块饼干占满了他汽车的整个后备箱。
A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car.
所有送来的饼干都被仔细地称了重量。
All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed.
最大的那块重 713 磅。看来这块饼干必然会赢得大奖。
The largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this would win the prize.
但就在比赛即将截止之前，一辆卡车载着一块重达 2400 磅、真正堪称庞然大物的饼干抵达了工厂。
But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2,400 pounds.
它是由一名大学生烤制的，他使用了逾 1000 磅面粉、800 磅糖、200 磅油脂，以及 400 磅各种其他配料。
It had been baked by a college student who had used over 1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients.
它太重了，不得不动用起重机才能将其从卡车上卸下。
It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry.
制造商们不得不支付比他们预期更多的钱，因为他们以 24000 美元的价格从那名学生手中购买了那块饼干。
The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the biscuit from the student for $24,000.