The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock and calendar inAmerican education a “fundamental design flaw" in desperate need of change. "Time shouldserve children instead of children serving time." the report says.

　　The two-year commission found that holding American students to "worldclass standards." willrequire more time for classroom instruction. "We have been asking the impossible of ourstudents-that they leam as muchas their foreign peers while spending half as much as in coreacademic subjects." it states.

　　The Commission compared the relationships between time and leaming in Japan. Germany, andthe United States and found that American students receive less than half the basic academicinstruction that Japanese andGerman students are provided. On average. American studentscan earn a high school diploma if they spend only 41 percent of their school time on academics,says the report.

　　American students spend an average of three hours a day on "core" academics such as Englishmath, science,and history. the commission found. Their report recommends offering aminimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day.

　　The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day beyond thetraditional six hours.

　　"If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the academic core, as well asserving as a hub for family and community services, they should keep school doors openlonger each day and each year." says John Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools inMurfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of the commission.

　　The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven states allow school yearsof 175 days or less, and only one state requires more than 180 day.

　　"For over a decade. education reform advocates have been working Feverishly to improve ourschools,” says Milton Goldberg. executive director of the commission. "But... if reform is totruly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school year should be relegated (歸屬于) to museums-anexhibit from our education past."

　　[1]雖然公立學校的任務除了教育外。還擴大到包含了社會活動和課外活動的內容，但是，在過去的一個多世紀里面，學術上的安排卻改變不多。

　　專門研究時問和學習關系的國家教育調查組今天發表了一個報告，里面提到，在學校改革的過程中，至關重要的是：學校的時間應重新用于學術教育上，摒棄一些受時間限制的教育傳統。

　　調查組的報告名為《時間的囚徒》，它把美國教育中一成不變的時間和日歷稱為“設計上的根本缺陷”，亟待修改。這個報告還指出：“應該讓學生支配時間，而不該讓時間支配學生。”

　　這個持續兩年的調查發現：要讓美國的學生保持“世界水準”，就要有更多時間用于課堂教學。報告中說：“對于我們的學生，我們一直以來都在勉為其難——他們要學的和國外的同齡人一樣多，但是，他們花在核心學術科目上的時間只及國外學生的一半。”

　　[4]調查組對比了日本、德國，美國三國學生的時間和學習之間的關系，發現美國學生得到的基礎學術教育不及日本和德國學生的一半。報告表明，平均來說，美國學生只要把在校時間的41%用于學術科目就可以得到中學畢業證了。

　　調查組發現，美國學生平均每天花在核心學術課程(如英語、數學、科學、及歷史等)的時間為3小時。報告認為，學校每天應該提供至少5.5小時的學術課程學習時間。

　　這個由9名成員組成的調查組還認為，傳統上每天6小時的在校時間應該加長。

　　[3]調查組主席兼田納西州Murfreesboro地方教育官員的John Hodge Jones說：“學校若想繼續在核心學術課程以外舉辦重要的活動，或想成為家庭和社區服務的中心。就應該增加學生每天的在校時間，并延長學年的長度。”

　　美國公立學校每學年通常為180天。有l1個州允許學校每學年175是或不足175天，只有l個州要求每學年要長于180天。

　　[5]調查團的執行官Milton Goldberg指出：“在過去的十多年里。教育改革的提倡者都熱忱地致力于改善我們的學校教育。但是，如果真的要改革，這種每年180天，每天6小時的時間安排就該放到博物館去，讓它成為教育的歷史。”

　　1. Compared with the academic courses morethan a hundred years ago, the academic coursesnow___________.

　　A) include some extra-curricular activities

　　B) focus more on education of social support

　　C) demand students' more contribution of time

　　D) remain more or less what they used to be

　　2. The researches by the commission mentioned in the passage are most concernedabout

　　A) the time attributed to academic leaming

　　B) the components of school education

　　C) the changes in education in the recent century

　　D) the fashion of education management

　　3. As it is mentioned in che passage. schools in the United States do the followingexcept________.

　　A) provide important outside-academic activities

　　B) serve social units such as family and community

　　C) arrange six-hour teaching and leaming every day

　　D) have competition with schools of other countries

　　4. American students differ from those in Japan. Germany in that_____________.

　　A)they stay at school for a shorter time every day

　　B) they do not leam as much as their counterparts abroad

　　C) they devote less time to academic learning

　　D) they earn a high school diploma more easily

　　5. Executive director of the commission Milton Goldberg would most probably agreethat_______.

　　A) what the education reform advocates have done is not good enough

　　B) they time of school day and school year should be extended

　　C) visiting museums can improve students' academic learning ability

　　D) social support and extra-curricular activities should be cancelled