The word "day" has two meanings. When we talk about the number of days in a year, we are using "day" to mean 24 hours. But when we talk about day and night, we are using "day" to mean the time between sunrise and sunset. Since the earth looks like a ball, the sun can shine on only half of it at a time. Always one half of the earth is having day and the other half night. A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by the spinning of the earth. At the equator day and night are sometimes the same length. They are each twelve hours long. The sun rises at 6 in the morning and sets at 6 in the evening. For six months the North Pole is tilted toward the sun. In those months the Northern Hemisphere gets more hours of sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere. Days are longer than nights. South of the equator nights are longer than days. For the other six months the North Pole is tilted away from the sun. Then the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight. Days are longer than night. North of the equator nights are longer than days. Winter is the season of long nights. Summer is the season of long days. A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by _ of the earth. A) the pushing B) the pulling C) the spinning D) the passing
C
One day, our teacher talked about the stereotypes of different people. I learned the stereotypes of Mexicans: they are poor and lazy. I was ashamed of who I was because I am a Mexican and thought that it would be hard for me to be successful. One day in the eleventh grade, we had a discussion in history class. The kid next to me said, "You look like one of those Mexicans who sell food in the street." I told him that he was also a Mexican. He said, "I don't look as Mexican as you. I have light skin." That was the first time that I'd heard someone say, "I don't look as Mexican as you." Could it be that the people who succeed in this country are those who look like an American? Towards the end of the eleventh grade, I was asked to write a restaurant review. When I went to a restaurant, I saw the waiter talking to the chefs and thought they were judging me. I felt nervous but I couldn't leave because I had to write the review. Minutes later, the waiter stopped talking and took my order. He was happy to serve me. I started asking him questions about his restaurant and I guessed that he liked that because he gave me a free dish. After I left the restaurant, I thought, "That's wasn't bad at all." Not all people think of me as a failure. Now, I am running for the school president in my senior year. I am not sure if I can win, but I tell myself that if I want to be successful, I have to stop despising myself. I want to prove that Latinos can be successful. I do belong to the United States. An American is a person who overcomes struggles to become successful and that is what I'm doing. The author's experience of finishing his restaurant review helped him realize that _ A) he could succeed easily if he tried his best B) the waiters in America were all very friendly C) not everyone in American looked down on Mexicans D) he was actually popular with people around him
C
Q: Today, I'm going to talk about the invention of the camera and photography. The camera is often thought to be a modern invention. But as early as 1727, a German physicist discovered that light darkened silver salt, a chemical compound. Using as a camera, a big box with a small hole to let the light in, he made temporary images on the salt. Silver salt is still the base of film today. Then a French scientist made the first permanent picture by using a special piece of metal sensitized(...)with silver salt. A photograph he made in 1826 still exists. The painter Daguerre improved on the process by placing common salt, the kind we eat, on the metal. This was in 1839, the official date of the beginning of photography. But the problem was the printing of the photographs. And it was not until other scientists developed the kind of paper we now use that good printing was possible and photography became truly common. In the 1860s, Mathew Brady was able to take his famous pictures of the American Civil War, thus making portrait poses very popular. In the 20thcentury, George Eastmen of theprefix = st1 /United Statessimplified film-developing film, and Dr. Edwin Land invented the so-called instant camera with self-developing film. If we say that the photography came into existence in 1839, it follows that it has taken more than one hundred years for the camera to reach the present condition of technical refinement . What was the basis of photography? A) The invention of the camera. B) The discovery that light darkens silver salt. C) A small box with a hole to let in light. D) Temporary images made by a scientist.
A: B
Q: Geena David knew she wanted to be a movie star when she was very young. She was not sure what gave her the idea, but she wanted to look like a movie star. "I have a lot of pictures from my childhood of me wearing sunglasses," she says. "I used to wear them to watch TV." Early movie actors started wearing sunglasses not because they looked good, but because their eyes hurt. The lights used on movie sets were extremely bright and could cause a painful problem known as "Klieg eyes". It was named after the Klieg brothers who invented the lights. Actors wore sunglasses to give their eyes a rest. But when movie stars began wearing their sunglasses in public, they quickly became a must. Eventually actors started wearing sunglasses in their movies as well as on the street. Audrey Hephburn wore ultra-cool Ray-Ban sunglasses in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. As a result, Ray-Ban sunglasses started to appear more and more in the movies. In 1979, Ray-Ban "Wayfarers" were worn by Jake and Elwood in The Blue Brothers. Tom Cruise wore Ray-Ban "Aviator" sunglasses in the 1986 hit, Top Gun. Then in 1997, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made Ray-Ban "Predator" sunglasses famous in Men in Black. Of course sunglasses aren't just a fashion statement. The main reason to wear sunglasses is to protect our eyes against UV radiation. UV radiation can damage our eyes, so people now choose their sunglasses carefully. But you don't have to give up style for safety. The choice of frames and lenses available these days is huge. So you can protect your eyes and still be the coolest person on the beach. Early actors' eyes hurt because _ . A) they wore sunglasses B) they went out in the sun too much C) their scripts were written in very small writing D) the lights on movie sets were too bright
A: D