Americansliketothinkofthemselvesasmartyrs(烈士)towork.AtthistimeoftheyeartheymarvelatthelazinessoftheirEuropeancousins，particularlytheFrench.StudiesshowthattheaverageAmericangetsonlyfourweeksofpaidleavea

　　Americansliketothinkofthemselvesasmartyrs(烈士)towork.AtthistimeoftheyeartheymarvelatthelazinessoftheirEuropeancousins，particularlytheFrench.StudiesshowthattheaverageAmericangetsonlyfourweeksofpaidleaveayearcomparedwithsevenfortheFrenchandeightfortheGermans.InParismanyshopssimplyclosedownforAugust；inWashington，wheretheweatherisblazinghot，theyremainopen，somefor24hoursaday.

　　Butwhenitcomestotheyoungthesituationisreversed.Americanchildrenhaveiteasierthanmostotherchildrenintheworld，includingthesupposedlylazyEuropeans.Theyhaveoneoftheshortestschoolyearsanywhere，amere180dayscomparedwithanaverageof195forOECDcountriesandmorethan200forEasternAsiancountries.Germanchildrenspend20moredaysinschoolthanAmericanones，andSouthKoreansoveramonthmore.Over12years，a15­daydeficit(赤字)meansAmericanchildrenloseouton180daysofschool，equivalenttoanentireyear.

　　Americansalsodivideuptheirschooltimeoddly.Theycramtheschooldayintothemorningandearlyafternoon，andclosetheirschoolsforthreemonthsinthesummer.Thelongsummervacationactslikeamentaleraser，withtheaveragechildreportedlyforgettingaboutamonth’sworthofinstructioninmanysubjectsandalmostthreetimesthatinmathematics.Americanacademicshaveeveninventedatermforthisphenomenon，“summerlearningloss”．ItisleavingAmericanchildrenill­equippedtocompete.Theyusuallyperformpoorlyininternationaleducationaltests，comingbehindAsiancountriesthatspendlessoneducationbutworktheirchildrenharder.California’sstateuniversitieshavetosendoverathirdoftheirenteringclasstotakeremedialcoursesinEnglishandmaths.AtleastathirdofsuccessfulPhDstudentscomefromabroad.

　　56．Themainpurposeofthefirstparagraphistotellus________.

　　A．Americansneedn’tbesohard­working

　　B．Americanshaveawrongwayofworking

　　C．Americansworktoohard

　　D．AmericansandEuropeanshavedifferentworkingattitudes

　　57．Accordingtothepassage，Europeanchildren________.

　　A．havemorepressureintheirstudies

　　B．areusuallyconsideredtobelazy

　　C．don’