2. 外语
  3. Like thousands of parents across Britain, I have been scanning the skies with some nervousness this week. My son and daughter ar

Like thousands of parents across Britain, I have been scanning the skies with some nervousness this week. My son and daughter ar

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问题     Like thousands of parents across Britain, I have been scanning the skies with some nervousness this week. My son and daughter are praying for the snow—and the school closures—to continue. And I’ m praying for slush.
    At a time when people are worried enough about keeping their jobs, the cost of school closure is immense. Parents unable to secure emergency childcare have no choice but to stay off work themselves.【71】The Federation of Small Businesses reckons that by the end of the week our trembling economy will have suffered losses worth some ￡ 3. 5bn.
    【72】Parenting websites abound with childhood memories of brave infants, battling their way to school in the Big Snow of the 1960s and 1970s and angry demands have been made for school staff to show courage and set an example. According to Margaret Morris-sey of the Parents Outloud campaign group, "We are giving children the message that when things get difficult you should stay at home and have fun.【73】"
    I dare say I could have kept my pair indoors on Monday, reciting time tables instead of hurtling downhill on an offcut of laminate flooring, but it’s not the effect on their characters I’m most concerned about.【74】Back in the 1960s, local schools were largely staffed by local teachers. Today, particularly in cities where property prices long ago outstripped the wages of public sector workers, teachers are frequently travelling vast distances to get to school.
    If the transport system grinds to a halt, as it has across Britain this week, there’s not a whole lot teacher, or dinner ladies, or cleaners, or any other workers on whom the smooth running of our schools depend.
    Put bluntly, it’s not the teachers who were short of grit(勇气，砂砾)this week, it was the roads. 【75】There are lessons that cannot be learned at school. Given the weather forecast, I call that fortunate.
A. Then, when they keep taking sick days from work when they grow up, we wonder why.
B. It’s natural to look for the weak link in this chain of disaster and, not unusually, it’s teachers who are being criticized.
C. This translates all too quickly into orders unfulfilled and contracts prejudiced.
D. Quite frankly, I don’t blame thousands of teachers eagerly taking a couple of days off when faced in front by mob of badly behaved, obese and foul-mouthed children.
E. For the want of some sand for the roads, ￡ 3. 5bn was lost.
F. And it seems unfair of impose our comfortable, schoolroom nostalgia on a profession facing peculiar contemporary challenges.
【75】
选项
答案E
解析 空格前面已经有提示语grit“勇气，砂砾”，因此后面的内容应涉及sand“沙子”。E项正确。
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