天津市和平区2020-2021学年九年级上学期英语期末考试英语试卷

—I read the _____________ of it on the Internet just now.

—No. She has gone to Europe on business.

—____________ I'm proud of you.

Fifteen years ago, Iworked in a local lumber mill (木材厂). Thehours were1.The work was dangerous. And the pay was low. Every day was a struggle physically.It was too hot in summer and too cold in winter. My back would burn with the2 from the constant bending, lifting andcarrying. My feet would ache from3 the entire day. My fingers would bleed fromthe work that my hands were doing. T tried to keep my spirit up4 I worked there, but day by day I felt that Iwas developing depression. Every morning, I would place Band-Aids (创可贴) around my fingers and5myold heavy work shoes. Every night, I would drag myself home smelling of sweatand dust and collapse (坐下) on thesofa.

One evening I feltlike T could6 it no more. Why was I working myself to deaththere just to survive? Why couldn't I find a better job than that? Why was Ihaving to go through all those things?

I wasn't reallyexpecting an answer, but life loves to surprise me. As I struggled up the7 to my front door, I found all three of myyoung children waiting for me with smiling faces. "Daddy, Daddy! M mydaughter yelled. I8 and picked her up in my arms. After huggingthem all, I laughed for the first time in days and sat down9. It was just the answer that I needed.

At last I moved on toa better job,10 I never forgot the answer to my questions. Wemay have to work to live, but we live to love.

My hobby is collectingstickers (贴画). It is also one of themost popular hobbies among children. Children enjoy this pastime (消遣) because it is not an expensive hobby.

I have startedcollecting stickers since I was four years old. My hobby began through the influenceof my neighbour, Wilfred. One day when I was playing in his house, he showed mehis stacks of sticker albums (专辑). I wasamazed to see so many colourful stickers of all shapes and sizes. He gave me afew pieces from his collection. My interest in stickers started from that day.

I kept my first set ofstickers in a notebook but mysubsequent collections were kept inbeautiful boxes. By keeping the stickers in boxes. I can exchange some of mystickers with my friends.

After my familymembers knew my hobby of collecting stickers, they began to buy stickers for mewhenever they came across nice ones. I love those stickers from my cousin whois an air hostess. She bought them from different countries around the world.

During my free time, Joften bring out all my lovely collections, lay them on the ground and enjoythem. Some of my friends are jealous of my collections as I don't exchange myunique (独一无二的) stickers with them.

In Pontevedra, Spain, people don't shout. Since cars are banned (禁止) in the city, there are no horns (喇叭) or noises from car engines. People don't have to try hard to make themselves heard. What you hear in the street, instead, is the singing of birds.

"Listen," says Miguel Lores, the mayor, opening the windows of his office. From the street below rises the sound of human voices. "More than 14, 000 cars used to pass along this street every day. There were more cars passing through the city in a day than people living here. "

Lores became mayor in 1999. He spent months walking around the city. "The historical city is dead," he said one day. "It is full of cars. It is heavily polluted. There are a lot of traffic accidents. The elderly and children aren't able to use the streets because of cars. People who had a chance to leave have done so."

At first, Lores thought of improving traffic conditions. However, he couldn't come up with a good plan. After lots of discussions, the government finally decided to get rid of cars.

The change has brought Pontevedra many benefits. Traffic accidents are now rare; CO₂ emissions (排放物) are down 70 percent. Many people are moving to the city, making it lively again.

Most local citizens like the change. Ramiro Armesto, a mother of two young children, said, "In the past, the first thing to see in the morning was traffic jams. Now, the city is cleaner, quieter and safer.", Raquel Garcia, another parent, said she had stayed in many cities around the world. However, she had never lived in a city as "easy to live in" as Pontevedra. "Even if it's raining, I walk everywhere. The feeling is wonderful, M she added. "For me, Pontevedra is paradise (天堂)."

Many of us learn howto ride a bicycle at a young age. As we grow older, we may stop riding-most ofus go to school by bus or by subway. But whenever we get on a bicycle, ifs likewe've never stopped biking.

This is strange. Inmany other cases, our memories let us down. We often find it hard to rememberthe name of a person or a place, don't we? So, why can we still ride a bicycle afterwe stopped riding a long time ago?

It turns out thatthere are many types of memory. They are stored in different regions of ourbrains. Memories of experiences (e. g, our first day at school) and of factualknowledge (e. g. , the capital of France) are called declarative (陈述的)memories. These memories can be communicated to others. Skills suchas playing an instrument or riding a bike： are calledprocedural(程序的)memories. These memories are responsiblefor our performance.

Scientists have donemany experiments on different memory types. Perhaps the most famous of them wascarried out on Henry Gustav Molaison, an epileptic (癫痫患者). In an operation in the 1950s, part of his brain was taken away.After that, the man suffered less- from epilepsy. But there was a newproblem-he couldn't remember things!

What went wrong withMolaison's memory system? Through various tests; scientists found he couldlearn new skills (slowly, though). However, he could never remember having beentrained to learn a new skill. In other words, Molaison could develop newprocedural, but not declarative, memories.

Scientists haveconcluded that even with serious brain injuries, procedural memories last muchlonger. However, they haven't yet found out why. Some say procedural memoriesare more lasting because they are stored in the brain's center.

Now, "just likeriding a bicycle55 has been used as an idiom (习语).Can you guess its meaning? Yes, people use it to describe a skill that, oncelearned, is never forgotten.

A: Hello, Jack! I called you last night but you weren't in.

B: Oh, I went to the TV station of our city.

A: Really?

B: I took part in a talk show.

A:

B: It was about how to be a greener person.

A: Sounds great! It is very important for everyone to be a greener person, isn't it?

B: Yes.

A: What should we do to be a greener person?

B: We can obey the three R's.

A: The three R's?

B: Reduce, reuse and recycle.

A: Oh, I see. Ifs very kind of you to tell me so much.

B: It's my pleasure.

I don't want to these old clothes.

I late yesterday morning.

You can take part in their .

If you see that boy, please him for me.

the place is empty!

Why would someone decide to stop eating? We know that the body needs food in order to function (运行) well. However, many people fast at some point in their lives. Why is this?

Some people fast for political reasons. In the early 2011' century, women in England and the United States weren't allowed to vote. In protest (抗议), many women went on fasts. They hoped that fasting would bring attention to this unfairness. Mohandas Gandhi (莫罕达斯•甘地), the famous Indian leader, fasted 17 times during his life. For Gandhi, fasting was a powerful political tool. In 1943, he fasted to bring attention to his country's need for independence. For 21 days, he went without food. Another famous faster was Cesar Chavez. In the 1960s, he fasted for three weeks. His goal was to bring attention to the terrible working conditions of farmworkers in the United States.

Fasting is also a spiritual practice in many religions (宗教). Every year during the month of Ramadan, which is a religious holiday, Muslims fest from sunrise to sunset. Many Hindus fast on special occasions, as do some Christians and Buddhists.

Of course, not everyone fasts for political or religious reasons. Some people occasionally fast just because it makes them feel better. The American writer Mark Twain thought fasting was the best medicine for common illnesses. Whenever he had a cold or a fever, he stopped eating completely. He said that this always made his cold or fever go away. Another American writer, Upton Sinclair, discovered fasting after years of overeating, indigestion (消化不良）and headaches. His first fast lasted for 12 days. During this time, his headaches and stomachaches went away. Sinclair said that fasting also made him more energetic.

Choosing to go without food can be very dangerous. However, that doesn't stop people from fasting for political, religious or health reasons.

Olyvia, "love is simple. You don't have to do much to make someone happy." That was what my mother said to me when I was a child. Over a year ago, T had a chance. My good friend Kaylee told me about her t to a small town called Gary, and how it was a life-changing experience. I made up my mind to go there myself.

When I told my parents about the decision, they didn't a  at first. They said I didn't know much about the place. They were worried that it was not s  for me to go there. Thankfully, after I e my plan to them in detail, they said yes.

When our group arrived in Gary, I noticed how different the town was from where I lived. There were few stores or restaurants in the town; most had closed. So you would be very l if you could find a place to buy food or drinks. Houses were built on small hills. Many of them had broken doors or windows. My job was to help the local people to r houses. The work days were long and hot, but it was really good to see the houses taking on a new look day by day.

The children there were also different. They seemed to enjoy every moment in life t they were poor. The smallest things would make these kids happy. I couldn't find words to describe their j when they received an ice-cream, a ball or e  a kiss. The community was like a big family. Everyone knew each other and was there when someone needed help.

I am so glad that I had this unforgettable e. I truly learned the meaning, of what my mother said. You don't need to do much to make a difference to others' lives.

⑴明天早上八点在学校门口集合，一起坐地铁去水上公园；

⑵检垃圾并分类放入垃圾桶内，以便回收利用；

⑶张贴海报，告诫人们保护环境；

⑷活动一天。（你的嘱咐，例如：带水……），

⑸期待着你的回复。

注意：

⑴要点齐全，文中不得出现你的真实姓名和学校名称；

⑵语言通顺，意思连贯，条理清楚，书写规范；

⑶词数80左右，邮件的开头与结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Linda,

I'm writing to invite you to take part in the school's voluntary activity to protect the environment.

……

Yours,

Wang Fang