No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers? Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week. You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well? At Time Warner, however, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul-searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. It’s a self-examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line.
At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took over for the late Steve Ross in 1992. On the financial front, Levin is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company’s mountainous debt, which will increase to $ 17.3 billion after two new cable deals close. He has promised to sell off some of the property and restructure the company, but investors are waiting impatiently.
The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. Levin has consistently defended the company’s rap music on the grounds of expression. In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice-T’s violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as lawful expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet. The test of any democratic society, he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column, lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be. We won’t retreat in the face of any threats.
Levin would not comment on the debate last week, but there were signs that the chairman was backing off his hard-line stand, at least to some extent. During the discussion of rock singing verses at last month’s stockholders’meeting. Levin asserted that music is not the cause of society’s ills and even cited his son, a teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with students. But he talked as well about the balanced struggle between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he announced that the company would launch a drive to develop standards for distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music.The 15-member Time Warner board is generally supportive of Levin and his corporate strategy. But insiders say several of them have shown their concerns in this matter. Some of us have known for many, many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not totally unlimited, says Luce. I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated with the company have only recently come to realize this.
63. Senator Robert Dole criticized Time Warner for ________.
（A）its raising of the corporate stock price
（B）its self-examination of soul
（C）its neglect of social responsibility
（D）its emphasis on creative freedom
64. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
（A）Luce is a spokesman of Time Warner.
（B）Gerald Levin is liable to compromise.
（C）Time Warner is united as one in the face of the debate.
（D）Steve Ross is no longer alive.
65. In face of the recent attacks on the company, the chairman ________.
（A）stuck to a strong stand to defend freedom of expression
（B）softened his tone and adopted some new policy
（C）changed his attitude and yielded to objection
（D）received more support from the 15-member board
66. The best title for this passage could be ________.
B 意为：它对灵魂的自我检验。第一段第三句指出，对时代沃纳公司来说，多尔所质疑的问题只不过是公司自创立以来一直进行的自我反省的最新表述，在公司发展的不同阶段，这一自我反省涉及（社会）责任、创作自由、公司利润（bottom line）。换言之，在公司的发展过程中，社会责任、创作自由、公司能否赚钱这三者之间的矛盾一直困扰着公司。根据公司董事长列文的话（见第三段），公司把创作自由放在了发展的首位。这造成了它对作品的社会影响的忽视，所以，后来列文改变态度以后，承认应该在创作自由和社会责任上寻找一个平衡点（见第四段）。可见，多尔参议员所指责的正是公司的所作所为带来的不良社会影响，这样他就击中了要害。
D 意为：它对创作自由的强调。见上文分析。
64.（D）回答这一问题主要涉及对第二段第一句中 late 的理解。
除其他意思外，该词有前，已故的等意思。一般来讲，该词加在人名或称呼前时译作已故的、如：the late Mr. Green 已故格林先生，her late husband 她的前夫（已故），若加在头衔前，则要据情况而译，如：the late president 前总统（也可能已故，也可能仅指刚刚卸职）。第二段第一句可译为：处于争议中心的是董事长杰拉德？列文，他在 1992年前董事长史蒂夫？罗斯去世后继任，今年 56 岁。
A 意为：路斯是时代沃纳公司的发言人。在最后一段第二句，路斯仅被称作 insider（内部人士，知情人士），他说：我们有些人多年来一直知道（宪法）第一修正案中所规定的自由并非是无限制的自由，我想可能公司的某些人最近才意识到这一点。他的话说明了公司领导内部对处理创作自由和社会影响这一对矛盾上的不同看法、也暗含着对公司一贯政策（过于强调创作自由）的批评。可见，他并非公司指派的发言人，而仅代表自己。
B 意为：列文倾向于妥协。根据第三段中列文所说的话，他是一个持强硬立场的人。他说：检验任何民主社会的标准不是看它如何严厉地控制（思想的）表达，而是看它是否给人以最大限度的思想和表达思想的自由。我们不会屈服于任何威胁。但是，在这次的争议中，虽然列文也在为公司发行的音乐作品争辩，但他也做出了某些程度的让步（参阅第四段第一句）。由此可见，列文并非是个易于妥协的人。