Harris Cooper, a social psychologist who researches education, found that doing homework makes students perform better in school as they grew older. In later grades, students who did homework performed increasingly better than students who did not. In 2006, Cooper published a study that analyzed 15 years' worth of data on the influence of homework. He found that homework had a good influence on students as they aged.

Some parents are not happy with the decision to give up homework. "I think they should have homework. I want my daughter to have fun, but I also want her to be working towards a goal," Daniel Tasman, the father of a second-grader at the school, said to the reporter.

"Students have to do homework in order to gain. Students have to do homework because they may not be able to understand everything in school," Sharon Blake, a student's grandmother told ABC news.

33. The passage is probably from a .

A. newspaper B. comedy C. cartoon D. novel

34. Jane Hsu wrote a letter to parents to explain .

A. how students should read at their own pace

B. what activities students could take at home

C. why the school gave up homework recently

D. how important the homework is for students

35. The word "dubious" in Paragraph 3 probably means "not ".

A. clear B. public C. real D. special

36. What can we infer (推斷) according to the passage?

A. Cooper found homework had a bad influence on students as they aged.

B. Some parents are worried about their children if there is no homework.

C. Some students are not happy with the decision to give up school homework.

D. Daniel Tasman wanted his daughter to have fun instead of working to a goal.

D

A 90-year-old tortoise (烏龜) is going twice its usual speed after being equipped (裝備) with a set of wheels. The animal, called Mrs T, was facing a terrible future after losing her two front legs in a mouse attack while she was sleeping in winter, but her owners glued the wheels onto her shell (外殼).

"She's going double the speed she used to," said the owner Jude Ryder, "She uses her back legs to push herself along and seems quite happy."

The 58-year-old owner was surprised when she went to check on her loved pet last month and found her front legs had been eaten in the mouse attack. The local animal doctor tried his best to save Mrs T. But he was afraid that the tortoise would not survive without being mobile. After paying ￡1,000 for the treatment, Mrs Ryder turned to her son Dale for help. Dale designed the front wheels and used resin (樹脂) to add them to the front of the shell. Mrs Ryder said: "She liked them immediately, but she must learn how to turn and stop. She can get a good speed up, much faster than before. Mrs T is still quite young for a tortoise. She could go on for another 50 years. All she needs is a new set of tyres (輪胎) sometimes."

When Mrs T was sixty years old, she was bought as a pet for Dale, an 8-year-old boy. It liked running happily in Mrs Ryder's garden in spring and summer. When winter came, Mrs T slept in the garden shelter. A mouse got in last month and chewed (咬) off both her front legs. Mrs Ryder said: "We were afraid she would be sure to die, but her new set of wheels have saved her life. She can run in the garden again and we can always find her because she leaves very strange footprints behind wherever she goes."

Mice attacking tortoises is not uncommon around us-in 2013 Britain's oldest tortoise died after a mouse attack. The tortoise called Thomas was 130 when he was bitten at his home in Guernsey. He spent five days on strong antibiotics (抗生素), but the wound became so infected (被感染的) that his owner had no choice but to have him put to sleep.

37. After being equipped with a set of wheels, Mrs T can move by using .

A. her back legs to push herself B. her front legs to pull herself

C. her back wheels to pull herself D. her front wheels to push herself

（責(zé)任編輯：gx）

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