1 . A survey said the average Asian dad spent one minute a day with his children. I was shocked. I mean, a whole minute? Every day? Get real. Once a week maybe. The fact is, many Asian males are terrible at kid—related things. In fact, I am one of them.

Child—rearing (养育) doesn’t come naturally to guys. My mother knew the names of our teachers, best friends and crushes. My dad was only vaguely aware there were short people sharing the apartment. My mother bought healthy fresh food at the market every day. My dad would only go shopping when there was nothing in the fridge except a jar of capers and a bay leaf. Then he’d buy beer. My mother always knew the right questions to ask our teachers. My dad would ask my English teacher if she could get us a discount on school fees. My mother served kid food to kids. My dad added chili sauce to everything, including our baby food.

The truth is, mothers have superpowers. My son fell off a wall once and hurt himself all over. I demanded someone bring me a computer so I could google what to do. My wife ignored me and did some sort of chanting phrase such as “Mummy kiss it better,” and cured l7 separate injuries in less than 15 seconds.

Yes, mothers are incredible people, but they are not always right. Yet honesty forces me to record the fact that mothers only know best 99.99 percent of the time.Here are some famous slip-ups.

The mother of Bill Gates: “If you’re going to drop out of college and hang out with your nerdy friends, don’t come running to me when you find yourself penniless.” The mother of Albert Einstein: “When you grow up, you’ll find that sitting around thinking about the nature of time and space won’t pay the grocery bills.” The mother of George W. Bush: “You’ll never be like your dad, who became President of the United States and started his own war.”

1. The tone for the writer to write the passage is ___.

A．cruel

B．humorous

C．disapproving

D．critical(批评的)

2. In paragraph 2 the writer makes a comparison between mothers and fathers to prove that ______.

A．females love kids more than males	B．males are not good at child—rearing
C．Males are not interested in child-rearing	D．child-rearing is difficult both for females and males

3. What does the underlined word “slip-ups” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．stories

B．shortcomings

C．mistakes

D．advantages

4. The last paragraph is mainly developed by ___.

A．providing different examples	B．following the order of space
C．making comparisons	D．analyzing causes

2 . Hundreds of years ago, Native-American tribes lived in Mexico. The Aztecs built beautiful cities. They had a calendar (历法) and a written language. However, the Spanish destroyed the Aztecs in l521. For the next 300 years, Spain ruled over Mexico. That’s why Mexicans speak Spanish.
Every September l6 the Mexican people hold a celebration in Mexico City, their country’s capital. It is their Independence Day. On that date in 1821 they told Spain they would no longer be ruled. Breaking free from Spain caused a war. When it was over, the Mexicans had their own government. They made their own laws.
Today America and Mexico are friends, but it wasn’t always that way. President James Polk wanted America to reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He tried to buy what is now the American southwest from Mexico. Mexico would not sell. So from l846 to 1848 Mexico and America fought a war to ascertain where their borders would be. When the war ended, Mexico had lost a lot of land. Now the Rio Grande River forms the border between the two nations. America is on the north side of the river. Mexico is on the south side.
Mexico has mountains and a hot, dry climate. Crops can grow on only a small part of the land. Still, Mexicans grow much of the coffee, oranges, and sugar used in the US. Mexicans have influenced building styles in southwestern US and added words such as patio and canton to American English. Americans also enjoy eating many Mexican foods like burritos, tacos, tortillas, and tamales.
1. According to the passage, what happened second on historical timeline?

A．Mexicans declared their independence from Spain.

B．The Spanish ruled Mexico.

C．The Aztecs lived in Mexico.

D．Americans fought a war with Mexico.

2. The passage says that President Polk wanted ________.

A．the US to expand its borders to the Pacific Ocean

B．Mexico to change its Independence Day to July 4th

C．Mexico to become one of the states of the Union

D．Americans to adopt the Mexican language

3. Another word for the underlined word “ascertain” is ________.

A．inspect	B．cover
C．change	D．determine

4. Mexicans have the following influences on America EXCEPT ________.

A．building styles	B．vocabulary
C．clothes	D．food

5. Before the Aztecs were conquered(征服), these Native Americans probably ________.

A．didn’t speak Spanish

B．couldn’t read or write any language

C．didn’t have tools

D．didn’t understand the concept of time