The Onion was started by two university students in 1988. They said their paper was “America's finest news source”. For the first few years it enjoyed local popularity. Then in 1996 the Weekly Onion entered cyberspace. The new humorous online magazine became very popular. The website said The Onion had three million readers every week. The popularity of the online magazine led to increased interest in the print version. The Onion print magazine said it had almost one million readers each week.
The Onion covers all kinds of subjects and uses a kind of humour called satire. They use serious, journalistic language and style to make fun of people's ideas and activities.
For example, once an Onion online cover showed a picture of a dissatisfied young man in his disorganized home. The headline read, “Plan to straighten out entire life during week-long vacation yields mixed resuts.’ The report that followed was written in newspaper style, but, of course, this man's problems were not really worthy of newspaper coverage!
The Onion includes features found in a real newspaper. For example, there is a section called American Voices. It includes photographs of several people who have been stopped on the street. They provide their opinions on whatever subject they are asked about. They are very funny, but what is funnier is that The Onion uses the same photographs every week, but changes the names. So, readers realize quickly that the joke is on them.
Onion Editor-in-Chief Scott Dikkers has published several books of collected Onion reports. The most recent is called Embedded in America. Not everyone likes The Onion. Some people find it offensive. Others do not recognize it as a humour magazine and sometimes Onion stories are reported by real news organizations as real news reports.
【小题1】According to the passage The Onion _______.| A．was very popular with college students when it was first started |
| B．has more readers online than those who read the print version |
| C．was first read online in 1988 |
| D．published its print version after setting up its website |
| A．that The Onion is offensive |
| B．what American men's problems are |
| C．how The Onion uses a style of news report to make fun of people's ideas |
| D．how the cover has a great effect on The Onion |
| A．An Introduction to The Onion | B．The History of The Onion |
| C．Opinions on The Onion | D．Why The Onion Is Popular? |
