Years ago，children in the countryside attended one-roomschoolhouses，where one teachertaught children of all ages and gradelevels in one small classroom．
Of course，our education systemnowis quite different．The one-roomschoolhouse hasbeen replaced by large school complexes that contain many classrooms，long hallways，li-braries，cafeterias，and gymnasiums．Many schools also have large playing fields forfootball and baseball．Some even have swimming pools．Some students still walk or ridetheir bicycles to school，but nowadays，many arrive on school buses or in carpools．Somehigh school students even drive their own cars to school．Attendance until age sixteen ismandatory（强制的）in most states of America．Many children in extended day programsstay in school until five or six o'clock because nobody is home to take careof themafterschool．
Recent developments in technology have also changed our educational system．Oneobvious influence on students todayhas been television．Young childrenstart watchingeducational programs，such asSesame Street，fromthe age of one or two．These programsare designed to entertain children while introducing themto numbers，letters，and simplemath．For elementary and secondary students，there are after-school programs about math，science，and reading．Some universities offer credit for TV classes．Students can go to aclassroomand watch a professor on television，or they can watch specially-designed pro-grams at home．
Another big influence on education has been the personal computer，whichis becomingan increasingly important educational tool．There are many software programs available onevery school subject and topic and onmany levels，frompreschool to adult．Students enjoyusing computers because they can work by themselves and at their own pace．In addition，many students use computers to get information fromon-line services andthe Internet，andmany students use word-processing programs to do their tasks and papers．
Directions（a）：Answer the following questions．
31．Why do many children stay in school until five or six o'clock？
32．What are the big influences todayon education？
33．The underlined words“at their own pace”in the last paragraph means ．
34．What do many students in America do using word-processing programs？
35．In most parts of the United States，at least howold must a person be to discontinue his or her school education？
参考答案：
31．Because nobody is home to take care of themafter school．
32．TVs and personal computers．33．they decide howfast and howmuch to study
34．Their tasks and papers．35．16
