日本报纸推新应用 让孩子也能读懂新闻

如何才能让小孩子也能读懂报纸上的新闻？日本《东京新闻》报纸与某广告公司合作推出的一款新闻应用程序可以解决这个问题。据介绍，智能手机中安装这款应用程序后，小朋友拿手机对着报纸上的新闻，看到的就是儿童故事版本的新闻报道，有卡通人物讲解报道内容，还会着重强调报道中的关键词语。这样一来，原本艰涩难懂的政经报道和社会问题摇身一变成了适合儿童阅读的有趣卡通故事，家长和孩子可以一起看报纸，对孩子来说也多了一个学习渠道。

An augmented-reality app that "translates" grown-up newspapers for children has been developed in Japan.

The Tokyo Shimbun, one of the country's biggest daily titles, has worked with advertising firm Dentsu to create the AR News software.

It allows children to hold a smartphone over the newspaper to see a child-friendly version of the text.

In a promotional video, Dentsu said the app could "create a future for the old media newspaper".

"Newspapers were not made for children," the clip said.

"If newspapers became readable to children, they will contribute to family communication and child's education."

The demo video shows a father laying a newspaper out on a table as the child holds his smartphone over the page. Cartoon characters appear on the screen, explaining stories and drawing attention to important words.

"Difficult articles and social problems, economy and politics became interesting subjects for children," Dentsu said.

"The newspapers became a media read by both parent and child. And also an educational tool for children."

Paul Bradshaw, university lecturer and blogger on new technology in journalism, told the BBC he was impressed with the idea.

"What it's really about is something that's been talked about for a long time, about content being presented in different ways depending on who the user is," he said.

"It means two versions of the content - a grown-up one and the kids one. That has enormous potential. It also tackles a big gap in young readership.

"Are kids going to be interested in the same subjects as adults, even when treated differently? That's a nut to crack."