江浙沪招生考试网

but its role, its size and its programmes are now the subject of a nation-wide debate in Britain.

The debate was launched by the Government, which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC -- including ordinary listeners and viewers -- to say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether they thought it was worth keeping. The reason for its inquiry is that the BBC’s royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide whether to keep the organization as it is, or to make changes.

Defenders of the Corporation -- of whom there are many -- are fond of quoting the American slogan “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The BBC “ain’t broke,” they say, by which they mean it is not broken (as distinct from the word ‘broke’, meaning having no money), so why bother to change it?

Yet the BBC will have to change, because the broadcasting world around it is changing. The commercial TV channels -- TV and Channel 4 -- were required by the Thatcher Government’s Broadcasting Act to become more commercial, competing with each other for advertisers, and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite channels -- funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers’ subscriptions -- which will bring about the biggest changes in the long term.

55.   The world famous BBC now faces ________.

[A] the problem of new coverage

[B] an uncertain prospect

[C] inquiries by the general public

[D] shrinkage of audience

56.   In the passage, which of the following about the BBC is NOT mentioned as the key issue?

[A] Extension of its TV service to Far East.

[B] Programmes as the subject of a nation-wide debate.

[C] Potentials for further international co-operations.

[D] Its existence as a broadcasting organization.

57.   The BBC’s “royal charter” (Line 4, Paragraph 3) stands for ________.

[A] the financial support from the royal family

[B] the privileges granted by the Queen

[C] a contract with the Queen

[D] a unique relationship with the royal family

58.   The foremost reason why the BBC has to readjust itself is no other than ________.

[A] the emergence of commercial TV channels

[B] the enforcement of Broadcasting Act by the government

[C] the urgent necessity to reduce costs and jobs

[D] the challenge of new satellite channels

Text 3

In the last half of the nineteenth century “capital” and “labour” were enlarging and perfecting their rival organizations on modern lines. Many an old firm was replaced by a limited liability company with a bureaucracy of salaried managers. The change met the technical requirements of the new age by engaging a large professional element and prevented the decline in efficiency that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders. It was moreover a step away from individual initiative, towards collectivism and municipal and state-owned business. The railway companies, though still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders, were very unlike old family business. At the same time the great municipalities went into business to supply lighting, trams and other services to the taxpayers.

The growth of the limited liability company and municipal business had important consequences. Such large, impersonal manipulation of capital and industry greatly increased the numbers and importance of shareholders as a class, an element in national life representing irresponsible wealth detached from the land and the duties of the landowners; and almost equally detached from the responsible management of business. All through the nineteenth century, America, Africa, India, Australia and parts of Europe were being developed by British capital, and British shareholders were thus enriched by the world’s movement towards industrialization. Towns like Bournemouth and Eastbourne sprang up to house large “comfortable” classes who had retired on their incomes, and who had no relation to the rest of the community except that of drawing dividends and occasionally attending a shareholders’ meeting to dictate their orders to the management. On the other hand “shareholding” meant leisure and freedom which was used by many of the later Victorians for the highest purpose of a great civilization.

The “shareholders” as such had no knowledge of the lives, thoughts or needs of the workmen employed by the company in which he held shares, and his influence on the relations of capital and labour was not good. The paid manager acting for the company was in more direct relation with the men and their demands, but even he had seldom that familiar personal knowledge of the workmen which the employer had often had under the more patriarchal system of the old family business now passing away. Indeed the mere size of operations and the numbers of workmen involved rendered such personal relations impossible. Fortunately, however, the increasing power and organization of the trade unions, at least in all skilled trades, enabled the workmen to meet on equal terms the managers of the companies who employed them. The cruel discipline of the strike and lockout taught the two parties to respect each other’s strength and understand the value of fair negotiation.

59.   It’s true of the old family firms that ________.

[A] they were spoiled by the younger generations

[B] they failed for lack of individual initiative

[C] they lacked efficiency compared with modern companies

[D] they could supply adequate services to the taxpayers

60.   The growth of limited liability companies resulted in ________.

[A] the separation of capital from management

[B] the ownership of capital by managers

[C] the emergence of capital and labour as two classes

[D] the participation of shareholders in municipal business

61.   According to the passage, all of the following are true except that ________.

[A] the shareholders were unaware of the needs of the workers

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