2010年5月北京地区成人本科学士学位英语统一考试真题

The multi-billion-dollar western pop music industry is under fire. It is being blamed by the United Nations for the dramatic rise in drug abuse worldwide. "The most worrying development is a culture of drug-friendliness," says the UN's International Narcotics Control Board in a report released last year.

The 74-page study says that pop music, as a global industry, is by far the most influential trend-setter for young people of most cultures. "Some songs encourage people to take drugs. (76) Certain pop stars make statements and set examples as if the use of drugs for non-medicinal purposes were a normal and acceptable part of a person's lifestyle," the study says.

Surprisingly, says the Board, the effect of drug-friendly pop music seems to survive despite the occasional shock of death by overdose(过量用药). "Such incidents tend to be seen as an occasion to mourn(哀悼) the loss of a role model, and not an opportunity to face the deadly effect of drug use," it notes. Since the 1970s, several internationally famous singers and movie stars—including Elvis Presley, Janice Joplin, John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, Jonathan Melvin and Andy Gibbs—have died of either drug abuse or drug related illnesses. With the globalization of popular music, messages promoting drug abuse are now reaching beyond their countries of origin. "In most countries, the names of certain POP stars have become familiar to the members of every household," the study says.

The UN study also blames the media for its description of certain drug incidents, which encourages rather than prevents drug abuse. "Over the past years, we have seen how drug abuse is increasingly regarded as being acceptable or even attractive," says Hamid Ghodse, president of the Board. "powerful pressure groups run political campaigns aimed at legalizing controlled drugs," he says. Ghodse also points out that all these developments have created an environment which is tolerant(容忍的) of or even favorable to drug abuse and spoils international drug prevention efforts currently under way.

The study focuses on demand reduction and prevention within an environment that has become tolerant of drug abuse. The Board calls on governments to do their legal and moral duties, and to act against the pro-drug(赞成吸毒) messages of the youth culture to which young people increasingly are being exposed.