浙江省新目标（Go for it）版初中英语九年级上学期期中模拟试卷（6）

    A few days ago, I ran into a stranger as he passed by. I said sorry to him. And we were very polite. Then we went on our way after saying goodbye.

    Later in the kitchen at home, as I cooked our meal, my daughter Betty walked up to me. When I turned around, I nearly knocked her down. "Get out of the way!" I shouted angrily. She ran away, crying.

    That night, when I lay in bed, my husband said to me, "You were so rude to Betty. Go and look around on the kitchen floor, and you'll find some flowers there. Betty brought those for you. She picked them herself—pink, yellow, and your favorite blue."

    When I heard this, I thought deeply, "While meeting with a stranger, I was calm and polite, but with my daughter, I was not patient." I felt sad and tears began to fall.

    I quietly went to Betty's bed, "Wake up, my dear!" I said. "Are these the flowers you picked for me?" She smiled, "I found them by the tree. I know you like them, especially the blue ones." I said, "I am so sorry that I treated you that way today." And she whispered (悄声说), "Mommy, that's okay. I still love you anyway." I kissed her and said, "I love you, too and 1 do love the flowers."

    That day Betty gave me a lesson on how to get along with each other in the family. I spent much time on work and didn't realize how important family life was. I decided to do better in the future.

    Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to make money for my schooling.

    One day, my mother was sewing a quilt(缝被子).I silently sat beside her.

    "Mom, is there love between you and Dad? "I asked in a very low voice.

    With surprise in her eyes, she stopped her work for a while. Then she said, "Susan, look at this thread(线).It can hardly be seen, but it's really there. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, love should be a thread. Love is inside."

    I couldn't understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month.

    After they were back, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road every day. They were so kind to each other and it seemed they were the happiest couple.

    After two months my father still couldn't walk by himself.

    "Dad, how are you feeling now? "I asked him one day.

    "Susan, don't worry about me, "he said. "I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life." Reading his eyes, I knew he loves my mother deeply.

    Now I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.

    The United States is one of the few countries in the world that have an official Father's Day. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given.

    The start of Father's Day is not clear. No matter when the first true Father's Day began, the strongest promoter of the holiday is Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington. Mrs. Dodd felt that she had a great father, He was a soldier of the Civil War. His wife had died young, and he had raised six children alone.

    In 1909, Mrs. Dodd advised having a church service to thank fathers on June 5, her father's birthday. But there wasn't enough time left for her to prepare the service, so she put it off a few weeks later to June 19.

From then on. Washington State celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

    States and organizations began persuading Congress to start a Father's Day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved of this idea. And President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event in 1924. Since then, fathers had been honored and recognized by their families throughout the country on the third Sunday in June. When children can't visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Usually, fathers prefer greeting cards. Most greeting cards are funny. Fathers laugh when they open them.

    Most people think that only a genius(天才) can invent. That is not true, Many of the tools and products we use in our daily life were (发明) by ordinary people by accident.

    William Kamkwamba grew up on a farm in a small village in Malawi, Africa. When he was 14, he had to drop out of school (因为) his parents couldn't earn enough money to send him to school anymore.

    One day, when William felt the wind, he began to think (怎样) it could be used. He (借) a book from the library called Using Energy, which had (图画) of windmills(风车) in it. Although the book didn't talk about using wind to produce (电能), it gave him his idea.

    William started (工作) on a model of a windmill and he used it to power a radio! He then built a much (大的) windmill with old pieces of junk. The villagers were amazed when they saw he used it to power four light bulbs and to charge(使充电) their mobile phones !

    William's windmill drew a lot of (注意) and he even wrote a book about his story. Now he travels around the world, speaking about his (项目) and developing other inventions to help people.