湖北省荆门市2021年初中英语学业水平适应性考试英语试卷

Are you thinking about how to spend your free time? Come and join Bonbon Club! We have interesting lessons and activities here. It's fun! For more information, please call us at 632-2873.

Bonbon Club

Jenny Lewis had bad hearing when she was four. At the age of five, she got a special illness. Her heels(脚后跟) could not stand anything heavy, or they would be broken, so she had to walk on the front part of her feet. When the pain came, she had to took her medicine. That was the only way to make her feel better.

Although everything seemed terrible, Jenny always wore a big smile on her face. She had fun at school and she also joined the school soccer team! How could she do that? She took a pillow(枕头)everywhere to make her feel better when she sat down to watch a soccer game. She carried water for every player in the team and shouted loudly for her team in every game. That was one of the best years in the team's twenty-five-year history. When people asked why the team was winning all their games, one player answered," Well, when you fall over and can't move, you look up and see Jenny trying to do everything she can. It makes you finish anything!"

Chinese A-level has overtaken German for the first time, as it becomes the UK's third most popular language.

This year 3,334 students took Chinese, A-level, compared to 3,058 taking German. While entries (参加者) for Chinese have increased by 8.6 percent since last year, German entries have declined by 16.5 percent.

Derek Richardson, the senior responsible officer at Pearson, said Chinese has changed the situation of the drop in popularity of modern languages.

"In languages we are seeing a drop in entries for the main modern languages: French, German and Spanish," he said. "But what we are also seeing is an increase in entries across some of the other languages that people study. What this means is that Chinese is now more popular than German. So maybe young people are beginning to think about what languages will be useful to them in the future."

In the 1060s,70s and even the 80s,Germany was the economic powerhouse(经济强国) of Europe. Pupils were strongly encouraged to study German because of the importance of the German economy. Now China has become well known in the last 25 years as the fastest growing economy in the world.

French remains the most popular modern language A-level followed by Spanish, but both have seen a drop in entries compared to last year by eight and four percent. Russian has also increased in popularity since last year by 3.4 percent, from 1,122 to 1,160.

In a perfect world, everything would be free. Until then, earning discounts (折扣) for doing things you would probably already be doing-like walking to work-is the next best thing.

According to The Daily Dot, a free iOS app called Miles lets you earn points simply by getting up and going somewhere. When you earn enough points, you'll be able to get gift cards and discounts for businesses like Amazon, Starbucks and Whole Foods.

The app is created to encourage eco-friendly travel, so the reward points you get depend on your transport. One mile in a car translates to one point, but a ride in an Uber or Lyft will get you double the points. Public transportation helps you get three points per mile, biking is five points per mile, and walking is 10 points per mile. Flying, on the other hands, will only give you 0.1 point per mile.

The trips will be recorded by the app itself. Of course, users have to allow the app to track their location at all times, which might make some people unhappy. The app's CEO said the information collected from the app wouldn't be shared with others.

How far do you need to travel to get the rewards? Well, if you want to get something like a $5 Starbucks or Amazon gift card, you are supposed to have 2,500 points—that is 250 miles of walking. The app isn't available on Android but it should be coming soon.

Most people learn the importance of the magic words "please" and ""thank you" at a very early age. As you go through life, you see better things happen when you don't forget to say them, and that people warm up to you more quickly.

Please. This is one of those words that can show good manners. Any time you ask for something, it's always a good idea to add this word to soften the request.

. When someone does something nice for you or gives you a gift, you should always say, "Thank you," even if it's something you dislike. Not doing so gives the impression that you feel entitled (有资格的) to whatever it is.

May I ...? For example, when you say, "May I see that book?"" you give the persona chance to share what he is looking at.

Excuse me. This expression is used .when you are asking forgiveness (原谅) for leaving the table, coughing, or troubling somebody.

Pardon me. The expression "Pardon me" sounds more formal(正式的).

Polite language is always helpful. Why not use it? It might actually win you a few friends and help you get ahead in different situations.

I grew up on a farm as the sixth of seven children. We lived a poor life at that time. My parents often1during meals how everything on the table came from the farm.

My2used to work as a carpenter (木匠). In the fall of 1970, something3happened. The ladder(梯子) broke when Dad was working on a house. His back was so badly hurt that he4stay in hospital for three weeks.

On Thanksgiving, Dad was5in hospital. We always butchered(屠宰) pigs the day after the holiday, and that year one of our neighbors6to help us. Dad returned home several day slater,7he was still unable to work. I was too young to realize our family had no money coming in.

One day after dinner, we heard a car coming. When Mom8the door, we saw Peggy Phelan with an envelope(信封).She told us that she had collected some9for us. Dad didn't want to10the money, but Peggy said, "Archie, whenever someone needed help, you were always there. Now. it's11turn to do something."

That evening, I12what a good neighbor was like. Because my parents were both good neighbors, others were glad to repay all their13. Anyway, my parents were used to being givers14receivers. They never stopped showing us kids the value of being15. Their acts of kindness not only changed others' lives, but also their own lives.

Learning hanzi (Chinese characters) can be hard for foreigners and even for young Chinese. The good news is that Chinese Character Origin Cards (字源卡) can make learning and fun.

The pictures make the 108 Chinese characters such as ren (person) and niao (bird) come alive(活的) right in front of our eyes. They tell us how the characters became they look like today from the oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文).This may sound strange, but it's just what the cards promise their users.

Richard Sears, a 70-year-old American man, is really interested in Chinese characters. Chinese people call him Uncle Hanzi for he (study) them for about 20 years. He and Shiwangme, accompany in Nanjing, worked together (make) the cards. They used both 2D animation and3D AR to show the evolution (演变) of Chinese characters in a right way.

We are going to make more cards, with 324 hanzi in all," "said Uncle Hanzi. This will be for Chinese learners around the world. His team will also put out the cards in more languages. And the Eng1lish version will come out soon.

要点：⑴Date: On the 15th day of the 1st lunar month;

⑵History: Over 2,000 years;

⑶Activities: guessing lantern riddles (灯谜);

watching the dragon dance and the lion dance;

enjoy festival lanterns;

walking on stilts(踩高跷);

……

要求：⑴语言通顺，条理清楚，书写规范；

⑵要点齐全，内容可适当发挥；

⑶词数：80-100 (开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数)。

Dear Alice,

How are you? I'm glad to tell you something about the Lantern Festival.

How about visiting China next year and celebrating the Lantern Festival with us? I believe you will have great fun here.

Yours,

Li Ming