關(guān)于高二作業(yè)多、睡眠少的凄苦生涯，這位美國學(xué)生有話要說。

Junior year： a time of studying， stress and anxiety about our futures. For many of us， the college process begins the August or September of our junior year. We wake up very early to go to school， maybe even earlier to meet with a teacher， complete our extracurricular activities， come home to have a quick dinner， talk for eight minutes with our parents and do homework until we fall asleep. But then we remember. We have to look at the ACT packet1） one more time. Half asleep， we run downstairs to get the ACT book， and start studying. Section 1， section 2， section 3. Fifteen to 30 minutes a day is what they say keeps low ACT scores away. We spend hours going over where to put a comma in a sentence， or how to apply the Pythagorean theorem2）. After this， we finally get to turn off the lights and drift away to sleep. And then six hours later， we do it all over again.

This is a snapshot3） of the daily routine of many high school juniors. For those of you juniors who are reading this， I sympathize with you. Just know that in a few months， it will all be over. For readers who were once juniors， congratulations on making it through. And for the readers who are soon to be juniors ... well... good luck.

In my freshmen health class， my teacher told us that teenagers need at least eight to nine hours of sleep each night. In a Utopian society， this would be possible. The sad truth is， with extracurricular activities， ACT test preparation， after school sports and music， excessive homework and pressure to do well， high school juniors cannot maintain this sleep schedule. As much as our growing minds and bodies crave4） nine hours of sleep each night， there is no time.

Let me ask you all a question： Doesn&apos；t it seem more humane to assign a teenager perhaps two hours of homework each night？ This would allow us a tiny bit of down time5） after a long day of school， 6：00 AM tennis practice， music lessons， ACT preparation， Robotics club or sports. Two hours of homework would enable us to have that coveted6） eight to nine hours of much needed sleep. Or does it seem better to pile juniors with five hours of work a night， leaving very little time to relax， therefore decreasing7） the amount of time that they can sleep？ If you are sane， then you should choose the former. Teenagers need more sleep. The future success of our society depends on changing the bad habits of burying our youth with work and depriving8） us of sleep.endprint

In my opinion， junior year of high school is a time for growth. By junior year many students have the ability to think critically， and solve challenging problems. Separation from peers and parents may begin as we start to prepare for college. The current structure of the junior year is troubling and inefficient. Students should not lumber9） into class half asleep or doze off10） in their early morning physics class. I do think that flipping the classroom11） literally means flipping your schedule， so that way we sleep at home， and learn at school. I think that we need to prioritize sleep over homework. Yes， homework is crucial for a student&apos；s growth. But do we really need to spend countless hours a night doing it？ Let&apos；s make a change. Change junior year.

高二，一段充滿壓力、對未來感到焦慮的學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)光。對我們許多人而言，大學(xué)升學(xué)的過程從高二的八九月就開始了。我們早早起床去學(xué)校，若要跟老師見面、完成課外活動(dòng)，甚至還可能起得更早；我們回到家匆匆吃完晚飯，與父母說八分鐘話，然后便開始做作業(yè)，一直做到自己睡著了。但后來我們想起來，我們還得再看一遍ACT （編注：美國大學(xué)入學(xué)考試，相當(dāng)于美國高考）的資料。于是半睡半醒間，我們跑下樓去拿ACT的書，又開始學(xué)習(xí)。第一部分，第二部分，第三部分。他們說每天看15～30分鐘就能告別ACT低分。我們會(huì)花上數(shù)小時(shí)溫習(xí)要在句子的哪個(gè)地方加逗號，或者勾股定理該如何應(yīng)用。此后，我們終于能關(guān)掉燈昏昏沉沉入睡了。接著六小時(shí)之后，我們又要把所有這些再重來一遍。

這就是許多高二學(xué)生的日常生活概況。對于那些正讀這篇文章的高二學(xué)生，我對你們深表同情。要知道幾個(gè)月后，這一切都會(huì)結(jié)束的。對于那些走過高二的讀者，祝賀你們挺了過來。而對那些即將步入高二的讀者們……嗯……祝你們好運(yùn)。

在高一的新生健康課上，老師告訴我們青少年每晚至少需要8～9小時(shí)的睡眠。在烏托邦社會(huì)中，這是有可能的。可悲的是，面對課外活動(dòng)、ACT備考、課后運(yùn)動(dòng)和音樂、過多的家庭作業(yè)，以及要表現(xiàn)優(yōu)秀的壓力，高二的學(xué)生們不可能保持這一睡眠作息。盡管我們正在成長的身心渴望著每晚九小時(shí)的睡眠，可我們卻沒有時(shí)間。

我來問你們一個(gè)問題：給青少年每晚布置大概兩小時(shí)的作業(yè)，不是更加人性化嗎？這樣在除了學(xué)校的漫長一天、早晨6點(diǎn)的網(wǎng)球練習(xí)、音樂課程、ACT備考、機(jī)器人俱樂部或者運(yùn)動(dòng)之外，我們還能擁有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的休息時(shí)間。兩小時(shí)的家庭作業(yè)就可以讓我們得到那夢寐以求并且急需的8～9個(gè)小時(shí)的睡眠。讓高二學(xué)生每晚做五小時(shí)作業(yè)，幾乎不給他們留休息時(shí)間，致使他們的睡眠時(shí)間縮短，難道這樣更好嗎？一個(gè)人只要神志清醒，就該選擇前者。青少年需要更多睡眠。社會(huì)未來的成功取決于改變讓我們的青少年埋頭苦學(xué)并剝奪其睡眠的這些壞習(xí)慣。

在我看來，高中的第二年是段成長的時(shí)期。到了高二，很多學(xué)生已經(jīng)有能力去進(jìn)行批判性地思考，并解決具有挑戰(zhàn)性的問題。與同伴和父母的分離可能在我們準(zhǔn)備上大學(xué)時(shí)就開始了。高二目前的安排令人不安且效率低下。學(xué)生們不該疲憊地拖著腳步地走進(jìn)教室，或者在清晨的物理課上打盹。我確實(shí)認(rèn)為翻轉(zhuǎn)課堂實(shí)際上意味著要翻轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)間表，這樣我們便能在家睡覺，在校學(xué)習(xí)。我覺得我們需要把睡眠置于作業(yè)之上。沒錯(cuò)，作業(yè)對學(xué)生的發(fā)展至關(guān)重要。不過我們真的需要每晚花費(fèi)無數(shù)個(gè)小時(shí)來做作業(yè)嗎？讓我們改變一下，改變高二吧。

1. packet [?p?k?t] n. 小包裹，這里是復(fù)習(xí)資料包。

2. Pythagorean theorem： 畢達(dá)哥拉斯定理，即勾股定理。畢達(dá)哥拉斯是古希臘數(shù)學(xué)家，人們認(rèn)為他是有記載的第一個(gè)證明勾股定理的人，因此以他的名字命名。

3. snapshot [?sn?p??t] n. 大致印象；簡況

4. crave [kre?v] vt. 渴望，渴求

5. down time： 不工作的時(shí)間，即休息時(shí)間。

6. coveted [?k?v?t?d] adj. 人人向往的

7. decrease [d??kri?s] vt. 使減少

8. deprive [d??pra?v] vt. 剝奪；使喪失

9. lumber [?l?mb?（r）] vi. （緩慢而笨拙地）挪動(dòng)，移動(dòng)

10. doze off： （尤指在白天）打瞌睡，打盹兒

11. flip [fl?p] vt. 翻轉(zhuǎn)。flip the classroom： 翻轉(zhuǎn)課堂。翻轉(zhuǎn)課堂（flipped classroom）是一種教學(xué)模式，指重新調(diào)整課堂內(nèi)外的時(shí)間，將學(xué)習(xí)的決定權(quán)從教師轉(zhuǎn)移給學(xué)生。在這種教學(xué)模式下，學(xué)生能夠利用課堂內(nèi)的寶貴時(shí)間，主動(dòng)進(jìn)行基于項(xiàng)目的學(xué)習(xí)，共同研究解決本地化或全球化的挑戰(zhàn)以及現(xiàn)實(shí)世界面臨的其他問題。教師不再占用課堂時(shí)間來講授信息，這些信息需要學(xué)生在課前完成自主學(xué)習(xí)，他們可以看視頻講座、聽播客、閱讀功能增強(qiáng)的電子書，還能在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上與別的同學(xué)討論，能在任何時(shí)候去查閱需要的材料。在課后，學(xué)生自主規(guī)劃學(xué)習(xí)內(nèi)容、學(xué)習(xí)節(jié)奏，而教師則采用講授法和協(xié)作法來滿足學(xué)生的需要、促成他們的個(gè)性化學(xué)習(xí)，幫助他們通過實(shí)踐掌握知識。endprint