浙江省温州市平阳县水头学区两校2021-2022学年九年级上学期英语期中联考试卷（含小段音频）

—Wonderful. I have learned a lot from it and the speaker's pronunciation is perfect.

— Not so much. As a _________ customer, I only buy things that I need.

—You'd better not. It's too dangerous.

—Yes. Chinese _______in those countries. I am proud of that as a Chinese.

—_____. She cleaned it all by herself.

—Well, we________ carefully and now we have a good idea.

—Oh, my God! Building up a LEGO house is quite difficult.

—About 2 miles away. We can get there in a few minutes.

—Don't worry! Believe in yourself and get ready for it well.

—___________Let's talk about it over dinner.

Once there was a boy. He was smart, talented and handsome. However, he had a really bad temper and 1wanted to be friends with him. Often he got angry and said 2things to people around him.

The boy's parents 3 about his bad temper. They considered what they could do and one day the father had an idea. He gave his 4 a hammer and a bag of nails*The father said, ＂Every time 5 get angry, take a nail and drive it into that old fence."

The fence was very hard and the hammer was heavy, but the boy was so 6 that during the very first day he had driven 37 nails. Day after day, the 7 of nails was gradually decreasing*. After some time, the boy started to understand that holding his temper was 8 than driving nails into the fence.

One day the boy didn't need the hammer and nails anymore 9 he learned to hold his temper perfectly. So he came to his father and told about his 10 . "Now every time, when you hold your temper all day long, 11 one nail," said the father.

Much time had passed. At last the boy could be12 himself as all the nails in the fence were gone. When he came to his father, he was asked to walk out to take a look at the fence. His father said, "You did a good job, but pay attention to the 13 that left. The fence will never be the same. The same happens when you say something hurtful to people, as your 14 leave scars*in their hearts like those holes in the fence. "

Remember, we need to treat everyone with love and respect because even if you say you are 15 the scars will never disappear.

When it comes to Germany, music lovers might immediately think of Bach's or Beethoven's classical works, and soccer fans would call the Bundesliga one of their must-see events.

But how much do Germans know about China and Chinese culture? Three learners at the China Cultural Centre in Berlin recently shared with us their stories of learning Chinese and

Chinese culture.

Andreas Pietsch is a history professor at the University of Münster. While learning Chinese at the centre, Pietsch, a music lover, was gradually drawn to traditional Chinese instruments. Two years ago, he began to learn to play guzheng. Having travelled to China several times, Pietsch said he planned to visit all the six sites on the Renminbi notes. So far he has visited five, except the Potala Palace in Tibet.

"My interest in Chinese started during my second trip to China," said Alexander Straβmeir, president of State Office for Refugee Affairs. " Chinese has the most beautiful characters in the world. I chose to practise Chinese calligraphy because it shows the beauty of Chinese culture. "Though he finds the tonal system in Chinese really challenging, Straßmeir says he enjoys learning the language as it is like a mirror in which he could see a different way of thinking behind the language itself.

Keno Budde is an undergraduate* student at the Free University of Berlin. Asked why he's learning Chinese, Budde answered, "I made the decision after l saw clearly what would happen in the future." Budde is impressed with some of the latest technologies coming from China, such as the high-speed trains, mobile payment and Huawei's leading position in the 5G race. ＂Learning a language gives you the insight into a country's culture. Learning Chinese can give us more chances in the future as China will go on growing," Budde explained.

"There's more to life than bills and money." The sentence comes from the film Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. The film talks about minimalism, a style that supports the idea of "less is more", while also questioning the thought that material things bring happiness. The principles* of minimalism show how we can take a serious look at the ways we spend money to live a more purpose-driven, joyful life.

A recent study carried out by Northwestern University shows that people who place greater value on material things have a higher chance of becoming low-spirited. People buy more, earn more in order to buy more, create more stress earning more, and are more likely to be low-spirited because of stress.

Minimalism presents a way out from that. Rather than working to buy more, we can spend less. It focuses on things that improve our lives, serve a purpose, and bring happiness.

Minimalists tell us we can use minimalism in all areas of life: relationships, technology, social media . . . It means using not only our money, but our time and attention purposefully so we fill our lives with things that bring us happiness. Minimalism helps avoid things like spending too much or mindlessly checking your phones. It is all about the reexamination* of your priorities so you can remove the extra things—the possessions, relationships and activities —that are of little value.

For each of us, different things have their own value. If some artwork brings some meaning to your life, great! If Saturday rides make you happy, then go for it. The minimalist lifestyle won't look the same for everyone. You can bring more happiness into your life by slowly testing what you can live with and what you can live without. In the end, minimalism is about creating the freedom to enjoy a happier life.

She didn't like us, any of us. We didn't do anything to hurt her and she didn't know us. But that didn't matter. She still didn't like us.

As new teachers in the Emirati School, we Westerners greeted her every day. She came into our office and passed by us as she shook hands with all the non-Westerners in the office. Whenever we saw her, she avoided eye contact with us. Finally, we stopped trying to be friendly with her.

Her friends had been fired from the school. We were chosen to be in their place and we have different nationalities. These were enough for her to have nothing to do with us.

Well after 16 months in the school, we had a secret pal gifting. I drew her name from the box and that meant she was my secret pal. My role was to buy her a gift and say something about her when we publicly revealed who our secret pal was.

I bought her a small potted plant and asked one of the Emiratis to write a little message on it. Then I sent it to her room secretly. She was so touched. The next day I sent a beautiful candle but I wrote the message in English. She needed to know her secret pal was a Westerner before the reveal day so that she was prepared.

Then came the day of the reveal. We all gathered in the staff meeting room and everyone was excited. When you received your gift, you said something about your secret pal and passed the gift to him/her. What could I say? Everyone knew she didn't like the Westerners. She taught music in the school so I said, "My secret pal is someone who brings music to our ears every day." I didn't even need to say her name. Everyone knew exactly who I meant.

She came forward with a huge warm and sweet smile. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks and politely accepted my gift.

This was a lovely experience but I wondered how it would pan out. Would she go back to avoiding eye contact with me and all other Westerners? Later that day, I passed by her. She was smiling and she told me she loved my gifts. One of my Western colleagues told me that she too was benefiting from this change in attitude.

I reached out my hand in friendship hoping to be befriended and in return I have been met with love and friendship. Things happen for a reason. We must have faith in seeing the goodness in others, and it is there. We may just need to show extra love to receive the rewards.

My son Daniel began surfing at the age of 13. After school every day he put on his wet suit and waited to be challenged by three-to-six-foot waves.

（然而）, one day, his eye was badly hurt by the point of his board. My husband Mike rushed him to hospital. Daniel received  stitches* from the （角；拐角）of his eye to the bridge of his nose.

I was flying home from a （会议）while Daniel's eye was being stitched. As soon as I （到达）at the hospital, he reached out both arms, crying, "Oh, Mum. I'm so glad you're home. "

I sobbed, telling him how terrible I felt about not being there when he went through pain.

"It's okay, Mum," he said. "I'll be fine. The doctor said I can go back in the water in a （两个）of weeks. "

Was he （发疯的）? I wanted to tell him that he wasn't allowed to go near water again. But instead, I（控制）myself.

For many days, he kept asking me to let him go back on the board, but always （重复）"No".

"Mum, you taught me never to give up what I love, so I want to （继续）practising surfing, " Daniel said.

Finally, I gave in. Back then Daniel was just a boy with deep love for surfing. Now he is （在……之中）the top  surfers in the world.

提示：1）谈谈你对学校旅游的理解。

2）分享一次你的学校旅游经历与感受。

3）对学校旅游提出合理的建议。