浙江省外研版初中英语八年级上学期期末模拟试卷（6）

C

    A long time ago, there was an emperor. He had a beautiful garden. In the garden, there was a little nightingale(夜莺) singing very beautifully.

    One day, the emperor heard about this little bird's beautiful voice. He asked his guards to bring her to him. As soon as the emperor heard the nightingale's voice, he said, "Put her in a golden cage, so she can stay and sing for me whenever I want to hear her sing."

    The little bird was so unhappy about being kept in the cage that she stopped singing one day. The emperor was very angry. He ordered the scientists in his palace to make a robot bird for him. The bird could sing very beautifully, too. The emperor was pleased.

    Soon the robot bird became old. It no longer sang beautiful songs. Just at that time, the emperor became very weak. One morning, while lying in bed, the emperor wanted it to sing once again. But the robot bird couldn't sing any more.Suddenly the nightingale landed on the window. She began to sing her most beautiful song. The emperor was very happy! He became better and better each day.

    After the emperor was well, he changed a lot and became kind to his people. From then on, all his people cherished(爱戴) him for his love and kindness.

    I' m ready to do my first jump 10 months after a skydiving (特技跳伞) accident. I can't wait! That accident almost killed (杀死) me and it made me stay in hospital for half a year. During the boring long days, I didn't feel good. "How could I live without my favourite sport?" I thought.

    It all started one evening after a nine-to-five day. I was sitting at home when an ad (广告)came on the television. "Try skydiving," it said. The next day, I went to the skydiving school in my town, At the end of the day's lessons, ] knew I found the right sport for me.

    I will never forget my first jump. Five of us walked to the runway and got into a plane. I was afraid, but the others were talking and smiling, and I started to feel a little relaxed. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the sun was just going down. Soon it was time to jump. As I jumped from the plane, I shouted. But then everything became quiet (安静的). It was the most wonderful four minutes of my life.

    From the first jump, I was hooked. I started spending all my free time skydiving. It became my reason (理由) for living. Things were going really well. Then an accident happened on my 104th jump. I broke my both legs, right arm and nose. I stayed in hospital for six months, but I still couldn't forget skydiving.

    My mother couldn't understand why the only reason I wanted to get better was to go skydiving again. But for me, skydiving is life, and life is skydiving.

参考词汇：name of the book; writer; story; place; hero/character; favourite scene; theme

    Today more and more people live in cities. So there is usually little room in a city to grow food.1of the land in a city is used 2 homes, shops, roads and parks. Most food for city people is grown in the country. It is often brought to the city by3, train and plane. Some food 4 comes into the city by car.

    Water is5 thing that cities get from the country. Everyone needs water every day. We use a little of it for6, but we use even more to 7bathtubs(浴缸) and wash streets.

    The water used in cities comes mostly from the rain. But people8use the rain that falls on cities. The rain becomes dirty as it falls through dirty air. Once it hits city buildings or streets, the rain will pick up more dirt. It is not good for drinking or bathing.

So cities must reach out to the 9 country for water. There the rain falls through air onto trees and grass. The fallen rain runs 10 rivers and lakes. So it is important to keep both cities and the country clean.