Para. 1 

Q: How does television help people?

Television can offer people more knowledge of the outside world. There are many high-quality programs that help people understand some fields of study: science, medicine, the arts and so on. Secondly, television benefits elderly people who can't often leave the house, as well as patients in hospitals. What’s more, it also offers nonnative speakers the advantage of daily informal language practice and they can increase their vocabulary and practice listening.

high-quality: This is a compound word consisting of an adjective and a noun hyphenated in-between. This is one of the many compounding methods of word formation in English. Words like large-scale and high-class belong to the same type. They function as adjectives. Low-quality means the opposite.

fields of study: the subjects that people study. The word field here means subject. For example, He is well-known in the field of history.

the arts: 文科studies intended to provide general knowledge or  intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills).

nonnative speakers: people who were not born and raised in a certain place so that they cannot speak the language. Nonnative: of persons born in another area or country than that lived in. The prefix non- can be added to nouns or adjectives to mean the opposite of the original words. More examples are interference& non-interference, existent and nonexistent.

advantage& disadvantage: These are a pair of opposite words. The former means “the quality of having a superior or more favorable position”, while the latter means “the quality of having an inferior or less favorable position”. The prefix dis- is added to nouns, verbs or adjectives to show the opposite of the original words. More examples are agree & disagree, like & dislike, honest & dishonest, satisfied & dissatisfied.

informal: not formal. The prefix in- is added mostly to adjectives to mean the opposite. More examples are inaccurate, inconvenient, invisible.

 

Para. 2

Q: What is the disadvantage of television?

Although television provides us with a pleasant way to relax and spend our free time, there are some disadvantages of television. Many children stare at TV screen for a long time, which does harm to people’s physical health and study. This kind of influence is negative.

On the other hand: “On one hand… on the other hand” is used when you compare different or opposite facts or ideas. The Chinese translation of “on the other hand” sometimes leads students to misuse the phrase in the sense of “moreover”. Compare the following two sentences:

Wrong: We have worked hard. On the other hand, the teacher has also given us a lot of help.
Right: On one hand, we need freedom; on the other hand, we also need discipline.

boob tube: television set

stare: look at with fixed eyes 

 

Para.3 - Para.5

Q: What are the disadvantages of television according to Para.3 to Para.5?

One of the negative effects of television on the human brain is that it seems to cause poor concentration. Another disadvantage is that TV often causes people to become dissatisfied with their own lives. That makes children might begin to believe there is nothing strange about fights, killings, and other kinds of violence. And thus, there may be some irrevocable consequences.

a person’s brain “relaxes” the same way it does just after the person falls asleep: a person feels as relaxed as he is in sleep. asleep: In the passage, it is used as an adverb. The phrase fall asleep means “enters the state of sleep”. It is also an predictive adjective, which means it cannot be used as an attributive. Other predictive adjectives include aside, ashore, awake.

poor concentration: disability to pay attention to something for a relatively long time.

depressed: feeling very unhappy or low in spirits.

as many as eleven thousand murders: eleven thousand here is not used as an exact number, but just to show “a large number of”.

Violence & violent : behavior that is intended to hurt other people physically. violent is the adjective.

show: Here, the word is used as a noun meaning “program, performance or a public exhibition or entertainment”.

teenager: a juvenile usually between the age of 13 and 19.

property: 财产something owned; any tangible possession that is owned by someone.

 

Para. 6

Q: What are some signs of television addiction?

Turn on the TV immediately when coming home; Watch TV for more than ten hours a week; Have only fifteen to twenty minutes’ concentration; Feel closer to the actors on the screen than to real people; Feel lazy and sleepy when watching TV; Feel happy when watching the products in TV commercials; Feel dissatisfied with the real life because it is not exciting.

Addiction & addicted:上瘾/有瘾的 being abnormally dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming. It is followed by the preposition “to”.

dependence: In the passage, it is used as a synonym for addiction.