全部题库 / 公共英语四级 / 试题详情
单选题 公共英语四级
2018-03-04

根据下面资料,回答题
No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. "Is this what you like to accomplish with your careers?" an American senator asked Time Warner executives re-cently. "You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?"At Time Warner, however, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul-searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. It´s a self-exam-ination that has, at different times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the cor-porate bottom line.
At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin,56, who took over from the late Steve Ross in the early 1990s. On the financial front, Levin is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company´s mountainous debt, which will increase to $17.3 billion after two new cable deals close. He has promised to sell off some of the property and restructure the company, but in-vestors are waiting impatiently.
The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. Levin has consistently defended the company´s rap music on the grounds of expression, in 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice-T´s violent rap song Cop Killer.., Levin described rap as a lawful expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet. "The test of any democratic society,”he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column, "lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be. We won´t retreat when we face any threats. "
Levin would not comment on the debate last week, but there were signs that the chairman was backing off his hard-line stand, at least to some extent. During the discussion of rock singing ver-ses at last month´s stockholders´ meeting, Levin asserted that "music is not the cause of society´s ills" and even cited his son, a teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with students. But he talked as well about the "balanced struggle" between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he proclaimed that the company would launch a drive to develop standards for distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music.
The 15-member Time Warner board is generally Supportive of Levin and his corporate strate-gy. But insiders say some of them have shown their concerns in this matter. "Some of us have known for many, many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not totally unlimit-ed, "says Luce. "I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated with the company have 0nly recently come to realize this. "
An American senator criticized Time Warner for___________.

A.its raising of the corporate stock price
B.its self-examination of the soul
C.its neglect of social responsibility
D.its emphasis on creative freedom

参考答案

C

答案解析

 参考译文
没有哪个公司喜欢被人告知自己正为一个国家的道德沦落作贡献。
“这就是你想在职业生涯中取得的成就吗?”一位美国参议员最近这样问一个时代华纳公司的执行官。“你已经出卖了自己的灵魂,但你一定还要腐蚀我们的国家,威胁我们的孩子吗?”然而,在时代华纳,这样的问题仅仅是深刻反省的最新表现,这种反省自1990年公司成立时就与公司密不可分了。这是一种自我审查,在不同时期,关系到责任、创作自由和公司的底线等不同问题。
处于这场辩论中心的是董事长杰拉尔德·莱文,他今年56岁,于90年代早期从已故史蒂夫·罗斯手里接管了公司。在金融前线,他处于提高股票价格和减少公司巨额外债的压力之下。公司外债将在两项新的有线电视协议到期后增至173亿美元。他承诺卖掉部分财产并重组公司,但投资者们已等得不耐烦了。
说唱音乐带来的紧张激动也没使他的日子好过一点。莱文一直以表达为由为公司的说唱音乐辩护。1992年时代华纳因为发行冰T的节奏强烈的说唱歌曲《警察杀手》而受到严厉批评时,莱文把说唱音乐描述成对街头文化的合法表达,认为它应该得到宣泄。他在《华尔街日报》的专栏里写道:“检验一个社会是否民主,不是看它控制言论控制得成功与否,而是要看它能否给予思想和言论最广泛的自由,不管结果有时是多么有争议,多么恼人。无论碰到什么威胁我们都不会后退。”
菜文对上周的辩论不予置评,但有迹象表明董事长至少是在某种程度上改变了他的强硬态度的立场。在上个月股东大会上讨论摇滚歌词时,莱文宣称“音乐不是造成社会弊病的原因”,甚至引用他在纽约州布朗克斯当教师的儿子用说唱音乐与学生交流的事情做例证。但他也谈到创作自由与社会责任感间的“平衡斗争”,并宣布公司将发动一场运动来制定发行和标出可能遭反对的音乐的标准。
由15名成员构成的时代华纳董事会基本支持莱文和他的公司战略。但知情者说他们中有些人已经对这个问题表示担忧。“我们中的一些人许多许多年来早已知道第一修订案中规定的自由不是完全不受限制的,”卢斯说。“我想可能有些与公司相关的人只是到最近才认识到这一点。”
答案及解析
美国参议员批评Time warner,主要是因为他忽略了社会责任,发行反映暴力的音乐。

你可能感兴趣的试题

A.sacked workers as a result of restructuring
B.issued a record promoting violence
C.advocated the culture of the street
D.challenged the freedom of expression in democratic society
A.stuck to a strong stand tO defend freedom of expression
B.softened his tone and introduced a new initiative
C.yielded to objections and resigned from the-company
D.requested unconditional support from the 15-member board