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  3. No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nat

No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nat

游客2025-03-18  32
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?" an American senator asked Time Warner executives recently. "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 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 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. "
Questions: [br] In face of the recent attacks on the company, the chairman______.
选项 A、stuck to a strong stand to defend freedom of expression
B、softened his tone and adopted some new policy
C、changed his attitude and yielded to objection
D、received more support from the 15-member board
答案 B
解析 第4题问面对近来对公司的谴责公司‘的董事长是如何反应的。此题仍可用查阅式阅读法来找出文中与此题相关的内容。因为问题题干中有提示信息“最近的”。文中第四段第一句话就指出，列文对上周人们对公司的批评没有做评论，但是有迹象表明公司董事长至少在某种程度上缓和了其强硬的立场，并谈到要采取平衡措施来调整创作自由和社会责任感之间的关系。因此，本题的正确答案应是B：缓和了语气，采取了一些新政策。而答案A：坚持其强硬立场以维护表达自由与第四段第一句矛盾。选项C：改变态度，屈从于反对意见更无从谈起。答案D：得到15人董事会的更大支持与最后一段不符。
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