The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing “free time” watching television.But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. Ifthey’re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren’t replacing it with reading.Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour aweek reading. Let’s face it, who’s got the time?

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. By mentioning “the same time crunch” (Line 1, Para. 2) Sandra Hofferth means________.

　　A. children have little time to play with their parents

　　B. children are not taken good care of by their working parents

　　C. both parents and children suffer from lack of leisure time

　　D. both parents and children have trouble managing their time

　　2. According to the author, the reason given by Sandra Hofferth for the time crunch is________.

　　A. quite convincing

　　B. partially true

　　C. totally groundless

　　D. rather confusing

　　3. According to the author a child develops better if ________.

　　A. he has plenty of time reading and studying

　　B. he is left to play with his peers in his own way

　　C. he has more time participating in school activities

　　D. he is free to interact with his working parents

　　4. The author is concerned about the fact that American kids ________.

　　A. are engaged in more and more structured activities

　　B. are increasingly neglected by their working mothers

　　C. are spending more and more time watching TV

　　D. are involved less and less in household work

　　5. We can infer from the passage that ________.

　　A. extracurricular activities promote children’s intelligence

　　B. most children will turn to reading with TV sets switched off

　　C. efforts to get kids interested in reading have been fruitful

　　D. most parents believe reading to be beneficial to children

　　1.[C] 語義理解題。該短語所在句子的上文(第1段最后一句)表明“孩子的課余時間比以前少了”,而本句指出父母和孩子都受time crunch的影響，可見the same time crunch是指空閑時間不夠用，故C正確。

　　2.[B] 觀點態度題。第2段第2句中括號里的內容表明了作者的觀點。轉折詞Nevertheless說明作者的觀點跟上文Sandra Hofferth的看法不完全一致，而作者在下文舉例中提到，單身母親因為要上班，與孩子在起的時間只有9個小時，確實少了很多，這與Hofferth所述一致，因此選B。

　　3.[B] 事實細節題。第3段最后一句表明孩子自由玩樂能促使他們獨立思考，并使他們學會處理與同齡關系，其中unstructured play 相當于B中的play in his own way，故B正確。

　　4.[A] 觀點態度題。文章一開頭作者就說孩子們比1981年時上學的時間每周多8小時，他們還做更多的家務,參加更多的有組織性的活動等等,而這些均是造成孩子們空閑時間越來越少的原因，而孩子們空閑時間少也正是作者憂慮的問題，故可推知本題選A。B是作者在第2段括號里反駁過的觀點;C錯在more and more time，而且作者對孩子看電視也不完全反對;孩子們事實上要做更多家務，故D錯。

　　5.[D] 推理判斷題。文章最后一段倒數第2句說“盡管父母費盡心思培養孩子的讀書興趣，可孩子們一周也只不過花一個多小時讀書”。由此可見,父母認為讀書對孩子有好處，即D。A中的extracurricular activities包含structured and unstructured activities，文中只說unstructured activities有助于培養孩子獨立思考以及與同齡人交往的能力，沒有說structured activities對intelligence有什么幫助;B與文章的倒數第3句不符;C與倒數第2句不符。

　　There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just aswe expect them at least to understand that the internal-combustion engine(內燃機)hassomething to do with burning fuel, expanding gases and pistons (活塞)being driven. For peopleshould have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further,students might be helped by a course that considers the computer’s impact on society. Butthat is not what is meant by computer literacy. For computer literacy is not a formof literacy(讀寫能力);it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.

　　Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. Acase might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves fromtheir fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how toprogram one. Leave that to people who havechosen programming as a career. Whileprogramming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it,the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.

　　Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programsbecome more “user-friendly”. Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have toknow how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase learning to usea computer mean? It sounds like “learning to drive a car", that is, it sounds as if there is someset of definite skills that, once acquired,enable one to use a computer.

　　In fact, "learning to use a computer" is much more like “learning to play a game”,but learningthe rulesof one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same.There is no such a thingas teaching someone how to use a computer. One can only teachpeople to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.To be the competent citizens of tomorrow, people should _______.

　　A. try to lay a solid foundation in computer science

　　B. be aware of how the things that they use do what they do

　　C. learn to use a computer by acquiring a certain set of skills

　　D. understand that programming a computer is more essential than repairing a car

　　2. In the second paragraph“auto repair”and“violin-making”are mentioned to showthat _______ .

　　A. programming a computer is as interesting as making a violin

　　B. our society needs experts in different fields

　　C. violin making requires as much skill as computer programming

　　D. people who can use a computer don't necessarily have to know computer programming

　　3. Learning to use a computer is getting easier all the time because _______ .

　　A. programs are becoming less complicated

　　B. programs are designed to be convenient to users

　　C. programming is becoming easier and easier

　　D. programs are becoming readily available to computer users

　　4. According to the author,the phrase“learning to use a computer”(Lines3,4,Para.3)means learning _______.

　　A. a set of rules B. the fundamentals of computer science

　　C. specific programs D. general principles of programming

　　5. The author's purpose in writing this passage is _______.

　　A. to stress the impact of the computer on society

　　B. to explain the concept of computer literacy

　　C. to illustrate the requirements for being competent citizens of tomorrow

　　D. to emphasize that computer programming is an interesting and challenging job

　　1.[C] 推理判斷題。第2段提到未來有能力的人應該從恐懼中解脫出來，第3段則提到學習計算機則就像是“學開車”一樣，只要掌握某套技能即可，故可知有能力的人只需要通過掌握技能學習計算機即可，而不必學習編程，故C正確。

　　2.[D] 詞義理解題。在第2段中，作者強調一般人只需學會使用計算機，而不必學會編程，最后指出這與“汽車修理”和“小提琴制作”一樣，可見作者提到“汽車修理”(類似一般人使用計算機)和“小提琴創作”(數似于電 腦專業人員編程)還是為了說明上文的觀點，故D正確。

　　3.[B] 事實細節題。第3段首句提到學習使用計算機越來越容易的原因是計算機編程變得更user-friendly, B中的convenient to users與此相符，故正確。

　　4.[C] 句意理解題。第4段指出教人學習使用計算機就是教人use this or that program，故C與此相符。

　　5.[B] 主旨大意題。本文圍繞學生應如何學習計算機，闡述計算機能力(computer literacy)的概念;它只是一種技能,故B正確。A、C、D均只是利用文中的片言只語拼湊而成的干擾項，不足以概括文章大意。