江苏省扬州市2023年中考英语真题

—I recommend the Slender West Lake. A boat tour is a wonderful ____!

—Thank you. It's a work of art, but it is also ____ for tea making.

—You can book one through our official APP.

—____, Liu Mei. It takes time.

Jack sat alone on the bus ride home from school. All his friends were 1  their class projects excitedly, but Jack remained silent. How could they understand his feelings when their parents would help them? His parents worked all the time.

When the bus stopped, he raced home, 2  his schoolbag on the floor, and walked straight to his bedroom.

"Jack?" Grandpa's 3 called out. "Was that you?"

Jack stopped 4 he closed his bedroom door. "Yes, Grandpa, it's me."

Grandpa Higgins came from the kitchen carrying a sandwich. "You don't sound okay," he said as he took a 5 .

Should Jack tell Grandpa the truth? What could it hurt? He quickly 6  they should do a class project for the weekend and together they would build something with an adult. The students needed to make a 7  to explain how their projects had gone.

Grandpa listened quietly. "8 are you so unhappy?"

Jack felt his 9 and anger rising inside him. "Because I don't have anyone to help me." He sounded so sad and so angry.

Grandpa raised his eyebrows 10 . "What am I?" he asked gently.

Jack froze. "You'd build a project with me, Grandpa?"

"Sure, I would," Grandpa said. "Just let me finish this sandwich."

Jack's heart seemed so 11 that he thought it would float away. He rushed to the schoolbag and 12 his assignment paper. Then, they studied the assignment and made a list of ideas. Finally, they 13 to build a cardboard robot from old biscuit and noodle boxes. They used glue, staples, and tape. Grandpa helped a lot and he 14 found a box of eyeball stickers.

When they finished, Jack looked at their misshapen (奇形怪状的) robot. He couldn't stop smiling. "I think it's the best 15 I have ever built. Now I have to write my report," Jack said, hugging Grandpa. "Thank you, Grandpa. I had a lot of fun."

China has made great achievements in biodiversity protection. Building a national park system is one of the greatest jobs that China has done so far. In October 2021, China's first five national parks were designated (认定). They are home to nearly 30% of the earth's key wildlife species (物种) found in China, covering a protected land area of 230,000 square kilometers. This table will inform you of the first five national parks—China's treasures in nature.

What would happen if you tried to blow a soap (肥皂) bubble in below-freezing weather? Would it freeze and fall to the ground? Would you have to hit it with a stone to break it? These questions came into my mind one cold winter day. It was too cold to play in the snow, but it was a perfect time to experiment with blowing frozen bubbles.

To blow frozen bubbles, I had to wait until the air outside was very cold. For this activity, that meant 10 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit or colder. I didn't have the bubble things that come in a bottle, so I used dish-washing soap. Adding a drop of glycerin made the soap work even better. I chose a place out of the wind, and blew bubbles the same way I always do. I watched to see what would happen. Here's what I learned.

If the temperature is low enough, the skin of the bubble frosts (结霜) over, becoming cloudy instead of clear. And what about those rainbow swirls (漩涡状物体) that you see in soap bubbles? The rainbow colors stay even (均匀的) when the bubbles frost, but they don't spin anymore. The bubbles still float in the air. They don't fall to the ground any faster than they would on a warm summer day.

When these frozen bubbles break, they don't turn into tiny drops of soap as summer bubbles do. They turn into shiny rainbow pieces and fly slowly to the ground. Sometimes a frozen bubble will roll across the snow without breaking. If it breaks, it may leave a strong bubble skin on the ground. Leave the bubble alone and it may stay there for a long time.

Sometimes I could catch a bubble and hold it until the heat of my hand made it pop.

I learned one other thing about blowing frozen bubbles. It's so much fun. I want to try it again next year!

That night, July 11, 2022, Nick Bostic was driving down the streets of Lafayette, Indiana, when he found a two-story house was on fire.

Flames (火焰) were climbing up the front porch. Without pausing for a moment to think about the danger, Bostic stopped his car and ran from the back door into the burning building, which belongs to the Barrett family.

Bostic had just started climbing the stairs when he looked up and saw four faces appear from a room at the top of the stairs and look down at him, their eyes wide. "Your house is on fire, you need to go!" Bostic yelled.

Bostic hurried the four girls into the fresh air. "Anybody else in there?" Bostic asked.

"Kaylani is in there! We can't find her!" Seionna, the eldest of the girls, screamed referring to her six-year-old sister. Without hesitating, Bostic ran back inside.

By now, the whole side of the house was in flames. Bostic went upstairs. He searched every bedroom. No kid. The smoke was thick now. He lifted his T-shirt, trying to cover his mouth and nose when he heard the sound of crying, from the dark smoke below.

Bostic felt about in the blackness and heat, moving downstairs toward the sound. Then suddenly Kaylani was in front of him. Bostic quickly lifted the girl into his arms. Where is the front door?! Bostic remembered seeing a window on the side of the house where the fire hadn't reached.

Bostic climbed back up, made it to the room and broke the glass, Kaylani still in his arms.

Bostic and Kaylani looked down at the open grassy space. The girl said, " __________ " He was thinking the exact same thing.

But they had little choice. The flames were inching ever closer. Holding Kaylani tightly in one arm, Bostic ran forward and threw himself out of the window. He managed to land on the other shoulder. Kaylani was almost unhurt.

Days passed. Bostic woke up from first-degree burns to his leg and arm, He felt like he'd just done what anyone would have done in that situation. But outside the hospital, the story of Nick Bostic was already spreading. He was a hero-the pizza man who had run into a burning building not once, but twice.

The scientific method is used for simple experiments that students may do in the classroom or very difficult experiments that scientists are doing all over the world. It is a way of thinking that helps you to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions.

There are usually four steps in the scientific method, including observation (观察), hypothesis (假设), experiment, and conclusion. The steps may not always be completed in the same order, but the first step is usually observation and asking a question about your observation. For example, you had a sick stomach, and ate a candy bar. An hour later, you observed that you felt much better. Here, you can ask a question, such as, "What makes a sick stomach feel better?"

The second step is to state a possible answer to the question, or a hypothesis, such as " _________ " A good hypothesis includes three things: The explanation for the observations, it is able to be tested, and it will usually predict new outcomes or conclusions.

The third step is the experiment, to test the hypothesis. An experiment is a test which will either challenge or support the hypothesis. The hypothesis will then be true or false.

The final step is to think about what happened when you tested the hypothesis and draw a conclusion. The conclusion will either clearly support the hypothesis or it will not. If the results support the hypothesis, a conclusion can be written and you can share it with the rest of the world. If it does not support the hypothesis, you may choose to change the hypothesis or write a new one based on what was learned during the experiment.

Roberta woke up early the next morning. Then she woke up Phyllis and Peter. "We're in the new house. There are no servants here. We must help Mother now," whispered Roberta.

Carefully the three children lit the fire and filled a kettle (水壶) with water. They hung the kettle above the fire.

"Mother isn't awake yet. Let's go outside and sit on that flat stone," said Roberta. "Perhaps we will see a train go by."

When Mother came out at eight o'clock, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis were all fast asleep in the sunshine. They had put the kettle on the fire at five o'clock: three hours ago. All the water had boiled away (烧干). Now there was a hole in the bottom of the kettle. The fire had gone out.

"Never mind," laughed Mother. "We can boil some water in a pan. And I've found the dinner."

She led them into the kitchen and pointed to a door.

"Last night, I thought this was a cupboard. It was so dark. But look," she said.

Mother opened the door and the children saw a little room with a table in the middle. On it there was roast beef, bread and butter, cheese and an apple pie.

"Apple pie for breakfast," cried Peter. "What fun!"

It was a wonderful breakfast. Everyone was very hungry.

"It feels like dinner because we were up so early," said Peter, as he passed his plate for more apple pie.

When the children had finished, they helped Mother put everything away in the right place.

Then Mother said, "I'm tired. I'm going to lie down for a while. Go out to play but please be careful."

Roberta, Peter and Phyllis looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing.

"Let's go down to the railway," cried Roberta.

"Listen!" said Phyllis. "I think I can hear a train."

Peter asked, "Do you think it's going to London?"

"Father is in London," replied Roberta. "Let's go to the station and find out."

—Taken from The Railway Children

Peter Pan wishes Wendy, John and Michael, especially Wendy, would stay in Neverland forever, but finally the Darling children decide to fly back home and grow up.

"Quick, Tink," Peter whispers. "S the window. Then when Wendy comes back, she will think her mother doesn't love her anymore, and she will return to Neverland with me."

Mrs. Darling is playing the piano. Peter didn't know the tune, Home, Sweet Home, b he knows it's saying, "Come back, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy." Peter looks through the door and sees two big tears in Mrs. Darling's eyes.

"She loves Wendy," he thinks. "But I love Wendy, too. We c both have her."

He looks at Mrs. Darling again. The two tears are still sitting on her e.

"Oh, all right," he says at last, sadly. Then he opens the window.

When Wendy, John, and Michael arrive, they find the window o for them. They all get into bed to surprise their mother.

When Mrs. Darling goes back to the children's room, they are all in their beds. They wait for her to say something, but she says n. She thinks she is dreaming. She sits by the fire.

The children are so w . Why isn't their mother happy to see them again? All three of them jump out of bed, run to her and shout, "Mother!" She realizes she is not d anymore. Mr. Darling and Nana come in. They are all so happy. Peter w them from the window but he is looking at something he will never have.

Many years pass. When Peter visits Wendy again, she has g up and has a daughter of her own. Peter is still a boy who can't grow up.

—Taken from Peter Pan

要求：
1. 表达清楚，语法正确，上下文连贯；
2. 必须包括提示中的所有信息，并按要求适当发挥；
3. 词数：100词左右（开头已给出，不计入总词数）；
4. 不得使用真实姓名、校名和地名等。

Kites

Kites have a history of about 2,300 years in China.