浙江省台州市天台县2018-2019学年九年级上学期英语期末考试试卷

    It was Saturday, and Mindy was getting ready for her twelfth birthday party. In just three 1, all of her friends would arrive with presents and excitement. Every year, Mindy and her mom made a fresh cake on the day of her birthday party. 2, she waited for her mom in the kitchen.

    Mindy's mother came into the kitchen and took her apron (围裙) from a hook on the wall. 3 putting it on, she lifted it over Mindy's head.

    "Mindy, I think you're 4 enough to make the cake yourself this year. Remember what we say?"

    "Yes ... I guess..."

    "OK. Now, go ahead and start. I'm going to 5 the balloons." With that, Mindy's mom left Mindy alone in the kitchen.

    6, Mindy made the cake herself. Then she put the pan into the oven and set the temperature.

    When the cake came out, though, 7 seemed wrong. Mindy tried to stick a toothpick (牙签) into it, just as her mother always did. 8 the toothpick wouldn't go through. The cake was almost as hard as a rock!

    "9 is that? I was so careful! I measured（测量）the baking soda exactly," Mindy was very upset. "I did exactly what I was 10 to."

    "Baking soda? Oh, dear, that's the 11! You were expected to use baking powder."

    Mindy began to 12. "I'm sorry, Mom. I tried so hard."

    Mindy's mom gave her a big 13. "I'm the one who is really sorry. I was hard on you and I 14 too much. Now, let's try again. This time, we'll do it together."

    "Thank you so much, Mom! Today, I have 15 time to try a second time, but I will." A big smile appeared on Mindy's face.

    A few weeks ago, I joined in a camping trip at Pitt Lake. I spent three days and two nights there.

    It was a new experience for me, so I was both nervous and excited at first. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, so we got off to a good start. As there were so many campers – including both coaches and students – we had one big canoe (独木舟) and one smaller canoe. I chose to be in the smaller canoe with my friend Mitra, but we soon found that this was not a wise choice. In order to keep up with the bigger canoe, all of us had to paddle (划桨) hard. My arms quickly became sore and my hands became numb (麻木的). To take our minds off the pain, Mitra and I played "20 Questions" while paddling. In this game, one person thinks of an object and the other person asks 20 questions to work out what the object is. We had a good laugh before we finally arrived at the campsite.

    We started a campfire soon after we arrived. At night, we got together around the fire, enjoying food and listening to scary stories. Some of the other campers put their wet shoes and socks beside the fire to dry. However, because of the wind, one pair of socks almost caught fire. Everyone panicked (惊慌) – one person got so scared that he fell out of his folding chair. Everyone thought it was pretty funny!

    The time flew quickly. Soon, it was time to go back. We didn't want to leave and agreed that we would hang out together again sometime soon.

    Chinese buyers used to hold the opinion that products made by American or European companies were of higher quality (质量) than Chinese ones. Increasingly, that's no longer the case.

    "Chinese people born before 1985 generally think that foreign brands are better than Chinese ones," William Li, a market researcher told Business Insider during a recent interview on CCTV 9. "But for those who were born after 1985, it is a different picture."

    "When I first went to the United Kingdom in 1997, I thought that the difference between China and Europe was quite big," Li said. "But for those born in the 1990s, when they visit Europe or the US, they do not think there is a big difference."

    The change in thinking among Chinese buyers is showing up in many markets in China where western companies used to control. A study by Credit Suisse published in March found that young Chinese buyers are increasingly showing a home brand bias.

    More than 90% of young Chinese buyers would prefer to buy home brands, according to the study. At the same time, home companies producing food, drinks, or personal care products increased their share of the market by 3.3% over the last ten years to nearly 70%.

    "Chinese buyers, especially the younger ones, don't just believe that foreign brands are better. Right now, Chinese buyers think China is good and 'Made in China' is not bad at all," Charlie Chen, head of China buyer research at Credit Suisse, told South China Morning Post in March.

    The Chinese smartphone market is controlled by home companies—Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Apple is the only foreign brand in the top five, but it has lost large ground to the home brands in recent years. Its market share is believed to be down to 37% from a 2015 high of 54%.

    The Internet is shaping our lives. We already have online shopping services and mobile payment. However, this is just a start. The world's leading technology companies are planning to build smarter online communities. They discussed this at the World Internet Conference(会议), which was held in Wuzhen.

    The development of artificial intelligence (AI) was a hot topic at the conference. If a machine can learn and solve problems as humans do, it can be called AI.

    The company Alibaba uses AI technology in its unmanned supermarket in Wuzhen. There is no salesperson in the supermarkets, just a computer on a desk that says "please smile". If you smile, it gives you a lower price for your goods. The bigger you smile, the lower the price will be. Payment is done through your Alipay account (支付宝账户). When you first enter the supermarket, the supermarket's AI examines your face and connects you to your account.

    There is also AI that can read lips (嘴唇). Sougou brought its lip-reading system to the conference. It examines your mouth's movements and turns them into voice or messages. This could be very useful when you are trying to talk to someone on your phone in a noisy place. Police could also use the technology to help them find criminals by lip-reading recordings from video cameras.

    Another type of AI focuses on understanding human feelings. Microsoft chatbox XiaoIce can not only provide useful information but also chat with people like a real friend. XiaoIce has Wechat account. After following the account, users can start talking with her. She knows when to comfort you or tell jokes. She keeps improving herself by talking with users.

    These technologies are being put into wider use. We may see a smarter world and better life in the near future.

    Mr. Smith has a full time job in the post office of his city. He is a  (邮递员) and he often works outside for twelve hours a day in the summer  (高温) or in the winter cold. Mrs. Smith works at an education center. They （很少）have spare time at the same time.

    Last week, they both had one day off. So they had a fun night out and didn't get home  (直到) very late. To their shock, they found their front window broken. They ran inside and turned on all the lights. Everything was  (扔) on the floor. The television had disappeared (消失), the computer was gone and their wallet wasn't there. Mrs. Smith felt so  (不舒服的) that she was unable to speak. But very soon, she started crying, "The thief has taken away all our  (财富). What should we do? "The police were called in. "It will probably be  (不可能的) to find the thief," they said. 

    After the policemen left, Mrs. Smith started cleaning the house. She  (看见) a candle lying by the window. Near the candle was (钱包)! She opened it and found their money there. The thief had dropped it when he jumped through the window.

    Can you imagine a world without the Internet? It is  (interest) to think about it.

    Now, China has more than 800  (million) Internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. This is the  (high) number of users in the world. Today, 66% of Chinese netizens (网民) are teenagers. "They spend about 13 hours  (go) online every week." said Qian Hulin,  Internet engineer.

    Teenagers surf the Internet to search  information, communicate with friends and have fun. On the Internet, teenagers can find out almost anything  (easy). And surfing the Net can help with their homework and widen their knowledge.

    Li Dong, a teacher  works at No. 14 Middle School in Shijiazhuang, likes her students to use the Internet. "When we talk in class, students who surf the Net usually know clearly more background information  the others," she said.

In addition, people can use the Internet  (write) letters or stories and send e-mails. Many teens keep in touch with their friends online. It is cheaper and quicker than phoning somebody far away.

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参考词汇： 拓展性课程 expansive courses

短文首句：Great changes have taken place in our studies since our school began to provide expansive courses.