CNN Breeds Nation of News Junkies

If the end of the world ever comes, it seems (1) to assume that most of America will be glued to its television (2) and tuned to CNN as the final hour approaches. Largely thanks to CNN and its imitators, the United States is more than ever a nation of news junkies. Over the past decade and a half, the vast (3) for the traditional news (4) of CBS, ABC and NBC has slowly dwindled as (5) and listeners tune (6) to Get it first, get it fast, get it now! as onne all-news radio (7) puts it. In times of crisis or high (8) like the exploding space shuttle Challenger of the Gulf War, American automatically turns to CNN. In bars, airports, aircraft, hotel lobbies, corner shops, and anywhere else where people might pause and (9) the news pours out in a steady stream. The news is no longer a series of (10) to be explained and aanalysed nightly by a set of experts, but increasingly a form of vivid, instant (11) .The news is always changing, CNNs jingle says, so tune in two, three, four times a day. If you do not, it is implied you may (12) something, an important (13) in the endless soap opera that is real life. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) A. well A. controls A. crowd A. broadcasts A. spectators A. on A. channel A. theather A. watch A. actions A. pastimes A. lose A. series B.sure B. sets B. audience B. shows B.observers B. over B. station B. action B. see B. events B. leisure B.waste B. piece C. safe C. monitors C. people C. series C. viewers C. up C. wave C. drama C. see C. occasions C.enjoyment C.miss C. track D. strong D. boxes D. public D. performances D. witness D. in D. speaker D. plot D. hear D. signals D.entertainment D.leave D. episode

DISAPPEARING ALASKAN SEALS

On a winter afternoon, a dozen male Northern fur seals are on an island off south-western Alaska. To look at them, fighting for territory on the rocks, its hard to imagine that they are ai the (1) of a baffling scientific mystery: why is this species beginning to disappear? These seals which can weigh up to 270 kilograms have an important and symbolic (2) in Alaskas histiry. Their soft and luxurious fur, the coveted prize during the huge commercial sea harvests that were legal here in the Being sea through the early 20th century, was once so valuable it (3) Alaskas economy. Starting in the 1950s, for reasons that are (4) because the harvests by then tended to ba fairly small, the seal population began a slow decline. But lately it has

been falling drastically, declining at an alarming (5) of 6 per cent a year since 1998. From a (6) of more than 2 million in Alaska in 1948, their numbers have fallen to about 1.1 million. So (7) no one has been establish a precise cause for this, although theories (8) . The seals food supply may be (9), or another species may be (10) on the seals perhaps killer whales, which no longer have as many great whale to eat because of harvesting of those mammals. Some people have suggeste that the decline can be (11) to entanglement in fishing nets, but scientists say they doubt that this alone could (12) the recent population decline. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) A.middle A.location A.inspired A.unclear A.speed A.summit A.far A.flourish A.scarcer A.devouring A.attributed A.reason with B.inside B.situation B.motivated B.unsure B.pace B.top B.long B.mushroom B.tighter B.preying B.designated B.answer to C.centre C.spot C.drove C.unsettled C. rate C.crest C.on C.escalate C.slimmer C.hounding C.stipulated C.match up D.focus D.place D.set D.undecided D.scale D.high D.forth D.abound D.thinner D.ravaging D.consigned D.account for