单选题 Back in the old days, when I was a child, we sat around the family roundtable at dinnertime and exchanged our daily experiences. It wasn't very organized, but everyone was recognized and all the news that had to be told was told by each family member.
We listened to each other and the interest was not put-on; it was real. Our family was a unit and we supported each other, and nurtured each other, and liked each other, and-we were even willing to admit-we loved each other.
Today, the family roundtable has moved to the local fast-food restaurant and talk is not easy, much less encouraged.
Grandma, who used to live upstairs, is now the voice on long distance, and the working parent is far too beaten down each day to spend evening relaxation time listening to the sandbox experience of an eager four-year-old.
So family conversation is as extinct as my old toys and parental questions such as "What have you been doing, Bobby? " have been replaced by "I'm busy, go watch television. "
And watch TV they do; count them by the millions.
But it's usually not children's television that children watch. Saturday morning, the children's hour, amounts to only about 8 percent of their weekly viewing.
Where are they to be found? Watching adult television, of course, from the Match Game in the morning, to the afternoon at General Hospital, from the muggings and battles on the evening news right through the family hour and past into Starsky and Hutch. That's where you find our kids, over five million of them, at 10 p.m., not fewer than a million until after midnight! All of this is done with parental permission.
Television, used well, can provide enriching experiences for our young people, but we must use it with some sense. When the carpet is clean, we turn off the vacuum cleaner. When the dishes are clean, the dishwasher turns itself off.
Not so the television, which is on from the sun in the morning to the moon at night and beyond !
Parents must exercise some control and show some concern about the cultural influence on the child when a program not intended for that child is viewed. Parents need to intervene. Nonintervention may be a wise policy in international affairs, but the results of parental nonintervention will not be wise at all.
单选题 From the first two paragraphs one may infer that the writer's attitude towards "the old days" is ______.
  • A. preferring
  • B. hating
  • C. being tired of
  • D. disappointing
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 由本文前两段的内容和一些词和短语exchanged our daily experiences,a unit,supported,nurtured,liked,loved可知,在那些过往的日子里,作者一家人其乐融融,所以A选项可以表达出这层意思,为正确答案。
单选题 The working parent is not willing to listen to her (his) four-year-old child talking about his sandbox games because she (he) is ______.
  • A. boring
  • B. very tired
  • C. busy
  • D. angry
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 通读第四段,注意短语“far too beaten down”,可知父母每天工作非常辛苦和疲惫,所以和孩子的交流沟通少了。正确答案为B。A、C、D都不符合题意。
单选题 According to the writer, the responsibility for the kid's watching adult television and watching it for a long time should be undertaken by ______.
  • A. the television stations
  • B. the society
  • C. TV programs
  • D. their parents
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 从第五段到第八段可知,父母没有花费时间和精力陪孩子,让孩子看成人电视节目。最后从第八段的最后一句话“All of this is done with parental permission“可知,应该由他们的父母承担起这个责任。
单选题 If we use television with some ______, television can provide our young people with much knowledge.
  • A. instruction of experts
  • B. judgment of our own
  • C. direction of engineers
  • D. indication of teachers
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 由第九段可知我们的年轻人在看电视时要有自我的判断力,只有这样电视节目才能带给我们更多有益的信息。所以B选项正确。
单选题 What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
  • A. Parental nonintervention will not be praised.
  • B. Nonintervention may be a good policy in international affairs.
  • C. Parents must exercise some control and show some concern about the cultural influence on the children.
  • D. Parents need to intervene.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 由最后一段的首句“Parents must exercise some control and show some concern about the cultural influence on the child when a program not intended for that child is viewed."可知,C项正确。