Onaverage,Americankidsages3to12spent29hoursaweekinschool,eighthoursmorethattheydidin1981.Theyalsodidmorehouseholdworkandparticipatedinmoreofsuchorganizedactivitiesassoccerandballet(芭蕾舞).Involvementinsports,inparticular,rosealmost50%from1981to1997:boysnowspendanaverageoffourhoursaweekplayingsports;girlsloghallthattime.Allinall,however,children’sleisuretimedroppedfrom40%ofthedayin1981to25%
“Childrenareaffectedbythesametimecrunch(危机)thataffectstheirparents,”saysSandraHofferth,whoheadedtherecentstudyofchildren’stimetable.Achiefreason,shesays,isthatmoremothersareworkingoutsidethehome.(Nevertheless,childreninbothdouble-incomeand“malebreadwinner”householdsspentcomparableamountsoftimeinteractingwiththeirparents19hoursand22hoursrespectively.Incontrast,childrenspentonly9hourswiththeirsinglemothers.)
Allworkandnoplaycouldmakeforsomeverymessed-upkids.“Playisthemostpowerfulwayachildexplorestheworldandlearnsabouthimself,”saysT.BerryBrazelton,professoratHarvardMedicalSchoolUnstructuredplayencouragesindependentthinkingandallowstheyoungtonegotiatetheirrelationshipswiththeirpeers,butkidsages3to12spentonly12hoursaweekengagedinit.
Thechildrensampledspentaquarteroftheirrapidlydecreasing“freetime”watchingtelevision.Butthat,believeitornot,wasoneofthefindingsparentsmightregardasgoodnews.Ifthey’respendinglesstimeinfrontoftheTVset,however,kidsaren’treplacingitwithreading.Despiteeffortstogetkidsmoreinterestedinbooks,thechildrenspentjustoveranhouraweekreading.Let’sfaceit,who’sgotthetime?
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Bymentioning“thesametimecrunch”(Line1,Para.2)SandraHofferthmeans________.
A.childrenhavelittletimetoplaywiththeirparents
B.childrenarenottakengoodcareofbytheirworkingparents
C.bothparentsandchildrensufferfromlackofleisuretime
D.bothparentsandchildrenhavetroublemanagingtheirtime
2.Accordingtotheauthor,thereasongivenbySandraHofferthforthetimecrunchis________.
3.Accordingtotheauthorachilddevelopsbetterif________.
A.hehasplentyoftimereadingandstudying
B.heislefttoplaywithhispeersinhisownway
C.hehasmoretimeparticipatinginschoolactivities
D.heisfreetointeractwithhisworkingparents
4.TheauthorisconcernedaboutthefactthatAmericankids________.
A.areengagedinmoreandmorestructuredactivities
B.areincreasinglyneglectedbytheirworkingmothers
C.arespendingmoreandmoretimewatchingTV
D.areinvolvedlessandlessinhouseholdwork
5.Wecaninferfromthepassagethat________.
A.extracurricularactivitiespromotechildren’sintelligence
B.mostchildrenwillturntoreadingwithTVsetsswitchedoff
C.effortstogetkidsinterestedinreadinghavebeenfruitful
D.mostparentsbelievereadingtobebeneficialtochildren
答案：
1.[C]语义理解题。该短语所在句子的上文(第1段最后一句)表明“孩子的课余时间比以前少了”,而本句指出父母和孩子都受timecrunch的影响，可见thesametimecrunch是指空闲时间不够用，故C正确。
2.[B]观点态度题。第2段第2句中括号里的内容表明了作者的观点。转折词Nevertheless说明作者的观点跟上文SandraHofferth的看法不完全一致，而作者在下文举例中提到，单身母亲因为要上班，与孩子在起的时间只有9个小时，确实少了很多，这与Hofferth所述一致，因此选B。
3.[B]事实细节题。第3段最后一句表明孩子自由玩乐能促使他们独立思考，并使他们学会处理与同龄关系，其中unstructuredplay相当于B中的playinhisownway，故B正确。
4.[A]观点态度题。文章一开头作者就说孩子们比1981年时上学的时间每周多8小时，他们还做更多的家务,参加更多的有组织性的活动等等,而这些均是造成孩子们空闲时间越来越少的原因，而孩子们空闲时间少也正是作者忧虑的问题，故可推知本题选A。B是作者在第2段括号里反驳过的观点;C错在moreandmoretime，而且作者对孩子看电视也不完全反对;孩子们事实上要做更多家务，故D错。
5.[D]推理判断题。文章最后一段倒数第2句说“尽管父母费尽心思培养孩子的读书兴趣，可孩子们一周也只不过花一个多小时读书”。由此可见,父母认为读书对孩子有好处，即D。A中的extracurricularactivities包含structuredandunstructuredactivities，文中只说unstructuredactivities有助于培养孩子独立思考以及与同龄人交往的能力，没有说structuredactivities对intelligence有什么帮助;B与文章的倒数第3句不符;C与倒数第2句不符。
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