When do these socially acceptable and apparently constructive uses of a substance become misuses?
First of all, most substances taken in excess will produce negative effects such as poisoning or intense perceptual distortions.
Repeated use of a substance can also lead to physical addiction or substance dependence.
Dependence is marked first by an increased tolerance, with more and more of the substance required to produce the desired effect, and then by the appearance of unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the substance is discontinued. [3] Drugs (substances) that affect the central nervous system and alter perception,
mood, and behavior are known as psychoactive substances.
Psychoactive substances are commonly grouped according to whether they are stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogens.
Stimulants initially speed up or activate the central nervous system, whereas depressants slow it down.
Hallucinogens have their primary effect on perception, distorting and altering it in a variety of ways including producing hallucinations.
These are the substances often called psychedelic (from the Greek word meaning “mind-manifesting”) because they seemed to radically alter one’s state of consciousness.
59. “Substance abuse” (Line 5, Paragraph 1) is preferable to “drug abuse” in that ________.
[A] substances can alter our bodily or mental functioning if illegally used [B] “drug abuse” is only related to a limited number of drug takers
[C] alcohol and tobacco are as fatal as heroin and cocaine
[D] many substances other than heroin or cocaine can also be poisonous
60. The word “pervasive” (Line 1, Paragraph 2) might mean ________.
[A] widespread
[B] overwhelming
[C] piercing
[D] fashionable
61. Physical dependence on certain substances results from ________. [A] uncontrolled consumption of them over long periods of time [B] exclusive use of them for social purposes [C] quantitative application of them to the treatment of diseases
[D] careless employment of them for unpleasant symptoms 62. From the last paragraph we can infer that ________. [A] stimulants function positively on the mind [B] hallucinogens are in themselves harmful to health
[C] depressants are the worst type of psychoactive substances
[D] the three types of psychoactive substances are commonly used in groups
Text 4
[1] No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation.
“Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?” Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week.
“You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?”
At Time Warner, however, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul-searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990.
It’s a self-examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line. [2] At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took over for the
late Steve Ross in 1992.
On the financial front, Levin is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company’s mountainous debt, which will increase to $17.3 billion after two new cable deals close.
He has promised to sell off some of the property and restructure the company, but investors are waiting impatiently.
[3] The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him.
Levin has consistently defended the company’s rap music on the grounds of expression.
In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice-T’s violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as a lawful expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet.
“The test of any democratic society,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal column, “lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be.
We won’t retreat in the face of any threats.”
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