Poorer children would be offered the chance to attend lessons on Saturday to help catch up with their middle class peers (同龄人), the shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said today. The Conservatives would give English state schools the freedom to choose to have longer teaching hours and extra classes at the weekend, he told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference.

Gove said the move would help to close the achievement gap with richer children whose parents could afford extras such as tutoring and music lessons.?

He told delegates (代表) in Manchester: “For children who come from homes where parents don’t have the resources to provide additional stretch and cultural experiences, there are benefits in having those children in the learning environment, in school, for longer.”

“Parents would love to have schools starting earlier in some circumstances, and certainly going on later in the afternoon, given the reality of their working lives,” he said. He held up the example of Kipp (Knowledge is Power Program) schools in the US, which are often based in the poorest communities and open from 7:30 am to 5pm on weekdays, plus Saturdays.?

But it would be up to schools to decide to offer longer hours, Gove added.

Parents said Saturday classes could become a “badge of dishonor”if pupils were forced to go, while teachers raised concerns about their workload.

Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said: “I think the suggestion the government made about one-to-one teaching for these kids would be a more preferable way of improving these children’s performance. I’m just not sure whether taking away a child at weekends is actually going to make them cleverer in the week.”

The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said: “If we want Saturday schools, then we need more teachers doing the extra hours, not the same teachers working longer.”

1．The program is intended for children____________.

　 A．who are from middle-class families

　 B．whose parents can’t afford extra help

　 C．who perform poorly academically

　 D．whose weekends are mostly unoccupied

2．“Additional stretch” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to_________.

A．music lessons　　　　　 　　 B．physical relaxation

C．entertainment activities　　 D．out-of-school improvement

3. Why did Gove mention Kipp schools in the US?

　 A．To make a comparison.?　　　 B．To introduce a new program.?

　 C．To seek supportive evidence.? D．To prove his program is better.

4．What is Margaret Morrissey’s opinion about the new program?

　 A．Favorable. B．Doubtful. C．Optimistic. D．Acceptable.

5．Which of the following is true?

　 A．Teachers may not like the program.　　　　

B．Schools are trying to make profits.?

　 C．The program is already under way. 　　　　　

D．The program is popular with children.

We now think of chocolate as sweet, but once it was bitter. We think of it as a candy, but once it was a medicine. Today, chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or just a snack. Sometimes it’s an ingredient(配料) in the main course of a meal. Mexicans make a hot chocolate sauce called mole and pour it over chicken. The Mexicans also eat chocolate with spices like chili peppers.
Chocolate is a product of the tropical cacao tree. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys say “Ugh!” and run away. Workers must first dry and then roast the beans. This removes the bitter taste.
The word “chocolate” comes from a Mayan word. The Mayas were an ancient people who once lived in Mexico. They valued the cacao tree. Some used the beans for money, while others crushed them to make a drink.
When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they started drinking cacao too. Because the drink was strong and bitter, they thought it was a medicine. No one had the idea of adding sugar. The Spaniards took some beans back to Europe and opened cafes. Wealthy people drank cacao and said it was good for the digestion.
In the 1800s, the owner of a chocolate factory in England discovered that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao. It quickly became a cheap and popular drink. Soon afterwards, a factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate. Later on, another factory mixed milk and chocolate together. People liked the taste of milk chocolate even better.
Besides the chocolate candy bar, one of the most popular American snacks is the chocolate chip cookie. Favorite desserts are chocolate cream pie and, of course, an ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce.
【小题1】It was ________that discovered sugar could remove the bitter taste of cacao.

Something ________ wrong with the car, and it ________ not start.

　　A. being; could　　　　　　　　　 B. going; should

　　C. was; might　　　　　　　　　　D. went; would

He was sentenced to death because he ________ to a forest on purpose.

A. set fire　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. caught fire

C. make a fire　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. was fired

We took the bus from the suburb every early morning that summer 3 years ago. One of the passengers was a small   36  man who took the bus to the centre for senior citizens every morning. He walked with a stoop (佝偻) and a sad look on his face when he, with some difficulty,   37  the bus and sat down alone behind the driver. No one ever paid very much attention to him.
　　Then one   38   morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled before he sat down. The driver 39  guardedly. The rest of us were silent. The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically,   40  and said in a loud voice: “And a very good morning to you all!” Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “Good morning,”  41  . The following weeks we were more alert (留意的). Our friend was now dressed in a nice old suit and a wide out-of-date   42 . The thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we  43  began to nod and talk to each other.
　　One morning he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. The driver   44  smilingly and asked:“Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?”and he nodded shyly and said yes. The other passengers   45  and clapped at him. Charlie bowed and waved the   46  before he sat down on his seat. Every morning after that Charlie always brought a flower. Some of the   47  passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet(花束).
The summer went by, and    48   was closing in, when one morning Charlie wasn't waiting at his usual    49 . When he wasn't there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick or —   50  — on holiday somewhere.
One day, we learned from the staff working in the centre for senior citizens that the elderly   51  was fine, but he hadn't been coming to the   52   that week. One of his very close friends had died at the weekend. They   53  him back on Monday. How silent we were the rest of the way to work.
　　The next   54   Charlie was waiting at the stop, stooping a bit more, a little bit more grey, and without a tie. He seemed to have shrinked（缩小）again. Inside the bus was a  55 . All of us sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.