六级冲刺练习：阅读（97）

　　Although alcohol sometimes causes rapid poisoning, frequently leads to long-term addiction, and always threatens self-control, our society encourages drinking. Many parents, by their example, give children the impression that alcohol is an essential ingredient of social gatherings. Peer pressure turns bachelor parties, fraternity initiations , and spring-semester beach vacations into competitions in getting trashed. In soap operas, charming characters pour Scotch whiskey from crystal bottle as readily as most people turn on the faucet for tap water. In films and rock videos, trend-setters party in nightclubs and bars. And who can recall a televised baseball or basketball game without a beer commercial? By the age of 21, the average American has been drinking on TV about 75, 000 times. Alcohol ads appear with pounding frequencyin magazines, on billboards, in college newspaperscontributing to a harmful myth about drinking.

　　Part of the myth is that liquor signals professional success. In a mens magazine, one full-page ad for Scotch whiskey shows two men seated in an elegant restaurant. Both are in their thirties, perfectly groomed, and wearing expensive grey suits. The windowsare draped with velvet the table with spotless white linen. Each place-setting consists of a long-stemmed water goblet, silver utensils and thick silver plates. On each plate is half-empty cocktail glass. The two men are grinning and shaking hands, as if theyve just concluded a business deal. The caption reads, The taste of success.

　　Contrary to what the liquor company would have us believe, drinking is more closely related to lack of success than to achievement. Among students, the heaviest drinkers have the lowest grades. In the work force, alcoholics are frequently late or absent, tend to perform poorly, and often get fired. Although, alcohol abuse occurs in all economic classes, it remains most severe among the poor.

　　Another part of the alcohol myth is that drinking makes you more attractive to the opposite sex. Hot, hot, hot, one commercials soundtrack begins, as the camera scans a crowd of college-age beachgoers. Next it follows the curve of a womans leg up to her bare hip and lingers there. She is young, beautiful, wearing a bikini. A young guy, carrying an ice chest , positions himself near to where she sits. He is tan, muscular. She doesnt show much interestuntil he opens the chest and takes out a beer. Now she smiles over at him. He raises his eyebrows and, invitingly, holds up another can. She joins him. This beer, the song concludes, attracts like no other.

　　Beer doesnt make anyone sexier. Like all alcohol, it lowers the levels of male hormones in men and of female hormones in womeneven when taken in small amounts. In substantial amounts, alcohol can cause infertility in women and impotence in men. Some alcoholic men develop enlarged breasts, from their increased female hormones.

　　The alcohol myth also creates the illusion that beer and athletics are a perfect combination. One billboard features three high-action images: a baseball player running at top speed, a surfer riding a wave, and a basketball player leaping to make a dunk shot. A particular light beer, the billboard promises, wont slow you down.