Ridgewood is a small, quiet town 20 miles from Manhattan. It is a typical suburban town, perfect for raising children away from the fast pace of the city. However, some Ridgewood kids feel as upset as if they were on the city’s busy streets. In addition to hours of homework, Ridgewood’s children are occupied with afterschool activities — from swimming to piano to religious classes.

Out of desperation one day, the town decided to schedule another activity. This one was called “Ridgewood Family Night — Ready, Set, Relax!” Instead of schedules filled with sports, music, or overtime at the office, some of the town’s 25,000 residents decided to take the night off and stay home. For a few months before Family Night, a committee of volunteers worked hard to spread the word. Younger students took “Save the Date for Me” leaflets home to their parents. The mayor issued a statement, and schools and clubs agreed to cancel homework and meetings so families could relax and be together.

The tension between a hope for a more relaxed lifestyle and the knowledge that the benchmark for success has been raised in recent years weighs heavily on the minds of the townspeople. Some parents like to recall a different kind of childhood, one without so many scheduled afterschool activities. However, these same parents feel obliged to make sure their children are prepared to survive in today’s high-pressure work environment. They are afraid that any gap in their children’s physical or intellectual development might mean they won’t be admitted to the “right” universities and won’t succeed in a more and more competitive world.

Nevertheless, it seems that Family Night worked, at least to a point. Cars moved easily around Ridgewood’s normally busy downtown streets, and stores and restaurants saw a drop in business. Some families ate supper together for the first time in months.

Initially, there was great hope of taking back their lives. But sadly, few families believe that one night will change their lives. Many are sure that they will fall back into the habit of over-scheduling their children to be overachieving adults.

1.The writer describes Ridgewood as a town where ________.

A. residents take little notice of education

B. children are stressful and over expected

C. parents are concerned about children’s safety

D. children lead a life of relaxed, ordinary rhythms

2.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about the Family Night?

A. Schools assigned no homework.

B. Fewer people ate in the restaurants.

C. The streets were less crowded.

D. People enjoyed meeting each other.

3.According to the passage, the parents in Ridgewood ________.

A. have conflicting desires about what experiences to offer their children

B. are happy with the lifestyle they have chosen for themselves and the children

C. believe that it is their duty to make a change for the stressful life style

D. are worried about their children’s lacking of big ambition

4.We may get the conclusion from the passage that ________.

A. the concept of Family Night will become a regular part of life in Ridgewood

B. Ridgewood people believe the Family Night will change their way of living

C. Family Night is not as popular as people have originally thought

D. schools are worried about students being given too much free time

Going to school from 8 am until 5 pm may sound terrible，but Sydney Shaw，a seventh grader at the Alain Locke Charter Academy on Chicago's West Side，has come to like it—as well as the extra 20 or so days that she's in class every year．“I'm sure every kid at this school says bad things about the schedule sometimes，”says Sydney, who was at school on Columbus Day, when most Chicago schools had a holiday．“But we all know it's for our benefit.”
Finding ways to give kids more classroom time，through longer hours，a longer school year，or both，is getting more attention．“If you want to look at schools where the achievement gap is narrowing, they're saying they couldn't do it without the added time，”says Jennifer Davis．“Even when you get good teachers into schools，you also need more time．”
According to studies, low-income students fall back more than two months in their reading skills over summer vacations．“It's over the summer months that poor kids fall behind，”says Karl Alexander，a sociologist．“If you have parents who themselves didn't succeed at school and aren't highly educated，kids aren't going to get those skills at home．”
Schools are asked to take a full year to plan how to best use the extra time—a process involving teachers，principals，students and parents．They are given outside support to help them base their plans on the best available analyses of student needs．It's still early，but officials are already seeing stronger test scores and a narrowing achievement gap．
But some critics are worried．“We risk producing something that's very expensive and time-consuming, and that will give educators a lot of trouble，”says Frederick Hess．“Before we spend all that extra money，I'd much rather see if we can figure out how to get 50 percent more instructional time out of the current school day．”
【小題1】From the first paragraph，we learn that      ．

第五部分：任務(wù)型閱讀（共10小題，每小題0.5分，滿分5分）

請認(rèn)真閱讀下列短文，并根據(jù)所讀內(nèi)容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一個最恰當(dāng)?shù)膯卧~。注意：每個空格只填一個單詞。請將答案寫在答題卡上相應(yīng)的橫線上。

Although the dangers of too little sleep are widely known, new research suggests that people who sleep too much may also suffer the consequences(后果).

Researchers at the University of California in San Diego found that people who sleep 9 or 10 hours each weeknight appear to have more trouble falling and staying asleep, as well as a number of other sleep problems, than people who sleep 8 hours a night. People who slept only 7 hours each night also said they had more trouble in falling asleep and feeling refreshed（恢復(fù)體力）after a night’s sleep than 8-hour sleepers.

These findings, which Dr. Daniel Kriple reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, shows that people who want to get a good night’s rest may not need to sleep more than 8 hours each night. He added that “it might be a good idea ” for people who sleep more than 8 hours each night to consider reducing the amount of time they spend in bed, but reminded that research is needed to prove this.

Previous studies have shown the hidden dangers of lack of sleep for a long time—for instance, one report showed that people who usually sleep less than 7 hours each night have a higher risk of dying within a fixed period than people who sleep more.

For the current report, Kripke reviewed the responses of 1,004 adults to sleep questionnaires (問卷), in which participants(參與者) indicated how much they slept during the week and whether they experienced any sleep problems. Sleep problems included waking in the middle of the night, waking up early in the morning and being unable to fall back to sleep, and feeling tired with day-to-day functioning（運轉(zhuǎn)）.

Kripke found that people who slept between 9 and 10 hours each night most probably report experiencing each sleep problem than people who slept 8 hours. In an interview, Kripke noted that longer sleepers may struggle to get rest at night simply because they spend too much time in bed. As evidence, he added that one way to deal with insomnia（失眠）is to spend less time in bed. “It means that if a person spends too long a time in bed, then they’ll spend a higher percentage of time awake,” he said.  

“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move,” said David Belle, the founder of parkour(跑酷).
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond’s wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that’s parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy(理念) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, “I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”
Another philosophy we’ve learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence.
【小題1】Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of          .

B
About forty years ago, I was an instructor in the military academy at Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he—why, dear me—he did not know anything, so to speak. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles(奇跡) of stupidity.
I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Ceasar’s history. So, I worked him like a slave on a few questions about Ceasar. If you will believe me, when examined again, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years. Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself by some miracle.
Then, the Crimean War broke out. Nervously, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer. Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his! I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this. I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So, I joined up with him.
And there, oh dear, he never did anything but mistakes. But, everybody misunderstood his stupid mistakes as works of great intelligence. The battle grew hotter. The English soldiers were steadily withdrawing all over the field. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left. We were over the hill before this crazy movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find? A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting! But those surprised Russians thought that no single team by itself would come around there at such a time. It must be the whole British army. They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder, and we after them. In no time, there was the greatest turn around you ever saw.
Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself. He has filled his whole military life with mistakes, every one of which brought him another honorary title. They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky.
46. How was Scoresby doing academically?
A. His answers to the questions were miracles.
B. He was good at military history.
C. He received help because of his disability.
D. He did rather poorly in his study.
47. “I” join up with Scoresby in the Crimean War because “I” ________.
A. wanted to see the worst happen
B. had no confidence in him
C. liked to fight against Scoresby
D. wanted to protect my student
48. Why did the Russian army flee?
A. Because Scoresby mistook his left hand for his right hand.
B. Because Scoresby failed to recognize the direction.
C. Because they thought the whole British army were coming.
D. Because they wanted to go down into the field.
49. What is the secret of Scoresby’s military “success”?
A. Good luck.           B. Hard work.        C. Help from others       .      D. Mistakes.
50. The tone(語調(diào)) of the passage is _____________.
A. Relaxing           B. Encouraging   C. Sarcastic(諷刺的)         D. Humorous