世新大學九十學年度碩士班招生考試

系所別	考試科目
傳播研究所碩士班	英文

*考生請於試卷（答案卷）內作答

None of us can deny that television is ubiquitous. It is in our homes and available at all times. Children and adolescents today are even found to spend more time watching television than on many other activities. Because of its pervasive presence, television is more likely than other media to be the subject of critical scrutiny. In the preface of their book Television Criticism: Approaches and Applications, Vande Berg and Wenner(1991) described how television has been evaluated by the public.

“Perhaps more than any other technological device, television has been blamed for the ills of our society. It’s been called a variety of names. Bubblegum for the eyes. Electronic wallpaper. The boob tube. It’s been widely blamed for ruining our children’s minds and abilities to read, pushing people to violence, reinforcing stereotypes, serving as a shrine to rampant commercialism, and making it likely that we vote for political candidates more on the basis of their image than on their likely effectiveness in accomplishing goals we believe are important.’

In response to this paragraph, please write a short essay to answer the following questions. First, should television be responsible for the problems of our society? If yes, why? If not, give some reasons to defend television? Second, should the government restrict violence and sex on television? Why/why not? Third, do you think that television watching can be addictive? Is television addiction per se a problem?