大学英语精读-1 Unit Four: Turning off TV：A Quidt Hour -1

Many people in the United States spend most of their free time watching television.

Certainly, there are many worthwhile programs on television, including news, educational programs for children, programs on current social problems, plays, movies, concerts, and so on.

Nevertheless, perhaps people should not be spending so much of their time in front of the TV.

Mr Mayer imagines what we might do if we were forced to find other activities.

Turning off TV: a Quiet Hour

I would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening, right after the early evening news, all television broadcasting in the United States be prohibited by law.

Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results be if such a proposal were accepted.

Families might use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another.

It is well known that many of our problems -- everything, in fact, from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness -- are caused at least in part by failure to communicate.

We do not tell each other what is disturbing us.

The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another.

By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems, we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.

On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes.

Freed from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset.

Or they might take a walk together (remember feet?) and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes.