Ex. 4. Read the text and decide which answer (A, B, C or D) best completes each collocation or fixed phrase.

A

After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only too obvious to conclude that it is (1) D to stay. There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and on a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the screen bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements contain subliminal (2) …, persuading us to buy more or vote Republican? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so many programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to (3) … the hours they had spent (4) … to the tiny screen? Or did it simply create a vast passive audience, drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation comedies? On the other hand, did it increase anxiety by (5) … the news and (6) … our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest?

1) A around B there C ready D here

2) A information B messages C data D communications

3) A counteract B negate C offset D compensate

4) A attached B fixed C glued D adhered

5) A scandalizing B hyping C dramatizing D sensationalizing

6) A filling B loading C stuffing D packing

B

With the advent of so-called “Reality TV”, which puts the emphasis on ordinary people doing ordinary things on TV, the BBC has been much criticized for (1) C down its schedules. But it worries me that the biggest victims of this never-ending diet of violent cartoons, immoral dramas and banal docu-soaps is the nation’s children. The sheer quantity of TV watched by the under 16 is truly alarming, with the national (2) … for Britain placed at three and a half hours per day. The programmes that are rubbish easily (3) … the programmes that are decent and watchable. There will no doubt be howls of (4) … out there from people who believe that TV is educational. Fast-moving visual images (5) … no useful educational purpose and will be forgotten by the next day. A young family near me has recently taken a (6) … against TV and given their set away. Their children now do something truly educational. They read books.

1. A dimming B dumping C dumbing D duncing

2. A medium B norm C average D par

3. A outdistance B outdo C outreach D outnumber

4. A protest B complaint C objection D disapproval

5. A fill B serve C make D form

6. A position B place C stand D stage