大学英语精读听力第一册 unit4

[00:00.00]Unit Four　　Text
[00:23.75]Many people in the United States spend most of their free time watching television.
[00:30.17]Certainly,there are many worthwhile programs on television,
[00:34.22]including news, educational programs for children,
[00:38.37]programs on current social problems, plays, movies, concerts,and so on.
[00:45.30]Nevertheless,perhaps people should not be spending so much of their time in front of the TV.
[00:52.87]Mr Mayer imagines what we might do if we were forced to find other activities.
[01:00.26]TURNING OFF TV: A QUIET HOUR
[01:04.39]I would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening,
[01:09.51]right after the early evening news,
[01:12.25]all television broadcasting in the United States be prohibited by law.
[01:17.51]Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results might be
[01:23.15]if such a proposal were accepted.
[01:26.00]Families might use the time for a real family hour.
[01:28.77]Without the distraction of TV,
[01:31.69]they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another.
[01:37.02]It is well known that many of our problems--
[01:41.25]everything,in fact,
[01:42.72]from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness--
[01:47.97]are caused at least in part by failure to communicate.
[01:52.43]We do not tell each other what is disturbing us.
[01:56.56]The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another.
[01:56.63]By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems,
[02:01.31]we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.
[02:05.36]On evenings when such talk is unnecessary,
[02:09.41]families could rediscover more active pastimes.
[02:13.98]Freed from TV,forced to find their own activities,
[02:18.92]they might take a ride together to watch the sunset.
[02:22.89]Or they might take a walk together (remember feet?)
[02:27.43]and see the neighborhood with fresh,new eyes.
[02:31.38]With free time and no TV,children and adults might rediscover reading.
[02:38.64]There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming.
[02:45.98]Educators report that the generation growing up with television
[02:51.26]can barely write an English sentence,
[02:53.76]even at the college level.
[02:56.14]Writing is often learned from reading.
[02:59.48]A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour.
[03:05.23]A different from of reading might also be done,
[03:10.12]as it was in the past:reading aloud.
[03:09.12]Few pastimes bring a family closer together
[03:13.45]than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story.
[03:18.31]The quiet hour could become the story hour.
[03:22.57]When the quiet hour ends,
[03:25.44]the TV networks might even be forced to come up with better shows
[03:29.91]in order to get us back from our newly discovered activities.
[03:34.40]At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical.
[03:39.98]What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter?
[03:44.92]How will we spend the time?
[03:47.56]But it is not radical at all.
[03:50.82]It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time.
[03:57.38]Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television,
[04:04.22]spent partly with radio--which at least involved the listener's imagination
[04:10.57]--but also with reading,learning,talking,playing games,inventing new activities.
[04:19.51]It wasn't that difficult. Honest.The truth is we had a ball.