We now think of chocolate as sweet, but once it was bitter. We think of it as a candy, but once it was a medicine. Today, chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or just a snack. Sometimes it is an ingredient in the main course of a meal. Mexicans make a hot chocolate sauce called mole and pour it over chicken. The Mexicans also eat chocolate with spices like chili peppers. Chocolate is a product of the tropical cacao tree. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys say "Ugh!" and run away. Workers must first dry and then roast the beans. This removes the bitter taste. The word "chocolate" comes from a Mayan word. The Mayas were an ancient people who once lived in Mexico. They valued the cacao tree. Some used the beans for money, while others crushed them to make a drink. When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they started drinking cacao too. Because the drink was strong and bitter, they thought it was a medicine. No one had the idea of adding sugar. The Spaniards took some beans back to Europe and opened cafes. Wealthy people drank cacao and said it was good for the digestion.      In the 1800s, the owner of a chocolate factory in England discovered that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao. It quickly became a cheap and popular drink. Soon afterwards, a factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate. Later on, another factory mixed milk and chocolate together. People liked the taste of milk chocolate even better.      Besides the chocolate candy bar, one of the most popular American snacks is the chocolate chip cookie. Favorite desserts are chocolate cream pie and of course an ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce. It can be inferred from the passage that  _  . A) chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or a candy bar B) Mexicans like chocolate very much C) chocolate is a product of the cacao tree D) people liked the taste of chocolate mixed with milk
B

When people imagine a classroom, they usually think of older people teaching younger ones. But when it comes to learning about high-technology devices, the opposite can often be true. A training program called the 50 Plus Center in the eastern American city of Columbia, Maryland offers free technology classes to adults over 50. The training program also offers many other kinds of lectures from Qigong and Tai Chi to yoga and Latin jam dance. There are a lot of exercise programs including playing cards and physical exercises where many people just relax and spend some time together. Myra Stafford is 73 years old. She signed up for the class to learn how to use her iPad. She is learning quickly with the help of the young and she enjoys learning from them. She says she is more confident today than she was before. Working with young people makes her feel wonderful because they don't make her feel that she is old or dumb. Eleven-year-old Zhion Perekins is a teacher of the technology class. He says some of the older adults know nothing about high-technology devices and they are very anxious, so patience is very important when working with them. He gains more than just social skills from teaching older residents. He has learned a lot on how to communicate with people. He used to be a shy person, but now he has become outgoing. There is a huge growing population over 60. The training program offers an opportunity for the old people to buy products online using high-technology devices. As senior citizens get more excited about what they want to buy, it is likely that they will go into the market and buy it, so that could lead to an increase in economy. What's the best title for the text? A) A program called the 50 Plus Center B) Teens teach the old about high-technology C) How to help the senior citizens shop online D) The old learn to use high-technology devices
B

Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people,but I also explain that there's a big difference between "being a writer" and writing.In most cases these people are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. "You've got to want to write, "I say to them, "not want to be a writer". The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coat Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no hope at all.What I did have was a friend who found me a room in a New York apartment building.It didn't even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom.I immediately bought a used typewriter and felt like a real writer. After a year or so.However, I still hadn't gotten a break and began to doubt myself.It was so hard to sell a story that I hardly made enough to eat.But I knew I wanted to write,l had dreamed about it for years.I wasn't going to be one _ I would keep putting my dream to the test--even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure.This is the _ of hope,and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. Why did the author begin to doubt himself after the first year of his writing career? A) He wasn't able to produce a single book. B) He hadn't seen a change for the better. C) He wasn't able to have a rest for a whole year. D) He found his dream would never come true.
