单选题
Good news is bad news and bad news is good news,
newsmen often say to one another. And when you look at the media it's only too
easy to see what they mean. A dictionary definition of the media is mass
communications, e.g. the press, television, radio. The media sees its main
purpose as giving the public news. Naturally to provide the public with news it
has first to gather it. The whole function and purpose of the media, then seem
to depend on the word "news", but more important, on how the word is
interpreted. The media, like any big business venture today, is
an extremely competitive world of its own. In providing material for its public
it has constantly to make sure it serves the right diet. No public will waste
time on your paper or your TV channel otherwise. The sad truth is that there
seems only one way to catch an audience—hit them right between the eyes. What
started as a mild tap has now become a sledgehammer blow that goes by the name
of sensationalism. A reporter chooses—has to choose—a news
story because of its sensation value. The young inexperienced cub reporter rings
his news editor about a car crash. He starts to explain the details to him but
the experienced editor asks the cub one question: "Anyone killed?" and to
himself he thinks, why do we offer jobs to children? One may
accuse newsman of cynicism but they will quickly remind you of the hard facts of
survival in the world of the media. The favorite words the newspaper place cards
in the streets bombard the public with are, "Surprise, Sensation, Drama, Shock".
You wonder, put an end to sensation long ago. As a regular newspaper reader you
also thank Heavens for the light relief of the comic strips. Turn finally from
them to what is referred to laughingly as "steam radio", in order to show its
relative antiquity. This for many millions of people is the only live contact
they have with the outside world that rightly or wrongly they have been led to
believe they should have contact with. It's extremely hard of course to see why,
when for the most part its news services bring them tragedy, disaster,
heartbreak, other people's misfortunes—in a word, trouble. What again becomes
quickly apparent is that a man's job depends on sensationalism, and we are asked
to excuse him for this. Perhaps the media hasn't quite grown up
and we should congratulate it on getting this far. The year 2000 may see great
changes in the way news is presented to us. Again, who knows, it might even get
worse—if such a thing is possible. Perish the thought!
单选题
According to the passage which is most important?
A. The media's purpose.
B. The news itself.
C. What is thought of as news.
D. The gathering of news.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】从第一段最后一句话可知,最重要的是对新闻内容的解释(how the word is interpreted),C项符合题意。
单选题
The passage suggests that to appeal to the public you have to ______.