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 But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.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 6. significant ground.
Suggestion	A longer school year does not have to 7. to hard boring work. Richer and more imaginative lessons should be 8. , such as athletics, languages, music and the arts.
9.	Though being a ground thing, summer vacation might be out of 10. in the 21st century.

Answer 1

1.meaningful

2.vacation

3.activities

4.Affecting

5.burden

6.losing

7.lead/attribute

8.conducted

9.Conclusion

10.date

【解析】

1. sense ，那句话的意思是说，现今就算有一个很长的假期，好像对于学生而言意义不大。而方框中填空只能填一个词，所以填meaningful。

2.前文提到了They offer no more than seven consecutive weeks of vacation意思是说他们有超过七个星期的连续的假期，方框中是提到的是13周的长度，根据上下文判断，本空应该填vacation。

3. of kids spend valuable time sending messages and watching TV，Playing video games，Doing shopping 意思是说学生们在暑假都会花掉自己宝贵的时间去做这些事情，根据方框内的信息判断，这些都是学生们会做的活动。所以本空填activities

4. such skills are affected in the summertime对暑假暑期有影响。但是此处做主语，所以用Affecting。

5. vacation can be more burden than break说明了暑假可能是一个负担而不是用来休息的，所以填写burden。

6.Researchers have found that disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime研究表明家境不好的学生的暑假失去了意义。所以本空填losing。

7.文章倒数最后一段第一句提到A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work意思是说一个长的学年并不一定会导致学业的无聊。所以此空填lead/attribute。

8. should allow time-pressed teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons.是说那些老师会在有限的时间内组织更丰富更具有想象力的课程。所以填conducted。

9.

10. of date对应，意思是过时的。根据上下文意思判断，本空填date。

考点：考查说明性短文填空。