考研英语阅读精选：暴力影片有“益处”

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  考研英语阅读精选：暴力影片有“益处”

  『放映暴力影片时，暴力犯罪也减少了，由此得到的启发有助于我们执行更精明的理财决策。』
  Profitable Nonviolence
  June 23th 2011 | from Time
  

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  With the summer movie season upon us, we thought it timely to comment on an enduring question, one that might not seem to have a direct connection to money decisions but in actuality very much does. In any event , here’s the question we want to address: Does exposure to film violence make viewers more violent themselves?
  There are all sorts of reasons — imitation and displaced arousal chief among them — to suspect that it might, and there are numerous studies using laboratory methods that support the idea. But what happens beyond the lab, when a particularly violent film reaches blockbuster status? Is there a spike in violent crime on its opening weekend? Economists Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna looked at the data and came to a startling conclusion: Violent crime goes down when popular, very violent commercial films are released . The authors estimate that the effect boils down to roughly 1,000 fewer assaults per weekend, or about 52,000 fewer per year if a violent film were released every week. Given the public’s appetite for violent films, that’s not so crazy. Their estimate is that this adds up to nearly $700 million less in victimization (i.e., medical and quality-of-life ) costs.
  What’s going on? Part of it is simple: incapacity. When violent people are in theaters, they aren’t out making trouble. And violent people really like violent films, which explains the drop in crime during the hours of 6 p.m. to midnight. That’s when movies are showing. But Dahl and DellaVigna observe an even larger drop later on, from midnight to 6 p.m. They present evidence to support the idea that film attendance, largely by keeping people from drinking alcohol for two hours or so, is just enough to send many folks who are inclined to violence down a calmer path. With no film to see, those prone to violence begin the evening by drinking, which fuels or enables their criminal tendencies and results in assaults and other mayhem . But when the evening starts instead with a “dry” couple of hours, the result is often more peaceful pursuits even after the film is over.
  We bring all this up to foreshadow the fact that we’ll probably talk a lot in future posts about how surprisingly modest changes in policy or in a person’s immediate environment can “cascade ” like this and add up to rather dramatic results downstream. This insight can make everything from dieting to saving to green-living easier, because rather than trying to motivate people to act in a specific way, we recognize that the issue is sometimes not one of motivation ，but rather a phenomenon referred to as “channel factors .” The idea, at its core, is that individuals and groups are often kept from reaching goals not because they don’t really want to achieve them but rather because seemingly small or otherwise insignificant obstacles get in the way. Remove those obstacles and a desired result is often easily attained.
  If you’re having trouble staying out of debt or otherwise cutting spending, the wise choice may simply be to throw away credit cards or, at the very least, leave them at home when you go shopping. (Or even give them to a friend who’s with you and authorized to ask “Are you sure?” before handing them over. You’d be shocked at the power of such delaying tactics.) It’s astounding how little willpower you need to keep from spending money you can’t get your hands on. (579words)
　in any event：无论如何
　exposure(to sth) ：面临；遭受（危险或不快）
　arousal /E5raUzl/ n. 激励；觉醒
　blockbuster /5blCkbQstE(r)/ n. 一鸣惊人的事物；（尤指）非常成功的书（或电影）
　spike /spaIk/ n. 猛增；急升
　release /rI5li:s/ v. 公布；发布
　boil down to sth：归结为；结果是。如：In the end, what it all boils down to is money, or the lack of it. （问题的症结是钱，或者说是缺钱。)
　assault /E5sR:lt/ n. 攻击；袭击
　given /5gIvn/ prep. 考虑到（某事物）。 如： Given the government’s record on unemployment, their chances of winning the election look poor.（鉴于政府在解决失业问题上成绩不佳, 他们在选举中获胜机会似乎不大。）
　victimization /9vIktImaI5zeIFn/ n. 牺牲；欺骗
　quality-of-life：生活质量
　prone to sth/to do sth：易于遭受；有做（坏事）的倾向
　mayhem /5meIhem/ n. 伤人致残罪；严重伤害罪
　bring sth up：提出（讨论等）。如：Bring it up at the meeting.（请将此事在会议上提出。）
　foreshadow /fR:5FdEU/ v. 预示
　immediate /I5mi:dIEt/ adj. 目前的；当前的
　cascade /kA5skeId/ v. 如瀑布落下
　add up to sth：结果是；表示
　insight /5InsaIt/ n. 洞悉；了解
　refer to sb/sth (as sth)：提到；谈及；说起。如：She always referred to Ben as‘that nice man’.（她总是称本为“那个大好人”。）
　channel factors：渠道因素
　willpower /9wIl5paUE(r)/ n. 毅力；意志力