单选题 Benjamin Radford, managing editor of The Skeptical Inquirer magazine, offers hundreds of examples of deceptive practices in journalism, advertising, political activism, public relations, and charity appeals. The real danger to the public, he insists, comes not from outright lies about events or individuals, because in most cases facts can ultimately be proven and mistakes corrected. But the emotional power of images, sound bites, and slogans can exert deep and lasting influence on our opinions and behavior as consumers, voters, and citizens.
The detailed coverage of violent crimes dominating local TV news shows seldom includes any larger context. The cumulative impression left in the minds of viewers is that violent crime is rampant and on the rise. As a result, many people live in fear and many more support the idea of ever-larger police forces, tougher laws, and bigger prisons without considering the actual crime rates in their community or across the nation.
Dramatic incidents like the sniper attacks in the Washington, D. C. , area in the fall of 2002 receive so much media attention that, again, the actual numbers of people affected and the likelihood of such attacks being repeated anywhere else become wildly exaggerated in people's minds. In the media-fueled emotional state following such spectacular disasters, the effort and expense of turning schools into locked fortresses or putting cameras on every street to monitor suspicious individuals can seem insignificant compared to the hope of keeping our children safe from harm. Yet truly effective measures require clear thinking and clearly worded policies that citizens—not only lawyers and politicians—can understand. Too often the long-term future implications of new anticrime laws and policies are not even considered in the rush to feel safer by taking rapid and visible action.
Misleading practices by advertisers are another subject of public concern. Governments have long limited ads for alcohol and tobacco products and examined claims by drug companies, carmakers, food suppliers, and toy manufacturers to protect the public health. But advertising uses emotional appeals to shift the viewer's focus away from facts. Viewers who do not take the trouble to distinguish between provable claims and pleasant but meaningless word play end up buying "the sizzle, not the steak" and often paying high.

单选题 Confucius is cited by the author in paragraph 1 to imply that ______.
A. it's urgent to improve a government
B. it's very important to use language correctly
C. words don't mean what they seem to mean
D. today's language is in a state of confusion
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。文章一开始引用了孔夫子的话：“正言”(to correct language)。要是词不达意，人们就不能将预期的计划付诸行动。接着又谈到，21世纪初期的语言由于受到电视、电台及出版界的影响，显得比以往任何时候都更加混乱。通过对这一段落的分析，我们不难理解此处引用孔夫子的话是暗示读者正确使用语言的重要性。选项A与原文主题无关；选项C只是原文中的一个条件句；选项D是对原文的陈述，没有推论；因此正确答案为B。
单选题 According to Benjamin Radford, the real danger to the public opinions lies in ______.
A. deceptive practices
B. outright lies
C. unproved facts and mistakes
D. emotional images, sound bites, and slogans
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。可根据文章第二段寻找答案。这一段中提到，Benjamin Radford提供了数百例来自新闻广告、政治活动、公关慈善等方面的欺骗性做法(deceptive practices)，但他认为，对公众最危险的不是这些直白的谎言(outright lies)本身，而是对公众有深刻持续影响的图像的情感力量、新闻采访的原声摘要播出(sound bites)和口号，所以D为正确答案。
单选题 Which of the following may reflect the author's opinion?
A. TV news shows should include more background.
B. We should have larger police forces, tougher laws, and bigger prisons.
C. The report on the sniper attacks in the Washington, Ｄ. Ｃ. area is too dramatic.
D. The media has done too much to keep our children safe from harm.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 推论题。可根据文章第三段做出正确选择。作者提到，电视新闻节目很少提供大的背景(seldom includes any larger context)，然后指出这样做的弊端。选项A的意思与作者的见解一致，因此为正确答案。选项B是很多人的观点，而不是作者的观点；选项C的too dramatic也不是作者的看法；选项D，按作者的观点，保护孩子不受伤害的不是the media，而是人们做出的努力和付出的代价(the effort and expense)。
单选题 According to the author, the truly effective measures are ______.
A. clear thinking and clearly worded policies
B. policies that lawyers and politicians can understand
C. measures that can be understood by the public
D. measures that people feel safer by taking rapid and visible action
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。作者在第四段倒数第二句提到，有效的措施是不仅律师和政治家们能懂，而且普通公民也能够理解，这正好与C的说法一致：公众能够理解的措施。因此C为正确答案。选项A，清晰的思路和措词明白的政策，这不是有效的措施，而是要求(require)达到的标准；选项B，律师和政治家们能懂的政策，也不是作者的观点；选项D，是作者对现行法律政策的草率所表达的不满。
单选题 What does the author probably means by "the sizzle, not the steak" (Line 6, Para. 5)?
A. something worthwhile. B. something worthless.
C. something of no practical value. D. something which is unnecessary.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 词汇题。“the sizzle, not the steak”直译为“咝咝的响声，而不是牛排”，也即是“议论纷纷的空谈而无实际内容”。根据文章最后一句的上文pleasant but meaningless word亦可判定其含义为“好听而无实际意义的话”，因此正确答案为C：无实际价值的东西。