40. TelevisionAndViolentCrime
Childrenarebornreadytoimitateadultbehavior. Thattheycanimitateanarrayofadultfacialexpressionshavebeendemonstratedinnewbornsasyoungasafewhoursold, beforetheyareevenoldenoughtoknowthattheyhavefacialfeatures. Itisamostusefulinstinct, forthedevelopingchildmustlearnandmasteravastrepertoire1 ofbehaviorinshortorder.
Butwhilechildrenhaveinstinctivedesiretoimitate, theydonotpossessaninstinctfordeterminingwhetherabehavioroughttobeimitated. Theywillimitateanything, includingbehaviorthatmostadultsregardasdestructiveandantisocial2. Itmaygivepauseforthought, then, tolearnthatinfantsasyoungasfourteenmonthsdemonstrablyobserveandincorporatebehaviorseenontelevision.
TheaverageAmericanpreschoolerwatchesmorethantwenty-sevenhoursoftelevisionperweek. Thismightnotbebadiftheseyoungchildrenunderstoodwhattheywerewatching. Buttheydon’t. Upthroughagesthreeandfour, mostchildrenareunabletodistinguishfactfromfantasy3 onTV, andremainunabletodosodespiteadultcoaching. Inthemindsofyoungchildren, televisionisasourceofentirelyfactualinformationregardinghowtheworldworks4 . Therearenolimitstotheircredulity. 5 Tociteoneexample, anIndianaschoolboardhadtoissueanadvisorytoyoungchildrenthat, no, thereisnosuchthingasTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles6. Childrenhadbeencrawlingdownstormdrainslookingforthem.
Naturally, aschildrengetolder, theycometoknowbetter, buttheirearliestanddeepestimpressionsarelaiddownatanagewhentheystillseetelevisionasafactualsourceofinformationabouttheoutsideworld. Inthatworld, itseems, violenceiscommonandthecommission7 ofviolenceisgenerallypowerful, exciting, charismatic, andeffective. Inlaterlife, seriousviolenceismostlikelytoeruptatmomentsofseverestress — anditispreciselyatsuchmomentsthatadolescentsandadultsaremostlikelytorevertto8 theirearliest, mostvisceralsenseoftheroleofviolenceinsocietyandinpersonalbehavior. Muchofthissensewillhavecomefromtelevision.
阅读自测
Ⅰ. Fillineachblankwiththeproperformofthewordsgiveninthebrackets :
1. Shehasan________ ( instinct) sympathywiththepoorpeople.
2. Theseconclusionsare ________ ( demonstrate ) wrong.
3. Thereisaslight________ ( face ) resemblancebetweenthetwomen.
4. Thismanhascoaxedmillionsofpoundsfroma________ ( credulity) public .
Ⅱ. ArethesestatementsTrueorFalseaccordingtothearticle :
1. Babiesknowtheyhavefacialfeaturesjustaftertheycometotheworld.
2. Childrencanimitateeverythingbecauseimitationistheirinstinct.
3. Televisionisasourceofentirelyfactualinformationregardinghowtheworldworks.
4. Televisionplaysanimportantroleingivingrisetosocialviolence .