VOA标准英语2011--Online Video Service Targets Infants

Online Video Service Targets Infants

These days it seems like American television and videos have us in their clutches from cradle to grave.
On the "grave" side, the Home Box Office cable-TV show "Six Feet Under," about a family-owned funeral home, ran for six years and still airs in reruns.
There's a current reality-TV program about a funeral-home family, too, not to mention a host of shows about forensic¹ experts' inspections² of dead bodies.
On the other end of life's spectrum³, there have been plenty of shows for kids ever since television debuted⁴ in the 1940s. Kids - five, six, 10 years old.
But the extreme has been reached with a new online service just for babies. "BabyFirst" is not about babies. It's for wee ones, six months, a year, two years old. Instead of just listening to Mom or Dad sing a lullaby or goo-gooing at a dangling⁵ fish above their cribs, infants can watch videos made just for them.
The shows, with titles such as "Elephant Dress-Up" and "Shapes with Peek-a-Boo," are commercial-free, though parents who are watching with their babies are invited to buy products at a store on the site.
According to its homepage, "Baby First's top child development experts have invented a way for babies and toddlers to use the computer themselves."
As the service's executives point out, babies are already watching TV. About two-thirds of American children under two watch something on the tube every day from their parents' laps or their playpens.
Some baby doctors have objected to the baby-video idea. Even the most imaginative shows are no substitute for human interaction, say the pediatricians. They worry that the channel can become a cheap baby-sitter, or that some parents may bombard their tiny tots with hour after hour of shows in an effort to make them smarter.
That's ironic⁶, because we're always hearing how dumb we're becoming, watching so much TV.

1 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

2 inspections   

n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅

参考例句：

• Regular inspections are carried out at the prison. 经常有人来视察这座监狱。
• Government inspections ensure a high degree of uniformity in the standard of service. 政府检查确保了在服务标准方面的高度一致。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

4 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

5 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

6 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。