Over the past two decades America's broken immigration system has confounded one Congress after another, because it never seemed possible to create a law that satisfied the right balance of interests. But some Republicans changed their minds after the 2012 presidential election, when Mitt Romney took just 27% of the Latino vote. It did not take a brilliant strategist to understand the threat; Latinos were growing in number, were increasingly likely to vote, and were turning away from Republicans in droves. Last June, 14 Republicans in the Senate joined the majority Democrats to pass a comprehensive immigration-reform bill. The effort stalled when the Republican-led House of Representatives said it would not take up the measure. But last week it roared back to life when John Boehner, the House Speaker, issued a brief memo to his caucus outlining principles for reform. Although short on specifics, in most respects Mr. Boehner's note echoes the Senate bill. It calls for a secure border, biometrics to track comers and goers, and a digitized system for employers to check the immigration status of workers. It urges the allocation of visas to suit the demands of American firms. It says that most of the 1.5m "Dreamers" (illegal immigrants brought to America as children) should be allowed to become citizens. How the ground has shifted: only three years ago Senate Republicans put a Dream Act to death. These provisions are not universally loved—many think America already spends too much money keeping people out—but they can command support from both parties in Congress. That may not apply to the knottiest part of reform: what to do about America's 11m-12m illegal immigrants, two-thirds of whom have lived in the country for over a decade. The Senate bill would allow most undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship after paying back-taxes, displaying English proficiency, passing a background check and so forth. That, though, was too much for House Republicans to stomach, so Mr. Boehner proposes merely to remove the threat of deportation from those who can satisfy a similar laundry list; there will, he says, be "no special path to citizenship".
单选题
We can learn from the first paragraph that ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：选项A对应第一段第二句：But some Republicans changed their minds after the 2012 presidential election, when Mitt Romney took just 27％ of the Latino vote. 由此可以推断Mitt Romney是总统选举的候选人，故选项A表述正确。选项B则原文没有提及，原文只是提到“broken immigration system”，而没有提到“law system”，故该项错误。选项C对应该段最后一句：Latinos were growing in number, were increasingly likely to vote, and were turning away from Republicans in droves. 该句指出拉丁美洲裔厌恶共和党，而C项却说大多数美国人厌恶共和党，显然这是对原文的过度夸大，故错误。选项D，Mitt Romney能成为完美总统，属于对定位句对原文的主观臆断和无中生有。
单选题
According to Paragraph 2, which one is NOT true?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：选项A对应第二段第一、二句：...immigration-reform bill. The effort stalled... 其中stall一词表示“搁置，暂缓”，由此可见选项A的表述是正确的，其中“stalled”=“postponed”。选项B对应最后一句：John Boehner, the House Speaker, issued a brief memo to his caucus outlining principles for reform. 原文提到的是“outlining principles for reform(概述改革原则)”，而不是该项说的“made specific details(列出具体细节)”，故该项表述错误。选项C对应该段第二句：The effort stalled when the Republican—led House of Representatives said it would not take up the measure. 其中“would not take up the measure(不采取措施)”对应该项的“rejected reform(拒绝改革)”，故该项正确。选项D对应该段首旬的“joined the majority Democrats to pass a comprehensive immigration-reform bill,”可见大多数民主党人赞成通过移民改革法案，故该项表述正确。综上所述，答案为选项B。
单选题
Boehner's memo responds to the Senate Bill in all aspects EXCEPT ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：根据题干中的“Boehner”，“Senate Bill”定位到第三段第一句，其中“memo”=“note”：“responds to”=“echoes”。第二句的“It calls for a secure border”对应选项A，emphasizing Security issue(强调安全问题)。第三句“It urges the allocation of visas to suit the demands of American firms"对应选项B，meeting the need of companies(符合公司要求)。第四句“It says that most of the 1.5m‘Dreamers’should be allowed to become citizens”对应选项D，allowing Dreamers to become Americans(允许梦想家成为美国公民)。而C项对应的是最后一句：only three years ago Senate Republicans put a Dream Act to death．该句所描述的是3年前的事情，并非如今Boehner回应Senate Bill的做法，故该题答案为选项C。
单选题
The thorniest problem of reform is how to ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：题干中“the thorniest problem of reform(改革最棘手的问题)”对应第四段第三行“the knottiest part of reform(改革最困难的部分)”，故该题答案来自原文the knottiest part of reform之后，即冒号后面的内容。该句的“what to do about America's 11—12m illegal immigrants”即为该题答案。四个选项中，与之相近的是B选项deal with millions of illicit immigrants。其中，“do about”对应“deal with”；“11—12m”对应“millions of”；“illegal immigrants”对应“illicit immigrants”。A选项make the illegal immigrants legal属于主观臆断。
单选题
To become an American citizen, undocumented immigrants have to do all EXCEPT ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】解析：根据题干中的“undocumented immigrants”定位到最后一段第一行。其中“to become an American citizen”对应“apply for citizenship”；“have to do…”对应原文的“after…”这一部分。故答案来自原文的这部分内容：...after paying back-taxes, displaying English proficiency, passing a background check…其中“paying back-taxes”对应选项B，paying required duties：“displaying English proficiency”对应选项C，mastering English well；“passing a background check”对应选项A，having a clean record。其中passing a background check表示“通过背景调查”，而having a clean record表示“无不良记录，历史背景清白”。故原文没提到的是选项D，owning social background(拥有社会背景)。