Câu 13: GED Section 4 Language Arts - Reading: Section Four Language Arts - Reading

Whats Wrong with Commercial Television?Kids who watch much commercial television ought to develop into whizzes at the dialect; you have to keep so much in your mind at once because a series of artificially short attention spans has been created. But this in itself means that the experience of watching the commercial channels is a more informal one, curiously more homely than watching BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation].This is because the commercial breaks are constant reminders that the medium itself is artificial, isn’t, in fact, "real," even if the gesticulating heads, unlike the giants of the movie screen, are life-size. There is a kind of built-in alienation effect. Everything you see is false, as Tristan Tzara gnomically opined. And the young lady in the St. Bruno tobacco ads who currently concludes her spiel by stating categorically: "And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything," is saying no more than the truth. The long-term effect of habitually watching commercial television is probably an erosion of trust in the television medium itself. Since joy is the message of all commercials, it is as well they breed skepticism. Every story has a happy ending, gratification is guaranteed by the conventions of the commercial form, which contributes no end to the pervasive unreality of it all. Indeed, it is the chronic bliss of everybody in the commercials that creates their final divorce from effective life as we know it. Grumpy mum, frowning dad, are soon all smiles again after the ingestion of some pill or potion; minimal concessions are made to mild frustration (as they are, occasionally, to lust), but none at all to despair or consummation. In fact, if the form is reminiscent of the limerick and the presentation of the music-hall, the overall mood in its absolute and unruffled decorum is that of the uplift fables in the Sunday school picture books of my childhood. Angela Carter, from Shaking a Leg (1997)Which of the following would the author most likely recommend?

1. A. Don’t watch any television at all; read instead.
2. B. Watch only the BBC.
3. C. Watch only commercial television.
4. D. Watch what you like, but don’t believe what commercials claim. — đáp án hiện tại
5. E. Watch what you like, but don’t watch more than an hour a day.