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 che 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 cs now Latino. Within 20 years. Latinos will make up half of the homegrown entry-level labor pool in the state's two largest labor 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 lessthan nine. That means they erase 70 percent of their parents' lag behind third-generation non-Hispanic Whites in a single generation.

　　A11 of chis hands the state a golden opportunity. At a time when many states will struggle with labor shortages because of modest population growth. Arizona has a priceless chance m 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 Arizona's Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education needed for more advanced study. As a result,educational deficits areholding 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 tern. 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 center 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.1. The Latino population is changing Arizona's__________________.

　　A) aging problem

　　B) educational system

　　C) economic structure

　　D) financial deficits

　　2. What can be inferred from the third paragraph?

　　A) The Latino population in Arizona is made up of Hispanics and Mexican-Americans.

　　B) The first-generation Latinos are immigrants instead of being born in America.

　　C) 70 percent of the first-generation Latinos had less schooling than nine years.

　　D) The educational system used to be in favor of the non-Hispanic Whites.

　　3. "Educational deficits" (Line 7. Para. 4) most probably means that______________.

　　A) the state did not put much money into education

　　B) many Latinos are too poor to obtain education

　　C) education is not a profitable enterprise

　　D) many Latinos are not well-educated

　　4. According to the author. Arizona should give highest priority to________________.

　　A) controlling the Latino population

　　B) enhancing the educational level of the Latino population

　　C) improving the knowledge-based economy

　　D) building the Latino population into hardworking and skilled workforce

　　5. It is implied that in the long run most Latinos in Arizona will_______________.

　　A) be jobless

　　B) be badly-paid

　　C) do low-skill jobs

　　D) do high-skill jobs