Unit 3 Under the sea reading课时作业

I. 完形填空

　　Usually it is the children, not the parents, who are unwilling to spend their evenings practicing spelling and learning times tables. But a Canadian couple have just won a legal　1　 to free their children from homework after successfully arguing that there is no clear 　2　 that it improves academic performance.

　　Shelli and Tom Milley, two lawyers from Calgary, Alberta, 　3　 their highly unusual case after years of 　4　 to make their three children do schoolwork out of the classroom. After a long war with their eldest son, Jay, now 8, over his homework, they decided to do things 　5　 with their youngest two children, Spencer, , and Brittany, 0. And being lawyers, they decided to make it 　6　.

　　It took two years to　7　 the Milleys' Differential Homework Plan, which ensures their youngest two children will never have to do homework again at their 　8　 school. The two-page plan, 　9　 by the children, the parents and the teachers, stipulates (规定) that "homework will not be used as a form of 　10　 for the children". 　11　, the pupils promise to get their work done in class, to come to school 　12　, and to revise for tests. They must also read daily and practice their musical instruments at home.

　　"It was a　13　 homework battle every night," Shelli told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. "It's hard to get a weeping child to 　14　 math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second 　15　." She then wondered, "Why did we let our family 　16　 through that stress?If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to 　17　 it."

　　Two years ago, Shelli began　18　 studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear 　19　 between work at home and school performance. Working with the staff at St Brigid Elementary Junior High School, she formed a homework committee. When no firm changes resulted from the committee, the couple began negotiating the legal document that 　20　 the matter.

　　"We think it's a parent's right to choose what's in our children's best interests," said Shelli. "But we're grateful that the school did the right thing."