Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, which is a nonprofit organization that conducts research on many public issues. He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.

Can American students afford to take a summer vacation? In a summer vacation, millions of kids spend valuable time sending messages, watching TV, playing video games and doing shopping in the mall. They will also be putting their academic futures at risk.

Summer vacation once made sense in the past when you didn’t need an education to get a good job. But now things have changed. For today’s students, academic skills are important to students’ future success, but such skills are affected in the summertime. Many nations don’t give kids an American-style summer vacation. They offer no more than seven consecutive(連續(xù)的) weeks of vacation. Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks. To compete in the global marketplace, Americans must be prepared to go up against international competitors.

Summer vacation also causes challenges for today’s families. In the 1960s, more than 60% of families had a stay-at-home Mom. Now two-thirds of American children live in households where every adult works. For these families, summer vacation can be more burden than break. Someone must watch the kids.

But the biggest problem may be how summer vacation hurts academic achievement. Researchers have found that disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime.

A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work. Rather, it should allow time-pressed teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons. Schools would have more time to devote to athletics, languages, music and the arts. Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.

Title: Summer Vacation

Theme

A long summer vacation isn’t 1. in today’s world.

Basic

Information

2. length

13 weeks in most American schools

Students’ 3.

·Sending messages and watching TV

·Playing video games

·Doing shopping

Disadvantages

·4. student’s academic skills and putting academic futures at risk.

·Being a 5. to families for they have to watch kids.

·Hurting students’ academic achievement and resulting in 76

significant ground.

Suggestion

A longer school year does not have to 6. to hard boring work. Richer and more imaginative lessons should be 7. , such as athletics, languages, music and the arts.

8.

Though being a ground thing, summer vacation might be out of

9. in the 21st century.

 

1.meaningful

2.Vacation

3.activities

4.Affecting

5.burden

6.losing

7.lead/contribute

8.conducted

9.Conclusion

10.date

【解析】

試題分析：任務(wù)型閱讀主要考查學(xué)生通過(guò)對(duì)文章大意的把握，從文中提取有效信息的能力。還考查學(xué)生對(duì)單詞或短語(yǔ)的加工、轉(zhuǎn)換能力。

1.He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.”可知，一個(gè)長(zhǎng)假在今天沒(méi)有什么意義，make sense有意義，空白處需要填形容詞，meaningful有意義的，故填meaningful。

2.Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks.”可知，大多數(shù)美國(guó)學(xué)校暑假放假13周，這里指的是假期的時(shí)長(zhǎng)，故填Vacation。

3.millions of kids spend valuable time sending messages, watching TV, playing video games and doing shopping in the mall”可知，孩子們?cè)谑罴倮镒霭l(fā)信息、看電視、玩游戲、購(gòu)物等活動(dòng)，故填activities。

4.but such skills are affected in the summertime”可知，漫漫長(zhǎng)假會(huì)影響到學(xué)生們學(xué)到的文化知識(shí)和技能，注意使用動(dòng)名詞形式，故填A(yù)ffecting。

5.summer vacation can be more burden”可知，暑假對(duì)家長(zhǎng)來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)負(fù)擔(dān)，故填burden。

6.disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime”可知，暑假讓本就處于弱勢(shì)的孩子變得更差，故填losing。

7.A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work.”可知，所填詞與“an invitation”有關(guān)，invite有“導(dǎo)致”的意思，延長(zhǎng)學(xué)年不會(huì)導(dǎo)致辛苦、無(wú)聊的學(xué)習(xí)和工作，lead to導(dǎo)致，contribute to促使，導(dǎo)致，故填lead/contribute。

8.teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons”可知答案，文中用的主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)，這里需要轉(zhuǎn)換為被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)，故填conducted。

9.Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.”是對(duì)文章的總結(jié)，conclusion結(jié)論，注意大寫(xiě)，故填Conclusion。

10.it may also be outdated”可知，假期在二十一世紀(jì)可能會(huì)變得過(guò)時(shí)，out of date過(guò)時(shí)，故填date。

考點(diǎn)：考查提取有效信息的能力

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