Many critics worry about violence on television, most out of fear that it stimulates viewers to violent or aggressive acts. Our research, however, indicates that the consequences of experiencing TV’s symbolic world of violence may be much more far-reaching.
We have found that people who watch a lot of TV see the real world as more dangerous and frightening than those who watch very little. Heavy viewers are less trustful of their fellow citizens, and more fearful of the real world. Since most TV “action-adventure” dramas occur in urban settings, the fear they inspire may contribute to the current flee of the middle class from our cities. The fear may also bring increasing demands for police protection, and election of law-and-order politicians.
While none of us is completely dependent upon television for our view of the world, neither have many of us had the opportunity to observe the reality of police stations, courtrooms, corporate board rooms, or hospital operating rooms. Although critics complain about the fixed characters and plots of TV dramas, many viewers look on them as representative of the real world. Anyone who questions that statement should read the 250,000 letters, most containing requests for medical advice, sent by viewers to “Marcus Welby, M.D.” —a popular TV drama series about a doctor— during the first five years of his practice on TV.
Violence on television leads viewers to regard the real world as more dangerous than it really is, which must also influence the way people behave. When asked, “Can most people be trusted?” the heavy viewers were 35 percent more likely to choose “Can’t be too careful.”
Victims, like criminals, must learn their proper roles, and televised violence may perform the teaching function all too well. Instead of worrying only about whether television violence causes individual displays of aggression in the real world, we should also be concerned about social reality. Passive acceptance of violence in the face of injustice may result from far greater social concern than occasional displays of individual aggression.
We have found that violence on prime-time（黄金时段）network TV cultivates overstated （夸大的）assumptions about the threat of danger in the real world. Fear is a universal emotion, and easy to exploit. The overstated sense of risk and insecurity may lead to increasing demands for protection and to increasing pressure for the use of force by established authority. Instead of threatening the social order, television may have become our chief instrument of social control. Which of the following is NOT among the consequences of watching TV too much?
| A．Distrusting people around. |
| B．Moving into rural areas. |
| C．Turning to the police for protection. |
| D．Holding more elections. |
According to the passage, why did “Marcus Welby, M.D.” receive so many letters?
A. Because viewers believed the doctor did exist in the real life.
B. Because certain TV programmes recommended him to viewers.
C. Because he was an experienced doctor and saved many lives.
D. Because the TV appealed to people to pay attention to health. According to the author, _________ is mainly to blame for people’s fear of the real world.
| A．network TV |
| B．social reality |
| C．individual display of violence |
| D．televised violence |
We can infer from the passage that __________.
| A．people tend to be aggressive or violent after watching TV too much |
| B．people can learn to protect themselves from dangers by watching TV |
| C．the occasional displays of individual aggression may threaten the social order |
| D．watching TV may cause the misuse of authority and disturb the social order |
Isabella Stewart was born in New York City in 1840. Her father made a great deal of money in trade. During school，her parents took her to Italy to explore the country's many cultural treasures.
One of the private art collections Isabella visited in Milan had a deep influence on her. She wrote to her friends about her dream of owning a house one day with an art collection like the one she had seen in Italy.
In Paris, Isabella became a close friend of one of her classmates, Julia Gardner, whose family was from Boston. Julia would later introduce Isabella to her brother, Jack. In 1860, Isabella Stewart married Jack Gardner.
The couple had too much art to fit inside their home. So they decided to start planning a museum. Mrs. Gardner didn't like the cold and empty spaces of many museums during her time. She wanted a warm museum filled with light. She once said that she decided years ago that the greatest need in her country was art. America was a young country developing quickly in other areas. But the country needed more chances for people to see beautiful examples of art.
After her husband's death in 1898, Isabella knew she had no time to lose in building her museum. She bought land, hired a building designer, and supervised (监督)every detail of her museum's construction.
Mrs. Gardner opened her museum on January 1,1903. The museum was then called Fenway Court. She invited her friends that night for a special musical performance. The next month, she opened the museum to the public. At first, visits were limited to twenty days out of the year. Visitors paid one dollar to enter.
Isabella Stewart Gardner died in 1924 in Boston. In her will, she left the museum a million dollars and a series of requirements about how it should be managed. One requirement is that the permanent collection cannot be changed. The text is mainly about __________.
| A．how Isabella Gardner realized her dream of being an artist |
| B．how Mr. and Mrs. Gardner added to their collection of art |
| C．how Isabella's museum was opened |
| D．Isabella Stewart Gardner and her museum |
By saying“the greatest need in her country was art” in Paragraph 4 Mrs. Gardner meant that __________.
| A．America was still a young developing country |
| B．there were no museums in America at that time |
| C．art fell far behind other fields of the American society |
| D．Americans had no chance to enjoy beautiful art |
In order to achieve her dream of owning an art museum, Mrs. Gardner __________.
| A．raised money from her friends and relatives |
| B．sold out all her land and houses |
| C．held special musical performances for money |
| D．watched over the process of building the museum |
Which statement is NOT true according to the text?
| A．Isabella and Jack were classmates when studying in Paris. |
| B．The museums at that time were not comfortable. |
| C．Isabella opened the museum about five years after Jack's death. |
| D．Great as the museum was，visitors had to wait and pay to enter. |
From the passage, we can learn that the museum __________.
| A．helps earn much money for its collections of art |
| B．is called Fenway Court by the visitors |
| C．was opened to the public on January 1st, 1903 |
| D．is still affected by Isabella Gardner in management now |
Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies. Many television companies have used sports to attract viewers from particular sections of the general public，and then they have sold audiences to advertisers.
An attraction of sport programs for the major U. S. media companies is that events are often held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons—the slowest time periods of the week for general television viewing. Sport events are the most popular weekend programs, especially among male viewers who may not watch much television at other times during the week. This means the television networks are able to sell advertising time at relatively high prices during what normally would be dead time for programming.
Media corporations also use sports to attract commercial sponsors that might take their advertising dollars elsewhere if television stations did not report certain sports. The people in the advertising departments of major corporations realize that sports attract male viewers. They also realize that most business travelers are men and that many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance.
Golf and tennis are special cases for television programming. These sports attract few viewers, and the ratings (收视率)are unusually low. However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, including many lawyers and business managers. This is why television reporting of golf and tennis is sponsored by companies selling high-priced cars，business and personal computers，and holiday trips. This is also why the networks continue to carry these programs regardless of low ratings. Advertisers are willing to pay high fees to reach high-income consumers and those managers who make decisions to buy thousands of “ company cars” and computers. With such viewers，these programs don't need high ratings to stay on the air. Television sport programs on weekend afternoons __________.
| A．result in more sport events |
| B．get more viewers to play sports |
| C．make more people interested in television |
| D．bring more money to the television networks |
Why would weekend afternoons become dead time without sport programs?
| A．Because there would be few viewers. |
| B．Because the advertisers would be off work. |
| C．Because television programs would go slowly. |
| D．Because viewers would pay less for watching television. |
In many families, men make decisions on __________.
| A．holiday trips |
| B．sports viewing |
| C．television shopping |
| D．expensive purchases |
The ratings are not important for golf and tennis programs because __________.
| A．their advertisers are carmakers |
| B．their viewers are attracted by sports |
| C．their advertisers target at rich people |
| D．their viewers can afford expensive cars |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Television ratings are determined by male viewers. |
| B．Rich viewers contribute most to television companies. |
| C．Sports are gaining importance in advertising on television. |
| D．Commercial advertisers are the major sponsors of sport events. |
Many young people want to become pop stars. It is their great ambition(雄心)in life. They think ： pop stars make a lot of money ； they lead interesting and exciting lives ； thousands of fans adore them ； they become famous.
Yes, but first they must become stars. Most performers start life with a group. This is the pattern nowadays. But there are many groups and the competition is hard. Groups appear and disappear almost overnight. Only a small number stay. Almost without exception (例外)they have to work very hard before they reach the top.
And very few reach the top and stay there. In England there are perhaps thirty or so groups at the top. Most of these do not earn so much money ； perhaps $ 400 each time they perform. What is more，they have quite a lot of expenses. They have to pay a manager, for example. He is the key person in their lives and he takes about 20% of their earnings—perhaps more. Then there are their clothes，their instruments and their van(车)•
And don't forget they have to travel a great deal, sometimes 2,000 miles in one week. At times they even sleep in their van instead of a hotel, just to save money.
So now, what do you think? Are pop stars so rich? And do they have such exciting lives?Which of the following is the reason why many young people want to become pop stars?
| A．Living an exciting life. |
| B．Being loved by thousands of fans. |
| C．Becoming rich. |
| D．All of the above. |
The right statement in the following about pop stars is that __________.
| A．most of them fail to reach the top |
| B．they lead relaxed lives. |
| C．they can travel all over the world |
| D．they spend a lot of money on their clothes |
Why is the group's manager well paid?
| A．Because he runs this group. |
| B．Because he looks after them. |
| C．Because he is important to them. |
| D．Because he buys them clothes and instruments. |
How do pop groups spend the money they earn?
| A．They pay the manager 20% of their earnings or more. |
| B．They have to pay for clothes, instruments and their van. |
| C．They often make trips. |
| D．All of the above. |
The writer makes us believe __________.
| A．it is pleasant to become a pop star |
| B．that if you work very hard in pop groups, you will reach the top |
| C．pop stars are neither too rich nor too happy |
| D．general persons had better not dream of pop stars |
At the beginning of the 20th century there was a big farm called Hollywood Ranch. It was near Los Angeles in California. A few years later Hollywood was one of the famous places in the world. From the 1910s to the 1950s Hollywood was the film center of the world. Every family knew the names of its film stars—Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman and hundreds more.
The reason why people went to Hollywood to make films was the sun. At first，people made films in New York on the east coast of the United States. But then they heard about Los Angeles where there are 350 days of sun every year. As they made all the films by sunlight，the west coast was a much better place to make films. Also near Hollywood you can find mountains，sea and desert. They did not have to travel far to make any kind of film.
When TV became popular, Hollywood started making films for television. Then in the 1970s they discovered people still went to the cinema to see big expensive films. After about thirty years they are still making films in Hollywood and people watch them all over the world. Hollywood used to be a __________.
| A．cinema |
| B．big farm |
| C．park |
| D．market |
In the 1910s Hollywood became a __________.
| A．famous theater |
| B．good place to have holidays |
| C．film center |
| D．home for stars |
Who was not mentioned as a film star in the passage?
| A．Charlie Chaplin. |
| B．Marilyn Monroe. |
| C．Ingrid Bergman. |
| D．Greta Garbo. |
People went to Hollywood to make films because __________.
| A．it was a beautiful place |
| B．you could find many film stars |
| C．there was a lot of sunlight |
| D．it was a famous place |
Which statement is true?
| A．The west coast was a better place to make films. |
| B．There are no mountains near Hollywood. |
| C．People no longer went to the cinema after television became popular. |
| D．Hollywood began to make films for television after the World War I. |
Some recent surveys show that the health conditions of many white collar employees and office workers are rather dangerous. Death cases among white collar employees and office workers are increasing year by year and these cases are generally believed to have been caused by overwork and spending little time taking rest or doing exercise.
If their offices are within the distance of half an hour's walk, some office workers now choose to go to work on foot. Ms. Deng, who works in a foreign enterprise in Beijing, has been walking to her office for more than six months now. “ I usually have a tight work schedule and can't find time to do exercise. So I choose to walk to work. ” As she said, if the office is not far from home, most women would like to go to work on foot. Walking is good for their health and can help them to keep good figures as well.
Apart from walking to office，one can also find time to do exercise when one is at work. The simplest way is to desert the lift. Mr. Wei, who works in the Passenger Service Department at Shenzhen Airlines, is one of such men who frequently climb stairs. “ I only use the lift whenever I'm with my colleagues or my boss. Otherwise, I would climb stairs instead of taking the lift. ”
In addition, some office workers try to find time to go to a gym at the end of a day. Ms. Sang works in a law firm in Shenzhen. She goes to the gym several times a week when she has the time. “ I go to the gym every weekend. During the weekdays，I will also go there whenever I have the time. ” Ms. Sang and her husband both have a gym membership card for a whole year. The cards cost them 3000 yuan. However, they think it's worth it. Why are death cases among white collar employees and office workers increasing year by year?
| A．Because they overwork for a long time. |
| B．Because they are too busy to have time for a rest. |
| C．Because they hardly have time to do exercise after work. |
| D．All of the above |
How many ways that office workers use to keep healthy are mentioned in the passage?
| A．3. |
| B．4. |
| C．5. |
| D．6. |
If a white collar employee lives one kilometer away from her office , she had better __________ to keep healthy.
| A．walk to her office |
| B．run and then take the stairs to her office |
| C．take a taxi to her office |
| D．ride a bike |
Which of the following sentences can be added between Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2?
| A．Then, what shall office workers do next to prevent death cases? |
| B．What will happen to office workers? |
| C．In order to keep themselves healthy, some office workers now take measures as follows ： |
| D．Walking on foot is the best way for office workers. |
The best title of the passage is __________.
| A．Health Is Very Important |
| B．Office Workers Try to Keep Healthy |
| C．How to Keep Healthy |
| D．Office Workers' Trouble |
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