牛津版（深圳·广州）初中英语九年级上学期期中考试模拟试卷（2）

    Many years ago, there lived an old man with his three sons, Dharma, Harrison and Keith, in a village. The man worked hard when he was young, so he had the largest farmyard and the most beautiful house in the village. However, his sons were all born to be lazy, which made him disappointed. He was worried that his sons would use up his money and starve to death.

    One day, the old man came up with a plan. He called his sons and said to them, "Look, my dear sons. There is lots of hidden gold in the land at the farmyard. If you work together, you may find it."

    In a wish to find out the gold, his sons worked hard from the morning to the evening digging and digging all through the land. Three days had passed, but they didn't find what they were looking for. They got frustrated and angry. They decided to give up and returned to ask their father.

    "There is no gold in the land. We are cheated."

    "Since the land has been dug soft, why don't you plant some crops there?" was the reply of the father to the sons.

    Off went the sons. Soon the whole once useless land was rich crops.

    "This is the real gold, my sons," said the proud father.

    Family traditions are special habits or customs that your family have. For example, in the family of Bill Gates, his parents keep the tradition of reading with children. And what's the tradition in your family？

    One day, when I arrived at school, an ice cream truck was parked in the schoolyard. Ice cream men usually drove their trucks to primary schools. I had never thought one ice cream truck would come to bring ice cream to us older kids. When I went up to the truck, I was quite surprised to hear the man call out, "Free ice cream!" To make sure of his words, I asked, "I'm sorry. What did you say?"" Free ice cream. Choose whichever you like," he said, smiling.

    After I was certain that the man was just giving away the ice cream, I talked with him for a long time. He told me that his dream was to travel around, giving away ice cream, and that's what he was now doing. With his mother's support, he kept doing what he loved even during hard times. Now, some large companies were helping him with his plan.

    The man said he wanted to encourage people to do exactly what their hearts told them to do during their lives. I kept asking him, "So your dream was just to drive around and give away ice cream? It seems like a very unusual goal." "Yes, just meeting people and making them smile," he replied. At that point he handed me my ice cream. I thanked him, but what I got from him was much more than just ice cream. It can't easily be expressed in words. I believe what he was doing is exactly what great people do all the time: small acts of big love.

    Some people still live in their home town. However, others may only visitonce or twice a year. Millions of Chinese leave the countryside(search)for work in the cities. Among these is Hua Xing. He(live)in Wenzhou for the last 13 years. With a hard joba factory, he seldom visits his home town." I haven't been back for three years. It's(shame), "he says. (develop) have been good in Hua Xing's home town since 2002, for example, new roads(appear). A new school (build). However, some things will never change in his home town. The big old tree is still beside the playground. Children in his time(usual) liked to play together under it. It washappy childhood.