时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(七月)


英语课

Restaurant Newsletter Has Global Reach


People who are grabbing coffee or a meal at a restaurant are sure to have some time on their hands while they wait to place their orders and receive their food.

All the while, they often wish they had something quick, light, and interesting to read.

A single, thick sheet of paper fills that need and serves neighborhood businesses in 700 U.S. communities and 400 other places around the world.

It's a weekly publication that's printed, front and back, in three columns, and placed in racks for customers to pick up. The middle column is filled with wise sayings, trivia items, notes about the day in history, weekly horoscopes and offbeat 1 stories, such as a recent item about a horse that stands just 36 centimeters tall. The whole sheet takes about 10 minutes to read.

The two outside columns are packed with ads for neighborhood car washes, wedding photographers, pest-control companies and so forth 2.

The idea originated in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1982, with a woman named Jean Daum. She had seen restaurant patrons pick up sugar packs from their containers on the table and read the brief, entertaining factoids printed on the back, just to pass the time.

She began distributing a little newsletter, loaded with breezy reading material, to restaurants, coffee shops, barber shops - even hospital waiting rooms. She called it Coffee News. Pretty soon, other businesses started calling her, asking for copies to give to their customers, and it wasn't long before she was selling Coffee News franchises 4 all across Canada.

When Baum died of cancer in 2007, Bill Buckley purchased worldwide distribution rights. The former potato farmer in the northeastern state of Maine had obtained the first Coffee News franchise 3 in the United States 12 years earlier.

Just this week, his representative signed up the first Coffee News franchise in Congo, which joins 300 other overseas outlets 5 in 20 countries.

The lighthearted reading material in Coffee News is still produced in Winnipeg, then edited in Maine by Buckley's wife, Sue-Ann. Franchisees 7 pay $8,500 for the right to distribute the publication in territories of up to 50,000 people. The franchisees sell the ads and insert them into the newsletter.

Readers get something new and light, advertisers get a captive audience for their messages, and, if all goes well over the course of a year, the franchisee 6 makes a good living.



adj.不平常的,离奇的
  • She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
  • His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。
adv.向前;向外,往外
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
n.特许,特权,专营权,特许权
  • Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
  • The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。
n.(尤指选举议员的)选举权( franchise的名词复数 );参政权;获特许权的商业机构(或服务);(公司授予的)特许经销权v.给…以特许权,出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )
  • TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句
n.出口( outlet的名词复数 );经销店;插座;廉价经销店
  • The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
n.特许经营人
  • Two groups discussing what qualities a Franchisee should have.两个小组在讨论被特许人需要具备什麽品质。
  • Information on prices and conditions of the products,services and equipment provide for the franchisee.向被特许人提供产品、服务、设备的价格条件等情况。
n.特许经营人( franchisee的名词复数 )
  • Works on these franchisees' facilities were moving ahead rapidly. 这些专营设施的工程正迅速推展。 来自互联网
  • Another good source of information about a franchise is other franchisees. 另一个了解特许经营的可靠信息源是其他经营者。 来自互联网
学英语单词
accounting year
Aconitum longecassidatum
Aerva
air circuit breaker (acb)
Algidon
almatour
anchor rope for deep sea
annular cowling
anoperineal fistula
ariadnes
asplenium polyodon
batch fabricated
blunt-force
Bol'shoy Ik
bursate
ceppo
chanson
charging efficiency
colicystopylitis
collinsons
complex(-valued) function
corypha umbraculiferas
Daryl
deep-draft
destabilase
dihydrodotriacolide
disinvited
Djedid, Hassi
dogsledders
drilaster atricollis
drunk mouse
elastic moderation
electric frying pan
electromagnetic gas valve
Employment Appeal Tribunal
endoblasts
epitonium fasciatum
executive toy
faust ballet
free steering axle
gliding joints
growth hormone-releasing factors
gubernacular cord
harmonicist
helpworthy
high resolution pressure gauge
hypochylin
independent double linkages
internal conversion radioisotope
intraquery
irregular heir
kelungensis
laurinterol
like white on rice
liquor relief
middle axle differential case
mithramycin
mud-kicker
natif
nephronectin
Newark Airport
Nucleus ventromedialis
object classification
open cell formation
pathnames
pattee
payment-by-result
permeablises
pleva
pot noodles
pre-bans
proton shift reaction
prurigo gestationis
pseudo-column
pseudoanisotropy
punch-bag
quantity of clean-up
Raphoe
right-back
roomba
running trim
sack tree
scripless dealing of shares
selvams
sheets in coils
Spatium lateropharyngeum
spread-eagleds
St David's Head
steamable
suction slot
Svanskog
telefolmin
terminal cell
thermal fragmen
threatened species
tossaroon
Trioptic
trust business
ugly rumour
user's set
walking dustbins
wood-reeve