浙江省宁波海曙区2021-2022学年九年级上学期英语期中试题

When my son Gene was about 12 years old, I started helping him learn to work. I bought twenty chickens and asked him to 1 them. I told him that they would be his own chickens and we would 2 the eggs from him. However he would have to buy chicken feed with the money he made from the eggs. Whatever money was left over would be his 3. Gene was excited thinking he would make lots of money 4.

After several weeks' successful 5 ， I began to notice that egg production was going down. I said nothing about it. Then one night Gene told me he didn't have 6 money to buy the feed. He said the chickens had never missed a meal and he could not figure out why some of them had stopped 7 eggs.

Then I asked him if he had 8 the amount of feed he had given the chickens. He was 9. It was like he did not think 10 would ever know what he had done. After a long 11 he said yes. He thought he would make more money if he gave them 12 food. I asked him, "Did you fool the chickens?"

I was just astonished (震惊）at the question in my own 13. I was dumbfounded (惊呆）at the meaning of it. Yes, you can fool everyone else 14 you cannot "fool the chickens", because 15, you will find out as the saying goes "What goes around comes around" .

Summer Activities

Alan Smith is blind. He teaches blind children in his country. To show the world that the blind can also do something amazing, he walked across the world's largest salt desert, Salar de Uyuni, only with the help of a GPS.

Walking across the desert is not easy for an able-bodied person, let alone (更不用说) a blind man. Before setting off, Alan spent three years training for the journey. He studied everything he could find about the place and asked for advice from other travelers. During his journey, he only took water, food and sleeping bags. He walked about 20 kilometers a day. He showed great perseverance (毅力) and finished the 140 -kilometer journey in just seven days.

The brave teacher thought his week-long journey was wonderful. He said, "The journey was quite good. There were snow storms and winds, but luckily I made it."

Editor's note: Three Chinese astronauts entered China's space station core module (核心舱) Tianhe, hours after the Shenzhou XIII spaceship was successfully launched on Saturday, Oct. 16th.

The crew (全体人员) - Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu - are expected to live and work in China's Tianhe space station core module for six months, setting a new record for China's crewed space mission (载人航天任务) duration. Wang Yaping, the mother of a 5-year-old girl, has attracted (吸引) worldwide attention, for she will be the first Chinese woman to carry out a spacewalk.

While hailing (赞颂) the remarkable accomplishments(成就) of China's space industry, readers show their respect and gratitude toward those working hard to make this happen, as well as their best wishes for the three astronauts.

Here are two of them:

David

Brilliant(非常棒的) work of our astronauts and a variety of scientific researchers. Warm-hearted congratulations to the heroes of our country. Salute (致敬) to the people who created and are creating the history!

Lindsay

Wang Yaping's zero-gravity (零重力的) hair style is amazing. It is great to have the first Chinese woman to carry out a spacewalk. Good luck with the mission, Wang! You're going to be the role model for the next generation(代) of female taikonauts (中国航天人). I'm looking forward to your spacewalk. Wishing you a safe and joyful journey ahead.

Reading is getting more popular among young Chinese. A new survey says that 85% of young people in China read at least 1 book last year. The number of young people who are reading has been rising in recent years, especially for teenagers, who read an average (平均) of 11.5 books.

The data (数据) shows that teenagers spend much more time reading from school textbooks to some other reading materials, such as novels, e-books, magazines and so on. But younger children (ages 2-8) are mainly reading for fun. Compared with the past, the time teenagers spend on pleasure reading has dropped.

When it comes to technology and reading, the survey suggests little. It does point out that many parents control the time of electronic reading, mainly because of worrying about increased screen time. However，most Chinese parents are helping their children to develop a reading habit. They are served as examples for their children. More than 70% of Chinese parents spend at least 20 minutes a day reading to their children aged 0 to 8 years old, and visit bookstores with them about three times a year. Data shows that kids and teens who do a lot of reading, compared to those who don't like reading, have more books in the home, and more books bought for them. Their parents read more often, and would like to spare time to read with them.

When was the last time you read a book? If you're one of the countless people who don't develop a habit of reading, you might be missing out. Everything you read fills your head with new information, and you never know when it might be useful. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to deal with any challenge you'll face. Remember that although you might lose something else, knowledge can never be taken away from you.

Now open a book, and feed your soul (心灵).

People all need friends because nobody wants to be lonely and a friend can help you in good and bad times. You've made friends since childhood, but you still don't know who your true friends are.

Always honest

Honesty is important to keep a relationship alive. It may be hard sometimes but lying can destroy a friendship. It is important that your friend speaks honestly and never makes up stories.

Always there for you

There are always periods in your life when you have problems or difficulties. A true friend will always have time to listen to your problems and give advice. It may not be able to solve your problems but the fact that your friend made time to listen is a sign he/she cares for you. You also need to accept that your friend also has other things to do so he/she can't always listen to your problems at once.

Always respectful(尊敬的）

A true friend will always respect your opinion no matter whether he/she agrees or not.

Always understanding

A true friend will always be forgiving and understanding, even if it isn't his/her fault. We are all different people and we all make mistakes. A true friend is always forgiving and understanding because he/she doesn't want to take the risk of losing his/her best friend.

A. Your friend is not a true one if he/she can never make time for you when you are in trouble.

B. In order to help you, a friend may not tell you the truth.

C. Here are some signs to tell you if your friend is a true friend:

D. Your true friend may disagree but never insists(坚持）that he/she is correct.

E. It is possible that some problems will appear between you and your friend.

F. A true friend always tells you the truth.