2. 外语
  3. 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

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."
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
选项 A、Luce is a spokesman of Time Warner.
B、Gerald Levin is liable to compromise.
C、Time Warner is united as one in the face of the debate.
D、Steve Ross is no longer alive
答案D
解析 A项不正确，从文章最后一段的内容可知，有15名成员的时代华纳公司董事会普遍支持Levin以及他有关公司的发展战略；但知情人士透露，有几位成员对此事表示担忧；Luce说，“我们中有些人早就知道宪法第一修正案中规定的自由不是完全没有限制，我认为一些与公司有关的人士可能直到最近才开始意识到这一点。” 这只能说明Luce是董事会成员，并不能证明他是时代华纳公司的发言人；B项不正确，从文章第3段的内容可知，Levin一直以言论自由为由替公司的说唱音乐辩护；他说他们不会在任何威胁面前退却；从第4段的内容可知，有迹象表明这位董事长正在放弃他的强硬立场，至少在某种程度上是这样；但这并不能说明他容易妥协，C项不正确，依据是文章最后一段的第2句话；从文章第2段的第1句话可知，这场辩论的核心人物是56岁的Gerald Levin，他于1992年接替已故的Steve Ross任董事长；这说明D项正确。因此正确答案为D。
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