单选题   Latino youths need better education for Arizona to take full advantage of the possibilities their exploding population offers. Arizona's fast-growing Latino population offers the state tremendous promise and a challenge. Even more than the aging of the baby boomers, the Latino boom is fundamentally reorienting the state's economic and social structure.
    Immigration and natural increase have added 600,000 young Latino residents to the state's population in the past decade. Half of the population younger than 18 in both Phoenix and Tucson is now Latino. Within 20 years, Latinos will make up half of the homegrown entry-level labour pool in the state's two largest labour markets.
    What is more, Hispanics are becoming key economic players. Most people don't notice it, but Latinos born in Arizona make up much of their immigrant parents' economic and educational deficits. For example, second-generation Mexican-Americans secure an average of 12 grades of schooling where their parents obtained less than nine. That means they erase 70 percent of their parents' lag behind third-generation non-Hispanic Whites in a single generation.
    All of this hands the state a golden opportunity. At a time when many states will struggle with labour shortages because of modest population growth, Arizona has a priceless chance to build a populous, hardworking and skilled workforce on which to base future prosperity. The problem is that Arizona and its Latino residents may not be able to seize this opportunity. Far too many of Ari zona's Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education needed for more advanced study. As a result, educational deficits are holding back many Latinos—and the state as well. To be sure, construction and low-end service jobs continue to absorb tens of thousands of Latino immigrants with little formal education. But over the long term, most of Arizona's Latino citizens remain ill-prepared to prosper in an increasingly demanding knowledge economy.
    For the reason, the educational uplift of Arizona's huge Latino population must move to the centre of the state's agenda. After all, the education deficits of Arizona's Latino population will severely cramp the fortunes of hardworking people if they go unaddressed and could well undercut the state's ability to compete in the new economy. At the entry level, slower growth rates may create more competition for low-skill jobs, displacing Latinos from a significant means of support. At the higher end, shortages of Latinos educationally ready to move up will make it that much harder for knowledge-based companies staff high-skill positions.
单选题     The Latino population is changing Arizona's ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节题。根据第一段最后一句the Latino boom is fundamentally reorienting the state's economic and social structure可知拉丁裔生育高峰期对亚利桑那州经济结构的重新调整更具有影响力。因此，正确答案是C。
单选题     What can be inferred from the third paragraph?
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推断题。文章第三段提到西班牙裔和墨西哥裔的美国人，但是并不等于拉丁裔由这两部分人群构成，所以排除A选项；C选项的内容并未提及；D选项中的educational system概念并未在第三段中出现。而B项题干中的first-generation Latinos are immigrants是对原文immigrant parents的同义转述，说明第一代的拉丁裔美国人是移民。因此，正确答案是B。
单选题     The underlined part 'educational deficits' (Para. 4) most probably means that ______.
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推断题。由前一句Far too many of Arizona's Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education needed for more advanced study可知很多拉丁裔人高中辍学，或者未能接受深造所需要的基础教育，说明拉丁裔未受到良好教育。因此，正确答案是D。
单选题     According to the author, Arizona should give highest priority to ______.
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。根据最后一段the educational up lift of Arizona's huge Latino population must move to the centre of the state's agenda可知必须把提升亚利桑那州大量拉丁裔人口的教育水平提到州议事日程的核心位置。题干中的give highest priority和原文move to the centre互为对应点。因此，正确答案是B。
单选题     It is implied that, in the long run, most Latinos in Arizona will ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推断题。根据最后一段At the entry level, slower growth rates may create more competition for low-skill jobs, displacing Latinos from a significant means of support可知缓慢的增长率会导致技术含量低的岗位竞争更为激烈，也就是说从长远来看拉丁裔只能从事一些技术要求不高的工作。所以答案应该是C。