浙江省杭州市上城区2020年中考英语二模拟试卷

    When people reached the West and lived there, they wrote letters to the family and friends they had left behind. The mail's journey east was often as difficult and long as the pioneers' trip west! It could take months for mail to travel from one coast to the other.

    In 1860 the pony express began to deliver mail. The pony express was a system of mail transport that depended on relays of horses. The pony express had interchange stations every 10 to 15 miles along the2,000-mile way. Riders changed horses at these interchange stations. One rider usually covered between 75 and 100 miles each day. With the pony express, mail could travel from coast to coast in about 10 days. This was much faster than before.

    Juan Trippe was one of the pioneers of modern air travel. His company—Pan American Airways—was one of the first to offer cheap air travel round the world. Trippe was born in New Jersey in1889. After graduating from Yale in 1921, he worked first on Wall Street, and then as a flying taxi pilot. From 1924 to 1926 he worked for Colonial Air Transport, and set up Pan American Airways the following year.

    At first, Pan Am offered flights across the Caribbean and South America. This was so successful that Trippe started to offer flights to Asia eight years later. In the late 1930s, he made the first flights to cross the Atlantic (大西洋). Immediately after the Second World War, Trippe decided to offer cheap flights to cross the Atlantic. Other airlines objected—they wanted to keep prices high, and earn the most profits. For several years, many airports in Europe weren't willing to accept Pan Am flights. The other airlines only finally agreed to offer economy flights in 1952.

    Trippe started on his next project the same year—the development of the jet engine. This would make it possible for planes to fly over 8,000 kilometers at much higher speeds (more than 400 kilometers 1 hour). He paid Boeing 8. 5 billion dollars to build passenger jet planes for Pan Am. The first Pan Am-a Boeing 707—flew from New York to Paris in 1958.

    In the 1960s, Trippe paid Boeing to build an even bigger jet, which could carry more passengers. This was the 747, nicknamed the Jumbo jet. Unfortunately, Trippe ordered too many 747s and put Pan Am into financial (经济的) difficulties. In 1968 he resigned from the company. Thirteen years later he died.

    You're either a leg bouncer or someone who gets intensely annoyed by leg bouncing. There's seldom an in-between.

    Leg bouncing, also called leg tapping, leg jiggling or leg shaking, describes the habit of moving one leg up and down at speed while siting. It can happen when sitting on public transport, or at home, watching TV. It can be unnoticeable or powerful enough to make the whole bank of desks in the office feel the shakes.

    I'm a leg bouncer. It can be going for ages without me noticing, until I can suddenly feel the shakes all along my desk. I've noticed other people bouncing legs too, so it's clearly not a habit that's easily ignored (忽视).

    Why does leg bouncing happen? Why is it more common among those experiencing anxiety? "When we are feeling anxious, our body thinks that we're in danger and prepare us to fight the stress, or run away from it." Dawn Templeton says, "This means we are full of extra energy. Our muscles become busy working and that often leaks out (泄露) in the form of foot or hand shaking."

    Leg bouncing can be a way to feel calmer, helping you feel more relaxed when you're experiencing high levels of stress. You can also be more likely to shake legs if you're a "high energy" person.

    The good news is that there's no evidence (证据) to suggest leg shaking does your body any harm, beyond possibly making your muscles a bit painful. The habit is unlikely to cause any long-term damage to our posture, leg, or spine (脊柱).

    The only real negative outcome of your leg bouncing is the annoyance it can cause to others.

    Your shoes are changing your feet. The ankles (脚踝) of people who habitually wear shoes are different to those people who often walk barefoot. In many modern societies, people often wear shoes from a young age. However, many people around the world often go barefoot, or wear only very thin footwear.

    "We know that there are some differences in the feet of modern humans, due to the use of shoes," says Rita Sorrentino at the University of Bologna in Italy. But most findings before related to the front and middle of the foot. She and her team have focused on the ankle instead. They studied 142 ankle bones from 1l populations from North America, Africa and Europe. These included sandal (草鞋) -wearing Nguni farmers in Africa, people living in New York and fossilized bones (骨骼化石) from Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

    The hunter-gatherers' ankle bones were shorter than those people living in modern cities, and there were other differences in the shape. "They are mostly related to the behaviors of wearing and moving," says Sorrentino.

    The hunter-gatherers walked barefoot for long distances every day over natural areas. Their ankles were relatively flexible (灵活的)    ▲    , people who live in big cities, who wear narrow or small foot wear and walk short distances on flat roads, have more inflexible ankles.

    It's believed that people have been wearing shoes for the past 10,000 years, says Sorrentino. For example, a sandal from a Missouri cave may be 8,300 years old. Early shoes were all fairly soft, so wouldn't have restricted the motion of the ankle much.

    It is an open question if shoes have disadvantages, but Sorrentino thinks that modern shoes probably cause our bones to become weaker and easier to break.

    If your friends are always making fun of you, you should make sure if they are actually your friends.A true friend won't want to do anything that seriously upsets you. A little teasing (取笑) between friends is normal. Friends are those who truly care about you. Decide if they are really your friends before you fight back.

    You don't necessarily need to feel confident all the time, but do your best to look that way; if you appear more confident, you are less likely to be made fun of. People find confidence powerful. If they can't predict what you're going to say, they aren't going to risk making fun of you.

    A little bit of teasing is normal among friends, but if it is happening so often that it bothers you, it's probably gotten out of hand. Your friends may not even know how much it bothers you. Be sure to face with each friend alone and tell him or her it bothers you. If you try to keep silent while it's happening, it may just make the teasing worse.

    Avoid making too big a deal out of it, and don't ask for an apology. A good friend will apologize without being asked, once they realize you are truly upset. And you will be friends again. Don't take it too seriously.

    If the situation gets too bad, and you can't find a way to get it under control, you may need to talk to a parent or teacher. They may be able to find a way to deal with the situation. And they will not let anyone know it was you who said something.

    I was in Mrs. Black's third grade class and one day I brought home an invitation. "I'm not1", I said. "She's a new girl named Ruth, and Bernie and Pat aren't going. She asked the2class, all36of us." Mom studied the handmade invitation, then she said, "Well, you are going! I'll3a present tomorrow." When Saturday arrived, Momma rushed me out of4and made me wrap (包装) the pretty pink mirror-brush-and-comb set she'd bought. Then she drove me over to Ruth's home in her car. The biggest cake I ever saw5on one table. It had6pink candles and a messily printed "Happy Birthday Ruth". Thirty-six cups filled with homemade candy were near the cake-each one with a7on it.

    "Where's your mom?" I asked Ruth.

    Looking down at the floor, she said, "Well, she's sick."

    "Oh.8your dad?"

    "He's gone."

    Then there was a9, except for a few coughs from behind a closed door. Some 15 minutes passed…then 10 more. No one else was coming. Looking up I saw Ruth's face with tears. All10my eight-year-old heart was filled with very sorry for Ruth and anger at my 35 classmates. I said, "Who needs11?" Ruth's sad look changed to excited12. There we were—two small girls and a big cake, 36 named cups and games to play. In a flash it was noon, Mom drove to pick me up. "Mom, Ruth just loved the mirror set. I was the only one there—out of Mrs. Black's whole class. And I can't wait to tell13of them what a great party they missed!" Mom stopped the car and14me tight. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I'm so15of you!" That was the day I learned that one person could really make a difference. I had made a big difference in Ruth's ninth birthday, and Mom had made a big difference in my life.

    "Twinkle, twinkle, little star…" These words are part of a familiar song. However, they were(actual) written for a poem first. Some people believe one of(famous) composers in the world-Mozart wrote the music for it. But the(true) is that the tune came from a French children's folk song. It was written byunknown musician. Mozart used the same tune(create) a new piece of music. Mozart's musical piece was a set of twelve(change) for the piano. This means what you hear is repeated twelve times. Each time it is repeated, the song is changedadding more notes or playing notes at different speeds. Later, the music piece found(it) place in the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" together with the words from Jane Taylor's poem.

    Mozart did not write the tune for it, he helped make the tune famous. Since then, the tune(become) so well-known that it has been used in several children's songs and nursery rhymes.

From: Mike

To: Li Ping

    I agree that it's important to have a healthy lifestyle for us. Could you tell me some more about it? What good eating habits do you have? What healthy activities do you do in your daily life? How often do you do the things that help you keep healthy?

Looking forward to your reply!

Love,

Mike

From: Li Ping

To: Mike

Dear Mike,

Yours,

Li Ping