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2021年2月24日发(作者：七珠展筋散)

Unit 7

TV and Its Influence

Section Two In-reading

READING ONE

When Television Ate My Best Friend

I was eight years old when I lost my best friend. My very first very best friend. Lucy hardly

ever whined, even when we kids played cowboys and she had to be Dale Evans. Nor did she cry,

even when we played dodge ball and some big kid threw the ball so hard you could read Spalding

backward on her legs. Lucy was world class.

Much of our time together was spent in my backyard on the perfect swing set: high, wide,

built

solid,

and

grounded

for

life.

But

one

June

day

long

ago,

something

went

wrong.

I

was

swinging as high as I could, and still higher. The next time the swing started to come back down, I

didn

’

t . I just kept going up. And up.

Then I began to fall.

―Know what? Know what?‖ Lucy was yelling at me.

No, I didn’t know what. All I knew was that my left arm hurt.

―Know what? For a minute there, you flew. You seemed to catch the wind and … soar! Right

up until you must have do

ne something wrong, because you fell.‖

Wearing a cast on my broken arm gave me time to work out the scientifics with Lucy. Our

Theory was that if you swing just high enough and straight enough, and you jump out of the swing at

just the right moment and in just the right position

—

you just might fly.

July was spent waiting for my arm to heal. We ran our hands across the wooden seat, feeling for

the odd splinter that could ruin your perfect takeoff. We pulled on the chains, testing for weak links.

Finally came the day in August when my cast was off, and Lucy and I were ready. Today we

would fly.

Early that morning, we began taking turns

—

one pushing, one pumping. All day we pushed

and pumped, higher and higher, ever so close. It was almost dark wh

en Lucy’s mother hollered for

her to come home right this minute and see what her daddy had brought them.

This was strictly against the rules. Nobody had to go home in August until it was altogether

dark. Besides, Lucy’s daddy wasn’t a man to be struc

k with irresistible impulses like stopping at the

horse store and thinking, Golly, my little girl loves ponies! I better get her one!

So we kept on swinging, and Lucy pretended not to hear her mother

–

until she dropped Lucee

to Lucille Louise. Halfway through the fourth Lucille Louise, Lucy slowly raised her head as though

straining to hear some woman calling from the next county.

―Were you calling me, Mother? Okay, okay, I’m coming. Yes, ma’am. Right now.‖

Lucy and I walked together to the end of my driveway. Once in her front yard, she slowed to

something between a meander and a lollygag, choosing a path that took her straight through the

sprinklers. Twice.

When at last Lucy sashayed to her front door, she turned back to me and, with a grin, gave me

the thumbs-

up sign used by pilots everywhere. Awright. So we’d fly tomorrow instead. We’d waited

all summer. We could wait one more day. On her way in the house, she slammed the screen door.

BANG!

In my memory, I’ve listened to that screen door shut

behind my best friend a thousand times. It

was the last time I played with her.

I knocked on the door every day, but her mother always answered saying Lucy was busy and

couldn’t come out to play. I tried calling, but her mother always answered saying Luc

y was busy and

couldn’t come to the phone. Lucy was busy? Too busy to play? Too busy to fly? She had to be dead.

Nothing else made sense. What, short of death, could separate such best friends? We were going to

fly. Her thumb had said so. I cried and cried.

I might never have known the truth of the matter, if some weeks later I hadn’t overheard my

mother say to my father how maybe I would calm down about Lucy if we got a television too.

A what? What on earth was a television? The word was new to me, but I was clever enough to

figure out that Lucy’s daddy had brought home a television that night. At last I knew what had

happened to Lucy. The television ate her.

It must have been a terrible thing to see. Now my parents were thinking of getting one. I was

scared. They didn’t understand what television could do.

―Television eats people,‖ I announced to my parents.

―Oh, Linda Jane,‖ they said, laughing. ―Television doesn’t eat people. You’ll love television

just like Lucy. She’s inside her house watching it

right this minute.‖

Indeed, Lucy was totally bewitched by the flickering black and white shapes. Every afternoon

following school, she’d sit in her living room and watch whatever there was to watch. Saturday

mornings, she’d look at cartoons.

Autumn

came.

Around

Thanksgiving,

I

played

an

ear

of

corn

in

the

school

pageant.

Long

division ruined most of December. After a while, I forgot about flying. But I did not forget about

Lucy.

Christmas

arrived,

and

Santa

Claus

brought

us

a

television

.

―See?‖

my

paren

ts

said.

―Television doesn’t eat people.‖ Maybe not. But television changes people. It changed my family

forever.

We stopped eating dinner at the dining- room table after my mother found out about TV trays.

Dinner was served in time for one program and finished in time for another. During the meal we

used to talk to one another. Now television talked to us. If you absolutely had to say something you

waited until the commercial, which is, I suspect, where I learned to speak in thirty- second bursts.

Before television, I would lie in bed at night, listening to my parents in their room saying things

I couldn’t comprehend. Their voices alone rocked me to sleep. Now Daddy went to bed right after

the weather, and Mama stayed up to see Jack Paar. I went to sleep listening to voices in my memory.

Daddy stopped buying Perry Mason books. Perry was on television now, and that was so much

easier

for

him.

But

it

had

been

Daddy

and

Perry

who’d

taught

me

how

fine

it

can

be

to

read

something you like.

Mama and Daddy stopped going to movies. Most movies would one day show up on TV, he

said.

After a while, Daddy and I didn’t play baseball any more. We didn’t go to ball games either, but

we watched more baseball than ever. That’s how Daddy perfected The Art of Dozing to Baseb

all.

He would sit in his big chair, turn on the game, and fall asleep within minutes. At least he appeared

to be asleep. His eyes were shut, and he snored. But if you shook him, he’d open his eyes and tell

you what the score was, who was up, and what the pitcher ought to throw next.

It seemed everybody liked to watch television more than I did. I had no interest in sitting still

when I could be climbing trees or riding a bike or practicing my takeoffs just in case one day Lucy

woke up and remembered we had

a Theory. Maybe the TV hadn’t actually eaten her, but once her

parents pointed her in the direction of that box, she never looked back.

Lucy had no other interests when she could go home and turn on ―My Friend Flicka.‖ Maybe

it was because that was as close as she would get to having her own pony. Maybe if her parents had

allowed her a real world to stretch out in, she

wouldn

’

t have been satisfied with a nineteen-inch

world.

All I know is I never had another first best friend. I never learned to fly ei

ther. What’s more, I

was right all along: television really does eat people .

READING TWO

How Parents Can Lessen the Effects of Television Violence

Conversations

like

this

often

take

place

between

parent

and

child

because

no

parent,

no

matter

how

conscientious,

can

spend

every

minute

with

his

or

her

child.

And

let’s

face

it,

television is a way to keep a bored child quiet and occupied. And yes, television can be a good

form of

entertainment and even a valuable teaming tool.

Almost everyone agrees that television can have a great influence on how children view the

world

and

how

they

act

within

it.

As

a

result,

almost

everyone

agrees

that

it

is

important

for

parents

to

supervise

what

television

their

children

watch.

Usually,

this

means

that

parents

are

advised to restrict the amount of violence viewed.

Anne Somers, for example, cites the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of

Violence, which published a report, To Establish Justice, to Insure Domestic Tranquility, in 1969.

A

portion

of

the

report

discloses

that

many

of

the

experiments

done

with

children

show

that

aggressive

behavior

is

learned

by

viewing

violence

on

television.

The

report

states

that

while

television is a serious influence on our society

’

s level of violence, it is not necessarily the main

cause. However, it goes on to say that the influence of television on children is stronger now, when

the authority of the

concern

expressed

in

the

report

is

that

since

so

much

of

television

broadcasting

expresses

antisocial,

aggressive

behavior,

and

since

television

is

such

a

strong

influence

on

children,

children will be learning to behave aggressively.

Certainly the literature expressing the dangers of television violence for children is abundant;

one can find it published in everything from TV Guide to the most scholarly journals. Yet does it

all mean that parents must be sure their children never view violence on the small screen? 1 think

not,

for

there

is

evidence

that

not

all

children

who

view

televised

violence

become

overly

aggressive. The child's interpretation of what is viewed is a crucial factor in how he or she will

behave afterward. Sociology professor Hope Lunin Klapper believes:

The

child

itself

plays

an

active

role

in

the

socialization

process.

The

consequences

of

television

for

a

child

are

thus

in

part

a

consequence

of

the

child ....

It

is

the

child

’

s

perception

which defines the stimulus.... The consequences of television involve....two major steps: first, the

child

’

s perception or translation of the content, and second, his or her response or lack of response

to that perception.

Thus, whether televised violence will adversely affect a child will depend on that child. The

conclusion to be drawn from Klapper is that some children will not become violent just because

they have viewed violence on television. Klapper says that whether a child behaves aggressively

will be, in part, a result of his or her perception of the viewed violence, and this says a lot about

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