200年前出生的英国著名小说家查尔斯·狄更斯在他那部以法国大革命为背景的名著《双城记》中有一个非常有名的开头：“那是最美好的时代，那是最糟糕的时代；那是智慧的年头，那是愚昧的年头；那是信仰的时期，那是怀疑的时期；那是光明的季节，那是黑暗的季节；那是希望的春天，那是失望的冬天；我们全都在直奔天堂，我们全都在直奔相反的方向--简而言之，那时跟现在非常相像……”(It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period......)这个开头之所以在世界文学史上非常有名，不仅是因为它的巧妙修辞手法引人注目，而且也是因为它具有超越时代、超越国界的高度精准的概括性，包括对当今中国、对当今中国的新闻自由、尤其是对在当今中国工作的国际媒体的工作环境具有高度精准的概括性。... ...