江西省抚州市南城县2023-2024学年九年级上学期期中英语试卷

—____. It is easy for us to keep in touch with others. 

— You'd better take a train. ____the suitable trains in the timetable.

—____? I got an A in my English exam. 

—She asked me________.

There was a young woman who took great pride in her garden. She was raised by her grandmother who taught her to love and 1 for flowers. So her garden was the best.

One day, while she was looking through a flower list she often2 from, a picture of a plant caught her eyes. She had never3 blooms（开花）on a plant like that before. " I have to have it," she said to herself, and she 4 order it.

When it arrived , she already had a 5 prepared to plant it. She planted it at the back of her yard. It grew well, with beautiful green leaves all over it,6 there were no blooms . Day after day she continued to water it, feed it , and even talked to it to make it bloom. However, it was7 .

One morning weeks later, while standing before the vine, she felt very8 that her plant had not bloomed. She was giving thought to9 it down an planting something else in its place.

It was at this point that her neighbor, whose10 joined hers, called to her, "Thank you so much! You can't image how much I have11 the blooms of that vine（藤） you planted." The young woman walked12 the gate into her neighbor's yard, and sure enough, she saw that on the other side of the wall the vine was 13 with blooms.

They were indeed the most beautiful blooms she had14 seen. The vine had grown through the crevices（裂缝）and it had not flowered on15 side of the wall, but it had flowered on the other side.

Sometimes one may not see the good result of his effort, but that doesn't mean it isn't successful.

It was the end of summer, I was sitting on the grass to relax myself. The air was finally cooling down. The wind was blowing and I could that a heavy rain was on its way. I walked inside and kicked off my shoes but then noticed a trash can（垃圾桶）with rubbish in the corner. " I'd better take it out before it starts to storm," I said to .

I picked the trash bag up and looked at shoes. Then I smiled and headed outside without them. It felt so good to be barefoot（赤脚的）in the grass again. Even though it was cold and already wet, the green grass felt alive under my . My aging body might not feel like in the rain but my heart and soul surely did. It didn't matter it was cool and wet outside. My heart was warm and my soul was light. My inner（内心的）child was enjoying the end of summer.

Why is it that we keep inner children locked so much? Why don't we let them out to play more often? It is they who truly live in the .It is they who hug the that each day brings. The next time you get a chance to walk barefoot in the grass, don't let it go. That child inside you wants to come out and play. Don't always be an adult. Let yourself be a happy and child instead.

Floki and Siggy are from Sweden. Last year, they went to Spain on holiday. One night, they went out for their dinner. Outside one restaurant, they saw a man. The man looked friendly. Floki and Siggy said hello to him and he answered them in Swedish, their language! They felt very happy and asked the man if it was a good restaurant.

The man said it was excellent and it had the best food in Spain. Floki and Siggy believed him because he was from their country and they went in. They sat at a table next to the window. They ordered their food and something to drink. The waiter brought everything after about 20 minutes. To their surprise, there were only two small prawns(对虾). The chicken was not fresh and the rice was hard. The juice was tasteless and coffee was cold.

At the end of the meal, the waiter gave them the bill. It was very high! When they left the restaurant, the Swedish man was still there. Floki and Siggy told him he was wrong. They told him about their terrible experience! They asked him, " Why did you tell us it was good?"

" Because I am the manager," the man answered.

How do we make traditional Chinese culture alive and popular again among young people? The livestream(网络直播)has made it. It is not only fun, but also a new stage for traditional culture artists.

On video websites and apps, many traditional culture artists are trying the livestream for the first time. Some of them sing Peking Opera, some show their handmade pieces of art, while some others perform classical music.

Li,59 years old, is a laosheng performer in Peking Opera who started the livestream this year. Unlike performing on a formal stage, Li uses everyday places as his stage, including his backyard, his study, and even a sofa. Besides singing, Li also teaches viewers about Peking Opera in a funny way. People can ask him questions and get answers directly. "The livestream has brought this great art to more people," Li said." It allows young people to know this traditional art and learn more about it in an easy way."

Other artists also regard the livestream as a new opportunity. A fashion show was once livestreamed on an app. Performers showed beautiful clothes in traditional Chinese styles, including those from the Tang and Ming dynasties. During the show, viewers enjoyed the clothes and watched how performers used ancient styles of make-up. For example, one performer taught people how to draw the guiye eyebrow(桂叶眉)，which was popular during the Tang Dynasty.

There is no doubt that the livestream has created a new way through which traditional culture can be kept alive.

A dragon-shaped bronze statue （青铜像）with a " tiger" head and tiger brain was discovered at the Sanxingdui Ruins（遗址）Site in Guanghan, Sichuan Province. This kind of object has never been found in other sites of the Bronze Age in China.

The shape of this dragon is a bit special as its head is like a tiger's head, and its ears are round like those of a tiger. But it has two long horns（犄角）on its head. Its mouth is also special with something like a knife in it. And its body is like a flying dragon.

According to reports, this statue is about 80 cm high, but it's still not a complete bronze. Experts have found that this statue has no supports in front of it, and its main body exceeds（超出）the base. So it probably needs to lean（倚靠）on other objects to keep its balance.

So where is the missing part? After searching , experts made another great discovery about half a meter away: the top-shaped snake- like figure（雕像）. The 1.5- meter-high body is supported on a square base with both hands, and turns upward. It also needs to lean on other object to keep balance.

Now some experts guess that the two statues are probably the same set of objects. If the guess proves to be true, this will become another huge Sanxingdui Ruins Site since the late 1920s. It all began in 1929 when a farmer was digging a hole there and it opened the door to an unknown culture of 3000 to 5000 years old.

How to Greet People in Different Languages

Have you ever stopped to think about how many people are saying "Hello" to greet each other today, and in how many different languages? If you want to say"Hello" to everyone on the planet, you would have to learn at least 7000 languages and greet at least 7800000000 people. Hola in Spanish , Ciao in Italian, Nihao in Chinese or Bonjour in French and many more!

Sounds hard to learn to say so many"Hellos"? Don't worry! It seems that nowadays the English word "Hello" is getting accepted on more and more cultures.Here is a simple and amusing way to greet foreigners wherever you might travel around the world.

But she tries to learn to say "Beautiful" in the local languages. She can use it to "greet" a mother holding a baby, or to "greet" an old lady watering her flowers, or to "greet" a lonely salesman showing photo of his family.So why not say it when even one word can bring about such pleasure?

Fun, isn't it? And we don't need to pronounce those different local greeting words. With a hearty smile, it can be well understood and appreciated（欣赏）. So let's learn to say " Beautiful" in the local language whenever and wherever you travel around the world!

(A= Alice F=Frank)

A: Hi, Frank! Are you free on Saturday?

F: Yes. 

A: I heard a baby panda was born in the zoo. Let's go and have a look.

F: Oh, I have been there twice. I think you'd better learn something about pandas before going to the zoo.

A: I know a little. An adult panda only has one baby every two years. There are about 2000 pandas living in the forests.

F: That's true.

A: Why？Is it because they don't have babies very often?

F: Another main reason is that humans cut down lots of bamboo forests, and pandas don't have enough food to eat.

A: What a pity！What can we do to help them?

F: 

A: I will take some photos of the pandas when I visit the zoo.

F:  Have a good time.

A: Thank you.

内容提示：
1.介绍一下这件物品是什么材料做的？ 
2.你得到这件物品的过程。
3.这件物品对于你的意义。

要求：
1. 短文应该包括所有的写作要点，条理清楚， 行文连贯，可适当发挥； 
2.短文中不能出现真实的人名和地名； 

Everyone has his /her own favorite thing, and so do I.