相关试卷

"Not at the table, Leo," his father said gently but4. "Let's just talk."

Leo sighed and put his phone away. He felt a bit5. What could they possibly talk about? He stared at his plate, counting the seconds.

Seeing his disappointment, his mother smiled. "Why don't we all6 the best and worst part of our week?"

Leo thought it was a childish game. But with nothing else to do, he7. His mother went first, talking about a funny mistake at work. Then his8 shared a story about helping a lost neighbor.

When it was Leo's9, he hesitated. He planned to say "nothing much."10 then, he remembered the math test he finally passed11 struggling for weeks. He mentioned it quietly.

To his surprise, his parents' faces lit up with great12. "That's wonderful, son! We knew you could do it!" his father said, clapping him on the back.

The conversation continued. They13 dreams, books, and even the silly thing their cat did. Leo found14 laughing, really laughing. He wasn't checking the time anymore. He was15 enjoying himself at that moment.

Later, as he helped clear the table, Leo realized something. For the past hour, he hadn't thought about his phone once. The dinner, which he had thought would be endless, flew by. He felt a warm connection he hadn't felt in a long time.

How to Build Better Habits

A good habit can help us work efficiently. To build better habits, you can try these three methods.

________ Need to turn your entire routine upside down to develop a good habit? No, it's more likely to leave you feeling tired. So, start by deciding which habit you want to build and breaking it into small steps. For example, if your goal is to walk 10,000 steps every day, start at 2,000 or 5,000 steps, depending on your physical activity level, and gradually work your way up.

Make good habits easy. Making a habit convenient makes you much more likely to stick with it. ________ So, if you're trying to form a good habit, make sure to set up your environment in a way that reduces obstacles (障碍) and makes it convenient and easy. For example, if you want to get into the habit of jogging in the morning, prepare your workout clothes the night before.

________ Mark each day you follow through with the habit in a diary, a habit tracker app, or a calendar, which can help you stay motivated and accountable. Also, don't forget to celebrate progress and even the smallest achievement. ________

①Are you a curious person? If you're often thirsty for learning more about something, then you probably are. But as American researcher Perry Zurn points out, ________. There are at least three styles of curiosity: "busybodies," "hunters" and "dancers."

② "Busybodies" like to collect bits of information on all kinds of topics. They're not chasing (追求) any certain goal. Rather, they're just interested in the world around them. "Hunters," however, go after specific (具体的) answers. They follow a clear path to reach their goals. "Dancers" jump at new ideas or combine (结合) old ones in new ways. They prefer to take the road less traveled.

③Zurn and his team went on to see how these curiosity styles play out in real life. They focused on the readers of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia (维基百科). Their research included 482,000 people from 50 countries. For each person, the team looked at how many different topics he or she read about and how closely those topics were connected. For example, did someone look up Pierre Perifel and then read about his new film, The Bad Guys 2? Or did he or she jump from the film director to pu' er tea?

④The results showed that all three types of curious minds exist (存在) among today's internet users. "Busybodies" read widely, but they especially liked sports, food and the arts. "Hunters" cared more about science and technology. Interestingly, they were more likely to feel stressed after their curious hunt than the other two types. That's probably because they had a stronger drive to fill in the blanks in their knowledge.

⑤Zurn says we are each born with a natural curiosity style. However, our style isn't set in stone. We can develop the other two styles by spending time with teachers or friends who think differently. That's good news. After all, curiosity works best when all three styles exist in one mind.

①Imagine walking through a quiet Australian grassland. Suddenly, you hear a tiny, strange "Ooom" sound. That sound might belong to one of the rarest birds in the world—the Plains-wanderer (领鹑)! Scientists in Australia have just used AI to locate these birds. This discovery will help protect the endangered birds.

②Plains-wanderers are tiny, only about 15 centimeters tall. When they feel frightened, they crouch down (蹲下) to hide or run instead of flying. "There is no bird like it in the world." said a scientist. They are very picky about their habitats (栖息地). These tiny birds live in grasslands, but not just any grassland. There can't be too much grass or too little. For this reason, scientists sometimes call them the "Goldilocks" of animals.

③Plains-wanderers used to be common in eastern Australia. But over the years, farms and cities have taken over their home. Now, there are only 250 to 1,000 birds left in the wild.

④To protect these rare birds, scientists first needed to know where they were. They worked together and decided to "listen" for the birds. Female Plains-wanderers make an unusual "Ooom" sound, and this was the key to locating them.

⑤The researchers set up 35 recording devices to catch these sounds. The devices collected tens of thousands of hours of recordings. Humans could not check all of it, so the team used AI to help. The AI detected (识别) calls from two locations, and scientists later confirmed (证实) the findings. One scientist said it felt like "finding gold." It is the first time in over 30 years that the bird has been found west of Melbourne.

⑥Now, scientists will work with landowners to protect these birds and their grasslands. And they are still listening, hoping to find even more of these "Goldilocks" birds.

My trip to China felt like a fantasy movie. I had read comments online about trips to China before, yet the travelling experience still surprised me.

My first big surprise happened in Suzhou. Many people call Suzhou the "Venice of the East," so I pictured a small town with quiet canals (运河). As soon as I stepped out of the railway station, I was ________. Suzhou was so huge and modern! Tall glass buildings stood beside old waterways and wooden boats. It felt strange to see both a "village" and a "city" in one place. This contrast made me look at the city with fresh eyes.

Later, I saw an even stronger contrast in Beijing. The hutongs showed the traditional side of the city. These narrow alleys were crowded and full of life. A short walk away, modern skyscrapers rose into the sky. People say many hutongs are disappearing each year. How lucky I was to visit them!

After these surprises, I faced a challenge: the language barrier. Simple words like "toilet" or "passport" were not always understood. Translation apps became my closest friends. They helped most of the time, though sometimes the results were funny.

Still, I met people who spoke fluent English in the most unexpected moments. A stranger at the Summer Palace helped me during heavy rain. A young man in an Apple Store in Shanghai sounded like a native speaker. Sometimes, I almost forgot I was abroad. These moments showed a friendly side of China.

In the end, this trip gave me many stories to remember. I enjoyed every moment, and I really can't wait to go back to China!

Do you often buy new clothes just because they are fashionable? What will you do with your old or unused clothes? Just throw them away? Or put them into the rubbish bin? These clothes go into landfills. This is bad for our world. Here is how YOU can help!

请根据下面内容要点以"My changes"为题，写一篇80词左右的短文。

1. 过去我很害羞，现在我享受与他人交流；

2. 理解父母，每天会花更多的时间与父母谈谈学校生活；

3. 乐于助人，常主动帮助同学解决问题；

4. 坚持锻炼，积极参加体育活动；

5. 对任何事物保持好奇心，好奇心赋予我勇气；

6. 你的感受。

参考词汇：对……感到好奇be curious about ...

要求：请将所缺信息补充完整，文章必须包含所有提示内容，行文连贯，可适当发挥。

I'm in Grade 8 now and since I became a middle school student, I have ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Heavy Snowstorm

Last winter, a small town experienced a heavy snowstorm (暴雪). It snowed for three days, and the weather was very c. The streets and houses were covered in thick snow.

Tom, a 12-year-old boy, woke up early and looked o of the window. He saw that everything was white. The trees, cars and roads were all hidden under the snow. He felt very e because he didn't have to go to school that day.

However, the snowstorm made life d for many people. The roads were too slippery (滑的) to walk on, and some cars could not move. The power lines were also broken, so there was no e in some houses.

Tom's family decided to help their neighbours. They put on warm c and went outside. They used shovels (铲) to clear the snow from the road. Their neighbour, Mrs Green, was an old woman who lived alone. She could not go out to b food, so Tom's mother brought her some bread and milk.

After three days, the snow finally s. The town slowly returned to normal. The people were very happy because they had helped each other during the s. Tom learned that even small actions can make a big d.

Some years ago, our head teacher Mrs. Waters decided to start a school newspaper and get some students to do it. She thought the newspaper would help us learn more about school life. We liked her idea.

Some of my friends joined the newspaper team soon. I'd always loved writing and drawing, so I joined the team, too. My parents were satisfied with me. They thought I was doing something meaningful. And they often came along to give me advice.

My first job was writing a report on a sports project. It was hard for me, because I never wrote anything like that. Dad told me it was similar in some ways to writing a story—getting information in the right order. With his help, I did a good job on my report. Sometimes the team didn't use what I'd written or drawn, but I didn't mind. I just told myself to do better the next time.

I'm now one of the editors (编辑). We think about what goes into the newspaper. We also correct mistakes in people's articles. I'm busy with these things every day, but I really enjoy doing them.