Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer

Holidays are really important. Many of us will havechildhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home toexperience new environments and learn in different ways.

But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wagesor living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapestholidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for manyfamilies to meet.

For working parents, the long summer break can be avery difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts toonly five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples canfind themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are onholiday. For some, this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.

The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full ofexperienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiringlearning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals isquite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make surethat children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programsof group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important rolein sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support withtheir pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.

While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of theirpupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack offree school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget andan inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continuetheir learning.

In setting out its plans for a five-term year,Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holidaydown lo four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eightweeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “downtime" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not tocause a real break in learning.

We acknowledge that this change may be difficult forsome school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in otherauthorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for citychildren for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.

1.The passage is probably written by     .

A. an experienced teacher        B.a city council member

C. an inspired student        D.a working parent

2.The underlined word "they" in the secondparagraph refers to "       ’.

A. environments        B.wages   C. holidays         D.benefits

3.It is suggested in the passage that the summer breakbe reduced to       .

A. 2 weeks         B.6 weeks         C. 5 weeks         D.4.5 weeks

4.The plans for a shorter summer holiday will helpstudents_____    .

A.      obtain the cheapestholidays without additional costs

B.      get a chance to spendsix weeks a term with teachers in school

C.      have more school daysto receive free school meals

D.      benefit more from thecaring and inspiring learning environment

5.It can be inferred from the passage that          _______.

A.      some school staffwill say “ No" to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

B.      the suggested plansfor a five-term school year can hardly be carried out

C.      the long summerholiday gives teachers and students real "down time"

D.      working parents canenjoy a five-week break to care for their children

试题答案

【答案】

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.D

5.A

【解析】

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