It is easy for us to find that Mexico has so many neighbors. The United States is to the north while Guatemala and Belize are to the south. Mexico is about one quarter of the size of the United States with the population of more than ninety million people. The language of Mexico is Spanish, which makes Mexico the world's largest Spanish-speaking country. Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico. The city is also very high. It is 7349 feet high (2240 meters), making it one of the highest capital cities in the world. The population, of Mexico City grows bigger every day. About thirty million people live there. It has more people than any other city in the world, even more than Tokyo. Mexico also has its specialties. Many of the foods we eat started in Mexico such as beans, maize, avocados, tomatoes, peanuts, chili peppers, vanilla, and chocolate. Mexico is also famous for its cactus   plants and has more kinds of cactus than any other country. Mexicans speak  _  . A) English B) Spanish C) French D) Latin
A


Minimalism   is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features. As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life. When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn't take everything with me, but I kept asking myself "how could I possibly throw this away?", "what if I need it one day?", and "what about all of the memories?" Now that I've moved, and left that stuff behind, I don't even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now. I've learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it. You might think nostalgically  about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. 1've heard it a hundred times, "you don't need things to make you happy." It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is. Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It's about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don't have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don't need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I'll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.  _ There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don't really need? Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it's because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our... Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors "minimalism" in life? A) It takes the burden off her while she is moving. B) It reduces her attachment to her personal things. C) It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires. D) It helps her to realize how true life is.
D


Q: A fouryearold boy has become pen pals with Britain's Queen Elizabeth.Tom Stancombe started exchanging letters with the queen after he set free a balloon,carrying his name and address,at a school party and it landed in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The queen spotted the balloon and asked her personal assistant,Angela Kelly,to write a letter on her behalf. She wrote,"The queen was delighted to find that your balloon had traveled all the way to the gardens at Windsor Castle." Tom,who proudly put the letter on his wall,wrote back to say that his great,great grandfather,the artist Petrus Johannes Arundzen,had been commissioned   to copy Dutch masters' on display at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Angela at once replied that she would contact the Royal Collection to find out what had happened to the art works.She kept her word and two weeks later wrote to Tom to tell him what had happened to the  _ ,explaining they now form part of the print collection in the Print Library. Angela then asked a favor of Tom,writing,"Would you be able to ask your Mummy and Daddy for me if they know anything more about your great,great grandfather.Royal Collection would love to know more about him." Along with his parents,Tom wrote back to fill in all the gaps about Petrus Johannes Arundzen. Although Tom's parents don't think there will be any more letters exchanged between the pair,they were touched that she had taken time to contact them. Tom's father said,"I don't expect we'll get another one,but I think it's incredible they bothered replying at all." Windsor Castle is  _  . A) a playing ground B) the queen's home C) a post office D) a rose garden
A: B


Every day my husband parked his car in the same open-air car park in Zimbabwe. On this particular day, he had been running to his car with a pile of office papers under his arm. As he opened the car door, he suddenly lost control of his body. He felt a stabbing pain in his arm, and became totally breathless and lost consciousness. As he fell down, half in, half out of the car, his last thought was "what a way to die". A young woman getting into her own car in the deserted car park noticed what was going on and at once ran to my husband's aid, trying to bring his life back. Realizing time was important, she tried to move my husband to her car, calling the guard at the gate. Fearing an ambulance would take too long to arrive, she felt it better to get to the hospital as quickly as she could. She raced through traffic lights sounding her car's horn and rushed into the hospital, calling out, "I have an unknown man here who I think is having a heart attack. Having realized he was in capable hands, the woman returned to the car park, found his keys on the ground, collected his papers and piled them in the car. Having seen my husband come out of a certain building each day, the security guard thought he knew where he worked. The young woman managed to locate his colleagues and they in turn contacted my niece, who waited for me to return home so she could break the news to me. After careful tests it turned out that my husband's disease had nothing to do with heart. We were naturally eager to find the kind stranger who had come to his aid. After some weeks we discovered where the young woman worked. She was overjoyed when my husband walked into her office with a huge bouquet of flowers. She said she required no thanks, and preferred to remain anonymous  . We now live in a different country, but each Christmas my husband remembers her act of kindness and sends a gift. We regard every day of his life as a bonus, all thanks to this kind stranger. From the passage, we can infer that   _  . A) a heart attack hit the writer's husband suddenly B) there were few people in the park that day C) the young woman was at a loss at first D) the woman was fined for breaking the traffic lights

B