Inarecentnewsreport,Atlanta'scityofficialsannouncedp...

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In a recent news report, Atlanta's city officials announced plans to carry out a long-standing teen curfew（宵禁）. "I want everyone in the City of Atlanta, especially our young people, to enjoy the summer months," Mayor Kasim Reed said in the statement. "At the same time, it is vital that we keep everyone safe."

But Mike Males, a researcher with the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, said, "There’s pretty much（幾乎）no question that the laws aren’t effective in either reducing crime or preventing harm to young people."

Curfews have been around for a long time. By the mid-1990s, the U.S. Conference of Mayors found 70 percent of nearly 350 cities surveyed had some sort of nighttime curfew. The majority of cities considered the curfew effective.

Males is one of the leading researchers in the effectiveness of teen curfews. In a widely referenced 1998 paper on the impact of curfews in California, Males and co-author Dan Macallair found curfews "had no discernible effect on youth crime" based on a statistical analysis of cities carrying out the laws. Males’ research is supported by a popular survey of studies on curfews published in 2003 by criminal justice researcher Kenneth Adams, who also found scant evidence that the laws accomplished what most people believed they did.

But a more recent attempt to measure the effectiveness of curfews comes from University of California at Berkley economist Patrick Kline. With curfews, Kline said the punishments for curfew-breakers result in a decline in youth crime of up to 10 percent.

Kline’s paper has been picked up across the country by curfew supporters, but Males said the study has significant shortcomings. For example, Kline does not compare cities that have curfews with similar cities without curfews to see whether crime is declining generally.

While Males and other researchers agree that curfews do not lower youth crime, they also admit their conclusions rest on relatively few studies.

5. What may Mike Males agree with?

A. Teen curfews help reduce crime.

B. Teen curfews aren’t as effective as expected.

C. Curfew-breakers should be punished.

D. More studies should be carried out on teen curfews.

6. The underlined word “scant” in the fourth paragraph is closest in meaning to _________.

A. little B. direct C. clear D. good

7. According to the text, Males’ findings about teen curfews ________.

A. were published in 2003 B. came after Kline’s

C. received wide recognition D. were based on limited studies

8. The text is mainly about _________.