浙江省新目标（Go for it）版初中英语九年级上学期期中模拟试卷（3）

    Every parent has their own ways of dealing with kids who make mistakes. But some are more extreme(极端的)than others. We asked some net users, "What are the craziest rules that you have experienced?" Here are some of their replies.

    "My parents once grounded me for 2 years for getting a B on my report card. They took everything out of my room except the bed, and I wasn't allowed to do anything with my friends. A year and a half into it I asked if I could be ungrounded, and at that point they had actually forgotten what they grounded me for, but refused because: 'I must have done something bad if they grounded me'," one user named Lucy replied.

    Some people said that they had even been punished for something one of their friends had done "My brother and I were stopped from watching TV for a year because a friend had 'made a mess in my room'," one called Linda wrote.

    In another strange family situation, the children were not allowed to speak at the dinner table unless asking someone to pass a dish, "We could not talk about anything at all. No chat was allowed First time you did it, you were shouted at. Second time you were sent to your room, until the next day, without the rest of your meal," a user named Tina wrote.

    Farmers in China began to have a new festival—Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festiva. in 2018. It is on the Autumn Equinox (秋分) , which is one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar (农历) . It usually falls between September 22 and 24, during the country's agricultural (农业的) harvest season. The first ever Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival was held on September 23 in 2018.

    As we all know, China has the largest population all over the world. It was difficult to feed the largest population in the past. After reform and opening-up (改革开放) , with the development of modern agriculture, people's lives are getting better and better, and their living conditions have improved a lot. Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, the first festival created in China specially for farmers, shows the high attention of the central government to agriculture. It will greatly encourage farmers to farm and develop further modern agriculture. China has a long history of agriculture. Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, the cultural symbol, helps to show China's long farming culture to the world. It also connects the excellent traditional Chinese culture with modern civilization (文明) and improves the cultural self—confidence and national pride.

    Since the festival is created specially for farmers, they are encouraged to think of their own ways to celebrate harvest. Some activities are held across the country, but most of the celebrations will take place at a local level, which come from local customs. Also, local government usually hosts all kinds of activities for the festival, such as folk culture performances, food tasting and so on.

    Some people think the festival is the happiest time of a year, even better than the Spring Festival, because food gives people a sense of safety and hope. For other people, the harvest festival is a time to look back at the past and look forward to the future.

    Over the past ten days, many people in China, especially those in big cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have been complaining that it takes over 30 minutes to get a car through Didi Chuxing.

    A media survey of 200 people from 22 cities shows that 36% of people say they've been forced to wait an additional 10 to 30 minutes before a driver accepts their orders. Why is it difficult to call a car?

    Luo Wen, Senior Product Director of Didi Chuxing, said the reason is an unbalanced relationship between demand and supply. With the extra allowance decreased, some drivers escaped. Luo also said the number of customers has been" increasing since January 13th when the" Chunyun" started, while the number of drivers has dropped, with many of them already heading home for the Lunar New Year holiday.

    Another reason behind the supply shortage is the government s new rule that requires drivers to be locally-registered citizens, which makes it impossible for migrants to serve as Didi drivers.

    On top of the lack of supply, the root cause is the way orders are handed out to drivers on the platform. Because drivers are fully aware

That their customers will have to tip them, during peak hours, drivers appear to be ignoring passengers' requests until the value of the tip meets their demands. Didi has confirmed the higher tips they pay, the more likely customers will get a taxi.

    Barry is having a very difficult time in his life. His wife recently passed away. He is very sad.

    Barry's neighbor, a very old woman named Gertrude, sees him from her yard one day. She has not seen him outside for days!

    "Hello, Barry! Just look at this fence. It is broken. You are a strong man, and you have some free time. I want you to fix this fence for me," Gertrude says.

    Barry is angry. He thinks the old lady is very selfish. Still, he knows she is a nice woman, and he respects her. He agrees to help her.

    Barry works for days. Gertrude brings him lemonade while he works. When he finishes, he smiles for the first time in months.

    "You did such a wonderful job. Do you think you could paint it for me?" Gertrude smiles at him.

    Barry cannot believe his ears. Doesn't she know how sad he is? But because he respects her so much, Barry agrees. He works hard in the hot sun, but Gertrude's lemonade and encouragement are wonderful. He feels proud of the beautiful fence he is making.

    Over the next few weeks, Gertrude keeps giving Barry jobs. He even repairs her door. All the neighbors pass by and tell Barry what a beautiful job he has done.

    He finally realizes that she has never been rude. She is really very wise. He knows that simply getting busy with something can take sorrow away. He helps her, but she truly saves him.

    Do you always find it is raining when you walk out? Or are you always buying umbrellas and leaving them home when it rains? There is a new umbrella that could solve both problems.

    The umbrella will not only tell you the weather, but also let you know if you've left it behind.

    How does it work? The umbrella will send a message to your smartphone, and it says, "Hey, it's going to rain in 15 minutes where you are, so you'd better take your umbrella."

    Besides, if you are forgetful, you may never leave an umbrella on a bus or somewhere else again. The umbrella will send a warning to your smartphone if you leave it behind. The new umbrella is expected to go on sale soon.

    Though it is a good idea and it looks pretty cool, the umbrella will cost you $ 85. Maybe you will just check the free weather apps(应用程序)on your smartphone and take an umbrella with you when it is going to rain.

    You and your family are planning a picnic for tomorrow. But you want to1the weather forecast (预报) first to see whether there will be rain or not. Your father turns on the television and the family listens to the2making the weather report.

    "It will be partly cloudy tomorrow morning, 3clearing by early afternoon. The high tomorrow will be 85."

    As there will be no rain, the whole family feels4. Without the weather forecast, you would not know this, and you would just have to take your chances. But now you can plan your picnic5worrying whether it will rain or not.

    The man you can thank for this is Cleveland Abbe. He is known as the father of the Weather Bureau. He was the first person to publish6weather forecasts in the United States.

    Abbe began his daily weather bulletins (简报) in 1869. They were based on weather7he drew from telegraphed reports of weather conditions. Because of their accuracy (准确) , the reports were8.

    Congress (国会) became9in Abbe's weather reports. They made Abbe a meteorologist (someone who studies weather conditions) , and he10issuing (发布) forecasts three times a day. He was the first official forecaster of the US Weather Service. Because he often forecast probable storms, Abbe earned the nickname of "Old Probabilities".

—On the soccer f (场地) .

—Ice-cream.

要求：1）80词左右（开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数）；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Helen,

    Your birthday is coming. I've got a present for you.


 

    With best wishes for your birthday.

Yours,

Tina