Ireland now has one of the best education systems in the world. Class sizes are small, exam results are good and most children are happy to stay at school after the minimum(最低的) leaving age of sixteen. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    For years, Ireland had one of the most complicated(复杂的) education systems in the world. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Classes were large and the teaching was very traditional. As in many countries, teachers used to hit the children if they made mistakes. Fortunately, the punishment was not allowed in 1982.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} As a result, there were schools for the rich and schools for the poor. Boys and girls went to different schools. Nowadays, most schools are free and only about half the schools are either for girls or boys. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Girls do better than boys in their exams; more girls go to university and most teachers are women.

    At the end of secondary school, students take their final exams. Compulsory(必修的)subjects are maths, Irish and English. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Some of these, like business organization, help to prepare them for the world of work. This is very different from the past when Latin and Greek used to be the most important subjects.

A. In many ways, education is now a woman's world.

B. Parents used to pay for their children's education.

C. In addition, they must choose two or three extra subjects.

D. Public schools in Ireland are not run by the government.

E. It is easy to forget that the picture used to be very different.

F. Here, children do not learn any subjects but some basic skills.

G. There were many different kinds of school, but most of them had a lot in common.

    Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash(垃圾) there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal(致命的) danger.

    The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard Ⅰ stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning(抛弃) things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.

    It is estimated(估计) that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.

    The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飞船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide(碰撞) with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.

    For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, lifting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and touching electronic pages on an iPad. A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued ipads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional texts. Apple officials say they know of more than 600 districts that have launched what are called " one-to-one " programs.

    At Burlington High in suburban Boston, Principal Patrick Larkin says the $500 ipads is better than textbooks in the long term, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available. Larkin said of textbooks, " but they're pretty much outdated the minute they're printed and certainly by the time they're delivered".

    But some experts warn that the districts need to ensure they can support the wireless infrastructure (设施 ), repairs and other costs that accompany a switch to such a tech-heavy approach. Mark Warschauer, an education and informatics(信息学)  professor said,  "I think people will like it.I really don't know anybody in high school that wouldn't want to get an iPad," he said. "We're always using technology at home, then when you're at school it's textbooks. So it's a good way to put all of that together." Districts are varied in their policies on how they police students' use.

    And the nation's textbook publishing industry, accounting for $ 5.5 billion in yearly sales to secondary schools, is taking notice of the trend with its own shift in a competitive race toward developing curriculum specifically for ipads.Jay Dickey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers'schools division, said all of the major textbook publishers are moving toward electronic offerings, but at least in the short term, traditional bound textbooks are here to stay. "I think one of the real key questions that will be answered over the next several years is what sort of things work best in print for students and what sort of things work best digitally."

    I read somewhere that we spend a full third of our lives waiting. But where are we doing all of this waiting, and what does it mean to an impatient society like ours? To understand the issue, let's take a look at three types of "waits".

    The very purest form of waiting is the Watched-Pot Wait. It is without doubt the most annoying of all. Take filling up the kitchen sink(洗碗池) as an example. There is absolutely nothing you can do while this is going on but keep both eyes fixed on the sink until it's full. During these waits, the brain slips away from the body and wanders about until the water runs over the edge of the counter and onto your socks. This kind of wait makes the waiter helpless and mindless.

    A cousin to the Watched-Pot Wait is the Forced Wait. This one requires a bit of self-control. Properly preparing packaged noodle soup required a Forced Wait. Directions are very specific. "Bring three cups of water to boil, add mix, simmer(用文火炖）three minutes, remove from heat, let stand five minutes." I have my doubts that anyone has actually followed the procedures strictly. After all, Forced Waiting requires patience.

    Perhaps the most powerful type of waiting is the Lucky-Break Wait. This type of wait is unusual in that it is for the most part voluntary. Unlike the Forced Wait, which is also voluntary, waiting for your lucky break does not necessarily mean that it will happen.

    Turning one's life into a waiting game requires faith and hope, and is strictly for the optimists among us. On the surface it seems as ridiculous as following the directions on soup mixes, but the Lucky-Break Wait well serves those who are willing to do it. As long as one doesn't come to rely on it, wishing for a few good things to happen never hurts anybody.

    We certainly do spend a good deal of our time waiting. The next time you're standing at the sink waiting for it to fill while cooking noodle soup that you'll have to eat until a large bag of cash falls out of the sky, don't be desperate. You're probably just as busy as the next guy.

You should try your best to create your own family library so that you and your family are always learning. "It is a great mistake to think that education is finished when young people leave school. Education is never finished even if you grow older," said Mrs Child in The Mother's Book. "Collecting a library of books in your home is really helpful to your family.”

"What is really interesting about having so many books in your home is that a book you purchase has a chapter about the deeper knowledge of your favorite subject at school," said a university graduate. Researchers in a study tries to identify what parents do has an influence on how well their children do on standardized tests. One positive aspect they find is the availability of a large number of books at home. This has a stronger connection, especially when you read to your children every day. The more books your older kids have access to at home, the more likely they are just to be reading for fun, rather than having to wait for weekly trips to the library.

John Henry, one educated parent, said, "I have been homeschooling my children using the philosophy of A Thomas Jeffer son Education. This philosophy of learning is based on the reading of classic books." Clinton Fadiman said, "When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than before." Classic books also make you smarter and wiser! The wisdom comes in the examples in the lives of the characters.

"It is within your power to guide your youth in their reading and to cultivate in their hearts a desire for good books. It is the most unfortunate if a person is not possessed with the desire for good reading. The reading habit, like charity, should begin at home," said Mrs Child.