Commercial Vices
The commercial vices are drugs. The appeals of the commercial vices are so strong and widespread that attempts to prohibit them in western countries have always failed. The evils of these vices are threefold: Those who practice them suffer, the criminals who sell them prosper, and the enforcement organizations are expensive, unsuccessful, and often corrupt.
Drugs is one of the three commercial vices — gambling and prostitution — accepted as unstoppable, but there evils have been minimized by legalization and regulation.
The United States attempted to prohibit alcohol and failed. The Mafia made its money by bootlegging alcohol. The gangsters of the twenties and thirties were in the alcohol business just as the drug peddlers of today are in the drug business. When alcohol prohibition was repealed and sale by licensed dealers was instituted, the Mafia went out of the liquor business and the revenue agents assigned to stop the illegal business went out of business too. The quality of regulated liquor became assured and taxed, revenue not high enough to motivate bootlegging. It became a source of public revenue.
In conclusion, the government should take any law they can't enforce and turn it around in order to make and save money. But they are also making fewer jobs for the police and other law enforcement agencies. I believe that in the end this way of doing things will be more likely feasible.
The Mafia went out of the liquor business,
A. because the quality of regulated liquor became assured and taxed.
B. because the bootlegging became a source of public revenue.
C. because they settled trade disputes with gunfire but without profit.
D. because there was no more revenue worth risking their lives.
W: Don't worry.I'll try to bring you up-to-date what we've done.
Q: What is the woman probably going to do?
(15)
A. She will help the man with his study.
B. She will drive to pick him up to his home.
C. She will pass the examination soon.
D. She will find the latest information for him.
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Video games have become increasingly popular in both arcades and the average American home. People of all ages and from all walks of life are enjoying hours of entertainment by feeding their time and quarters into these flashing, beeping machines. Many skeptics as well as prospective arcade owners have asked what it is that gives Pac Man, Centipede, and a multitude of other popular games their magnetic appeal to millions of players. As a video player myself, I believe there are many answers to that question but three are outstanding.
Before a full-scale attack is launched against young video players for "throwing away" their quarters, one should first consider the rising costs of more traditional forms of entertainment. For instance, eighteen holes of miniature golf or ten frames of bowling will cost the player at least two dollars, and one movie costs four bucks. For just two dollars, a video player can get at least eight games, and the better he gets, the longer he can play. Compare that record with the game of miniature golf, where the better one becomes, the shorter amount of time he gets to play.
Not only are the games less expensive than other forms of entertainment, hut they are also more in tune with the important issues of the day. Even those people who have never been interested in science are beginning to appreciate how much science influences our lives today. Video games, which are the products of advanced technology and uncontrolled imagination, have brought today's youth closer than ever to the exciting world of science by games. In fact, there are even cartridges which teach garners how to program computers. It is exciting to be involved with the most up-to-date ideas of the day, and video games help provide people with the opportunity to be involved.
Besides the fact that they help people to get involved in technology, video games also pro vide an outlet for the emotions and the ego. If a man gets frustrated with his boss, for example, he can go to the arcade after work to destroy enemy cruisers rather than drown his anxieties in liquor. Also, for those who feel they are not capable of excelling at anything, the games provide am. challenges which are easily mastered with patience and practice. It gives a person a good feeling to know that he has broken his own record or that of someone else.
It can be inferred that Pac Man and Centipede are ______.
A. traditional video games
B. home video games
C. popular game machines
D. prevalent video games