浙江省外研版初中英语九年级上学期期中考试模拟试卷（13）

　The pyramids in Egypt are thought one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

There are 80 pyramids in Egypt. The three great pyramids at Giza were built 4, 000 years ago. And Khufu's Pyramid is the biggest one, it was built with more than 2. 3 million rocks. It was built on a square base. The base is about 230 metres long. The original height of the Pyramid was 146. 5 metres when it was first built, but over the years, it has lost about 9 metres, so today it is only 137 metres high.

The pharaohs (法老) set out to build pyramids as tombs (陵墓)for themselves. They are the wonders of the world. The pyramids show not only the buildings for us, but also the human's knowledge in ancient times. The pyramids belong to Egypt, but the pyramids also belong to the world.

Many people in modern times want to know how the ancient Egyptians set up them? It's still a puzzle now. Many scientists haven’t found out the answer to the problem.

    Who is the greatest teacher in Chinese history? Many people will think of Confucius, whose birthday was September 28.Although he lived over 2，000 years ago, people still remember and respect him for his contribution (贡献) to the education today.

    Confucius lived in the Kingdom of Lu, which lies in Shandong Province. He lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. He had a hard childhood. His father died when he was only 3.His mother brought him up. As a child, he had to work to help his mother, but young Confucius didn't give up studying. He visited many famous teachers and learned music, history, poetry and sports. Later, he became a teacher and started the first public school in Chinese history. At that time only children from noble families could go to school, but Confucius believed everyone should go to school if they wanted to learn. He had about 3，000 students in his lifetime.

    Today, people still follow Confucius' lessons. He told us that we all have something worthy to be learned.“ When I am with three people, one of them must be better than me in some areas. I choose their good qualities and follow them.” He also taught us that thinking is very important in study. “All study but no thinking makes people puzzled (困惑的).All thinking but no study makes people lazy.” Confucius is not only a great teacher, but also a famous thinker with wise thoughts about the world and society. His most important teachings are about kindness and good manners. “A person should be strict with himself, but be kind to others.” he said.

    People use his ideas to help themselves and society. At present, more than 100 Internet websites are telling people about him, and his ideas have gone far into East and South Asia.

    On 26 February, I got an email from my friend David, asking me to go to Tanzania to train their software engineers. The company is located in Dares Salam, a beautiful coastal city to the west of the Indian Ocean. I stayed for about two weeks in that city last time I was there. During my stay there, David took me to the nearby beach and we had a wonderful walk along the coast which had left a deep impression on me. I was impressed by the ocean water and the deep blue sky.

    After more than 19 hours of air travel, I was finally here at Dares Salaam Airport. The temperature here was high as usual- over 30 degrees. I felt short of breath because of the unbearable heat in this tiny hall. When I finally got my turn, I handed my passport to the officer in front of me, He had a close look at my passport. Then he asked the purpose of my stay, I told him I just wanted to travel here.

    "Where do you want to visit?" he asked again.

    "Dares Salsam."

    "What's your job?" he asked.

    "I'm a software engineer.

I will never forget this experience that I had. I still love this country.