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.
In 1750 BC, the Code of Hammurabi made it a crime punishable by death to sell any thing to a child without first obtaining a power of attorney. In 2001, selling products to children has become business as usual. The average American child may view as many as 40,000 commercials annually. And commercials clearly have an effect on children and adults: otherwise, businesses would not have paid the networks $ 7.3 billion this year for advertising time.
Many critics now feel that commercial American television programming exists for the sole purpose of delivering a certain demographic audience to a specific group of advertisers. In other words, the programs exist for the sake of the commercials, not the other way around. Beginning in the 1960s, advertisers began to target children specifically with advertisements, reaping great financial rewards in return. By 1998, the advertising industry was spending $2 billion on advertisements targeting children, a 20-fold increase from 1990. Advertisers recognize that children and teenagers not only influence their parents' spending habits, but also have their own money to spend.
But many are starting to question whether or not it is wrong for young children to be targeted by advertisers. Young children are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against television advertising. Numerous studies have documented that young children under the age of'6 to 8 years are unable to understand the intent of advertisements and, in fact, frequently accept advertising claims as being largely true.
Advertising may also contribute to the development of skepticism among children and adolescents as they compare what they see advertised with the real item. In the late 1980s, Consumer Reports made three superb videotapes in their "Buy Me That" series, which documented how deceptive many ads for children's toys can be. For example, the disclaimers are spoken rapidly or shown in small print and are not understood by small children.
Children represent a captive audience to broadcasters and advertisers. They learn from what they view on television, in movies, in video games, and in music videos. It is now time for parents, educators, and the government to acknowledge this crucial fact and move on and to protect young people from unhealthy media influences such as overexposure to television advertising.
According to the text, selling products to children in today's society is.

A. a common activity
B. illegal
C. looked down upon
D. punishable by death