吉林省初中英语2020-2021学年中考模拟题（6）

    A girl was walking in the woods when she found two weak birds. She took them home and put them in a small cage (鸟笼). She took good care of them. The birds grew strong. Every morning, they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted them to sing for her forever.

    One day, the girl left their cage door open by mistake. The bigger of the two birds flew out. The girl watched as he rose high into the sky. She was afraid that he would fly away and she would never see him again. As he flew close, she caught him in her hand and held him tightly (紧紧地). She was happy. Suddenly, she felt the bird go limp (无力的). She opened her hand.

    The bird was dead! Her love had stolen life from the beautiful bird.

    The other bird was pushing against the cage. She could see how much he wanted to be free.

    She took him out of the cage and gently sent him to the air. Would the bird fly away? In fact, the bird just wanted to stretch (伸展) his wings. He flew around the girl twice and then came to rest on her shoulder.

    The girl watched the bird with joy in her heart. She wasn't worried anymore. She wanted the bird to be happy. The bird sat by the girl's ear and sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

    The best way to keep love is to give them wings.

    What would you give up to protect the environment? Many people have given up animal products of all kinds. They are practicing a lifestyle called veganism(纯素主义). Some people choose to become vegan(素食主义者) because they are upset about the way humans treat animals.

    For many people, veganism simply means eating no meat, cheese or eggs. But the idea of saving animals also appears in the fashion and manufacturing industries(制造业).

    For example, leather(皮革) is used in many products, such as shoes and clothes. Every year more than a billion animals, listing from horses to snakes, are killed so that we can use their skin to make leather products. Now, many brands are looking for other ways to make their products.

    The sports brand Puma, for example, has made shoes out of pineapple(菠萝) leaves. Tesla, the American car-maker, is reported to have stopped using leather to make its seats.

    Veganism is growing in popularity. In 2017, the BBC said it was the fastest-growing lifestyle movement in the United Kingdom. At the same time, some news reported that a quarter of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are vegans. No wonder the magazine named 2019"the year of the vegan".

    So, if you're interested in protecting animals and saving the environment, you might want to give veganism a try. But somebody asks: "Is veganism healthy?" Some people worry that eating no meat at all is not good for our health. It's your personal choice to be a vegan or not. Just make sure to keep healthy as well.

Cartoon characters will be banned on some food

    Candy and chocolate companies in the UK may have to stop using cartoon characters on their products. The health groups said many food companies use characters from Peppa Pig and Disney on their packaging(包装).

    The health groups said 51 per cent of products using cartoon characters were unhealthy for children. The groups are asking the government to stop the use of these characters to sell unhealthy products to children.

      They are Action on Sugar, Action on Salt and the Children's Food Campaign. They noticed the nutrition(营养) content of 526 products that were aimed at children.  The Peppa Pig Candy Bites were among the worst products. These contained 99 per cent sugar. Dr Kather Hashem, an expert from the Action on Sugar group, said, "It's shocking that companies are exploiting the health of our children by using cartoon characters on their high-sugar food and drink products, especially on chocolates and sweets. "

    Health is important for us, so we should stay away from the rubbish food.

    Do you know when and where the first pizza delivery (传送) took place in history? In Italy nearly

150 years ago.

    In 1878. Queen Margherita became the first queen of Italy. As the story goes, the queen grew tired of eating "fancy" meals and wanted to eat "common" food. Raffaele Esposito, the most famous pizza chef (主厨) at that time, was asked to deliver a pizza to the queen.

    He prepared a pizza with tomatoes, cheese and basil—the red tomatoes, white cheese and green basil (罗勒) which were the symbol of the colors of Italy's new national flag. As soon as the pizza was out of the oven, he quickly delivered it to the queen himself.

    The queen had never eaten pizza before and said it was one of the best things she'd ever eaten. Esposito named the pizza after the queen, and it has been served in nearly every pizza restaurant in the world ever since.

    Today. pizza remains one of the world's most popular fast fools. In 1973, US pizza company Domino's Pizza promised to deliver its pizza in "half an hour or less"—if the pizza was late, it would be free. Little Caesars, another US pizza company, offers a "Hot-N-Ready" pizza at nearly all of its stores. These pizzas are cooked around the clock so that there are always fresh pizzas available. You go to the store, pay $ 6 (about 42 yuan) and walk out with a fresh pizza with no waiting time. Pizza, it seems, might be the ultimate (终极)"fast" food.

    Anna works in a big company. Mr. Thompson and Mr. White are the leaders of their department. Everyone enjoys working with Mr. Thompson but no one likes Mr. White.

    Mr. Thompson is always kind and helpful. When he wants something done， he will ask, 'Would you mind getting the information for me, please?" But Mr. White isn't like Mr. Thompson at all. He usually shouts across the room，'Get me the notebook and hurry up."

    But this morning Mr. White made everyone surprised. At first，Anna thought he must be sick. He was very polite. 'Miss Erickson," he said, 'If it isn't too much trouble for you, could you please make these telephone calls for me?" June Erickson couldn't believe her ears. Right after that，Mr. White said, 'Miss Read, would you be as kind as to open the window? It's quite warm here." Then he talked to Anna, 'I would appreciate it very much if you would mail these letters for me."

    Everyone didn't know why he behaved like this. Had Mr. White changed his personality? Or should he see a doctor?

    Soon Anna knew the truth. 'Ladies," Mr White said, 'I have good news for you. The president of the company will be here next Monday. He will have some questions to ask you, such as 'Do you like working here?' or 'Do you like working with Mr. White?'"