Question

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

    But holidays are expensive and,for those on low wages or living on benefits,they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.

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

    The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programmes of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in safeguarding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays,much of this is missed.

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

In setting out its plans for a five-term year,Nottingham City Council ( seeking to reduce the sum- mer holiday down to four and a half weeks,with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks,each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real down time” for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.

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

46. The passage is probably written by .

   A. an experienced teacher

   B. a working parent

   C. an inspired student

   D. a city council member

47. The underlined word “they” in the second paragraph refers to “”

   A. environments   B. holidays

   C. wages   D. benefits

48. It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to.

   A. 2 weeks   B. 4. 5 weeks

   C. 5 weeks   D. 6 weeks 

49. The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students .

   A. obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs

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

   C. benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment

   D. have more school days to receive free schcx>l meals

50. It can be inferred from the passage that .

   A. working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children

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

   C. the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real “down time”

   D. some school staff will say “No” to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

Answer 1

46. D 47. B 48. B 49. C 50. D

46. D解析：推理判斷題。由文章倒數(shù)第二 段第一句話可知采取這一行動(dòng)的是城市委 員會(huì)。再由最后一段中出現(xiàn)的“we”一詞 可知本文的作者很可能就是委員會(huì)的一名 成員。

47. B解析：詞義猜測(cè)題。根據(jù)畫線詞所在 句可知，they應(yīng)該指代holidays。

48. B解析:細(xì)節(jié)理解題.由倒數(shù)第二段第一 句話 “Nottingham City Council is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down to four and a half weeks... ” 可知所建議的 是將假期時(shí)間減少到4周半。reduce to減 少到。

49. C解析：細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第四段第一句 中的“giving our children a caring and inspiring ieaming environment” 可知 “我” 訪 問這所學(xué)校的目的是想給孩子們一個(gè)充滿 關(guān)懷和激勵(lì)人心的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境。所以這個(gè)縮 短假期時(shí)間的計(jì)劃將會(huì)使孩子們從充滿關(guān) 懷和激勵(lì)人心的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境中獲益。選C.

50. D解析：推理判斷題。由最后一段第一句話中的“this change may be difficult for some school staff”可知這項(xiàng)改變或許對(duì)有 些教職工很困難，所以他們很可能不同意 這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，因此D項(xiàng)的表述正確。