But if books were just simple useful tools 30 years ago，nowadays they tend to carry a greater significance.More people have been developing diverse interests，and have turned to literature to suit their cultural tastes，artistic preferences，academic orientations and moral aspirations.
Thirty years ago there might have been a time when the country boys read ardently to become engineers or to launch their own small companies.Now，at least in some corners of the nation as shown by Wang’s more recent photo at a bookstore near Peking University，Beijing，it’s a world of deeper thinkers.
Two Buddhist monks are seen here choosing titles in a“Bookstore of China Studies”.The name，in the Chinese context，refers mainly to the research in the Chinese classics from the ancient times.Buddhism，first imported from India almost 2，000 years ago，has contributed to an important part of those books.
In bookstores in major cities，literature about the Chinese tradition have been selling very well in the last couple of years-from Confucianism to Buddhism.They are not books for people to sit on.They are the ones designed to rest their hearts.
分析：这篇报道以散文式的笔墨，以书为载体，畅谈80年代以来人们对书本的需求和使用方式的改变。“从‘椅子’到心灵休憩之所”这样的比喻则恰到好处地从侧面反映了人们的物质生活需求和精神生活需求的变迁。值得一提的是，这篇稿件中所采用的两幅照片颇具观赏性和启发性，而专门制作的关于人们在文化和教育事业上的人均花费、书籍和报纸数量、公共图书馆数量的图表更是能够清晰地反映整个社会对文化的态度转变，真正做到了寓文化外宣于文字和图片、图表之中。
（3）改革开放30年之两性：年轻人没有出位
该文的中文内容如下：
改革开放30年之两性：年轻人没有出位
[2008-09-2211∶39]
中国媒体有时会就国内大学生对性的态度做一些调查，这些调查引用的来源不明，调查方法也欠妥当，用耸人听闻的数字得出一个结论：年轻人对父母时代的禁忌毫不避讳。
仅人民网就有多个报告宣称，有70%的大学生不介意与异性合租，有60%不反对婚前性行为，但仅有约40%在上大学之前接受过性教育。
这些调查的科学性当然值得质疑，但这不是问题的关键，有谁会像经济学家对待CPI、GDP、M1和M2一样跟那些数字较真呢？
事实上，老一辈人眼里的孩子都很“野”，不好管教；年轻人对老一套也没有兴趣，而他们的新做法又让上一代人无法接受。
这些反差在一个变化不断的国家表现得尤为突出。直到19世纪70年代末，这个曾经热衷革命、提倡禁欲的社会，才达成一个共识：可以在公园和电影院等公共场所谈恋爱。
这张黑白照片拍摄于四川成都的一个公园里。1978年的照片中，约会的年轻人行为拘谨，与对方刻意保持着距离。而就是这样的行为，如果放到70年代初，也会被指责是不检点。70年代初，人们认为所有时间都应该用到严肃的政治会议上。
如今这些年轻人的所作所为一定会让他们的父母觉得害臊，但孩子们并不以为然。这张拍于21世纪某个圣诞前夜的照片就很能说明问题。
不过这些年轻人能有今天的快乐，恰恰是因为他们的父母，因为那些70年代的恋爱者们带来的改变。
该篇报道的英文原文为：
The kids are alright
By YOU NUO(China Daily)
From time to time，the Chinese-language press runs so-called surveys about the attitude of college students to sex.Mind-boggling figures are quoted from little-known sources and minus survey methods to show how today’s young people can be candid，if not casual，about what were no-no’s for their parents.
From the People’s Daily website alone there are reports alleging that 70 percent of college students don’t mind sharing a dorm room or flat with someone of the opposite sex，or 60 percent of them do not object to pre-marital sex，while only 40 or so percent of them had any sex education before they entered college.
The scientific quality of these surveys is always debatable.But that is not the issue.No one is arguing about those figures like economists do with CPI，GDP，M1 and M2.
In fact，in the eyes of every older generation，children always tend to be running wild and hard to control.They don’t have fun in the old ways，and their new ways sometimes arouse unbearable scenarios in the minds of their elders.
The contrast could hardly be more apparent in a country constantly in change.It was not until the late 1970s，when a society that had once been both passionately revolutionary and stoic was recovering its common sense，that“talking romance”(the Chinese for dating)could be seen in public places such as parks and movie theaters.
Our black-and-white photo is a park scene in Chengdu，a major city in Sichuan province，which shows how young people used to act with self-restraint and a carefully managed distance between themselves when they dated in 1978；although just a few years earlier，in the early 1970s，what they were doing might just as well have had them accused of being“improper”at a time when all people were supposed to be spending their time at somber political meetings.
The behavior of today’s youngsters must make their parents blush，but the kids couldn’t careless，especially in festival times as shown by our color photo taken on a 21st-century Christmas Eve.
But the young can have their fun precisely because their parents，some of them the“romance-talkers”in the 1970s，began the change.
分析：这篇稿件从年轻人恋爱观的转变，侧面反映了改革开放以来人们思想的转变，两幅图片的对比更是能够让外国读者只看图片就能猜测出记者想要表达的思想。最为突出的是，文中以批判的语气提到：“中国媒体有时会就国内大学生对性的态度做一些调查，这些调查引用的来源不明，调查方法也欠妥当，用耸人听闻的数字得出一个结论：年轻人对父母时代的禁忌毫不避讳。仅人民网就有多个报告宣称，有70%的大学生不介意与异性合租，有60%不反对婚前性行为，但仅有约40%在上大学之前接受过性教育。”对中国媒体的调查方法提出了质疑，在中国媒体长期以来大力重视正面宣传的氛围下，发出了不一样的声音，能够给外国读者以耳目一新的感觉，从而更好地增强对外宣传效果。
通过对以上文化外宣稿件的分析可以看出，《中国日报》的文化外宣在选题、行文和表达方法等方面充分贴近中国发展的实际，贴近国外受众对中国信息的需求，贴近国外受众的思维习惯，以地道、幽默、风趣的语言阐述客观事实，已经基本摆脱了“说教式”宣传的束缚，能够让读者在读故事的过程中逐渐品尝个中滋味，在潜移默化中起到说服读者，宣传中国文化的作用。
结语
在文化外宣体系中，尤其是在全球化、大传播的背景下，媒体的作用不容忽视。尽管长期以来，“西强我弱”的国际舆论格局一直是限制我国对外宣传的一大桎梏，使我们的声音淹没在国际传媒业巨鲸大鳄的舆论浪潮中。然而，我们也要看到的是，我国的媒体正在努力打破这种传播格局，不断增强国际传播能力、改变传播策略，全力以赴地争夺国际舆论主动权。
在文化外宣过程中，我国媒体很好地立足于中国五千年历史文明的积淀，对外宣传我国文化的精华，正在走出一条反映中国客观实际、易于海外受众接受的外宣路线。我们的文化对外报道，也越来越注重策略性，在语言上剔除那些过于生硬的说教式或谴责性的语言，大量采用较为温和的语调，不断增加对现存负面情况的报道力度，形成相对平衡的正面和负面报道，有效地增强外宣的说服力。在媒体的不断努力和中国国际地位不断提升的促进下，我国媒体在世界上的影响力正不断增强，外宣的海外落地率也不断提升。可以预见的是，在未来的文化外宣工作中，媒体文化外宣将发挥越来越多的作用。