It's no secret that most busy American mothers use the TV set   [21]   （介词）a live-in babysitter. In some families the TV holds a child's attention for half   [22]   （冠词）hour or two while mom works on dinner; in others it is the child's constant daytime companion. Is there any harm in this?

　　Debate on the question is very hot, and periodically research is published   [23]   （show）that TV reduces attention space, makes children upset or causes them to be violent. In today's cartoon David Horsey makes   [24]   of （短语动词）the show-off of "children's TV". It is said  [25]   （从属连词） the special programing supposedly uses entertainment to help youngsters to learn to read and take their  [26]   （数词） steps in the big, diverse world outside their family. But what do children really get from this programming?

　　Horsey's suspicion is   [27]   （从属连词）children's programming chiefly turns kids into TV addicts(上了瘾的人), not into readers or happy mixers. The kids, still at their early age, are attracted by the figures on the screen. "Can you say TV?" The  [28]   （soon） the kid learns the word, the more effectively he can remind his mother to turn on the TV.

　　A child hooked on TV tends  [29]   （构成非谓语动词） fix his eyes on commercial advertisement, and there are plenty of those targeting children of all ages. Thus, at the very least, mom tries to search for a certain way to make the kids quiet and peaceful , hence changing a child    [30]   （介词） an American shopper all day long. Spending too much time on the tube will have an ill effect on the kids.