外研（新标准）版九年级下学期期末测试（一）

—____ sister.

—I like English.

—It rained ____ and I didn't take my umbrella.

—I can see ____ birds there.

—I'm afraid you ____. You have already kept it for more than a month.

—By George Crum.

—________.

—In Beijing.

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come1 play around it every day. He climbed to the tree top,2 the apples or played under the tree. He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by. The little boy had3 and he no longer played around the tree.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and4 sad. "Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy.

"I am no longer a kid. I do not play around trees any more," the boy5 . "I want toys. I need6 to buy them." "Sorry, but I don't have money. But you can pick all my apples and7 them. So, you will have money." The boy was so8 . He picked all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy didn't come back9 he picked the apples. The tree was10 .

One day, the boy11 and the tree was so excited. "Come and play with me," the tree said. "I don't have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a12 . Can you help me?" "Sorry, but I don't have a house. But you can13 my branches to build your house." So the boy cut all the branches of the tree and left14 .

The tree was glad to see him full of joy but the boy didn't appear. Since then the tree felt again15 and sad.

Do teenagers in small villages do chores at home? How about the teenagers in big cities? Here is a survey. We asked 4,000 teenagers in China several questions. Half of them come from big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The others are from small villages. We made a diagram of the result of our survey. Let's have a look at it. We found out that teenagers from small villages do more chores than those from big cities. Maybe it is because they live a harder life. Our advice to parents in big cities is that parents should give their children some chores to do. Doing chores teaches teenagers to take care of themselves.

Peter: Hi, Gina.

Gina: Hi, Peter.

Peter: Gina, I'm so excited! We have two weeks off !

Gina: I'm not sure. I guess I'll just stay at home. What about you? Any plans ?

Peter: Yeah, I'm going to relax at the beach with my cousin for the weeks. We're going surfing every day.

Gina:

Peter: Say, why don't you come with us ?

Gina: I'll bring my surf board! Oh, by the way, can my sister join us, too ?

Peter: Of course.
 

"Colour" and "color", "favourite" and "favorite", "honour" and "honor"…Have you ever wondered why Americans spell those words without a "u"? Is it because they are lazy?

Of course not. In fact, the difference in spelling was started by Noah Webster (1758-1843). He was a teacher who reformed (改革) English to make American identity (特征) stronger. Linguists (语言学家) celebrate his birthday on October 16 every year.

After the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Webster believed that Americans should have their own dictionary, rather thanrely on British dictionaries.

He dropped the British "u" in some words. And he changed "centre" into "center" for children to learn English by spelling words more like what they sounded. He used "subway" instead of British word "underground". Some other examples are "soccer" and "football", "fall" and "autumn".

Webster wasn't shy about expressing his opinions. In defining (定义) preposterous (unreasonable), he wrote: "A republican government in the hands of female is preposterous.

Webster spent 28 years on the project before completing the 70, 000-word dictionary with his American-style spelling in 1828. He also added local words.

His dictionary was widely used in schools. Linguists believed it helped a new country achieve unity (统一) and cultural independence at a time when most people cared about political freedom.

"He was the creator of our language and the creator of American identity," said Joshua Kendall, who is working on a book about Webster. "He at last brought us together through our language."

A few days ago, Simon left school. He wanted to find a job in a big city. So he came to London. He went from one company to another but none wanted him. At last he only had a little money for the train ticket, so he had to go back to his hometown (家乡). He came to the train station. He felt sad and tired. It was late at night. There were many people in the train station waiting to buy tickets for the last train. Simon was happy because he bought the last ticket for the train.

He went to a bench to wait for the train. Just then a woman came over and she had a crying baby in her arms. She said to Simon that her baby was ill, so she hoped to take the train home quickly. But she couldn't buy the ticket. She looked very worried and sad. After hearing this, Simon took out his ticket and gave it to the woman.

After the train left, Simon sat on the bench and didn't know what to do. Just then, an old man came and said, "Young man, I saw what happened just now. I have a big company. I need a good young man like you. Would you like to work for me?"

Mom was cooking in the kitchen. She could hear the girls arguing in the living room. It was the third time this week that the sisters had been arguing over nothing. A few minutes later, Maria rushed into her bedroom angrily and closed the door heavily.

"Come to the kitchen, young lady," Mom firmly (坚定地) said to Maria in her best mother tone (语气) of voice.

Maria walked into the kitchen and shouted, "I can't stand living with Felicia another minute. I don't ever want to talk to her again!"

Mom called out, "Felicia, come to the kitchen right now."

While Felicia was on her way, Mom put two chairs opposite each other but very close together.

"Maria, you sit here and Felicia you sit there." The girls sat face to face, with their knees almost touching. "Now you look each other in the eye for five minutes," Mom ordered.

At first the girls moved their bodies from side to side. Mom said firmly, "You must stay staring at each other for five minutes. Each minute you don't make eye contact (眼神交流) means another minute sitting in the chairs." They both wanted out, so they had to sit there and look at each other.

Felicia looked at Maria's pouting (噘嘴的) face while Maria looked at Felicia's angry face. They each thought the other one looked ridiculous (可笑的). In fact, they were being ridiculous to fight and be mad at each other over nothing.

Soon Maria couldn't stand it any longer and began giggling (咯咯地笑) and so did Felicia. They giggled and laughed.

Mom wisely didn't say anything except, "Okay girls, you can go now."

I want to when the train to Beijing starts tomorrow.

I'm sure you'll like the movie  .

He his job and began writing novels.

I hope you will arrive to attend the meeting.

Millie sometimes some interesting places.

要求：1. 语言表达准确、连贯、通顺；2. 短文应包括所有内容，可适当发挥，不要逐句翻译。3. 词数 80 左右。文章开头、结尾部分已给出，不计入总词数。

参考词汇：under much pressure, deal with, change one's mind, think about, instead of, cheer up, for help, just need to.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for your coming today. I'm very glad that all of you are full of hope for the future. And yes, everyone has to face difficulties in his life.

……

That's all. Thank you.