浙江省宁波市2020年九年级英语中考模拟试卷（四）

    A little boy once found a jar（罐子）of nuts（果仁） on the table. "I'd like some of these nuts, "he thought. "I'm sure mother will give them to me1she is here. I want some to eat now." So he2the jar. As he was very hungry, he grabbed as 3as he could hold.

    But when he tried to pull his 4out, he found the neck of the jar was too 5. His hand was held fast, but he did not want to 6any of the nuts. He 7 again and again, but he couldn't get the whole handful out all the time. 8 he began to cry.

    Just then his mother came into the room. "What's the matter? "she asked. "I can't take this handful of nuts 9the jar"sobbed the boy. "Well, don't be so greedy, "his mother replied. "Just take two or three, and you'll have no trouble 10your hand out." "How 11that was, "said the boy as he moved his hand off 12. "I might have thought of that 13. "

    The story tells us that a man can't be so greedy, maybe thing will go to a/an. 14side if we want to finish a thing in one time. Do thing step by step!This is the best 15to success. Only like that can we go further.

    Many children spend a lot of time watching or playing with electronic media –from televisions to vide o games, computers and other devices（设备）.

    So, it is natural that parents should wonder about the time children spend looking at a TV or computer screen. Americans say "screen time" when they talk about any time children spend in front of an electronic device.

    Perhaps parents can stop worrying so much about screen time, at least for older boys and girls. In October 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) listed several suggestions for parents and child care workers. Here are some of the suggestions.

    Avoid digital media use in children younger than 18 to 24 months.

    For children aged 18-24 months, avoid letting the child watch media alone. And avoid using media as a way to comfort your child.

    For children two to five years of age, allow one-hour screen time on "high-quality（质量）programming" a day and watch it with your child.

    For children aged 6 and older, don't spend too much time using media. Also, make sure that screen time does not take the place of healthy sleep, exercising, doing homework and other activities.

    Make sure to have media-free time together as a family, such as dinner or driving. Also make some areas of the home media-free. Turn off you child's electronic devices an hour before bedtime.

    At the moment, it may be difficult to imagine, but many people believe that, by the year 2100, we will live on the planet Mars. Our own planet, Earth, is becoming more and more crowded and polluted. Luckily, we can start again and build a better world on Mars. Here is what life could be like.

    First of all, transport(交通) should be much better. At present, our spaceships are too slow to carry large numbers of people to Mars—it takes a few months. However, by 2100, spaceships can travel at half the speed of light. It might take us two or three days to get to Mars!

    Secondly, humans need food, water and air to live. Scientists should be able to develop plants that can be grown on Mars. These plants will produce the food and air that we need. However,can these plants produce water for us? There is no answer now.

    There is a problem for us to live on Mars. Mars suck(吸引) us much less than Earth does.This will be dangerous because we could easily jump too high and fly slowly away into space. To prevent this, humans on Mars have to wear special shoes to make themselves heavier.

    There will probably be no school on Mars. Every student will have a computer at home which is connected to the Internet. They can study, do their homework and take exams in online schools. Each student will also have their own online teacher called "e-teacher".

    Life on Mars will be better than that on Earth in many ways. People will have more space. Living in a large building with only 10 bedrooms is highly possible. Many people believe that robots will do most of our work, so we have more time for our hobbies.

    However, in some ways, life on Mars may not be better than that on Earth today. Food will not be the same—meals will probably be in the form of pills(片状物) and will not be as delicious as they are today. Also, space travel will make many people feel ill. The spaceship will travel fast but the journey to Mars will probably be very uncomfortable.

    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson w rote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, "Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）."

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, "Belittle—to make small, unimportant."

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. "It is an honorable man," the paper wrote, "so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they p lease."

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, "Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it."

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

(an extract from Probuditi!)

    Calvin waited outside Trudy's bedroom. Then it happened—a scream, a very loud scream. Calvin ran to his room and dived into bed.

    He heard Mama coming down the hall.

    "Did you do this?" his mother asked. Calvin looked out from under the covers. His mother stood over him, holding a rubber spider.

    "Do what?" he asked.

    "You put that thing in my bed," Trudy told him, stepping out from behind Mama.

    "Don't think that just because it's your birthday you can get away with something like this," Mama scolded (责骂).

    "You do want your present, don't you?" That wiped the smile off Calvin's face.

    "Course I do," he said.

    "Then you apologize (道歉)."

    Calvin dropped his head. "Sorry Trudy," he muttered (嘟囔).

    "Here," Mama said. "Happy birthday." At the breakfast table she handed Calvin an envelope. Inside were tickets to the matinee show of Lomax the Magnificent, the world-famous magician and hypnotist. "You've got two tickets there," Mama said, "and I know someone who'd really love to go along." She smiled at Trudy.

    "You don't mean here, do you?" Calvin asked, eyeing his little sister.

    "Well, that would be really nice. But those tickets are yours. If you want to ask somebody—" Calvin didn't wait for his mother to finish. He rushed out of the house to cell Rodney, his pal next door, that the two of them were going to see Lomax the Magnificent.

    Everybody worries. Grown-ups do it and kids do it, too.  Whether your worries are big or small, you can take these 3 steps.

    Step 1: Try to find out what you're worried about.

    Sometimes, you know exactly what you're worried about.  Let's say you're worried about a teacher who seems mean. But be what's really bothering you is that you're having trouble with math. If you get some help with math, that teacher might seem just fine.

    Step 2: Think about ways to make the situation better.

    Sitting there worrying is no fun and it probably won't solve your problem. But changing to an action mode(模式) can help you feel more hopeful.

     If that's your problem, ask yourself these questions: Why are grades important? What do they mean to me? How do I prepare for my classes?

    What if your worry is about a fight you had with a friend?  Once you have a list of possible actions, you can choose the one that you think is most likely to get your friendship back.

    Step 3: Ask for help.

    Worrying can make you feel lonely. If you can't think of anything to make you feel better, it's time to ask someone for help. Just the act of telling someone your problem can make you feel a little better.  Whomever you told (your parent, teacher or friend)is now thinking about ways to help you.

    Would you like to eat a ready meal from the fridge? Have you been doing Internet  rather than going to the stores? Maybe the answers are "yes".

    A study was made to find out how  British people are. About 2000 people took part in this study. The results were surprising.

    More than half of the people were so lazy that they would wait for the lift for a long time rather than walk to the second .

    About one in six people said if the remote control(遥控器) was , they would go on watching the same TV show rather than get up.

    More than one third people said they would not run to catch a bus.

    So it's no wonder that one in six children in UK is fat before they start school.

    Dr Sarah Dauncey, the medical director of Nuffield Health, said, "people need to get healthier, not just for themselves , but for their families and friends. If we don't start to get over this , a whole generation (一代人)will become too unhealthy to finish their tasks."

A Delicious Meal

    Tony is Chinese American. His family members gather together and serve a traditional Chinese meal once a week. Last week Tony  （invite）his friend Amy for it.

    Tony's family was  （prepare）dinner when Amy arrived. The family was cooking vegetables with hot oil. The kitchen was filled  many good smells. "You can help me set the table." Tony told his friend. They gave each person a pair of  (chopstick), a soup bowl, a soup spoon, and a rice bowl on a plate.

    "Where are the forks and knives?" Amy asked.

    "Oh, you won't  those." Tony explained." I will show you how to use chopsticks. Don't worry."

    Tony's mother put different foods which were unfamiliar to Amy onto big plates. She asked the kids to carry the food-filled plates out to the table. Amy carried roast duck. It was one of the  few dishes she  (recognize).

    Amy was a little nervous about eating with chopsticks. Tony gave her instructions on how to do it. Amy finally managed to hold the chopsticks. Just when she picked up a piece of chicken in her chopsticks, her fingers suddenly  (lose) control of them, and the chicken flew across the table. It landed in Tony's soup with a splash(飞溅). Everyone at the table  ( smile).

    Tony's father kindly brought out a fork and knife. He handed them to Amy. Amy felt more comfortable. She ate the rest of her dinner easily. It was delicious!

     the end of the meal, Amy was given a fortune cookie(签语饼干). She broke it open and read the small note inside," If you practice hard, you will learn many things." Amy laughed and said," if you let me  ( take) home a pair of chopsticks, my fortune may come true!

请你根据以下提示写一封回信，说明Ben的问题，提出你的建议并陈述理由。

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Dear Ben,

    I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble getting used to life in middle school you're your letter you said that…

    Good luck with everything!

Li Hua