2018年初中英语牛津版（深圳·广州）八年级下册期末模拟试卷（1）

A: Hi, Millie

B: I'm reading a report about our life in the near future.  

A:

B: It says we have to move to another planet in the future.

A: Why?

B:  It will not be a good place for people to live after a few years.

A:

B:  We should plant more trees.

A: I agree. What else?

A:

A: Yes. We can do it by taking a shorter shower.

B: You're right,

— Yes, there is.

    One day a man found a cocoon(茧) of a butterfly in the forest. He sat there for several hours and watched the butterfly. Suddenly a small opening appeared, and the butterfly made its great effort to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

    So the man decided to help the butterfly. He cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the butterfly could come out easily. But to his surprise, the butterfly got a heavy body and very small wings when it came out of the cocoon.

    The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that the body would grow smaller at any moment and the wings would become larger and be able to fly. But neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬) around with a heavy body and small wings. It was never able to fly.

    The man was in his kindness, but he did not understand the nature rules. Before the butterfly came out of the cocoon, fluid(流体) from its body must be forced into its wings, and then it would be ready for flying. It must have a hard struggle(拼搏) to get through the small opening to get its freedom from the cocoon.

    Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any difficulties, it would make us fail. We would not be as strong as we could have been, we could never fly.

    It's March, 2050.

    Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house in the morning and switch on the bedroom computer to get the latest news.

    They used to read the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.

There is the usual news about space: another space flight has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. Then they turn to business news: the US dollar has risen greatly in Shanghai, one of the world's leading business centers. Mary tells the computer to buy 5000 dollars, and there is a quick response that it has been done.

As they watch the screen, Mary orders one of the household robots to make coffee for them. Frank disappears into the study to join a video conference with his partners around the world. He is a computer engineer, working for several companies. This is his third job: he used to be in marketing and then television.

    Mary has a quick look at the shopping channels--the usual selection of electric cars, household robots and cheap travel offers before picking up the video phone to talk to her assistant. She also has a job and she is doing medical research. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2014 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.

    Frank and Mary have one daughter, Louise, who also has her own workstation at home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other students. Classrooms disappeared in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home.

    Louise, now thirteen, is studying Chinese at present, which has become a world language as important as English. Louise has many Chinese friends. They communicate by computer.

    According to the family doctor, Louise will live to at least 130. Her wish is to work for a few decades(十年) and then spend her time on music and painting.