2023年06月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

The traditional school year, with three months of vacation every summer, was first implemented when America was an agricultural society and the summer months were needed for farm work. Since then, we've completely changed as a nation. Students no longer spend summers farming, but they aren't in school, either. The average American student receives 13 weeks off from school each calendar year-with about 11 of those during the summer. Few other countries have more than seven weeks off in a school calendar.

传统的学年制度，包括每年暑假三个月，最初在美国还是农业社会时实施，因为夏季月份需要用于农活。自那时起，我们作为一个国家已经完全改变。学生们不再在暑假从事农活，但他们也不在学校。平均每个美国学生每年有13周不上学，其中约11周在暑假。其他国家很少有在学年日历中超过七周的假期。

With the U.S. lagging behind other countries in academics, it's time to consider year-round schooling. One benefit of this change is that students will not fall victim to the "summer slide," or the well-documented phenomenon where students forget some of the knowledge they have acquired when too much time is taken off from school. Decades of research shows that it can take from 8 to 13 weeks at the beginning of every school year for students to get back to where they were before the summer holiday.

鉴于美国在学术方面落后于其他国家，现在是时候考虑全年制学校了。这种变化的一个好处是，学生不会成为“夏季滑坡”的受害者，或者说是经过充分记录的现象，即当学校休假时间过长时，学生会忘记一些已获得的知识。数十年的研究表明，在每个学年开始时，学生需要8到13周的时间才能恢复到暑假前的水平。

But year-round schooling isn't just about academics. Teachers and students experience a closer relationship in year-round schools than they do in traditional schools and, in the absence of any long-term break, students do not feel detached from the school environment. These closer bonds and greater attachment pay off. Research shows that students in year-round schools are more self-confident and feel more positive about their schooling experience.

但全年制学校不仅仅关乎学术。在全年制学校中，教师和学生之间的关系比在传统学校中更紧密，并且由于没有长期的休假，学生不会感到与学校环境脱节。这些更紧密的联系和更强的依恋感会带来回报。研究表明，全年制学校的学生更加自信，并对他们的学校经历感到更加积极。

But don't kids need time to relax? Some childhood development experts believe that time off from school is vital to healthy development as kids are not designed to spend so much of their time inside classrooms and the summer break provides a perfect opportunity to get outside. The problem with this argument is that most children aren't playing outside or even spending time with other kids. While some children visit summer camps, most stay at home, watching TV or playing games on electronic devices, which hardly benefits them.

但孩子们不需要时间放松吗？一些儿童发展专家认为，学校休假对健康发展至关重要，因为孩子们天生不适合在教室里度过那么多时间，暑假提供了外出活动的完美机会。这个论点的问题是，大多数孩子并没有在外面玩耍，甚至没有和其他孩子一起度过时间。虽然有些孩子会去夏令营，但大多数待在家里，看电视或玩电子设备，这对他们几乎没有益处。

The U.S. has changed from a farming economy to a knowledge- and innovation-based economy, so it makes sense for the school year to change as well.

美国已经从农业经济转变为知识和创新经济，因此改变学年制度也是合理的。