▲在网上查到了该题的原文（1996年考研英语阅读理解题）：
With the start of BBC World Service Television, millions of viewers in Asia and America can now watch the Corporation's news coverage, as well as listen to it.
And of course in Britain listeners and viewers can tune in to two BBC television channels, five BBC national radio services and dozens of local radio station. They are brought sport, comedy, drama, music, news and current affairs, education, religion, parliamentary coverage, children's programmes and films for an annual licence fee of ￡83 per household.
It is a remarkable record, stretching back over 70 years — yet the BBC's future is now in doubt. The Corporation will survive as a publicly-funded broadcasting organisation, at least for the time being, but its role, its size and its programmes are now the subject of a nation-wide debate in Britain.
The debate was launched by the Government, which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC — including ordinary listeners and viewers — to say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether they thought it was worth keeping. The reason for its inquiry is that the BBC's royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide whether to keep the organisation as it is, or to make changes.
Defenders of the Corporation — of whom there are many — are fond of quoting the American slogan. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The BBC "ain't broke", they say, by which they mean it is not broken (as distinct from the word "broke", meaning having no money), so why bother to change it?
Yet the BBC will have to change, because the broadcasting world around it is changing. The commercial TV channels — ITV and Channel 4 — were required by the Thatcher Government's Broadcasting Act to become more commercial, competing with each other for advertisers, and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite channels — funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers' subscriptions — which will bring about the biggest changes in the long term.
▲通读全文，短文讲的是英国政府发起了一场讨论——讨论BBC是否有必要继续以“公办”的身份继续办下去。大家知道，英国是君主立宪国家，国王代表国家。“讨论BBC是否有必要继续以公办的身份继续办下去”的另一层意思就是“讨论是否要与女王继续签约”：“继续签约”则表示继续公办，“不签约”则表示可能转为“私办”。
The reason for its inquiry is that the BBC's royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide whether to keep the organization as it is, or to make changes. 的大意是：这次调查的原因是，BBC持有的皇家许可证于1996年到期，它（指政府）必须作出决定，是继续其维持现状（指继续公办），还是要有所改变（比如私办）。
所以本题选 C 是对的。