英语六级阅读理解附详解:教育改革
The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock and calendar inAmerican education a “fundamental design flaw" in desperate need of change. "Time shouldserve children instead of children serving time." the report says.
The two-year commission found that holding American students to "worldclass standards." willrequire more time for classroom instruction. "We have been asking the impossible of ourstudents-that they leam as muchas their foreign peers while spending half as much as in coreacademic subjects." it states.
The Commission compared the relationships between time and leaming in Japan. Germany, andthe United States and found that American students receive less than half the basic academicinstruction that Japanese andGerman students are provided. On average. American studentscan 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 Englishmath, science,and history. the commission found. Their report recommends offering aminimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day.
The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day beyond thetraditional six hours.
"If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the academic core, as well asserving as a hub for family and community services, they should keep school doors openlonger each day and each year." says John Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools inMurfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of the commission.
The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven states allow school yearsof 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 ourschools,” says Milton Goldberg. executive director of the commission. "But... if reform is totruly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school year should be relegated (归属于) to museums-anexhibit from our education past."
[1]虽然公立学校的任务除了教育外。还扩大到包含了社会活动和课外活动的内容，但是，在过去的一个多世纪里面，学术上的安排却改变不多。
专门研究时问和学习关系的国家教育调查组今天发表了一个报告，里面提到，在学校改革的过程中，至关重要的是：学校的时间应重新用于学术教育上，摒弃一些受时间限制的教育传统。
调查组的报告名为《时间的囚徒》，它把美国教育中一成不变的时间和日历称为“设计上的根本缺陷”，亟待修改。这个报告还指出：“应该让学生支配时间，而不该让时间支配学生。”
这个持续两年的调查发现：要让美国的学生保持“世界水准”，就要有更多时间用于课堂教学。报告中说：“对于我们的学生，我们一直以来都在勉为其难——他们要学的和国外的同龄人一样多，但是，他们花在核心学术科目上的时间只及国外学生的一半。”
[4]调查组对比了日本、德国，美国三国学生的时间和学习之间的关系，发现美国学生得到的基础学术教育不及日本和德国学生的一半。报告表明，平均来说，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。
调查组发现，美国学生平均每天花在核心学术课程(如英语、数学、科学、及历史等)的时间为3小时。报告认为，学校每天应该提供至少5.5小时的学术课程学习时间。
这个由9名成员组成的调查组还认为，传统上每天6小时的在校时间应该加长。
[3]调查组主席兼田纳西州Murfreesboro地方教育官员的John Hodge Jones说：“学校若想继续在核心学术课程以外举办重要的活动，或想成为家庭和社区服务的中心。就应该增加学生每天的在校时间，并延长学年的长度。”
美国公立学校每学年通常为180天。有l1个州允许学校每学年175是或不足175天，只有l个州要求每学年要长于180天。
[5]调查团的执行官Milton Goldberg指出：“在过去的十多年里。教育改革的提倡者都热忱地致力于改善我们的学校教育。但是，如果真的要改革，这种每年180天，每天6小时的时间安排就该放到博物馆去，让它成为教育的历史。”
1. Compared with the academic courses morethan a hundred years ago, the academic coursesnow___________.
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 concernedabout
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 followingexcept________.
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 agreethat_______.
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