英語閱讀強化訓練：The School of the Future

　　最近，在美國費城，一所“未來學校”開學了。那么它跟我們傳統的學校有什么區別呢？

　　The fast development of technology has made many changes in our daily life. For the students in a public high school in Philadelphia, the change is really great. Their so-called “The School of the Future” opened recently with the help of Microsoft Corp. The combination(結合) of the latest technology and teaching methods makes it the focus in the world.

　　It took the School District of Philadelphia $ 63 million to build the “one of the most advanced high schools”. It is free and has no entrance exams. All the 170 students were picked by an open lottery from 1,500 applicants（申請者）. 95% of the students are blacks and about 85% are from low income(收入) families.

　　In the school, the students still sit in classrooms, but they work on their laptops. Instead of textbooks, their lessons rely mostly on information found on the Internet. Students can learn at their own steps. They do their homework on computers and send it to the teachers for marking. Parents can check their children's study on the Net at home.

　　The School of the Future is not out of reach. The CEO of the school district said, “This is how school of today can and should be designed and developed to prepare students for life and work.”