年夜学英语测验精读：第一册（UNIT4）
Many people in the United States spend most of their free time watching television. Certainly, there are many worthwhile programs on television, including news, educational programs for children, programs on current social problems, plays, movies, concerts, and so on. Nevertheless, perhaps people should not be spending so much of their time in front of the TV. Mr. Mayer imagines what we might do if we were forced to find other activities.Turning off TV: a Quiet HourI would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening, right after the early evening news, all television broadcasting in the United States be prohibited by law.Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results be if such a proposal were accepted. Families might use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another. It is well known that many of our problems—— everything, in fact, from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness—— are caused at least in part by failure to communicate. We do not tell each other what is disturbing us. The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another. By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems, we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes. Freed from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset. Or they might take a walk together（remember feet?） and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes.With free time and no TV, children and adults might rediscover reading. There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming. Educators report that the generation growing up with television can barely write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour.A different form of reading might also be done, as it was in the past: reading aloud. Few pastimes bring a family closer together than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story. The quiet hour could become the story hour. When the quiet hour ends, the TV networks might even be forced to come up with better shows in order to get us back from our newly discovered activities.At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? How will we spend the time? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television, spent partly with radio—— which at least involved the listener's imagination—— but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn't that difficult. Honest. The truth is we had a ball. NEW WORDSworthwhilea. good enough for the time or effort needed; valuable值得花时候（或精神）的；有代价的program（me）n. performance on radio or television节目educationala. of or for education; providing education or information教诲的；有教诲意义的currenta. of the present time今后的sociala. of or in society社会的movien. film that one sees at a cinema片子neverthelessconj. but; however但是，不外proposevt. suggest发起broadcastingn. the action of sending out sound（or images） by radio（or television）播送prohibitv n. forbid by law克制proposalvt. suggestion发起，发起actuallyn. in actual fact, really理想上generationn. all the people about the same age（一）代gapn. an empty space between two things or two parts of a thing; a wide difference of opinion, character, or the like缺口，间隙；不合，隔膜divorcen. end of a marriage by law仳离raten.率mentala. of the mind精神的；思惟上的communicatevi. share or exchange opinions, ideas, etc.交换意见，思惟等disturbvt. make（sb.） worried使烦末路emotionala.感情的pastimen. anything done to pass time pleasantly消遣，文娱sunsetn. the going down of the sun; the time when the sun goes down日落（时分）neighborhoodn. the area around a point or place邻近地区；地段adultn.成年人typicala.典范的educatorn. a person whose profession is education教诲家barelyad. hardly仅仅，勉强；几乎没有literatea. able to read and write能读写的；有文明的productn. sth. made or grown产物networkn.播送（或电视）联播公司；播送（或电视）网glancen. quick look一瞥；审视radicala. extreme; very different保守的electronica.电子的electronn.baby-sittern. someone who looks after a child when the parents are away for a short time（代人临时）照看婴儿childhoodn. time when one is a child童年partlyad. not completely; in some degree部分地；在一定程度上involvevt. have as a part or result（必需）包括imaginationn. the ability to imagine想象力learningn. the gaining of knowledge or skill through studying; knowledge or skill gained through studying学习；学问，知识inventvt. produce（sth.） for the first time发明PHRASES EXPRESSIONSgeneration gapfailure of the younger and older generations to communicate and understand one another代沟in partin some degree; partly在一定程度上；部分地grow upchange from a child to a man or a woman生长，长年夜bring togethercause to meet使相聚come up withthink of; produce想出；提出at first glancewhen first seen or thought about乍一看；最后思量时have a ball（sl.） enjoy oneself, have a very good time玩得高兴 PROPER NAMESMayer迈耶（姓氏）the United States美国
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