How do you know what's happening in your world? The amount of information just a click away may be limitless, but the time and energy we have to absorb（吸收） and evaluate（评价） it is not. All the information in the world won't be very useful unless you know how to read the news. To your grandparents, parents, or even older siblings（兄弟）, this idea would have sounded strange. Only a few decades ago, news was broad-based. Your choices were limited to a couple of general-interest magazines and newspapers of record and three or four TV networks, where trusted（信任） newscasters delivered the day's news at the same reliable time every evening.

  But the problems with this system soon became apparent（显然的） as mass（块） media（媒体） spread. While it was known that authoritarian countries controlled and censored information, a series of scandals（丑行） showed that democratic（民主的） governments were also misleading the public, often with media cooperation（合作）. Revelations（显示） of covert wars, secret assassinations（ 刺杀）, and political corruption（贪污） undermined（破坏） public faith in official narratives presented by mainstream sources. This breakdown（故障） of trust（信任） in media（媒体） gatekeepers led to alternative newspapers, radio shows, and cable（缆） news competing with the major outlets（出口） and covering events from various perspectives（透视画法）. More recently, the internet has multiplied（乘） the amount of information and viewpoints（观点） with social media（媒体）, blogs, and online video turning every citizen（公民） into a potential（潜在的） reporter. But if everyone is a reporter, nobody is, and different sources may disagree not only on opinions but on the facts themselves.

  So how do you get the truth or something close? One of the best ways is to get the original news unfiltered by middlemen. Instead of articles interpreting（解释） a scientific study or a politician's speech, you can often find the actual（实际的） material and judge for yourself. For current events, follow reporters on social media. During major events such as the Arab（阿拉伯人(的)） Spring or the Ukrainian protests, newscasters and bloggers have posted updates and recordings from the midst（中部） of the chaos（混乱）. Though many of these later appear in articles or broadcasts（广播）, keep in mind that these polished versions often combine the voice of the person who was there with the input（投入） of editors who weren't.

  At the same time, the more chaotic（混乱的） the story, the less you should try to follow it in real time. In events like terrorist（恐怖分子） attacks and natural disasters, today's media attempts（尝试） continuous coverage（报道） even when no reliable new information is available, sometimes leading to incorrect（不正确的） information or false（不真实的） accusations（控告） of innocent people. It's easy to be anxious（焦虑的） in such events, but try checking for the latest information at several points in the day rather than every few minutes, allowing time for complete details to emerge（显现） and false（不真实的） reports to be refuted（驳倒）. While good journalism（ 新闻业） aims for objectivity, media bias（偏见） is often unavoidable（ 不可避免的）. When you can't get the direct story, read coverage in multiple（多重的） outlets（出口）, which employ different reporters and interview different experts. Tuning into various sources and noting the differences lets you put the pieces together for a more complete picture.

  It's also crucial（至关重要的） to separate fact from opinion. Words like "think," "likely," or "probably" mean that the outlet is being careful, or worse, taking a guess. And watch out for reports that rely（依赖） on anonymous（匿名的） sources. These could be people who have little connection to the story or have an interest in influencing coverage, their anonymity（匿名） making（使） them unaccountable for the information they provide. Finally, and most importantly, try to verify（检验） news before spreading it. While social media has enabled（使能够） the truth to reach us faster, it's also allowed rumors to spread before they can be verified and falsehoods to survive long after they've been refuted.

  So before you share that unbelievable or outrageous（蛮横的） news item, do a web search to find any additional（附加的） information or context you might have missed and what others are saying about it. Today, we are more free than ever from the old media gatekeepers who used to control the flow of information. But with freedom（自由） comes responsibility, the responsibility to curate our own experience and ensure（保证） that this flow does not become a flood, leaving us less informed than before we took the plunge（投入）.