江苏省苏州市2019-2020学年九年级上学期英语期末考试试卷（含听力音频）

— Yes. To get ready for our English speech.

— I'm not sure. Maybe when I _______ my dog in the park.

— Yes, it is very useful to me, I think.

— Great! Everyone had fun.

    My name is Miranda Gibson. I have been at the top of a tree for five months now. Some people might wonder 1 on earth I would choose to do that.

    I have walked 2 this forest many times. On 12 December 2016, machinery (大型机械) rolled into the forest and the destruction (摧毁) began. I couldn't bear (忍受) the thought that these forests would be 3 forever. So, on 14 December 2016, I put my clothes into a bag, 4 my job plans, and climbed 60 meters to the top of this tree. I have been there ever since.

    Life in the tree tops can be challenging. I have times when I feel frustrated (沮丧的) and I wish I could 5 to have a holiday for a few days! There are times too, when I feel terribly 6. I miss my friends and family.

    Living on the tree has been exciting and encouraging. I am willing to 7 up here for a long time, 8 I honestly hope it won't be too 9 before I can put my feet on the ground below and stand in a forest that will never 10.

    What do you like most when you can get one of such things: freedom, true friends, love, honesty and so on? Here are some choices of students:

    Chen Cheng, 14, Jiangsu: I think I need a true friend. I had some friends before. However, it seemed that they didn't treat me well. I told them my secrets but they didn't tell me theirs. What's worse, they told my secrets to others, which made me very unhappy. I hope to find a true lifelong friend who can share happiness and sadness with me and keep my secrets.

    Gan Xiaoning, 14, Heilongjiang: Freedom is what I want most. I am a bird in two cages. In school, I have to follow the school's rules and listen to teachers. At home, my parents don't allow me to do what I like, either. I have to do everything that they tell me to do: study, study and study some more. So, freedom is the only thing I really want!

    Yuan Siyu, 15, Guangxi: I am a boy from a poor family. My father works very hard but only makes a little money every month to support the family. I want to go to a key university so that I can find a good job in the future. Then, I can earn enough money to get my family out of poverty (贫困) and offer my parents a happy life.

    Qu Yi, 15, Hebei: I want a complete family. My parents got divorced (离婚) three years ago. Since then, I have had no chance to be together with both of them any more. Now, I am living with my mom and get her love, but I also want my dad's love. I am envious (羡慕) of my classmates who live with their parents. So, I want to have a complete family.

    One weekend, Taylor, an eight-year-old girl, went shopping with her parents. She asked her parents to buy a toy she wanted. Instead of giving her money to buy the toy, Taylor's father encouraged her to make money by herself. "How can I make money?" Taylor thought for a while and had an idea, "Why not make cakes and sell them at church to raise money to buy the toy?"

    The next day, Taylor started her plan. She first needed some money for tools and materials. So she borrowed $40 from her parents and promised to pay it back. Then she began to make cakes by herself. To her parents' surprise, she made $175 by selling the cakes that Sunday.

    Everyone thought Taylor would buy the toy she wanted. She certainly had made enough money for it, but she didn't. Instead, Taylor decided to buy business cards and had her father's phone number on them. Then she began handing the cards out. More people knew Taylor and came to buy her cakes. Even large companies began to try buying her delicious cakes.

    Though Taylor has made a lot of money, she still works hard at school. She also likes to take part in other activities. So Taylor must carefully manage her time. For example, instead of watching TV after school, Taylor might have to bake (烘焙) a lot of cakes for customers. When she has dance lessons on some days, she needs to get her baking done on time so she isn't late for class.

    Making cakes may take time and be hard work, but Taylor sees the fun in it. "I think making cakes is mostly my hobby," she says. She also decorates the boxes that are used to pack the cakes. Taylor uses all kinds of decorations to make sure each box looks special for her customers. People love the extra feeling Taylor gives them by decorating the boxes, so more and more people come for her cakes.

    Taylor's cakes are becoming very popular. She achieves a sweet success.

    Is there intelligent (有智力的) life on other planets? For years, scientists said "no" or "we don't know". But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers (天文学家). They believe intelligent life exists (存在) somewhere in the universe. They also think we will soon contact these beings (人；生物).

    Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. "This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life," say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size—the universe is huge. "Tools like the Hubble Telescope (哈勃望远镜) have shown that there are at least 100 billion galaxies," says Shostak. "And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to Earth."

    In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes (高倍望远镜) allow scientists to discover smaller planets. These planets might have intelligent life.

    Have beings from space already visited Earth? "Probably not," says Shostak. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals (信号). In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don't have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other.

    Everyone wants to be happy. You see people who are smiling and laughing, and you want to be like them.  However, there are also bad days. Here are three ways to make you happier every day.

Smile often. Research has shown that the facial expression you wear influences your state of mind.

     Wearing a pleasant expression for a long period of time will slowly improve your feelings and help you have a happier day.

     The more you complain, the more annoyed (恼怒的) you become. If all you notice or talk about during the day are the things that annoy you, it is no surprise that you are unhappy. To truly increase your long-term happiness, don't complain any longer.

    Practice thankfulness. Thankfulness has been shown to be the last ticket to a happy life. The more you practice thankfulness, the more you will find things to be grateful for in your life.  Even something as simple as a safe place to sleep or food to eat is worth being thankful for because not everyone is fortunate enough to have those necessities.

— He had rushed out  I could realize it.

— It must be a mistake. I'm always honest with you.

— Ok. I'm also moved by their  of never giving up.

    No one knows exactly when jazz was invented, or by whom. But it is said that it began in the early 1900s. Jazz was a new kind of music, for America and the world, and New Orleans was its birthplace.

    Who were the jazz pioneers? Most were blacks. This music was not written down, and at first only blacks played it. It was hard for white musicians to learn the new style. But soon they, too, were playing jazz.

    The popularity of this music spread. From New Orleans, it traveled up the Mississippi to Chicago, then to Kansas City and New York. By the 1920s, there were many jazz musicians, both black and white. Many of them were famous. One man was better than the rest. His name was Louis Armstrong.

    Louis Armstrong was a born musician. He was not only talented but also hard-working. He also had a good sense of humor and a big, good-natured smile. These personal qualities were valuable in his rise to fame. After he became famous, he traveled around the world. It seemed that everyone wanted to hear Louis play. But life was not always easy, especially at the beginning.

    Louis Armstrong was born in 1900 in New Orleans. His father never went to school and his mother could hardly read. When Louis was still a kid, his parents separated, and Louis lived with his mother. Their hard life can hardly be imagined. And yet Louis smiled through everything. He later wrote, "My whole life has been filled with happiness. Life was there for me and I accepted it. Whatever happened has been beautiful to me. I love everybody."

注意：1）词数90左右。开头已写好，不计入总词量；

2）短文须包括所有要点，可适当发挥，使短文连贯、通顺；

3）短文中不得提及真实的人名、校名等相关信息。

The Civilized Travel, the Happy Life

    As a citizen of Suzhou, we should behave politely in Suzhou Rail Transit Line 3 so that we can live a happy life.