While the mission of public schools has expanded beyond education to include social support and extra-curricular activities. the academic schedule has changed little in more than a century.

　　Reclaiming the school day for academic instruction and escaping the timebound traditions of education are vital steps in the school-reform process, says a report released today by the National Education Commission on Time and Leaming.

　　The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock and calendar in American education a “fundamental design flaw" in desperate need of change. "Time should serve children instead of children serving time." the report says.

　　The two-year commission found that holding American students to "worldclass standards." will require more time for classroom instruction. "We have been asking the impossible of our students-that they leam as muchas their foreign peers while spending half as much as in core academic subjects." it states.

　　The Commission compared the relationships between time and leaming in Japan. Germany, and the United States and found that American students receive less than half the basic academic instruction that Japanese andGerman students are provided. On average. American students can earn a high school diploma if they spend only 41 percent of their school time on academics, says the report.

　　American students spend an average of three hours a day on "core" academics such as English math, science,and history. the commission found. Their report recommends offering a minimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day.

　　The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day beyond the traditional six hours.

　　"If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the academic core, as well as serving as a hub for family and community services, they should keep school doors open longer each day and each year." says John Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of the commission.

　　The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven states allow school years of 175 days or less, and only one state requires more than 180 day.

　　"For over a decade. education reform advocates have been working Feverishly to improve our schools,” says Milton Goldberg. executive director of the commission. "But... if reform is to truly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school year should be relegated (归属于) to museums-an exhibit from our education past."

　　1. Compared with the academic courses more than a hundred years ago, the academic courses now___________.

　　A) include some extra-curricular activities

　　B) focus more on education of social support

　　C) demand students' more contribution of time

　　D) remain more or less what they used to be

　　2. The researches by the commission mentioned in the passage are most concerned about

　　A) the time attributed to academic leaming

　　B) the components of school education

　　C) the changes in education in the recent century

　　D) the fashion of education management

　　3. As it is mentioned in che passage. schools in the United States do the following except________.

　　A) provide important outside-academic activities

　　B) serve social units such as family and community

　　C) arrange six-hour teaching and leaming every day

　　D) have competition with schools of other countries

　　4. American students differ from those in Japan. Germany in that_____________.

　　A)they stay at school for a shorter time every day

　　B) they do not leam as much as their counterparts abroad

　　C) they devote less time to academic learning

　　D) they earn a high school diploma more easily

　　5. Executive director of the commission Milton Goldberg would most probably agree that_______.

　　A) what the education reform advocates have done is not good enough

　　B) they time of school day and school year should be extended

　　C) visiting museums can improve students' academic learning ability

　　D) social support and extra-curricular activities should be cancelled

　　答案：

　　1.相较干100多年前的学科课程。现在的学科课程_______________。

　　A) 包括了一些课外活动

　　B) 更加关注于社会支持教育

　　C) 要求学生花更多的时间

　　D)跟以往没有什么差别

　　[D]首段主句中changed little与选项D为近义替换，因此选项D为本题答案。进项A中的extra-curricular activities和选项B中的social support都在第1段提到过,但是它们和该段提到的academic schedule是并列于整个教育系统之下的三个平行的成分，答案与A、B无关。选项C“要求学生花更多时间”不是academic courses对学生的要求，而是文中调查组的看法。

　　2.文章中提到的委员会所作的研究最关注_______________。

　　A) 学科学习上所花的时间

　　B) 学校教育的组成部分

　　C) 本世纪里教育所发生的变化

　　D)教育管理的方式

　　[A]从第2段到最后一段，都是讨论调查组的研究结果。而且通篇都在对时间进行讨论，故选A。本文首段只是引出话题，而文章的主体——调查组的研究——从第2段才开始阐述，选项B“学校教育的组成部分”和选项C“最近这个世纪教育的变化”与文章首段有关，因此都不是正确答案。进项D在文中没有提及。

　　3.文章中提到，美国的学校做很多事情，除了以下哪一项?

　　A) 提供重要的课外活动。

　　B) 像家庭和社区一样是社会单元。

　　C) 每天都组织6个小时的教学活动。

　　D)与其他国家的学校进行竞争。

　　[D]由第8段可知，学校教育包括了学术教育、课外话动和社区服务，只有选项D没有被包括在内。文中并没有提到美国在教育上主张和别国竞争。

　　4.美国学生与日本、德国学生不一样，______________。

　　A) 他们每天在校时间更短

　　B)他们没有国外的同龄入学得那么多

　　C) 他们花在学科学习上的时间更少

　　D)他们更容易获得高中文凭

　　[C]第5段第1句提到了美日德学生在时间安排与学习关系上的对比。选项D最具干扰性，第5段末句提到美国学生只要把在校时间的41%用于学术科目就可以得到中学毕业证了。但是，时间用得少并不意味着毕业容易，而且此细节与美日德学生之间的比较无关，因此，选项D犯了过度概括的错误。选项A不正确是因为文中并没有提到美日德学生在这一方面的比较。选项B与第4段末句提到的事实相反。

　　5.委员会的执行总裁Milton Goldberg最可能同意以下哪种说法?

　　A) 教育改革倡导者所作的事情还不够好。

　　B) 学校每天上课时间和学年时间都应该延长。

　　C) 参观博物馆可以提高学生的学科学习能力。

　　D) 社会支持和课外活动应该取消。

　　[B]文章末段表明Milton Goldberg认为将来教育时间应比现在更长，因此选项B为本题答案。选项A与末段首句提到的事实不符：选顶C中提到的museums虽在该段末句也有提到，但整个选项的陈述只是出题人抓住museums一词的发挥，因此当然也不对了;选项D与Milton Goldberg无关。