Question

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(连续的) 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 But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.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.

 

Answer 1

1.meaningful

2.Vacation

3.activities

4.Affecting

5.burden

6.losing

7.lead/contribute

8.conducted

9.Conclusion

10.date

【解析】

试题分析：任务型阅读主要考查学生通过对文章大意的把握，从文中提取有效信息的能力。还考查学生对单词或短语的加工、转换能力。

1.He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.”可知，一个长假在今天没有什么意义，make sense有意义，空白处需要填形容词，meaningful有意义的，故填meaningful。

2.Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks.”可知，大多数美国学校暑假放假13周，这里指的是假期的时长，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，孩子们在暑假里做发信息、看电视、玩游戏、购物等活动，故填activities。

4.but such skills are affected in the summertime”可知，漫漫长假会影响到学生们学到的文化知识和技能，注意使用动名词形式，故填Affecting。

5.summer vacation can be more burden”可知，暑假对家长来说是一个负担，故填burden。

6.disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime”可知，暑假让本就处于弱势的孩子变得更差，故填losing。

7.A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work.”可知，所填词与“an invitation”有关，invite有“导致”的意思，延长学年不会导致辛苦、无聊的学习和工作，lead to导致，contribute to促使，导致，故填lead/contribute。

8.teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons”可知答案，文中用的主动语态，这里需要转换为被动语态，故填conducted。

9.Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.”是对文章的总结，conclusion结论，注意大写，故填Conclusion。

10.it may also be outdated”可知，假期在二十一世纪可能会变得过时，out of date过时，故填date。

考点：考查提取有效信息的能力