河北省石家庄市第四十中学2025-2026学年九年级上学期期中考试英语试卷

I spent two weeks with her in the countryside. One day, I was having trouble2 for my English test. I couldn't memorize the new words. Feeling helpless, I complained to her.

Grandma didn't say much. She just smiled and asked me to help her make paper cuttings. As I watched her3 cut beautiful shapes from red paper, I was amazed. "Grandma, how did you learn to do this?" I asked. "I was4 to learn it when I was young," she said. "It requires patience and practice, just like learning English." She then told me that she used to be afraid of5 mistakes, but her teacher encouraged her to keep trying.

Her words struck me. I realized that learning is a journey that never6 I started to see English learning in a new way. I shouldn't just7 the words blindly. Instead, I needed to find ways to use them, just like Grandma used her skills to create art.

Before I left, I asked her, "Grandma,8 you please teach me how to make a paper cutting of Chinese character ‘Fu'?"

"Of course, dear," she replied9. "But remember, the key is patience and practice."

Now, whenever I10 a problem in my studies, I always think of my grandmother and her paper cuttings. Her wisdom not only helped me become a better learner but also made me understand our traditional culture better.

With the development of China, there is more need for learning Chinese. So many (learning) of Chinese start to use online apps. There are many (help) online apps, such as Wukong, Duolingo and Chineasy: Learn Chinese (easy).

Today, Duolingo offers new (course) for learning Chinese. People can learn more about Chinese culture, such as the Spring Festival, martial arts (武术), Peking Opera. There is also cultural learning about everyday life.

Sixteen-year-old Isabelle comes from a Chinese family in France. She lived in China from 3 to 7 before (move) to the US. Three years ago, she started learning Chinese again, and (find) that it was fun. She spends about five minutes a day language-learning app Duolingo, which has lasted for over 300 days. With her teacher from Shanghai on screen, she reads books and (practice) conversations. "I think Chinese will be (real) more and more important. My grandma and other family members speak it, so I hope to talk with (they) in Chinese," she says.

Ken, a (Japan) man, whose wife is from China, uses Duolingo (improve) his Chinese twice a week. For him, reading is much (difficult) because many of the Chinese characters have two or three pronunciations, so he often makes mistakes. But he keeps trying. So far, he (make) great progress.

One day, I worked overtime. When my work was done, it was 9 p.m. There was no public transport and I felt so tired that I wanted to return home quickly to have a good sleep. So I took one of this kind of taxis. When I arrived, the driver didn't ask me to pay and he just did it as an act of kindness. He said that he didn't ask those who took his taxi after 9 p.m. to pay. His father had done it before and he found it such a nice thing to do that he decided to continue it himself.

I felt so touched by his words. There were no words for me to express how thankful I was. He made me feel so good during the following days because of that free ride.

I decided to do acts of kindness myself which might have the same influence on me as this one had.

Slow progress is still progress. Just as the old saying goes, "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." Progress usually comes a lot more slowly than we expect. Even if progress is slow, try not to be worried. One important thing is that we keep taking steps towards our goals, and another is that we clearly remember what our goals are all the time. The speed isn't important.

The road to progress is not always smooth (顺利的). Most progress often comes with setbacks along the way. Sometimes, maybe it feels like we're taking one step forward and three steps back, but it won't always be like that. Keep going towards our goals and we can much more easily make the progress we want.

Progress doesn't always happen in a straight line. As long as we keep working, we will achieve higher levels.

Would you be surprised to find a New Year's Day in March? Indonesians on the island of Bali are getting ready to ring in Nyepi, their New Year. It falls in March or April on the night of the new moon and is a symbol of a fresh start for the people and the island of Bali. On the eve of Nyepi, families and friends get together in the market. They carry a huge monster which is made of wood and other materials around the village three times. After that, people set it on fire, hoping to drive out evil (邪恶的) spirits.

After Nyepi, a Turun tanah ceremony begins in honor of a child's first steps. At the Turun Tanah, parents invite friends and family to a party to introduce the baby. They put different objects such as a bracelet (手镯), pen, mirror or toy computer around their baby. If the baby picks up a pen, he or she may be a writer. A child who picks up a gold bracelet may be rich.

While Turun tanah celebrates the future of a family. Galungan celebrates its past. Ancestors who have died return ‘home' during this ten-day celebration. And living relatives do their best to make them happy. Tall bamboo poles line the street. People attend the ceremonies and visit their family and village temples. Actors and dancers give performances that tell stories of good fighting against evil.

A year of festivals has come to an end. Don't worry: next year, Indonesia will be buzzing (发出嗡嗡声) again with celebrations, so welcome to the party!

Some people say that today reading is not as important as it was. That's because these days we have photographs, films, radio, and television. Why read a description of something when you can look at a photograph? Why read a novel when we can see a film? Why read a newspaper when the latest news is brought to us every hour on the radio and TV?

Photography is certainly a wonderful invention. Photographs can give a very clear idea of places and of people that we have never seen. An encyclopedia (百科全书), for example, is always better when it has good pictures. But we also need words to explain the photographs. A photograph of an elephant may give us a very good idea of what an elephant looks like, but it tells us nothing about the different sorts of elephants there are and where they are found, their exact (精确的) size and weight, how they can be useful to man and so on.

In the same way, a good film has action, movement, colour, and maybe music. These are things we do not find on the printed page. But reading a novel has certain advantages over watching even an excellent feature film (故事片). Reading a novel requires imagination. Each of us imagines a story differently.

Watching news on television can certainly be exciting. But we need newspapers as well. Some important news stories happen when there are no cameras around. More importantly, a newspaper does not just report the news. It explains why something has been happening. It also contains interesting articles on different subjects. Newspapers are an important part of our lives, if we want to understand what is going on in the places we live as well as in other parts of the world.

Reading is very important for information and pleasure. We need to be good readers to enjoy a full life as human beings. Reading is a skill and like other skills, it needs practice. The more we read, the better readers we become. And the better readers we become, the more we enjoy reading! The secret is to get into the reading habit.

Read at least a little every day.

A: Hello! Steve. Long time no see.

B: I went to London to live with my parents three years ago.

A: Wow! You have changed a lot.

B: Yes, you are right. I used to be short. Do you still like playing soccer?

A: I don't like playing it any more. Now I prefer to play basketball.

B: Mm, people always change. I like playing basketball, too.

A: Sure. There is a great basketball court (球场) near the park. Go along this road and you can see it.

B: How about playing together at six o'clock this afternoon?

A: No problem. See you then.

B: OK! See you.

注意：

(1)邮件内容须包括相关信息，可适当发挥；

(2)文中不得出现真实的人名、校名和地名；

(3)词数80个左右 (开头已给出，不计入总词数)。

Dear Mike,

I am glad to hear you will come to Hangzhou soon. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Ming