山东省邹城市第八中学2020届九年级下学期英语开学考试卷

    The Beets were a new couple. The things in their rooms, such as the television, the computer, the fridge, furniture and so on, were all left by their parents. They only paid some money for their food and clothes. But they tried their best to save money. If they had something important to tell their friends, they always visited them instead of calling them.

    One day, it was a quarter past nine. Mr. Beet didn't come back. His wife was a little worried. The supper was cold and she had waited for two hours. She was sitting by the table in the dark room. Suddenly the woman heard someone coming upstairs. It was her husband's step. She hurried to open the door. In the dark she could hear his deep breathing (呼吸). As soon as he sat down, she turned on the light and found he looked very tired. "Why do you come back so late, dear?" asked the woman. "Haven't you caught a bus?" "Yes, but I didn't take it." "Why not?"

    I ran after it so that I saved two dollars this evening." "That's great!" the woman said happily. "Run after a taxi next time and you'll save both more time and money."

    Maybe you are an average student. You probably think you will never be a top student. However, anyone can become a better student if he or she does his or her best. Here are some tips to help you.

    Plan your time carefully. You should plan your time for such things as eating, sleeping and dressing. Then make a good, regular time for studying, but don't forget to set enough time for entertainment (娱乐).

    Keep your study quiet and clean. The study should have a desk, a chair and some study materials, but no games, no radio and no television! When you sit down to study, you can put your heart into it. Make good use of your time.

    Listen to everything that the teacher says. Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

    After you get home from school, go over your notes. Review the important points. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss next day, read the material. It will help you study better.

    Develop a good attitude (态度) to tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. It helps you know what you are not good at. The world will still go on even if you fail in a test, so don't be too worried.

    Have you ever done something foolish that made you feel so embarrassed?

    Well, that's exactly how I felt. On a Saturday morning last autumn, I had gone to town to do some shopping and as I was on my way home, it suddenly began to rain. I at once ran into a nearby phone box since I didn't have an umbrella. It was raining so heavily that I have to stay in the phone box until it stopped.

    A few moments later, I saw a young man walk up to the phone box, wearing a yellow raincoat and holding a box. I didn't want to go out into the rain, so I picked up the phone and pretended I was talking to someone. I thought the man would go away, but he didn't. He just waited in the pouring rain, watching me wave my hands about and act as if I was deep in conversation.

    Luckily, it began to stop after about ten minutes. "Okay，Mum," I said loudly into the phone," I'll see you later Bye!" I put the phone down, picked up my shopping bag and walked out of the phone box. "I'm sorry, I took so long." I said to the man.

    "Oh, I don't want to use the phone." he replied, smiling. "I've just come to repair it. It's out of order, you see." I felt myself go bright red in the face and I hurried away with my head down，feeling a complete fool. That was certainly one of the most embarrassing moments of my life!

    Pollution inside homes and other buildings kills more than 4 million people each year. Many people die as a result of breathing smoke or from cooking over wood-powered of coal-powered stoves.

    One way to reduce the number of deaths is through cooking equipment powered by the sun. Crosby Menzies, a solar power expert in a South African company, described his latest solar cooker called the"Sol.4". "It is four square meters of mirrors, six to eight meters in length. It is quite a large cooler."

    The"Sol.4" works by reflecting light from the sun off large mirrors. The mirrors direct (把……对准)the light at a cooking pan. Then the light heats the pan with solar energy. Within two minutes, the pan is hot enough to cook sausages and onions. In just four minutes, water can be boiled. That is as fast as cooking with natural gas or electricity.

    The cooker is also much "friendlier" than other models because people do not have to stand in the sun to use it. And people can prepare meals without having to collect firewood or spend money on coal. Such individuals would be less likely to have breathing illnesses from harmful smoke.

    At present, the cooker only works when the sun is shining. But engineers are working on a way to make it work without sunlight.

    Each cooker costs about $2000, which is a large amount of money for most Africans. To solve that problem, Crosby Menzies has crated a non-governmental organization called solar Cookers for Africa. It plans to raise money through donations to provide poor people with solar cooking equipment.