第三篇 Political Spins

LAST week, US White House spokesman Tony Snow sent journalists digging for their dictionaries. He called recent criticism by the former President Bill Clinton "chutzpah"（大胆放肆）. With just one sentence, Snow managed to make headlines, a joke and a defense of President George W. Bush. Interestingly, this is how battles are fought and won in US politics - with carefully-worded one-liners (一行字幕新闻) made for TV which often lack substance and clarity(清晰度).

"The amount of information that candidates attempted to communicate to people is actually getting smaller and smaller" said Mark Smith, a political science professor at Cedarville University. This has been accompanied by a changing media environment, Smith said. In 1968, the average TV or radio soundbite(演讲中的句子或短语) was 48 seconds. Thus, politicians wanting publicity try to make their public communication as quotable as possible.

Campaigning politicians also use 30-second TV ads and clever campaignslogans(口号) to boost their messages. Republican presidential candidate John McCain rides to campaign stops in a bus named the "Straight-Talk Express". McCain hopes the name will convince voters he plans to tell people the truth - whether it's in fashion or not. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has chosen the campaignslogan "Let the conversation begin". She hopes it will help her appear open-minded and friendly.

But one-liners, TV ads and campaignslogans all have a single key ingredient: something commonly called political "spin". Brookes Jackson, a former journalist and the current director of the non-partisan(无党派的) website FactCheck.org, calls spin "just a polite word for deception(欺骗)."

"I do believe that very often politicians believe their own spin," said Jackson.

"Strong partisans suffer from a universal human tendency: They ignore the evidence that would force them into the uncomfortable position of having to change their minds and admit that they were wrong."

41. Which statement is NOT true of one-liners?

A. They contain a lot of information.

B. They are unclear.

C. They lack substance.

D. They are carefully constructed.

42. What changed from 1968 to 1996?

A. Publicity

B. Information

C. The average soundbite

D. Communication

43. The campaignslogan "Straight-Talk Express" aims at convincing voter that the presidential candidate is

A. friendly

B. honest

C. open-minded

D. warm-hearted

44. According to Brooks Jackson, all campaignslogans are

A. attractive

B. impressive

C. informative

D. deceptive

45. Which statement best describes strong partisans?

A. They are very funny.

B. They are very healthy.

C. They are very stubborn (顽固的).

D. They are very aggressive.
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