Passage Four
Summer was, for a while, a child's time, conferring an inviolate right to laziness. It was a form of education that had nothing to do with adult priorities, providing entire afternoons to watch exactly how many ants would scurry out of one hill and what they would bring back.
The holiness of that kind of summer was first diminished by necessity, when overcrowded classrooms brought us the year-round school calendar. Next, the battle against social promotion forced many an indifferent student into summer school—while the hard-charging students willingly packed into summer school as well, to get a leg up on the coming year.
Then, as though the world of achievement had some sort of legitimate claim on summer, even schools that maintained the old-fashioned schedule began reaching their tentacles into summer. Some school districts start the traditional school year in August, the better to squeeze in a couple of more weeks of instruction before the all-important state standardized tests given in spring. Worse, what used to be recommended summer reading lists are now becoming compulsory assignments. And the ambitious students have signed up for Advanced Placement classes, and thus a summer-load of note taking and homework.
It's not just the schools. As a society， we grow itchy at the sight of someone—even a kid一accomplishing nothing more than fun. Thus parents have become suckers for anything that lends a constructive air to summer. Summer camps used to exist for the purpose of marshmallow roasts and putting frogs in your bunkmates' beds. Those still exist, but they compete mightily with the new camps —the ones for improving a child's writing style, building math skills, honing soccer stardom, learning a foreign language, building dance talents or finessing skills playing a musical instrument. Even many colleges and universities, such as Johns Hopkins, have climbed on board, mailing out glossy brochures about their expensive summer programs for supposedly gifted, or at least financially gifted, students.
None of this activity is required, of course. Unluckily, other societal changes also have pushed back at summer. Children can't get together a pickup game of kickball when their streets are the turf of gangs. And without a shove out the door，today's youngsters are more likely to spend a day clicking away at video games than swinging in a hammock.
Still, it is a decision, however unconsciously made, to view summertime as a commodity to be prudently invested, rather than as a gift to be lavishly spent. There is only one sort of skill we are afraid to nurture in our kids —the ability to do nothing more constructive than make a blade of crabgrass, pressed between our thumbs and blown, blast a reedy note into the summer air.
What do we learn from the first paragraph?
文章第一段第—句提出 “Summer was， for a while, a child's time, conferring an inviolate right to laziness.”在 一段时间里，夏季是孩子的时光，赋予了孩子不可侵犯的懒惰权利。由此可知，夏天是懒惰和自由的好时光。故选A。
Schools considered using summer time most probably because they________.
文章第二段第一句提出 “The holiness of that kind of summer was first diminished by necessity， when overcrowded classrooms brought us the year-round school calendar. ” 当过度拥挤的教室给我们带来了全年的学校日历时，那种欢乐夏天的神圣光环便因此暗淡了。由此可知，学校用孩子们的夏天时间上课是因为需要充分完成学校日历的学习任务。故选A。
What does the word “itchy” in Paragraph 4 possibly mean?
文章倒数第三段第二句提出 “As a society， we grow itchy at the sight of someone—even a kid—accomplishing nothing more than fun. ” 作为一个社会，当我们看到某人——甚至是一个孩子——只做有趣的事情时，我 们就会感到不舒服。comfortless不舒服的。eager渴望的。critical爱挑剔的。impulsive冲动的。故选 A。
In the author's eyes, new camps can be best characterized as________.
文章倒数第二句提出 “Those still exist， but they compete mightily with the new camps —the ones for improving a child's writing style, building math skills, honing soccer stardom, learning a foreign language, building dance talents or finessing skills playing a musical instrument. ” 这些学校仍然存在，但它们与新学校竞争激烈——这些新的学校旨在提高孩子的写作风格、培养数学技能、锻炼足球明星、学习外语、培养舞蹈天赋或演奏乐器的技巧。由此可知，这些学校十分实用。故选C。
From the text we can conclude that the author considers that summertime should be________.
文章最后一段第一句提出 “Still, it is a decision, however unconsciously made， to view summertime as a commodity to be prudently invested, rather than as a gift to be lavishly spent. ”不过，不管你是如何无意识地做出了这样一个决定，那就是把夏季看作是一种可以谨慎投资的商品，而不是一件可以任意度过的礼物。由此可知，暑假时光应该是份珍贵的礼物。故选B。