Rebel uprising kills seventy! Plane crash leaves no survivors! Rock star dies of overdose! Evening newscasts and metropolitan newspapers scream the bad news, the sensational, and the action. Audiences of today focus upon the sensational action, the violence, the loss, the terror. Individually, our lives are redirected, our worlds reshaped, and our images changed. While wary of the danger of change, we human beings surrender daily to exploitation of values, opportunities, and sensitivity. The evolution has brought us to the point that we believe little of what is presented to us as good and valuable; instead, we opt for suspicion and disbelief, demanding proof and something for nothing. Therein lies the danger for the writer seeking to break into the market of today. Journalists sell sensationalism. The journalist who loses sight of the simple truth and opts only for the sensation loses the audience over the long run. Only those seeking a short-term thrill are interested in following the journalistic thinking. How, then do we capture the audience of today and hold it, when the competition for attention is so fierce? The answer is writing to convey action, and the way to accomplish this is a simple one — action verbs. The writer whose product suspends time for the reader or viewer is the successful writer whose work is sought and reread. Why? Time often will melt away in the face of the reality of life"s little responsibilities for the reader. Instead of puzzling over a more active and more accurate verb, some journalists often limp through passive voice and useless tense to squeeze the life out of an action-filled world and fill their writing with missed opportunities to appeal to the reader who seeks that moment of suspended time. Recently, a reporter wrote about observing the buildings in a community robbed by rebel uprising as "thousands of bullet holes were in the hotel. " A very general observation. Suppose he had written, "The hotel was pocked with bullet holes. " The visual image conjured up by the latter is far superior to the former. Here is the reader... comfortable in the easy chair before the fire with the dog at his feet. The verb "pocked" speaks to him. The journalist missed the opportunity to convey the reality.

单选题 Why do the media always report sensational topics?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：推理判断题。文章第二段谈到，当今的新闻和报纸都充斥着负面、耸人听闻、暴力性的消息；接着，第三段首句便谈到：“今天的观众和读者更关注那些轰动性的、充满暴力的、报道重大损失和恐怖事件的新闻”。由此可见，观众对轰动性新闻的关注正是媒体总是报道这样的新闻的直接原因，也是最根本的原因；故[C]为本题答案。[A]“当今的新闻工作者对传达这样的主题感兴趣”，[B]“广播和报纸特别关注这样的主题”显然都不是题千问及的原因；[D]“当今的观众不相信正面和富有价值的报道”说法太绝对，是对第三段尾句的错误理解。

单选题 Anxious to capture the reader"s attention, some journalists

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：推理判断题。第四段谈到，新闻工作者兜售的是轰动效应，而忽视了(lose sight of)简单的事实，从长远来看他们要失去读者，因为只有那些寻求瞬间刺激的人才会对遵循这种新闻报道模式感兴趣。由此看出，[C]正是作者所批判的这种类型的记者，其中short attention span对应原文中的short—term thrill，sensationalize对应sensation。因此[C]正确。原文谈到，新闻工作者为追求轰动效应，总是报道负面、耸人听闻的消息等，但并没说他们报道的新闻是“编造的”，排除[A]；[B]中的“新闻工作者们相互竞争”，[D]中的“不熟悉的事件”均属无中生有，排除。

单选题 Some works are sought and reread because

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：事实细节题。由题干关键词将信息定位于第六段；由段尾的why可知，答案应在下文找。在接下来的第七段，作者谈到：“一些新闻工作者不愿绞尽脑汁地去思索一个意义更积极主动，表达更准确的动词”，而“用被动语态和一些无用的时态勉强凑合…他们的作品将失去吸引读者的机会”。由此可见，与之相反的active writing就能紧紧吸引住读者；故答案为[D]。[A]，[B]分别是对第六段和第七段首句的错误理解；[C]在原文找不到依据。

单选题 According to the author, which of the following might be true of the journalists?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：观点态度题。本题实际考查的是作者对记者的看法。第五段中作者曾指出，抓住读者的关键是以“文字传达动作”，“使用行为动词”；接着，第七段分析为什么生动而逼真的描写能够抓住读者的心；第八段给的例子更说明了语言对于新闻写作有多么重要。因此符合作者观点的只有[B]“语言是记者的工具”。[A]具有干扰性，但它太泛，the easy way具体指什么不清楚；[C]的说法太绝对；[D]“他们只想利用读者”在原文找不着依据。

单选题 Which of the following serves as the best title for the text?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：主旨大意题。综观全文，本文是一篇先驳后立的议论文。文章前四段先批驳了媒体和新闻工作者利用轰动性新闻来吸引读者的做法；接着从第五段开始，提出了长久地吸引读者的方法应该是使用生动的动作语言。显然“立”才是文章的重心所在，因此，能做本文标题的只有[A]，它正是作者呼吁的。[B]“新闻工作者分散观众注意力”显然偏离了文章的主题；而[C]都是作者“驳”的内容，是为“立”做出的铺垫，也不选；[D]更像是一篇说明文的题目。在做这类题的时候，还可以使用假设法，即，假设为该题目，那么这篇文章将怎样写。