55. The passage attempts to establish a relationship between .
A) the murder rate and the imposition of the death penalty
B) the effects of execution and the effects of isolation
C) the importance of equal rights and that of the death penalty
D) executions and murders
56. The author’s attitude towards “death penalty” is .
A) opposing B) supporting C) neutral D) sarcastic
Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
One positive consequence of our current national crisis may be at least a temporary shadow in Hollywood’s culture of violence. Fearful of offending audiences in the wake of the terrorist attack, some moviemakers have postponed the release of film with terrorist themes. Television writers are delaying scripts with warlike and terrorist scenarios (剧本提纲).It is probably good thinking. My local video store tells me nobody is checking out “disaster” movies. Says the manager, “Currently, people want comedy. They want an escape from stories about violence and terrorism.” Similarly, in the music business, there’s a run on patriotic and inspirational tapes and CDs.
According to The New York Times, the self scrutiny among these czars (特权人物) of mass-entertainment taste is unprecedented in scale, sweeping aside hundreds of millions of dollars in projects that no longer seem appropriate. A reasonable concern is that this might be a short term phenomenon. Once life returns to something more normal, will Hollywood return to its bad old ways? The Times offers a glimmer of hope. The industry’s titans (巨头),it suggests, are struggling with much more difficulties, long range questions of what the public will want once the initial shock from the terrorist attacks wears off. Many in the industry admit they do not know where the boundaries of taste and consumer tolerance now lie.
This is an opportunity for some of us to suggest to Hollywood where that boundary of consumer tolerance is, especially those of us who have not yet convinced Hollywood to cease its descent into ever lower of the dumbness of our young.
The nonprofit Parents Television Council, which monitors the quality of TV programming, says in its latest report that today’s TV shows are more laced than ever with vulgarities, sexual immorality, crudities, violence, and foul language. The traditional family hour between 8p.m.and 9p.m., when the networks used to offer programs for the entire family, has disappeared. The problem looks like it will get worse.
That certainly looked to be the case before the Sept.11th assault. One pre attack New York Times story reported that TV producers were crusading (讨伐) for scripts that include every crude word imaginable. The struggles between net-work censors and producers, according to the report, were “growing more intense”. Producers like Aaron Sorkin of “The West Wing” planned to keep pushing hard. He was quoted as saying,“There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t use the language of adulthood in programs that are about adults”.
My guess is that a lot of adults don’t use the language Mr. Sorkin wants to use, and don’t enjoy having their children hear it. At this moment of crisis in our nation’s history, thought has become more thoughtful, prayerful, and spiritual. It may be the time to tell the entertainment industry that we want not a temporary pause in the flow of tastelessness, but a long term clean-up.
57. Some filmmakers hesitate to release new films with violent content because .
A) they want to show themselves to be patriots
B) they are afraid such films may anger audiences
C) films with violence in them are no longer popu1ar
D) films with terrorist themes are reflections on violence.
58. The “self-scrutiny” in the second paragraph refers to filmmakers attempt to .
A) produce appropriate films with no violent content for the audiences
B) prevent themselves from slipping into their old bad ways
C) understand to what extent their films have contributed to the national crisis
D) find out where the boundaries of taste and consumer tolerance lie
59. The author thinks that it is time for the general audience to .
A) tell filmmakers where the boundaries of their taste lie
B) point out to Hollywood how bad their films are
C) accuse the filmmakers of desensitizing their children
D) ask filmmakers to make films that reflect traditional family life
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