新西兰英语 423 Schools share sites in Christchurch

　　Thirty-four schools in Christchurch have a red sticker which means¹ the school is badly damaged and not safe. Nearly all schools are now open but for most of those 34, it means sharing with another school – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The Ministry² of Education pays for buses to take students from the damaged school to another school. Some schools now start before 8am and finish around 1pm. They have a half-hour break in the middle of the morning. The next school uses the same buildings but starts after 1pm and finishes around 6pm. These are all high schools.
Students have four hours of lessons a day instead of five hours. Many schools were closed for four or five weeks after the earthquake. Parents and teachers are worried about how students can catch up the classes that were missed. Students will probably have more homework and teachers may use rooms like the library and music room to teach extra classes. Some schools are thinking about shorter school holidays.
Burnside High School is the biggest school in Christchurch with 2,200 students but it has room for 3,000 students. Avonside Girls’ High school, which has 1,200 students, is using their buildings in the afternoon but there is space for senior³ students at both schools to have extra classes – Avonside seniors⁴ in the morning and Burnside seniors in the afternoon.
Some intermediate⁵ schools also have to share buildings. One school is sending Year 7 students to an intermediate school in the north and Year 8 to an intermediate school in the west.
Catholic⁶ schools are sharing with other Catholic schools. In one case, a girls’ high school will share with a boys’ high school in the north. A co-ed high school is sharing with a boys’ high school in the west.
For some schools, this arrangement may only be for a few months. For other schools which need new classrooms and new sewer⁷ pipes, the sharing may continue all year.
Questions
Although sharing school facilities is new to New Zealand, many countries are used to this. What are the advantages for the tax payer? Are there any advantages for students, teachers and families? What are the disadvantages?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex schools?
Vocabulary:
A school site is a piece of ground with school buildings on it. A building site is a piece of ground which will be used for a building.
Co-ed means co-educational – both boys and girls. Most high schools and primary schools are co-ed. The first high schools in Christchurch were single sex – Christchurch Girls’ High School (1877) and Christchurch Boys’ High Schools (1881) –but schools established more recently are co-ed.

1 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 senior   

adj.年长的；资格较老的，地位较高的；n.年长者，前辈；大学高年级学生

参考例句：

• My brother is senior to me by two years.我哥哥比我年长两岁。
• They are senior students.他们是高年级学生。

4 seniors   

n.高年级学生( senior的名词复数 )；毕业班学生；较年长者；老资格者

参考例句：

• We should not set light by the advice of our seniors. 对于长辈的规劝，我们不应轻视。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The seniors are planning to have a gathering. 这些毕业班学生计划聚会一次。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 intermediate   

adj.中间的，居间的，中级的；n.中间体，媒介物

参考例句：

• This country is now at an intermediate stage of development.这个国家目前正处于发展的中间阶段。
• Gray is intermediate between black and white.灰色介于黑色和白色之间。

6 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

7 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。