黑龙江省牡丹江市重点中学2023-2024学年高二上学期期中英语试题（音频暂未更新）

Welcome to Arundel Castle which is situated in West Sussex, England. The castle has a history of nearly 1,000 years and has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world. Arundel Castle also plays a starring role in many films.

The Gardens

The White Garden is planted with soft white iceberg roses and snow-white lilies.

The Rose Garden is newly planted with lovely old-fashioned English roses that are at their very best in June and July.

The Organic Kitchen Garden produces a wide range of seasonal fruits and vegetables—pears, cherries and apples.

The Castle Shop

In the Castle Shop you will discover a wide and interesting range of gift ideas for everyone. It offers gifts and souvenirs designed to appeal to all tastes and pockets. Foods, china, books, and stationery （文具） are all available. Many are sold in this Castle Shop only.

At Arundel Castle we pride ourselves on supporting local suppliers and actively encourage environmentally-friendly products.

Arundel Festival

16th to 25th August 

Arundel Festival gets bigger and better every year. It is one of the most amazing, diverse and easily accessible art festivals in the UK, offering a mix of visual arts, music, theatre and street entertainment.

Parking

Coaches and mini buses can drop off at the main Castle entrance on the Mill Road and park in the main town car park that is opposite the castle entrance. Please inform us of how many parking permits are required when making your booking.

In March 2020, a group of 16 strong elephants became international stars because of their starting long northern journey from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province.

The group did not harm any people or animals during their long march, but caused chaos on farms. In December, a baby elephant was born.

The wild group was seen on CCTV walking down the streets of the city at night and they were also filmed constantly by more than a dozen drones （无人机） —which, the Chinese government said, were helping to minimize damage and keep the animals and people out of danger.

The group had a sudden attack on farms for food and water and even showed up at a care home, where they reached out their trunks into some of the rooms, making one elderly man hide under his bed. Meanwhile, reports said the damage caused to crops totaled more than £700,000.

In April 2021, seventeen animals were originally in the group, but the government said two returned home during the walk.

There were many guesses about the reasons for the migration of the elephants. Some people thought the elephants appeared to be especially attracted by fruit and other crops. Others supposed that the elephants' leader might simply be lost in the rich tropical region, which is home to about 300 other Asian elephants. But, in fact, there was no exact scientific explanation.

In order not to do any harm to the species, farmers and others were told to exercise maximum control when they met with them, while the government had ordered people to stay inside and not use firecrackers or other techniques to frighten them away. Less force was being used to keep them out of the city, like parking cars and some equipment to block roads and using food drops to attract them away.

More than 410 emergency response police, lots of vehicles and 14 drones had been used to monitor the group. Locals were evacuated （疏散）；short-time traffic control measures were carried out, and two tons of elephant food was put in place. Finally, this group of migrating elephants returned to their wild living areas safely under the protection of everyone.

The unusual day of February 29 comes up on the calendar only every four years. In American English, February 29 is called a leap day. And the entire 12-month period with a February 29 in it is called a leap year. The year 2020 is such a year.

As a verb, the word "leap" means to jump, or to move quickly. "Leap" can also be a noun, meaning a jump or a sudden move. In a leap year, the dates jump over one day of the week. In 2017, the last day of the year December 31, fell on a Sunday. In 2018, it fell on a Monday. In 2019, it fell on the Tuesday. But in 2020, December 31 will fall on a Thursday. It just leaps right over Wednesday. "Leap" is also an important word for two American expressions. One is a kind of warning. If you want someone to investigate （调查） a situation completely before taking action, you might say "look before you leap". The other expression is a phrase of hope. Advising someone to "take a leap of faith" invites the person to take action, even if not everything about a situation is known.

Interestingly, both phrases are completely reasonable to say to someone who is about to get married.

On that note, some people choose to marry on February 29 because it is an unusual day. But some ancient people would likely tell couples not to do it. Leap years were believed to be difficult, and leap days were unlucky and a bad time to begin anything new.

Whatever you think about them, the changes in the calendar will be gone soon enough. Then we can return to normal, and leap over February 29 as usual.

US writer Margaret Lee Runbeck once wrote, "Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." But traveling is not always happy, at least for the two people in the movie Green Book.

The movie was based on the true story of a road trip through the southern US in the early 1960s. In the film, the black pianist Don Shirley hires Italian-American Tony Vallelonga to drive him to perform, but they face problems because of Shirley's skin color. These problems lead them to form a special friendship.

"There's something so deeply right about this movie, so true to the time," wrote US film critic Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle. The time LaSalle talked about was between the late 1870s and 1960s, a very different period in US history, when many parts of the country had Jim Crow laws, which allowed racial separation （种族隔离）. These laws made life and travel dangerous for African-Americans. They couldn't use certain hotels, restaurants, or even gas stations. They had to be indoors after sunset or they might go to jail. Even famous black people had to follow the laws.

But in 1936, a black mail carrier named Victor H. Green had an idea. He made a list of friendly businesses in New York City. He published the list as a small book with a green cover. The Green Book helped African-Americans travel more safely. Then, in 1964, Jim Crow laws went away. The book went away, too. Today many US people still remember the time of Jim Crow, but they probably don't know about the Green Book. Thanks to this movie, maybe people can remember it again.

What is life's greatest gift? Choice is the ability to select one course of action from a set of alternatives to achieve a goal. What is great about choice? It transforms us from animals into artists. Each of us becomes another Michelangelo. Choice becomes nothing other than the tool we use to sculpt our life. The tool doesn't come free, however, for the price of choice is responsibility. The reward is happiness.

Life is not still （静止的）. It is a flow.  We constantly need to monitor where we are on our journey. We need to ask questions: Am I moving closer to my goals? If not, what right measures can I take? What action will I take now to re-adjust myself to my goals?

 And your life becomes more convenient or comfortable because of them. For example, you decide which stores to shop at and which gas station to go to. But the decisions that we make to sculpt our life are far more important than deciding where to shop.

All chess lovers realize that it isn't necessary to win to enjoy the game. The pleasure is in the playing. Life is like a chess game. 

A. It is free will or choice.

B. You have to make choices every day.

C. Make the best moves you can under the circumstances.

D. But when we accept and carry it out, we get a great return.

E. Every choice we make leads us closer to or farther from our goals.

F. Life is full of hard choices, and the bigger they are, the harder they get.

G. Choose to carry out responsibilities not because you have to, but because you want to.

Marcus is a handsome and athletic kid. He plays tennis and 1 the state tournament every year. Marcus's neighbor, Conrad, is also 2 to compete, but he has rheumatoid arthritis （类风湿性关节炎）. Although it pains him just to walk, he 3 painful days at school walking to the sports field. He loves watching his school compete so he doesn't 4 a game.

Marcus has known Conrad since primary school. They've always been 5 . He sees Conrad in pain and his 6 at not being able to play sports. So, every day after school, Marcus 7 his classmates to go to Conrad's for a moment of discussion about the game competition. The discussion is as 8 as a real high school game, which makes Conrad forget the hurt.

Finally, the doctors found a new 9  to reduce the pain. Conrad walks without much pain, and then begins running, but he still has to learn the 10  of running. After a childhood of walking carefully and taking 11  steps, Conrad has to train his walking like a kid again and stay in shape. He pushes himself every day, building his lungs and doing leg lifts repeatedly for his leg 12 . He knows what pain feels like, but running for Conrad is no longer 13 .

To Conrad's delight, he gets a chance to join the cross country team. Conrad doesn't win, not once, but Marcus is there, 14 for him who always finishes in the middle of the competitors, breathing in wind and waving his hands 15 .

Craftsmen paint animals, flowers or others on a stone board with the syrup （糖浆）.When the sugar (cool) down, what appears is a piece of sugar art.  (luckily), as fewer people choose  (make) sugar paintings, the traditional Chinese folk craft might have become a memory in some ways. However, a 38-year-old man,  (name) Li Jianzhong, devotes himself to (keep) the art of sugar painting alive.

Li worked as a miner for more than ten years. After the mine closed down, Li turned to housing decoration until he (force) to give that up because of a finger injury. Then he discovered sugar painting,  he really had an interest in.

Since there was no sugar painting craftsman in his village, he studied by  (he) through videos and information on the Internet. Li loved painting when he was young, and he found  easy to learn the skill in sugar painting. He soon mastered the skill and could make many different sugar paintings, and they attract more and more people. And now his story and paintings encourage some young people to follow  example of him.

注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Eric threw himself on the sofa, sighing. Mother's Day was approaching, but he didn't have a present. "How can I buy a present without any money?" he thought.

Eric picked up the newspaper that was lying on the couch. He noticed a large advertisement on the front page. The local department store was sponsoring （赞助） a contest. "Tell us why your mom is special and win a shopping spree （疯狂购物）for her," said the advertisement.

"This is perfect!" thought Eric. He ran to his room with the newspaper. Taking a pencil and a blank piece of paper from his desk, he started to write.

"My mom is the best mother in the world. She always makes lunch for me to take to school, and she never forgets my dessert. She reads as many books to me before bed as I want. She always remembers to check under the bed for monsters. And she gives me the best hug, but never in front of my friends, who would laugh at me for hugging my mom."

Eric liked what he had written. He copied it neatly and got an envelope and a stamp from his bed. He ran to the mailbox with his entry. "Mom will love having a shopping spree," he thought.

Eric checked the mailbox every day for his prize. Days went by, and then weeks. Soon it was the day before Mother's Day. Eric still hadn't heard anything about the contest.

"What am I going to do now?" he wondered. He didn't have a present, and he didn't have a shopping spree. And he still didn't have money. He had to think of something. Eric closed his eyes and curled his toes and thought hard.

注意：1.续写词数应为150 左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Suddenly he had an idea. 

The next morning Eric handed his letter to his mom.