For middle and primary school students, being able to cook has become a must. They will also need to learn how to plant vegetables, raise poultry (家禽) and maintain home appliances (维修家用电器) under new requirements for labor (劳动) education.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) introduced a new standard for labor education in schools. Starting from the 2022 autumn term, students in primary and middle schools have to take courses on labor skills at least once a week.

The new standard includes three types of labor tasks. The first includes basic life skills like everyday household chores, including cleaning, cooking, using and maintaining home appliances. The next is industry and agriculture labor practice, including new technologies like 3D printing, and traditional craft (工艺) learning. The third type is service work such as community volunteer services.

Schools in China have traditionally placed more focus on studying, and many have regarded household chores as a waste of children’s time. But according to the MOE, labor education must be built up to help students enrich their life experience, develop a positive view of labor, value hard work, and develop an interest in labor.

Online people have been busy discussing the new standards on social media.

Li Ting, a mother of 6-year-old twins in Shanghai strongly supports labor education. For the past year, she has trained her daughters to do chores and make simple dishes for the family.

“The main idea is to let kids share responsibility and become independent as early as they can,” said Wang Peng, a father from Guangdong.

“Children’s hand-eye coordination (协调), time management and organization skills can be trained by doing housework,” said Sun Yunxiao, a parenting expert.

They all agree that children will find fun in doing chores through such education.

【小题1】What can a ninth-grade student learn through labor education?
a. How to plant vegetables.               b. How to raise chickens or ducks.
c. How to be more careful in class.       d. How to repair computers or fridges.

A．abc

B．acd

C．bcd

D．abd

【小题2】The meaning of the underlined word “enrich” in Paragraph 4 is “________”.

A．achieve

B．teach

C．improve

D．value

【小题3】What does Sun Yunxiao think of labor education?

A．It helps students enrich life experience.

B．It helps students manage their time better.

C．It takes up too much of students’ free time.

D．It lets students share responsibility and become independent.

【小题4】What is this passage mainly about?

A．People’s opinions on labor education.

B．Labor education for primary and middle school students.

C．New technological skills used in primary and middle schools.

D．New courses of household chores for primary school students.