“In my day, we had to walk a mile to school—uphill, both ways.” That may sound like an old joke. Today, only 13 percent of kids walk to school, down from 66 percent 30 years ago.
Studies show that fewer children are walking and biking to school, and more children are at risk of becoming overweight. Changing behaviors of children and parents require creative ways that are safe and fun.
A walking school bus can be both.
It works like a bus, picking up ‘passengers’ along the way at designated(指定的) ‘bus stops’ except everyone is walking!
The Walking School Bus works as a supervised group of children walking to and from school along a safe and enjoyable set route. There are at least two parents in a group. One parent ‘drives’ at the front of the bus, while the other parent supervises at the back. The same of different supervisors go with the children to and from school. Additional(增加的) parents may be needed depending on the walking environment.
The ‘bus’ can go as often as parents want to ‘drive’ it and children want to use it. This means that it can even work as little as one morning or afternoon each week. All children are welcome to join the bus even if their parents cannot be drivers. And the service is free.
Socially, it’s great because the children meet other children, otherwise they would only know by sight.
“My children have formed some good friendships because of the Walking Bus. The parents get to know other parents too!” a parent said. “From our experience of the Walking Bus, it has only been a meaningful thing. It gets all of us walking more and the children do not complain about walking like they used to. ”
Some kids said compared to walking school bus, it’s boring in a car when they were asked why not get into a car.
Besides these, it might have a good effect on heavy traffic.
小题1:How many students walked to school 30 years ago?
A．66 percent.
B．13 percent.
C．30 percent.
D．53 percent.小题2:What does the underlined word “supervised” mean in the passage?
A．controlled
B．explored
C．required
D．improved小题3:What can the Walking School Bus NOT do to help the children __________.
A．make more friends
B．reduce the risk of being overweight
C．exercise more
D．complain about walking小题4:The best title of this passage is “__________”.
A．A new way to exercise
B．A new school bus
C．A walking school bus
D．Parents’ driving school bus
