牛津版（深圳•广州）初中英语八年级下学期期中考试模拟试卷（5）

—Yes, I think so.

—OK, I won't.

—I finally passed the test although it's a hard work.

— How terrible! Everybody should be careful in the street.

—Well, my grandma was ill and she's in hospital.

—His father got a serious illness one week ago. He's still in hospital.

—Let's hold a charity sale to raise money for them.

—The next train will reach here at one o'clock.

—I agree. Schools should have more activities like this.

    When the Spring Festival falls, red flowers bloom (盛开) on the windows of my home. Of course, these are not1flowers. But in the cold of2, these wonderful flowers bring warmth to us. They are made of paper by my3, who is now aged 70. With a few cuts, she4a piece of paper into a beautiful work of art.

    When my grandma was young, she was considered clumsy (笨拙的) in the5. But on a cold winter night, she saw some beautiful red paper6on her new neighbour's windows. She was so interested in it and decided to7from her neighbour. Tons of paper was wasted, and her fingers were cut many times. But she8practising. It took 10 years9my grandma could make paper art skillfully (熟练地). The red flowers, blooming like burning fire, light up her world. Now, everyone in the village10her.

    My grandma's story has shown me what it takes to realize one's dream.

    Do you notice music playing there when you go somewhere? Today most stores, stations restaurants and other places play music. You might even hear music in an office or on a farm.

Scientists believe that music changes the way people behave. They think that Western classical music makes people feel rich. When a restaurant plays classical music, people spend more money on food and drinks. When the restaurant plays modern music, people spend less money. Without music, people spend even less.

Scientists also believe that loud, fast music makes people eat faster. In fact, people eat their food faster when the music gets faster. Some restaurants play fast music during their busy hours. This gets people to eat faster and leave more quickly. Restaurants can make more money this way.

Some scientists think that music makes people think and learn better. They say that music helps students be more active. It is true that people learn better when they are relaxed. And listening to music can help people relax.

    Next time you hear music somewhere, be careful. It might change the way you do things.

    When was the last time you gave or received a hug? Do your parents hug you before you go to school? In Western countries, it is quite common to greet close friends or relatives with a hug.

    You might hug your teammates after winning a basketball game. If one of your friends is having a bad day, you can hug him to cheer him up. Friends who haven't seen each other for a long time will usually hug each other when meeting.

    Of course, people in different countries have different opinions when it comes to hugging. After coming to China, I've noticed that Chinese people are generally more reluctant (不情愿的) to hug than those are in my home country, the USA.

    My Chinese friends told me that hugging is considered to be very intimate (亲密的) in their culture. It usually only happens between people who are really close to each other, like couples. Chinese people don't usually hug in public either.

    But people's attitudes towards hugging can also change. I remember watching a video story about a "hugging party" that was held in Shanghai. A local artist held the party, inviting strangers and asking them to hug each other.

    The Chinese participants clearly looked uncomfortable. However, after the party, several of them changed their minds. They decided that hugging doesn't have to be awkward (尴尬的) and can actually be quite nice. So next time you see your mum or dad, give her/him a hug—see how it makes you feel.

    Some people think that passion (激情) plays an important role in public speaking. Others may say that the interaction (互动) between the speaker and the audience is the key to public speaking. Of course, both of them are truly important, but for me, body language is the most important if he or she has the above characters.

    Actually, we can imagine a picture: A speaker is speaking on the stage with passion, and he always interacts with the audience but with no body language. Is it like a dry branch which suffered a heavy storm just now? When a public speaker speaks excitedly with correct body language, he can easily raise the audience's spirits and emotions.

    How to train body language of a public speaker?

    _______________: A good smile can help your speech be more successful. You can bite (咬) a pen in your mouth and your eyes look at a place for a minute without moving.

    Standing posture: Back against the wall and try to place your head, shoulders, hips and heels and other parts of your body against the wall. Practice it for ten minutes twice a day.

    Gesture: Remember when you use your gesture, you need to pay attention to (注意) your eyes and expression and other postures.

    Do you want to be a successful speaker and make your body language more perfect? Call us and join the club.

    A new study shows that negative (消极的) punishments to dogs while twining can bring long-term bad effects (影响) to the animal. The latest study paid attention to some dogs for humans. Such dogs are often thought of as part of the family and need training on how to behave (表现得体) around people.

    Researchers from Portugual's University of Porto led the study. The researchers carried out experiments including two kinds of dog training methods — reward-based and aversive. Reward-based methods include giving the dog food or praise (表扬) when the animal completes wanted behavior (行为) Aversive methods depend on the use of some kinds of negative actions, such as shouting, pushing or pulling the dog to let it do something.

    The study included 92 dogs. 42 of them got reward-based training and the others received aversive twining. Researchers did these experiments to find both short-term and long-term effects of the two training methods.

    Researchers recorded the training. They reported that dogs from the aversive training group have more stress-related behavior than those in the reward-based group. It clearly shows the short-term effects of aversive training methods.

    In order to find the long-term effects, the dogs took part in an exercise for about a month after the training. The dogs were put in a room with food bowls. Researchers looked at how quickly and excitedly the dogs went to the bowls. The researchers reported that after getting aversive training, the dogs were more "pessimistic (悲观的)" in behavior than those getting reward-based training.

    You can seldom see homeless people on the street. Socould you do if you want to help them? Here are some (way).

    Donate (捐赠) money. The easiest way to help the homeless is (give) your money. When you want (do) that, you can donate your money to local organizations. Most charity organizations know where the most help is needed.

    Donate things. (donate) your used or new things is another easy way to help. Donate these things to local organizations which help the homeless or give them to homeless people you see often. The best things to donate include thingsprofessional clothing, new socks…

    Provide food. There are lots of ways that you can help homeless people get food. You can donate fresh fruitvegetables to local soup kitchens. You can also drop off bananas, apples, or sandwiches.

    Call emergency (紧急) services. If you see someone who may be a danger to the homeless (them) or others, call emergency services. If someone is (clear) having a serious problem, call for (help) too. If someone is in danger because of weather conditions, call emergency services as well.

要求：

1）可以适当发挥，文中不得出现真实姓名和学校名称；

2）语言通顺，意思连贯，条理清楚，书写规范；

3）词数：80左右。信的开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Wang Hua. …

    I'm looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Wang Hua