不支持Flash
|
1997年研究生入学考试英语阅读理解A(12)
在我们生活的这个社会中，物质(药物)在医疗和社交方面的使用都很广泛：服用阿斯匹林可以缓解头痛，应酬时要喝酒，早晨醒来喝咖啡来提神，抽一支香烟可以稳定情绪等等。使用这些物质得到了社会的认可，而且很明显具有其积极的作用，但什么时候就变成滥用了呢？首先，大多数物质的过量使用都会产生负作用，如中毒或严重的感知错乱。反复使用一种物质可以导致上瘾、也就是对这种物质的依赖。依赖的最初表现是不断增长的耐药量，用量越来越大才能达到预期效果，而一旦中断使用就会出现非常不舒服的停药症状。
作用于中枢神经系统、能改变感知觉和行为的药物(物质)被称为对神经起作用的物质，这一类物质通常分为兴奋剂、镇静剂和幻觉剂。兴奋剂主要起到加速或激活中枢神经系统活动的作用，而镇静剂则相反：使其活动变缓。幻觉剂主要影响人的感知，通过各种不同的方式对感知加以扭曲或改变，其中包括产生幻觉。这些物质常被认为能“引起幻觉”(psychedelic一词源自希腊语，其意思是“心灵显现”)，因为它们似乎能改变人的意识状态。
Passage 4
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.
特别说明：由于各方面情况的不断调整与变化，新浪网所提供的所有考试信息仅供参考，敬请考生以权威部门公布的正式信息为准。
