阅读理解。
Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime "business
hours" are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week
have become irrelevant (不相关的). A half century ago in the United States, most people experienced dividing
lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the boundaries (界限) are
still present, but they seem not clear.
The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used
to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer, in most, it still does. And whether the work week
should strengthen (加强) its legal limits (法律限制), or whether it should become more "practical" is often
discussed. How should we, as a society, arrange our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the
boundaries of time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other?
These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we seldom care about the "law of
time" even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to attend school a certain number
of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years - but unless we meet the truant officer (督学),
we may well think that we should go to school due to social custom( 习惯) and parents' demand (要求) rather
than to the law. As adults we are used to "extra (额外的) pay for overtime working", but less used to the fact
that "overtime" is a matter of legal definition. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight-saving time,
have we ever thought to ourselves; "Here is the law in action"? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has
great influence on how to arrange and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving
law-as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin
to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess (评价).
1. What does "in most, it no longer does." in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Most states require stores to be open on Sunday now.
B. Most states do not require stores to close on Sunday now.
C. Stores are no longer open on Sunday in most of the states now.
D. Stores no longer close on Sunday in most of the states now.
2. The writer's questions in Paragraph 2 are to introduce the fact that people _____.
A. fail to make full use of their time
B. enjoy working overtime for extra pay
C. do not care about the law of time
D. welcome practical working hours
3. According to the passage, most children go to school because they _____.
A. need to learn knowledge
B. have to listen to their parents
C. need to make good friends
D. have to practice the law
4. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Our life is decided by the law of time.
B. How to arrange time is not worth discussing.
C. New ways of using time change our society.
D. Time arrangement is decided by social customs.
