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  3. The trend toward rationality and enlightenment was endangered long before th

The trend toward rationality and enlightenment was endangered long before th

游客2024-03-07  18
问题     The trend toward rationality and enlightenment was endangered long before the advent of the World Wide Web. As Neil Postman noted in his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, the rise of television introduced not just a new medium but a new discourse: a gradual shift from a typographic (印刷的) culture to a photographic one, which in turn meant a shift from rationality to emotions, exposition to entertainment. In an image-centered and pleasure-driven world, Postman noted, there is no place for rational thinking, because you simply cannot think with images. It is text that enables us to "uncover lies, confusions and overgeneralizations, and to detect abuses of logic and common sense. It also means to weigh ideas, to compare and contrast assertions, to connect one generalization to another."
    The dominance of television was not confined to our living rooms. It overturned all of those habits of mind, fundamentally changing our experience of the world, affecting the conduct of politics, religion, business, and culture. It reduced many aspects of modern life to entertainment, sensationalism, and commerce. "Americans don’t talk to each other, we entertain each other," Postman wrote. "They don’t exchange ideas; they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials."
    At first, the web seemed to push against this trend. When it emerged towards the end of the 1980s as a purely text-based medium, it was seen as a tool to pursue knowledge, not pleasure. Reason and thought were most valued in this garden—all derived from the project of the Enlightenment. Universities around the world were among the first to connect to this new medium, which hosted discussion groups, informative personal or group blogs, electronic magazines, and academic mailing lists and forums. It was an intellectual project, not about commerce or control, created in a scientific research center in Switzerland. And for more than a decade, the web created an alternative space that threatened television’s grip on society.
    Social networks, though, have since colonized the web for television’s values. From Facebook to Instagram, the medium refocuses our attention on videos and images, rewarding emotional appeals—’like’ buttons—over rational ones. Instead of a quest for knowledge, it engages us in an endless zest (热情) for instant approval from an audience, for which we are constantly but unconsciously performing. (It’s telling that, while Google began life as a PhD thesis, Facebook started as a tool to judge classmates’ appearances.) It reduces our curiosity by showing us exactly what we already want and think, based on our profiles and preferences. The Enlightenment’s motto (座右铭) of ’Dare to know’ has become ’Dare not to care to know.’ [br] How has television impacted Americans?
选项 A、It has given them a lot more to argue about.
B、It has brought celebrities closer to their lives.
C、It has made them care more about what they say.
D、It has rendered their interactions more superficial.
答案 D
解析 根据题干中的信息词television impacted Americans，答案线索可以定位至第二段最后两句。第二段第二句和第三句从总体上论述了电视对民众的影响，点明电视颠覆了人们的思维习惯，从根本上改变了人们对世界的体验，将现代生活的许多方面简化为娱乐、哗众取宠和商业行为。下文中引用波兹曼的评论展开论述，“美国人不互相交谈，而是互相娱乐”“他们不交换想法；他们交换图像。他们不为观点争论；他们为美貌、名人和广告争论不休”。“互动更为肤浅”是对该部分的概括总结，故本题选D。文中以美貌、名人和广告这几个话题为例，是想证明争论的内容缺乏深度，选项A和选项B偏离了该段讨论的重点，故排除；同理，为这些娱乐性内容争论不能证明美国民众开始更在意自己说了什么，故排除选项C。
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