江苏省徐州市市区2019届九年级下学期英语期中联校检测试卷

— The Wondering Earth. It   shows a lot of imagination,   has a sense of humor.

— I can't agree more. The changes there are ________ imagination.

—I think so. Red makes me happy. So I like red very much.

—No, you ________, son. You're free to make your own decision.

—It's about half an hour by underground.

—Yes, of course.

—________. I will do it right away.

— ________. Every dog has its day.

    Ever since I was ten years old, I have decided to do everything on my own though I couldn't really understand them.

    When I was young , I always 1 the summer holiday with my grandfather at the mountain farm in Western Norway (挪威). 2 my grandfather had to work all day himself, he could spare some time for me.

    One day my grandfather said to me, "Come. I have a toy boat for you." I followed him to a workroom 3. However, nothing like that was there 4 a block of wood. "Is that the boat…?" I asked curiously. "No one can give you what you do for 5. With your own hands, you'll make it out of wood. Then it will be the 6 boat in your heart." Finally, I finished it with his help. Seeing the boat 7 in the lake Storvassdal, I felt 8 and thought everything nice around me.

    Good times don't last long. I had to 9 to America. Feeling sad, I hid my boat under a big rock at Storvassdal. Moreover, I didn't know that was the 10 time I saw my grandfather.

    Years later, I returned to the mountain farm with my parents and children. I searched for my boat, but 11. I was about to 12 when I touched something different under a big rock. Luckily, I found the boat which 13 grandfather and me. Holding it, I felt my grandfather was there and we 14 were together again.

    As time went by, each time I held the boat, I carved (刻) the year. My grandfather seemed 15. I went on the last trip to the farm with my grandchildren. High in the mountain, I hope they would understand the importance of the boat and its simple sign of self-reliance (自立).

My 10-year-old granddaughter was happy the day before yesterday because her mother took her and her friend to a park to celebrate Children's Day. For a whole day, the two girls played heartily—no homework, no extra-curricular (课外) skills training. The happy life lasted only for one day. Yesterday, everything returned to normal: doing homework till late at night and going over lessons learned at last weekend's English and "Olympic maths" courses.

    Every time I went to my daughter's house in the evening, I saw her sitting by the small desk in the room doing her homework. On the wall behind the desk are some words she wrote. One sentence reads: "Why is the exercise endless?" Poor girl!

    Although teachers have stopped giving after-school homework to primary school children, parents have been forcing their kids to attend different courses-learning English, painting, "Olympic maths" and so on, every Saturday and Sunday.

    Are these extra-curricular courses really necessary in children's education? The answer is certainly "No". Take the so-called "Olympic maths" for example. These courses are very difficult for the children to understand. Often, they are difficult even for adults.

    The robin (知更鸟) stood on an old climbing plant, and sang his most beautiful song. Suddenly the wind made the plant move, and Mary saw something under the dark green leaves. The thick, heavy plant was covering a door. Mary's heart was beating fast and her hands were shaking as she pushed the leaves away and found the keyhole. She took the key out of her pocket, and it fit the hole. Using both hands, she managed to unlock the door. Then she turned round to see if anyone was watching. But there was no one, so she pushed the door, which opened, slowly, for the first time in ten years. She walked quickly in and closed the door behind her. At last she was inside the secret garden!

    It was the loveliest, most exciting place she had ever seen. There were old rose trees everywhere, and the walls were covered with climbing roses. She looked carefully at the grey branches (枝条). Were the roses still alive? Ben would know. She hoped they weren't all dead. But she was inside the wonderful garden, in a world of her own. It seemed very strange and silent, but she did not feel lonely at all. Then she noticed some small green shoots coming up through the grass. So something was growing in the garden after all! When she found a lot more shoots in different places, she decided they needed more air and light, so she began to pull out the thick grass around them. She worked away, clearing the ground, for two or three hours, and had to take her coat off because she got so hot. The robin hopped around, pleased to see someone gardening.

    Music and Art will enter the Entrance Exam for the high school in Jiangsu. Without music, life would be a mistake. Music is a big part of our lives. But in recent years, some US schools have cut music classes to control budgets (预算).

    For example, Chicago public schools hurt arts education when it fired (解雇) over 1,000 teachers. Among them, 10 percent of the teachers taught art or music, according to The Washington Times. In fact, this is not just a problem in the US. In other countries, such as China and the UK, music classes are not thought to be as important as ones like science, math and history. That's partly because music is not seen as a very important life skill, and it isn't tested. Many students are busy with schoolwork, so parents and students choose to focus on subjects that are tested more often.

    However, learning music is beneficial (有益的) in many ways.

    When playing music, you need different abilities to work together. It is not as simple as it looks, according to Kenneth Guilmartin of Music Together, an early childhood music development program. For example, when playing the piano, people see music notes and decode (解码) them in their brains. They also use their fingers to make sounds. You need to deal with all these things at the same time.

    Music has a special connection with science as well. You can see that many scientists are good at playing music: Einstein played the violin, and German physicist Max Planck was talented in playing the piano.

    Alice and her sister want to make the Earth a better place for people. They did a lot of things.

    One day, while they  (walk) in their hometown, they saw hundreds of cigarette butts (烟头) on the ground. The cigarette butts made the town  (look) so ugly that they decided to start a group. They wanted to make people stop  (drop) butts. The group  (call) "No Butts About It" Many people  (start) to join their group after they heard of their stories.

    At the moment, they  (try) to get cigarette companies to put an ashtray (烟灰缸) in each pack of cigarette. Today there are also other "No butts About It" groups in America.

    Running two miles on the playground isn't a fun thing to do for most students. But students in Miss Brown's class at Mark Twain School in the USA gladly put on their running shoes. They wanted to raise money to help a dog in need.

    Miss Brown told her students about Peter, a dog who had a hard start in life. At less than a year old, Peter's owners found out that he was not healthy. Something was wrong with his body. Medicine could help but it was very expensive. For Peter to have a better life, he needed surgery (外科手术). But his owners couldn't afford that. Finally, they had to leave Peter at the animal hospital.

    "I love dogs and when I hear about Peter, I felt so sad for him," says student Tony.

    Miss Brown's class decided to hold a Jog-a-Thon to raise money for Peter's surgery.

    "At first I felt like the Jog-a-Thon was just to get us to exercise," says Mike "but then I wanted to help this dog."

    "I just wanted to make a difference in Peter's life," adds student Chance Wood.

    News of the Jog-a-Thon spread throughout the school. Before long, five other classes also took part in the event. "I started receiving money from all kinds of people in our school community," says Miss Brown. "We raised $3,180.64 in all."

    A young man entered the last interview of a company. The director learnt that the young man's academic (学业的) grades were very good. "Did you get any scholarships (奖学金) in school?" the director asked. "None." The young man answered. "Did your father pay for your school fees?" the director asked. "My father died when I was one year old, so my mother paid my school fees." The young man answered.

    "Where did your mother work?" the director asked. "My mother washed clothes." The young man said. The director looked at the young man's hands. He had a pair of smooth and perfect hands.

    "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" the director asked. "Never." The young man answered. "I have a request," the director said. When you go back today, wash your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning."

    The young man felt that his chance of getting the job was high. When he went back. He happily asked his mother to let him wash her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings. She showed her hands to the kid. The young man washed his mother's hands slowly. His tears fell when he did that. It was the first time he had noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled (有皱纹的).He realized it was this pair of hands that helped him pay the fees.

    The next morning, the young man went to the director's office. "I washed my mother's hands, and I know that without my mother, I would not be the person I am today." He said.

    "This is what I am looking for," the director said. "I want a person who can appreciate (感激) the help of others to get things done. You will be a member of our company.

要求：1）开头结尾已给出，不计入总词数；

2）不得出现真实的人名、校名、地名等相关信息。

Dear Editor,

    Everyone wants to live a happy life. As students we should enjoy reading and take an active part in different kinds of sports.

    I hope my advice is worth taking.

Best wishes,

Tom