Viewing vs. Reading

　　The pace of reading, clearly, depends entirely upon the reader. He may read as slowly or as rapidly as he can or wishes to read. If he does not understand something, he may stop and reread it, or go in search of elucidation before continuing. The reader can accelerate his pace when the material is easy or less than interesting, and slow down when it is difficult or absorbing. If what he reads is moving, he can put down the book for a few moments and cope with his emotions without fear of losing anything①.

　　The pace of the television experience cannot be controlled by the viewer; only its beginning and end are within his control as he clicks the knob on and off. He cannot slow down a delightful program or speed up a dreary one. He cannot “turn back” if a word or phrase is not understood. The program moves inexorably forward, and what is lost or misunderstood remains so.

　　Nor can the television viewer readily transform the material he receives into a form that might suit his particular emotional needs, as he invariably does with material he reads. The images move too quickly. He cannot use his own imagination to invest the people and events portrayed on television with the personal meanings that would help him understand and resolve relationships and conflicts in his own life; he is under the power of the imagination of the show’s creators. In the television experience the eyes and ears are overwhelmed with the immediacy of sights and sounds.

　　If someone enters the room while one is watching television — a friend, a relative, a child, someone, perhaps, one has not seen for some time — one must continue to watch or one will lose the thread②. The greetings must wait, for the television program will not. A book, of course, can be set aside, with a little regret, perhaps, but with no sense of permanent loss.

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　　行文点评

　　本文结构属于comparison and contrast,把两类事物进行对照比较。comparison and contrast不要求作者有鲜明的立场，即支持哪一方，或反对哪一方，只要清楚明白地说出两者之间的异同就可以了，这是它与议论文(argument)不同的一点。

　　纵观全文，可以明显看出，作者偏向于阅读，所以在对比过程中作者肯定了阅读的优点。在第一段中clearly的插入，使句式新颖。文章的前两段从速度方面将viewing与reading两者进行了对比。句首The pace of...排比句的应用形成了段落间的并列，使文章结构严谨。这两段都是首句提出主题，然后围绕这句话再展开具体的论述。第三段作者旨在说明看电视限制了人们的想象空间。在第四段中作者通过生活中一个非常普遍的例子论证了前文谈到的观点，其中插入语的运用增加了文章句式的变化。