passage4

注解：標(biāo)題為紅色，翻譯為藍(lán)色，分析為綠色。

? ? ? ?No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation."Is this what you intended tol accomplish with your careers?"Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week."【第23題】You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?"At Time Warner, however, such?questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul-searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. It's a self-examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line.

? ? ???At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin,56, who took over for the late Steve Ross【第24題】 in 1992. On the financial front, Levin is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company's mountainous debt, which will increase to $ 17.3 billion after two new cable deals close. He has promised to sell off some of the property and restructure the company, but investors are waiting impatiently.

? ? ??The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. Levin has consistently defended the company's rap music on the grounds of expression. In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice-T's violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as a lawful expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet."The test of any democratic society,"he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column,""lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be. We won't retreat in the face of any threats."? ??

? ? ? ???Levin would not comment on the debate last week, but there were signs that the chairman was backing off his hard-line stand【第25題】, at least to some extent. During the discussion of rock singing verses at last month's stockholders' meeting, Levin asserted that"music is not the cause of society's ills"and even cited his son,a teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with students. But he talked as well about the "balanced struggle" between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he announced that the company would launch a drive to develop standards for distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music.

? ? ?? ?The 15-member Time Warner board is generally supportive of Levin and his corporate strategy. But insiders say several of them have shown their concerns in this matter."Some of us have known for many, many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not totally unlimited,"says Luce."I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated with the company have only recently come to realize this."

一、文章結(jié)構(gòu)分析

? ? ? ? 這是一篇關(guān)于大眾傳媒題材的文章。全文主要講述了美國(guó)著名時(shí)代華納公司面臨的社會(huì)道德方面的指責(zé)。文章在寫作上以敘述為主，議論為輔，必要時(shí)引用了一些當(dāng)事人的話加以證明。

? ? ? ? 第一段：引用參議員的話說(shuō)明時(shí)代華納公司正在遭受輿論譴責(zé)這一事實(shí)，并指出這是公司自我反省的一種體現(xiàn)。

? ? ? ? 第二段、第三段：簡(jiǎn)要介紹了輿論譴責(zé)的中心人物——時(shí)代華納董事長(zhǎng)列文所面臨的困境及他的反應(yīng)：一是針對(duì)來(lái)自公司財(cái)政方面的壓力；二是針對(duì)公眾對(duì)說(shuō)唱音樂(lè)的指責(zé)。

? ? ? ? ?第四段：指出列文的強(qiáng)硬立場(chǎng)有所緩和并舉例說(shuō)明。

? ? ? ? ?第五段：指出董事會(huì)的態(tài)度，并引用一位董事的話說(shuō)明他們的擔(dān)憂。

23.Senator Robert Dole criticized Time Warner for.

[A]its raising of the corporate stock price

[B]its self-examination of soul

[C]its neglect of social responsibility

[D]its emphasis on creative freedom

23.羅伯特·多爾參議員批評(píng)時(shí)代華納公司是因?yàn)椤?/span>

［A］它將公司股價(jià)提高

［B］它對(duì)道德品質(zhì)的自我反省

［C］它忽視社會(huì)責(zé)任

［D］它強(qiáng)調(diào)創(chuàng)作自由

24. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

[A] Luce is a spokesman of Time Warner.

[B] Gerald Levin is liable to compromise.

[C] Time Warner is united as one in the face of the debate.

[D] Steve Ross is no longer alive.

24.根據(jù)文章，下面哪個(gè)說(shuō)法是正確的？

［A］路斯是時(shí)代華納公司的發(fā)言人。

［B］列文容易妥協(xié)。

［C］在這場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)議中，時(shí)代華納公司團(tuán)結(jié)一致。

［D］史蒂夫·羅斯已經(jīng)過(guò)世。

25. In face of the recent attacks on the company, the chairman .

[A]stuck to a strong stand to defend freedom of expression

[B]softened his tone and adopted some new policy

[C]changed his attitude and yielded to objection

[D]received more support from the 15-member board

25.面對(duì)最近針對(duì)公司的攻擊，董事長(zhǎng)

［A］堅(jiān)持強(qiáng)硬立場(chǎng)去保護(hù)思想表達(dá)的自由

［B］語(yǔ)氣有所緩和，采取了某種新政策

［C］改變其態(tài)度并屈從于反對(duì)意見(jiàn)

［D］從董事會(huì)15位成員那獲得了更多的支持

26.The best title for this passage might be.

[A]ACompany under Fire

[B]A Debate on Moral Decline

[C]ALawful Outlet of Street Culture

[D]A Form of Creative freedom

.26.最適合本文的標(biāo)題可能是

［A］遭到責(zé)難的公司

［B］一場(chǎng)關(guān)于道德敗壞的爭(zhēng)論

［C］街頭文化的合法表達(dá)途徑

［D］一種表現(xiàn)創(chuàng)作自由的形式

二、核心詞匯與超綱詞匯

（1）cometorealize認(rèn)識(shí)到，體會(huì)到

（2）comment（v.）（on）注釋，評(píng)論；（n.）注釋，評(píng)論，意見(jiàn)

（3）contend（v.）斗爭(zhēng)，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)；堅(jiān)決主張

（4）contribute（v.）（to）貢獻(xiàn)，捐助，捐獻(xiàn)；投稿；contribution（n.）貢獻(xiàn)，捐獻(xiàn)物；contribute to促成，有助于

（5）financial（a.）財(cái)政的

（6）irritating（a.）令人惱火的；irritate（v.）激怒，惱火，使急躁

（7）latitude（n.）緯度；范圍；言論行動(dòng)等的自由

（8）launch（v.）發(fā)射；使（船）下水，發(fā)動(dòng)，發(fā)展；（n.）發(fā)射，下水；launchadrive發(fā)起一場(chǎng)運(yùn)動(dòng)

（9）mountainous（a.）多山的，山一般的

（10）objectionable（a.）會(huì)引起反對(duì)的；objection（n.）（to）反對(duì)，異議

（11）release（v.）發(fā)行，發(fā)表；釋放，解放

三、閱讀答案：C D B A

四、全文翻譯：

? ? ? ?沒(méi)有一家公司樂(lè)意聽(tīng)到別人說(shuō)自己引起了社會(huì)的道德敗壞。參議員羅伯特·多爾上星期質(zhì)問(wèn)時(shí)代—華納公司管理人員時(shí)說(shuō)：“難道這就是你們要成就的事業(yè)嗎？你們已經(jīng)出賣了自己的靈魂，難道還非要敗壞我們的國(guó)家、威脅我們的孩子不成？”不過(guò)，對(duì)于成立于1990年的時(shí)代—華納而言，這樣的質(zhì)問(wèn)僅僅是公司進(jìn)行反思的最新表現(xiàn)，是一種自我反省，在不同時(shí)代已涉及到責(zé)任、創(chuàng)作自由和公司底線等不同問(wèn)題。（長(zhǎng)難句①）

? ? ? ?56歲的現(xiàn)任董事長(zhǎng)杰拉德·列文是爭(zhēng)論的焦點(diǎn)人物，他于1992年接替已故董事長(zhǎng)斯蒂夫·羅斯。財(cái)政方面，他承受著使股價(jià)升值，減少公司巨額債務(wù)的壓力。在兩筆新的有線電視交易談妥后，公司債務(wù)將達(dá)到173億美元。他也允諾出售部分資產(chǎn)并對(duì)公司進(jìn)行重組，但現(xiàn)在投資者們?nèi)栽诮辜钡氐却?/span>

? ? ? ?人們對(duì)說(shuō)唱音樂(lè)的焦慮并沒(méi)使他的日子好過(guò)一些。列文一向以表現(xiàn)方式為理由來(lái)捍衛(wèi)公司的說(shuō)唱音樂(lè)。1992年公司因出品Ice-T樂(lè)隊(duì)暴力的說(shuō)唱歌曲《警察殺手》后倍受譴責(zé)時(shí)，列文卻將說(shuō)唱音樂(lè)描述為街頭文化的合法表達(dá)方式，并說(shuō)它應(yīng)該有自己的宣泄途徑。他在《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》一篇專欄文章中寫道：“對(duì)任何一個(gè)民主社會(huì)的檢驗(yàn)，不在于它能多有效的控制情感的表達(dá)，而在于是否給予了人們最廣泛的思考和表達(dá)自由，盡管有時(shí)這種結(jié)果會(huì)引起爭(zhēng)論和憤怒。我們不會(huì)在任何威脅面前退卻?！保ㄩL(zhǎng)難句②）

? ? ? ? 列文不愿對(duì)上周的辯論做任何評(píng)論，但有跡象表明，這位懂事長(zhǎng)至少在某種程度上放棄了自己強(qiáng)硬的立場(chǎng)。(佳句)在上個(gè)月就搖滾樂(lè)的歌詞進(jìn)行討論的股東會(huì)議上，列文宣稱“音樂(lè)不是社會(huì)問(wèn)題的病因”，他甚至還以自己的兒子為例，他兒子是紐約州布朗克斯的一名教師，上課時(shí)用說(shuō)唱的形式與學(xué)生進(jìn)行交流。（長(zhǎng)難句③）但他也談到了創(chuàng)作自由和社會(huì)責(zé)任之間要“保持平衡”的問(wèn)題，還宣布對(duì)一些可能令人反感的音樂(lè)，公司將致力于制定一套發(fā)行和標(biāo)識(shí)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。?

? ? ? ? ?一般來(lái)說(shuō)，時(shí)代—華納公司的15位董事是支持列文和他為公司制定的經(jīng)營(yíng)策略的。但內(nèi)部人士透露其中幾位對(duì)此事表示擔(dān)憂。“我們中的一些人多年來(lái)一直知道，《憲法》第一修正案所規(guī)定的自由并非毫無(wú)限制”，魯斯說(shuō)，“我認(rèn)為與公司有關(guān)系的一些人可能最近才意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)”。