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(xué)校的任務(wù)除了教育外。還擴(kuò)大到包含了社會(huì)活動(dòng)和課外活動(dòng)的內(nèi)容，但是，在過(guò)去的一個(gè)多世紀(jì)里面，學(xué)術(shù)上的安排卻改變不多。

　　專(zhuān)門(mén)研究時(shí)問(wèn)和學(xué)習(xí)關(guān)系的國(guó)家教育調(diào)查組今天發(fā)表了一個(gè)報(bào)告，里面提到，在學(xué)校改革的過(guò)程中，至關(guān)重要的是：學(xué)校的時(shí)間應(yīng)重新用于學(xué)術(shù)教育上，摒棄一些受時(shí)間限制的教育傳統(tǒng)。

　　調(diào)查組的報(bào)告名為《時(shí)間的囚徒》，它把美國(guó)教育中一成不變的時(shí)間和日歷稱(chēng)為“設(shè)計(jì)上的根本缺陷”，亟待修改。這個(gè)報(bào)告還指出：“應(yīng)該讓學(xué)生支配時(shí)間，而不該讓時(shí)間支配學(xué)生。”

　　這個(gè)持續(xù)兩年的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)：要讓美國(guó)的學(xué)生保持“世界水準(zhǔn)”，就要有更多時(shí)間用于課堂教學(xué)。報(bào)告中說(shuō)：“對(duì)于我們的學(xué)生，我們一直以來(lái)都在勉為其難——他們要學(xué)的和國(guó)外的同齡人一樣多，但是，他們花在核心學(xué)術(shù)科目上的時(shí)間只及國(guó)外學(xué)生的一半。”

　　[4]調(diào)查組對(duì)比了日本、德國(guó)，美國(guó)三國(guó)學(xué)生的時(shí)間和學(xué)習(xí)之間的關(guān)系，發(fā)現(xiàn)美國(guó)學(xué)生得到的基礎(chǔ)學(xué)術(shù)教育不及日本和德國(guó)學(xué)生的一半。報(bào)告表明，平均來(lái)說(shuō)，美國(guó)學(xué)生只要把在校時(shí)間的41%用于學(xué)術(shù)科目就可以得到中學(xué)畢業(yè)證了。

　　調(diào)查組發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國(guó)學(xué)生平均每天花在核心學(xué)術(shù)課程(如英語(yǔ)、數(shù)學(xué)、科學(xué)、及歷史等)的時(shí)間為3小時(shí)。報(bào)告認(rèn)為，學(xué)校每天應(yīng)該提供至少5.5小時(shí)的學(xué)術(shù)課程學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)間。

　　這個(gè)由9名成員組成的調(diào)查組還認(rèn)為，傳統(tǒng)上每天6小時(shí)的在校時(shí)間應(yīng)該加長(zhǎng)。

　　[3]調(diào)查組主席兼田納西州Murfreesboro地方教育官員的John Hodge Jones說(shuō)：“學(xué)校若想繼續(xù)在核心學(xué)術(shù)課程以外舉辦重要的活動(dòng)，或想成為家庭和社區(qū)服務(wù)的中心。就應(yīng)該增加學(xué)生每天的在校時(shí)間，并延長(zhǎng)學(xué)年的長(zhǎng)度。”

　　美國(guó)公立學(xué)校每學(xué)年通常為180天。有l(wèi)1個(gè)州允許學(xué)校每學(xué)年175是或不足175天，只有l(wèi)個(gè)州要求每學(xué)年要長(zhǎng)于180天。

　　[5]調(diào)查團(tuán)的執(zhí)行官M(fèi)ilton Goldberg指出：“在過(guò)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(xué)校教育。但是，如果真的要改革，這種每年180天，每天6小時(shí)的時(shí)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