Passage Three
On average, American kids aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ballet. Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log half that time. All in all, however, children’s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%.
“Children are affected by the same time crunch that affects their parents,” says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children’s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner” households spent comparable amounts of time interacting with their parents, 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)
All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself,” says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School . Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids aged 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.
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. If they’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 a week reading. Let’s face it, who’s got the time?
31. By mentioning “the same time crunch” (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.
32. 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.
33. 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.
34. 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.
35. 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.
答案：
31. ［答案］B
［解析］细节题。shrinking与文中提到的裁员相对应，而且“pottery industry”也是原文所限定的范围，所以B正确。文中只是说制瓷业将不景气，但并没有说会破产，所以A不对；文中提到restructuring的例子只是指制瓷厂的，并不是所有的公司都restructuring，所以C也不对；文中提到的不景气仅仅是指制瓷业，而不是整个英国，所以D也不对。
32. ［答案］B
［解析］细节题。文章第五段第二句话捉出了非正式化的原因，就是因为long work hours and demanding family schedules。这与选项B中的Busy schedules相对应，所以正确。文中没有提到A项的原因；C项中的“in times of scarcity”不是“缺少时间”的意思，而是“物资匮乏的时代”，所以不对；文中只是提到现在的年轻人缺乏礼节，但没有指出是否是因为他们不愿意遵循过去的礼节，所以D不对。
33. ［答案］D
［解析］归纳题。文章开头指出，制瓷业将萎缩，然后列举了Royal Doulton的例子，第三段最后一句还用了other pottery factories，说明该公司是一个瓷器公司。选项D中的fine china与上文所提到的精美相符，所以正确。A、C明显与文章的意思不符；文中指出，Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.这说明，Royal Doulton和Wedgwood and other pottery factories都是工厂，所以B项不对。
34. ［答案］C
［解析］细节题。文章第二段指出，人们喜欢过简单、舒适的生活；第五段指出，人们没有时间去熨烫一块漂亮的桌布或者磨光银具。这说明，人们的生活方式发生了变化。所以C正确。A、B两项都是文中提到的原因，但文中用了although，说明这两个原因不是main reason；文中完全没有提到D。
35. ［答案］A
［解析］细节题。文章倒数第二句话指出，礼节在某些地方是必需的。这说明A正确。文中没有提到传统是否会回归，所以B不对；文中倒数第二句话说的是这些礼节现在不能从家长那里得到了，说明C与文章的意思正好相反；文中并没有说明礼节是否能带来良好的人际关系，所以D不对。
