PASSAGE 18
Martin Luther King Jr.
By the time the Montgomery Improvement Association chose the 26-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. as its leader, the hours-old bus boycott1 by the black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, was already an overwhelming success. King would later write that his unanticipated call to leadership "happened so quickly that I did not have time to think in through." "It is probable that if I had, I would have declined the nomination2."
Although press reports at the time focused on his inspiring oratory3, King was actually a reluctant leader of a movement initiated4 by others.(The boycott began on Dec. 5 1955.) His subsequent writings and private correspondence reveal man whose inner doubts sharply contrast with his public persona. In the early days of his involvement, King was troubled by telephone threats, discord6 within the black community and Montgomery's "get tough" policy, to which king attributed his jailing on a minor7 traffic violation8. One night, as he considered ways to "move out of the picture without appearing a coward," he began to pray aloud and, at that moment, "experienced the presence of the God as I had never experienced Him before."
He would later admit that when the boycott began, he was not yet firmly committed to Gandhian principles. Although he had been exposed to those teachings in college, he had remained skeptical9. "I thought the only way we could solve our problem of segregation10 was an armed revolt," he recalled. "I felt that the Christian11 ethic12 of love was confined to individual relationships."
Only after his home was bombed in late January did king reconsider his views on violence. (At the time, he was seeking a gun permit and was protected by armed bodyguards13.) Competing with each other to influence King were two ardent14 pacifists: Bayard Rustin, a black activist15 with the War Resisters League, and the Rev5. Glenn E. Smiley, a white staff member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation16. Rustin was shocked to discover a gun in King's house, while Smiley informed fellow pacifists that King's home was "an arsenal17."
1. What did King think of his nomination as leader of the Montgomery Boycott?
A) He hadn't expected it.
B) He had to think about it carefully.
C) He would refuse to accept it.
D) He was prepared to accept it.
2. Why was King unwilling18 to lead the movement at first?
A) Because he doubted if the boycott would be successful.
B) Because he was troubled with a traffic accident at that time.
C) Because he thought he was too young to be a leader.
D) Because he himself didn't start the boycott.
3. Which of the following is Not mentioned as something that happened at the beginning of the black people's movement?
A) King was put into prison.
B) Black people disagreed with each other.
C) King's armed revolt proposal was turned down.
D) Black people found it hard to accept the policy pursued in Montgomery.
4. Which of the following was the immediate19 cause that made King change his view on violence?
A) The education he received in college.
B) The attack of his home.
C) The influence of two active non-violence advocates.
D) The verdict of the Supreme20 Court.
5. In Paragraph 4, the last sentence "King's home was 'an arsenal'" means
A) King's home was a place where people got together.
B) King's home was a place where people tested bombs.
C) King's home was a place where weapons were stored.
D) King's home was a place where bombs exploded.
Keys: ADCBC
PASSAGE 19
Characteristics of Publicity21
Publicity offers several benefits. There are not costs for message time or space. An ad in prime-time television may cost $250,000 to $5000,000 or more per minute, whereas a five-minute report on a network newscast would not cost anything. However, there are costs for news releases, a publicity department, and other items. As with advertising22, publicity reaches a mass audience. Within a short time, new products or company policies are widely known.
Credibility about messages is high, because they are reported in independent media. A newspaper review of a movie has more believability than an ad in the same paper, because the reader associates independence with objectivity. Similarly, people are more likely to pay attention to news reports than to ads. For example, Women's Wear Daily has both fashion reports and advertisements. Readers spend time reading the stories, but they flip23 through the ads. Furthermore, there may be 10 commercials during a half-hour television program or hundreds of ads in a magazine. Feature stories are much fewer in number and stand out clearly.
Publicity also has some significant limitations. A firm has little control over messages, their timing24, their placement, or their coverage25 by a given medium. It may issue detailed26 news releases and find only portions cited by the media, and media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would like.
For example, in 1982, Procter & Gamble faced a substantial publicity problem over the meaning of its 123-year-old company logo. A few ministers and other private citizens believed resulted in the firm receiving 15,000 phone calls about the rumor27 in June alone. To combat this negative publicity, the firm issued news releases featuring prominent clergy28 that refuted the rumors29, threatened to sue those people spreading the stories, and had a spokesperson appear on Good Morning America. The media cooperated with the company and the false rumors were temporarily put to rest. However, in 1985, negative publicity became so disruptive that Procter & Gamble decided30 to remove the logo from its-products.
A firm may want publicity during certain periods, such as when a new product is introduced or new store opened, but the media may not cover the introduction or opening until after the time it would aid the firm. Similarly, media determine the placement of a story; it may follow a report on crime or sports. Finally, the media ascertain31 whether to cover a story at all and the amount of coverage to be devoted32 to it. A company-sponsored fobs program might go unreported or receive three-sentence coverage in a local newspaper.
练习:
1. The author mentions all of the following advantages of publicity except
A) Having no time costs.
B) Having attentiveness33.
C) Having high credibility.
D) Having high profitability.
2. the second paragraph indicates that people are more likely to believe stories
A) in a newspaper than in a women's daily.
B) In a newspaper than in a magazine.
C) In an independent newspaper than in a dependent newspaper.
D) In a magazine than in a local newspaper.
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A) A firm can control and time publicity accurately34.
B) A firm can neither control nor time publicity accurately.
C) A firm can either control or time publicity accurately.
D) In most cases a firm can control and time publicity accurately.
4. The example in Paragraph 4 is intended to demonstrate
A) the power of publicity.
B) the victim of publicity.
C) the terrible effect of rumors.
D) the vulnerability of people to publicity.
5. The passage implies that
A) the placement of a story is not quite important.
B) the report of a crime may not be true.
C) local newspapers are not interested in company-sponsored programs.
D) publicity is not always necessary.
Keys: DCBAD