浙江省湖州市吴兴区2017-2018学年上学期九年级英语期末考试试卷

A Move to Safety

    The Turners sat at the kitchen table. The sun was shining and filled the kitchen with a warm light. It was a perfect day for having a picnic or going surfing. But in the Turners' kitchen, no one seemed to be paying attention to the 1 .

    "Okay, girls," said Mrs. Turner. "I can tell by the expressions on your faces that you have a pretty good idea of why we need to have this family 2 ." Linda and Kala exchanged looks and slowly nodded.

    "Your mom and I have had many talks lately about the possibility of 3 ," said Mr. Turner. "We were hoping that it wouldn't come to this, 4 we don't have other choices."

    "But Dad," said Kala, "Kilauea has been an active volcano（火山）since 1983! Nothing has happened to us or to our house yet. I think we'll be 5 here."

    "But your dad and I care about all the recent warnings giving by the government. Even though we've been safe up to now, there is no way to guarantee（保证）that a larger eruption（喷发）isn't coming up," said Mrs. Turner.

    "Mom, this is our   6 . I can't even remember living anywhere else!" Linda said, fighting back tears.

    Mrs. Turner put an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "This won't go 7 for any of us," she said. "Dad and I love this house, too. We have so many happy memories here. But we're tired of living with such uncertainty. The most 8 thing in the world to us is that our family stays safe."

    Mr. Turner 9 . "Girls, there are other places in Hawaii where we'll feel safer. We'll have to 10 our house, but you know home is wherever we go as a family. We'll make new 11 , and we'll find things to love about our new home."

    The girls were quiet for a moment as they considered 12 it would mean to move. "There are so many things I'll 13 here," said Kala quietly.

    "We all will," said Mrs. Turner. "But one of the places that your dad and I have looked at is only a few minutes' walk to the beach."

    Kala and Linda couldn't help 14 when they heard that. They both spent every spare minute they had surfing. If their parents told them that they could actually live in the water, they would have been perfectly happy.

    Mr. Turner walked around to the other side of the table. He put one large hand on each of his daughter's shoulders. "I'm proud of you two," he said. "Thank you for trying to 15 why this is so important to your mom and me."

    Linda and Kala smiled. Dad was right: home was wherever the family was.

A

B

    You probably know many of the things that you can do with the hundreds of different muscles（肌肉） in your body. But have you ever thought about how the muscles in an animal's body are different from yours? An animal's muscles are made to do the things that are the most important for its life.

    Lions are hunters. They depend on their ability to catch other animals. Lions must be fast in order to catch their prey(猎物). The powerful muscles in their back legs allow them to run at speeds of more than 30 miles per hour. They can also jump a distance of more than 35 feet. The strong muscles in their front legs help them catch their prey.

    Snakes also use their muscles for hunting prey and for movement, but their muscles work in very different ways than lion's do. Because snakes do not have any legs, they use their muscles to push against the ground or other objects to move themselves forward. Their muscles also allow them to eat things that seem much too large. For example, a snake may eat an egg that is larger than the width of its body. How does this happen? The snake's strong neck muscles work together to push the egg down the mouth.

    The elephant's long nose has a lot of muscles. Scientist believe that the nose alone has more than 100, 000 muscles! This is because the elephant uses its nose much in the same way that people use their hands and fingers. Even though the nose is large, it can perform surprisingly tasks. For example, an elephant can pick up a tree by its roots or even to lift a baby elephant.

    The great muscles of these animals seem pretty unbelievable. But the muscles in your body work exactly the way you need them to. After all, it might be fun to be able to jump a distance of 30 feet, but as a human being, there is just not much need for it.

C

    One night, when I was eight, my mother gently asked me a question I would never forget. "Cindy, my company wants to promote (升职) me but needs me to work in Brazil. This is like your teacher telling you that you've done well and allowing you to skip (跳) a grade, but you'll have to leave your friends. Would you say yes to your teacher?" She gave me a hug and asked me to think about it. I was lost in thought. The question kept me wondering for the rest of the night. I had said "yes" but for the first time, I realized the difficult decisions adults had to make.

    For almost four years, my mother would call us from Brazil every day. Every evening I'd eagerly wait for the phone to ring and then tell her everything happened during the day. A phone call, however, could never take her place and it was difficult not to feel lonely at times.

    During my fourth-grade Christmas break, we flew to Rio to visit her. Looking at her large empty apartment,   ▲    It was then I started to understand the difficult choices she had to make. She needed to think about both family and work. Faced with difficult decisions, she used to tell me, you wouldn't know whether you make the right choice, but you could always make the best out of the situation, with a positive attitude.

    Back home, I reminded myself that what my mother could do, I could, too. If she managed to live in Rio all by herself, I, too, could learn to be independent. I learn how to take care of myself and set high but achievable goals.

    My mother is now back with us. But I will never forget what the experience has really taught me. I've learned a lot because of this separation. There are lots of difficult decisions that we have to face in our life. We need to have a positive attitude no matter what happens.

D

    It happens every night—bedtime. But what if you're not sleepy? Should you still go to bed if you are just going to lie there with your eyes wide open? It's a problem that has been around as long as there are people trying to sleep.

    You might be excited by something you did in the day. You might be nervous about what you're going to do the next day. Maybe you don't like sleeping alone in your room. Maybe you have frightening dreams. All of these are possible reasons for your sleeping problem. However, there are some steps you can take to help you solve it.

    One thing that can help is talking to a parent or another trusted adult about what you're worrying about at bedtime. For example, if you're nervous about taking a test, or upset about being teased (被嘲弄) at school, it can really help to tell somebody. Knowing that somebody has heard you can help ease your mind so that you can have a good rest.

    Sleeping in a comfortable bed in a quiet and cool room is a good choice. If there's anything in your room that makes you feel uneasy or anxious at night, like a picture that looks strange in the dark, or a noisy faucet (水龙头) in the bathroom, be sure to ask your parents to move or fix it. Make sure electronics, such as mobile phones or iPads, are kept away from your bed. They can keep you excited, making it harder for you to fall asleep.

    If you are usually restless around bedtime, doing certain things to relax beforehand may help you fall asleep. Try to take more time to wind down by taking a warm bath, or listening to a bedtime story at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep. It also helps to follow a bedtime routine and go to sleep at the same time every night. As a result, your body will get the message that it's almost time to sleep. Your body will know to start feeling tired.

    In order to find the right solution for you, it's possible that you understand what exactly is keeping you up at night. Getting a good night's sleep is worth the time and effort of finding the right solution to your sleeping problem.

    Marco Polo was from Venice, Italy. In 1271, at the age of 17, Marco went on a trip with his father and uncle to China. Today people often travel to different places around the world. But it was very hard for people from Europe to visit China then. After three and a half years, the Polos reached China in 1275.

    While he was there, Marco Polo worked for Kublai Khan, the emperor of China. He was able to learn and experience many things that were new to Europeans. In his diary, he wrote, "Kublai Khan's palace is the greatest I've ever seen. The streets of the new capital, Dadu, are so straight and so wide." Paper money also took him by surprise, since it was not yet in use in the West at that time. Homes were heated with "black stones… which burn like wood." Those stones were coal, and most of the Europeans knew little about it then.

After 17 years in China, Marco and his family finally returned to Venice. After he returned home, Marco completed a book called The Travels of Marco Polo, full of facts about his wonderful experiences in China.

⑴   ⑵   ⑶   ⑷  

    Everyone has his （自己的）dream of the future. But do you know what the future really is? I think future is now. That is to say, we must treasure every minute and （秒）. There is an old English （谚语，格言）, "Gain time, gain life." Time is something that can't be seen or  （触摸）, but we feel it passing by. Time is always with us. We often say, "Time is money", but it is more  （宝贵的，贵重的）than money, because when money is spent, we can earn it back. But if time is gone  （离开，远离）, it will never return. That's the reason why we say time is priceless.

    Grasping（把握） the （现在）is grasping the future. We should work hard in order to （创造）a bright future. We should make the best use of every hour and take every  （机会）. We should do everything as （很好地） as possible . Never put off what can be done today till tomorrow.

    Hearing is very important to all of us. We can hear beautiful music, nice songs of birds, the laughter of people or other different  (kind) of sounds in the world with our ears. How  (wonder) it is to have a good hearing! So we must try to protect our ears. The following will tell you  to protect ears.

    It's reported that  (listen) to loud music a lot can be bad for ears, especially when headphones (耳机)  (use). So turn them down when you're wearing headphones   try not to wear them. You should let your ears have rest if you really like wearing them. If you are going to a concert, wear earplugs(耳塞)to protect your ears  the terrible music! In fact, earplugs  are special can be made for you if you go to concerts a lot or if you are a musician yourself. If your ears hurt, it's necessary(see) a doctor. Follow the advice above and you won't be saying "What?" when you are getting old.

TO:Li Ping

From:Armino

Hi Li Ping,

    How are you? I hope you're fine and not too busy! I can't wait to leave for China next week. But could you tell me something about Chinese table manners? What places of interest can I visit when I am in your city?

See you soon!

Armino

TO:Armino

From:Li Ping

Hi Armino,

Li Ping