Poorer children would be offered the chance to attend lessons on Saturday to help catch up with their middle class peers (同龄人), the shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said today. The Conservatives would give English state schools the freedom to choose to have longer teaching hours and extra classes at the weekend, he told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference.?

Gove said the move would help to close the achievement gap with richer children whose parents could afford extras such as tutoring and music lessons.?

He told delegates (代表) in Manchester: “For children who come from homes where parents don’t have the resources to provide additional stretch and cultural experiences, there are benefits in having those children in the learning environment, in school, for longer.”?

“Parents would love to have schools starting earlier in some circumstances, and certainly going on later in the afternoon, given the reality of their working lives,” he said. He held up the example of Kipp (Knowledge is Power Program) schools in the US, which are often based in the poorest communities and open from 7:30 am to 5pm on weekdays, plus Saturdays.?

But it would be up to schools to decide to offer longer hours, Gove added. ?

Parents said Saturday classes could become a “badge of dishonor” if pupils were forced to go, while teachers raised concerns about their workload.?

Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said: “I think the suggestion the government made about one-to-one teaching for these kids would be a more preferable way of improving these children’s performance. I’m just not sure whether taking away a child at weekends is actually going to make them cleverer in the week.”?

The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said: “If we want Saturday schools, then we need more teachers doing the extra hours, not the same teachers working longer.”?

51. The program is intended for children____________. ?

A. who are from middle-class families?

B. whose parents can’t afford extra help ?

C. who perform poorly academically ?

D. whose weekends are mostly unoccupied

52. “Additional stretch” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to_________.?

  A. music lessons

B. physical relaxation ?

  C. entertainment activities?

D. out-of-school improvement

53. Why did Gove mention Kipp schools in the US? ?

A. To make a comparison.?

B. To introduce a new program.?

C. To seek supportive evidence.?

D. To prove his program is better.

54. What is Margaret Morrissey’s opinion about the new program? ?

A. Favorable.          B. Doubtful.           C. Optimistic.         D. Acceptable.

55. Which of the following is true??

A. Teachers may not like the program. ?B. Schools are trying to make profits.?

C. The program is already under way.  D. The program is popular with children.

BRITAIN is a popular tourist place．But tours of the country have advantages and disadvantages.

GOOD NEWS

Free museums．No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities（文物）.

Pop music．Britain is the only country to compare with the US on this score.

Black cabs．London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never

enough of them at weekends or night.

Choice of food．Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.

Fashion．Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.

BAD NEWS

Poor service．“It’s part of the image of the place．People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center.

Poor public transport．Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the overcrowded London tube is inexplicably (难以理解的) popular.

Rain．Still in the number one complaint.

No air-conditioning．So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.

Overpriced hotels．The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.

Licensing hours．Alcohol (酒) is in short supply after 11 p.m. even in “24-hour cities”.

1.What do tourists complain most?

A．Poor service．                         B．Poor public transport.

C．Rain.                                 D．Overpriced hotels.

2.What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?

A．Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US.

B．Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US.

C．Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US.

D．Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US.

3.When are people not able to get alcohol?

A．At 12: 00 p.m.                          B．At 10: 00 p.m.

C．At 11: 00 p.m.                          D．At 9: 00 p.m.

4.Which of the following is True according to the passage?

A．You have to pay to visit the museums

B．It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there.

C．You cannot find Chinese food there

D．The public transport is poor there.

Task Reading:
下面是一篇应用文及其应用场合的信息，请阅读下列应用文和相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。
首先，请阅读下列A----E运动学校、中心或俱乐部的信息：其中有一项是多余选项。

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词。
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I like music very much, pop songs particularly. Every evening then I am doing homework and at weekends when I at home, I always play some of my favorite songs on my tape recorder.. The familiar patterns of notes attracts me into thecolourfully world of music. Now and then I stopped to follow the songs. Sometimes, my mother comes in, asking me to fix my attention to my homework. She does not like the pop music. Like most grown-ups, she enjoys folk songs, because the peaceful music reminds her of their beautiful life when she was young. It is a truth which people of different age understand music differently and enjoy different kinds of music.

假如英语课上老师要求同学们交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的作文。文中共有十处语言错误，要求你在错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个词。

增加：在缺词处加上一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

注意：1.每处错误及修改均仅限一词；

2.只允许修改十处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

I like music very much, pop songs particularly. Every evening then I am doing homework and at weekends when I at home, I always play some of my favorite songs on my tape recorder. The familiar patterns of notes attracts me into the colourfully world of music. Now and then I stopped to follow the songs. Sometimes, my mother comes in, asking me to fix my attention to my homework. She does not like the pop music. Like most grown-ups, she enjoys folk songs, because the peaceful music reminds her of their beautiful life when she was young. It is a truth which people of different age understand music differently and enjoy different kinds of music.