Unit Five Text II: The Plug-in Drug: TV and the American F

amily, Part II                   Marie Winn

I)     Pre-reading Brainstorming: 1)      How can television influence family ritu

als in our society? 2)      In what way can television bring about

changes in the relationships of the family members?

II)              Main Idea of the passage: The second part of the selected passage discuss about the way television influences family rituals and the relationships of the family members  in our society.

III)           Structure of the passage: 1. (Para. 1-7):  Television can influence fami

ly rituals in our society; 2. (Para. 8-20): Television may bring about c

hanges in the relationships of the                family members in many ways.

IV) Comprehension Questions: A. Questions in S.B. P. 69: 1. What are family rituals as defined and exp

lained by Winn? Why are they important for a family?

--- Refer to paras. 1 and 2. Family rituals are simply the regular happeni

ngs in the life of a family, or the regular practices characteristic of a family.

They are important because they give all the family members a sense of belonging and oneness, and contribute to their unity.

2. In what way does Winn think television hampers the development of childre’s ability to communicate?

--- Refer to paras. 6 -13.

TV reduces a child's opportunity to engage in face-to-face linguistic communication.

Sitting in front of the idiot box, the child plays the role of a passive receiver in his one-way communication with it. No verbal response is called for.

In child-TV communication, the role of paralinguistic devices is diminished.

3. Why does Winn say that television diminishes the opportunities for a  parent to demonstrate love to his / her children?

--- Refer to paras. 17 -19. TV decreases opportunities for simple conve

rsation between parents and children. Even parents seem to have become verbally less competent in dealing with their children.

B. Questions in W.B.P. 51: 1.    Why does the author say that family ritu

als act as the adhesive of family unity far more than any material advantages?

--- Family rituals form the part of family life that family members are proud of and indicate their common interest. Family rituals are the adhesive that holds the members of a family together, so much so that nothing, not even material comforts, can separate them.

2. What does the author mean by “the inroads of the television set”? Why does she ask ho many family rituals have survived the inroads of the television set?

--- The word inroads means "unfriendly entry" or "invasion." The TV set is said to be inroads, because its presence in our family life prevents us from performing family   rituals, so its entry into our life is really hostile. The question the author asks is ironical. What she really means is that none of the rituals exists any more because of the presence of the TV set.

 

3. What does the author mean by “Not since prehistoric times…have families been reduced to such a sameness”?

--- Families today are the same everywhere - spending their time together engaged in the single activity of television watching. They are just like families in prehistoric times, with hardly any time spent on anything else except hunting, gathering, eating and sleeping.

4. What is it that affects the young child’ relationship with real-life people?

--- The one-way relation with the TV people makes it difficult for the young child to deal with people in real life. When the young child watches TV, the people on the program do speak to the child, but no response is expected, so there is no communication or interaction. This way the young child is only spoken to, but he does not know how to speak to others.

5. Why can’t children respond to people in real life?

--- Because real life experiences are much more complicated than what they see on the TV screen.

 6. What other harm does television do to family relationships?

--- 1) The elimination of opportunities to talk, to argue, to air grievances between parents and children, and among brothers and sisters.

2) An avoidance mechanism in confronting family problems and in dealing with each other in the family.

3) Interference with family activities and with the formation of family relationships.

V)               Language Points in Text II (P. 69, S.B.):

1.      an index of the common interest --- an indication of the common interest

2.      a feeling of belonging to a home --- a feeling that one is a necessary member of a family, that one is attached and bound to the family by birth or by marriage

3.      inroad --- unfriendly entry; hostile incursion 4.      swoop-down --- coming together 5.      Monopoly --- the world’s most famous board

game for two eight players 

Clue --- name of a game 6.      He looks another squarely in the eye --- H

e faces another person boldly look v.t. --- to give a look to, e.g. look a man in the

eye / face, (directly or boldly or at close quarters) 7.      purport to speak directly to the child --- se

em to have intention to speak directly to the child purport (formal) --- claim (to be), have an intende

d appearance (of being) e.g. That medicine purposes to be a cure-all, but is there anything that can really cure all illnesses?

8.      and the camera fosters this illusion --- people speaking to the child on TV do not really mean what they say, it is only an illusion, i.e. , a deceptive appearance.

9.      Mr. Rogers --- a high-quality TV programme produced by the non-profit Children’s TV Workshop

10.  Bruno Bettelheim --- U.S. psychologist and educator 11.  I have trouble mobilizing myself --- I find it difficult to

get myself organized. 12.  to air grievances --- to make complaints; to let people

know one’s distress 13.  … will only fester and become less easily resolvabl

e --- will only become worse and more difficult to solve. Literally, fester means “cause to fill with poisonous matter

or pus脓 ,” figuratively, the words means “cause to become embittered.” e.g.

Keep the bruise 伤口 clean or it will fester./ His angry words festered in her mind.

14.  an avoidance mechanism --- a way / means to avoid contact with one’s family members

15.  They wouldn’t be anesthetized --- the wouldn’t be made insensible / unfeeling towards the weal and woe of their family members

16.  at any length --- for some length of time / in some detail 

at length --- for a long time e.g.  At the conference, the participants discussed the teaching

reform at some length. 17.  The occasion seemed  no more real to me than Ma

alot or 54th Street, south-central Los Angeles --- the experience seemed to me as unreal as Maalot or 54th Street, south-central Los Angeles, which are very far away from New York.

18.  respondent --- a person who responds to a poll  

VI) Post reading Activities: Do you agree with Winn with regard to th

e negative effects of television on the family and human relationships? Why / Why not?