Part Four: Monologue
Carl’s Note
Americans watch a lot of television. Many people, especially doctors and teachers, think they watch too much. There are at least seven to ten free channels in every city, and cable TV offers up to a hundred stations for around $40 dollars a month. Cable TV stations will often only show one thing: movies, news, sports, entertainment news, financial news, there are even stations that show nothing but cooking shows. If you get a satellite TV, you can get 300-500 TV stations. If you have time, you can watch every college and professional basketball game in the country. The effect on children of this much television is especially troubling. Teachers complain that students neglect their homework and do not read for pleasure anymore, and doctors note that children who watch too much TV are often not physically fit.
卡尔的话：
美国人经常收看电视。有很多人，尤其是医生和老师，认为自己收看了较多的电视节目。在每个城市，大概最少有7到10个免费的电视频道。有线电视则可以接收近100个电视台，费用为每个月40美元。有线电视每个台通常只播放某一种节目，如电影、新闻、体育、娱乐新闻、财经新闻，甚至还有一些电视台只播放烹饪节目。如果你安装了卫星电视，你便可以接收到300到500个电视台。只要你有时间，你可以收看国内每一所大学的篮球赛或是职业篮球赛。如此丰富的电视节目给孩子们也造成了不好的影响。老师们抱怨学生不能完成作业，也不会再为了乐趣而阅读。医生们也发现经常看电视的孩子身体状况不佳。

Part Five: Vocabulary
--television 电视，电视广播
--educational 教育的
--cable 缆；索；钢索
--satellite dish碟形卫星信号接受器
--news 新闻；消息；报导
--channel 频道，波段
--complain 抱怨，发牢骚，诉说
--neglect 忽视，忽略