Thousands of elementary school teachers in California have been asked this summer to hold on to their lesson plans. 37 school districts throughout the state attempt to show that they are providing students with required exercise.

A lawsuit was recorded in October in San Francisco County Superior Court last school year. “School districts have been routinely ignoring the law,” said lawyer Donald Driscoll. “They give lip service to the idea that P.E. is important. The result is that kids don’t get enough exercise.”

Teachers have been asked to show that they are meeting state requirements for physical education. In addition to lunch and break, schools must offer kindergarten through sixth-grade students 200 minutes of physical education instruction for every 10 days of class, as required in the state Education Code.

Chad Fenwick, a former P.E. teacher, said he’s seen L.A. Unified make great progress in improving programs since he became the district advisor for elementary physical education in 2004. “We’re an extremely large district. To have everything perfect all at once, it takes time. We did have problems, but we’ve made huge gains,” Fenwick said. “It’s not an easy task. We’ve been taking a systematic approach and it’s working.”

In 2012, L.A. Unified’s obesity rate exceeded the national average, and while many middle and high schools met state P.E. standards, elementary classes had trouble keeping up. Many families may feel it’s unsafe to play outside in their neighborhoods, so exercise at school is especially critical, said Mariah Lafleur, a senior analyst at the consulting firm.

“Schools just have many competing advantages,” Lafleur said. “But we think allotting the time for P.E. will improve students’ attention spans and behavior so they’re able to be well-balanced kids.”

But Fenwick said, “People are afraid if you take kids out of the classroom for P.E., they’ll lose academic time and their [test] scores will go down, but the brain and the human body work more efficiently when you’re physically active and healthy.”

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1.What elementary schools in California were sued for?

A They gave empty promises to the parents.

B They have been used to ignoring the law.

C They didn’t know P.E. was important.

D They didn’t have enough P.E. lessons.

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据文章第二段School districts have been routinely ignoring the law可知，小学校区被告法庭的原因是他们无视教育法对小学体育课的规定。

2.What is required in state Education Code in terms of elementary schools?

A Lunches must be offered from kindergarten to sixth-graders.

B Pupils must have P.E. lessons after lunch break every day.

C Pupils must have 200-minute P.E. lessons every 10 school days.

D Teachers should meet state requirements for physical education.

解析：选C。C。细节理解题。根据文章第三段…schools must offer kindergarten through sixth-grade students 200 minutes of physical education instruction for every 10 days of class可知，教育法规定：每十个教学日中，小学生必须有200分钟的体育训练课。

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A It is hard to make everything perfect within a given time.

B The requirements can’t be met in a large school district.

C It’s not easy to create a systematic approach to physical education.

D Great progress has been made in elementary physical education.

解析：选D。D。推理判断题。根据文章第四段We did have problems, but we’ve made huge gains可以判断，洛杉矶小学联盟中的校区已经在小学体育课的执行中取得了很大的进步。

4.What does the underlined word most probably mean in Paragraph Six?

A Giving out.

B Concentrating on.

C Saving.

D Wasting.

解析：选A。A。猜测词义题。根据文章第六段will improve，结合前文语境可知，allot在此处意为“分配，划分”。拿出时间开体育课将提高学生的注意力，改变学生的行为习惯，这样他们才会发展均衡。

5.What was people afraid of according to Fenwick?

A The brain and the human body could work more efficiently.

B More P.E. time, less academic scores.

C The pupils could be physically active and healthy.

D It wasn’t safe to take kids out of classrooms to have P.E. lessons.

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据文章最后一段…they’ll lose academic time and their [test] scores will go down可知，家长们担心让学生上体育课会占用他们的学习时间，从而影响他们的学习成绩。