No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. "Is this what you intended to accomplish with y

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问题     No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. "Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?" Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week, "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-examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line.
    At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took over for the late Steve Ross in 1992. 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 investors 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 in the face of 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 verses 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 announced 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 strategy. But insiders say several 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 unlimited," says Luce, "I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated with the company have only recently come to realize this."
Levin cited his son at last month’s stockholders’ meeting because________.

选项 A、he thought rap is a lawful expression of street culture
B、he wanted to develop standards for distribution
C、he was backing off his hard-line stand
D、in the Bronx, teachers use rap to communicate with students

答案A

解析 本题的问题是:为什么莱文在上个月的股东大会上以他的儿子为例?本题属于例证题,定位第四段。根据第四段第二句,在上个月的股东大会上,大家就摇滚乐的歌词问题进行了讨论,莱文强调“音乐不是社会丑恶现象出现的原因”,他甚至还以他的儿子——纽约州布朗克斯区的一名教师——为例,称他就用说唱音乐与学生交流。由此可见,莱文列举他儿子的例子是为了强调“音乐不是社会丑恶现象出现的原因”,即说唱音乐是合理的表达形式,这也与第三段第二句呼应,莱文一直以说唱音乐是一种富于表现力的演唱方式为理由来捍卫公司的这种音乐形式。因此选项A与原文例证目的一致,为正确选项;选项D只是例证本身的细节,不是例证的目的或原因,所以该项属于就事论事。选项B来自第四段第三句,但他也谈到了创作自由和社会责任之间要“保持平衡”的问题,他宣布,公司将发起一项运动,为那些可能引起人们反感的音乐制定各种发行和标识的标准(develop standards for distribution and labeling)。这句话也和段首句呼应,即有迹象表明这位董事长的强硬立场起码在一定程度上有所松动(backing off),但举儿子的例子是为了支持说唱音乐,而不是表达让步,由此可见,选项B、C均曲解文意。第三段:莱文坚持表达自由,绝不因为批评而退缩。第四段:莱文认为创作自由和社会责任需要兼顾,需制定发行标准。
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