山东省泰安市新泰市2021年九年级英语第一次模拟考试卷

Celebrating the ox

The ox has significance in Chinese culture. The Year of the1is coming. In China, you will find all kinds of ox figures2of gold, wood, plastic, paper, shell and stone on sale in stores and on streets to celebrate the coming.

Centuries ago，most people earned their living3farming. The ox was4to help plow(犁地), cultivate and carry heavy goods.

The ox is considered a5of diligence (勤劳) and earnestness (认真)in Chinese culture. To this day, the phrase "the spirit of ox" still refers to conquering（战胜)6that may present itself as an obstacle(阻碍). The spirit is7praised and many people follow it as their work rules. When someone achieves a great accomplishment through hard work, people often use "niu", meaning "great", to describe him or her.

Oxen seldom bully (欺负) the weak or fear the8. They work hard and face everything bravely. This is reflected in a couplet(对句)from a poem by Lu Xun (1881-1936):"Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers; Head bowed, like a willing ox I serve the children",(“横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛”) which fully expresses the poet's loyalty (忠诚)to the people.

So naturally, those people9were born in the Year of the Ox are often10to be hardworking, reliable(可靠)and loyal.(忠诚) "They never seek to be the center of attention and do not look for praise, "the website China Highlights noted.

On October 16th, the ministry of education (教育部) said that all high school entrance exams (中考) should include fine arts testing by 2022.And 12 cities in six provinces have started the practice. The scores change from 10 to 40 points.

This news has caused heated discussion. What will it mean for students? We invited two teenagers to share their ideas.

Zhao Xin, 14, Beijing

I'm in junior 2. We have a music class and a drawing class every week. Sometimes, the teachers show us movies about famous painters or musicians, telling their encouraging life stories. Studying music or fine arts is never a stress to me and the tests are only about what we've learned in class. What's more, we have open-book exams in my school. Most of my classmates will get over 90 out of 100 points. I don't think these subjects will be too difficult if they're included in the high school entrance exams.

Zhao Hanfang, 15, Yunnan

l study in a village school. Our school doesn't have separate music and art classroom. Every Friday, students from several classes will have music class in our library hall. With so many students, the teachers can't check everyone's singing in each class. It's really hard for tone-deaf people like me to remember the melodies(旋律).So I need to do extra practice before the test, and I feel worried. So if music is included in the high school entrance exams, l might be under much pressure.

At the age of 16, l arrived in Australia to go to high school for one year and lived with a host family (寄宿家庭).

When the plane touched down (着陆), I was so excited that I was finally in Australia, something l had been planning for many months. In the first few weeks, I was completely over the moon about everything —l mean everything, from cultural parts such as ways of living and communicating with others to clothes, music and food.

However, after about two months of excitement things started to feel strange. Differences became clearer and I started mission mv friends and family more and more. My head was full of the thoughts like. "Nobody really understands me. My English is not good enough. I wish people would just be able to speak German for one day! Why is it so difficult to find a piece of bread that I want?"

Over the next few months, though, I slowly got used to the life there and a sense of belonging more and more took the place of my worry and homesickness. I developed my own little routine(日常事务) and made many new friends. My English improved greatly and l learned to appreciate new ways of thinking. During those months, I also developed a very interesting sleeping pattern where I would sleep about 14 hours a day, because my mind needed more time to recover after experiencing so many challenges throughout the day.

Things started to make sense (讲得通) and I understood Australian culture better and better. Over my last few months abroad, I felt more and more comfortable with my new home. My happiest moment was when my dear friend one day said during a conversation, "You are Australian now, Jude! You sound just like us!"

Now I still stay in touch with my host family. I'm very thankful for their kindness when l went through culture shock.

China's first Mars probe(火星探测器) Tianwen-1, which arrived in the Martian parking orbit(火星轨道) on February 26 and is currently orbiting the planet (绕火星运行) , has sent back a group of new high definition images(高清图像) of the Earth's planetary neighbor.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) shared the images with the Global Times on Thursday. The amazing pictures of the Red Planet by Tianwen-1 include two panchromatic (全色 ) imago and one color image, CNSA said in a statement it provided to the Global Times.

Those panchromatic images, which appear to be black and white, were taken by the Chinese craft's high-definition (高分辨率) camera as it flew somewhere between 330-350 kilometers above the Mars surface. From these images with a resolution (分辨率) of around 0.7 meters, the crater(陨石坑) , ridges (山脊) and dunes

(沙丘) of the planet can clearly be seen. CNSA estimated (估计) that the largest crater in the image could be some 620 meters in diameter (直径).

The color image is taken by the color camera of Tianwen-1, and is a capture of the north polar region (北极区域) of the Mars.

CPPCC member (政协委员) and CASC official Bao Weimin said Thursday that China's first Mars mission—Tianwen-1——will land on the Red Planet sometime between May-June this year.

The currently-orbiting probe is investigating (寻找) the potential landing site(潜在着陆点) on the largest plain of the Red Planet, known as Utopia Planitia, Bao said.

Sima Guang Smashed the Vat(砸缸)

Sima Guang was a Prime Minister and outstanding historian of the Northern Song Dynasty. He devoted (奉献) his life to writing the classical chronicle "Historical Events Retold as a Mirror for Government" (Zi Zhi Tong Jian). At the age of seven, he once played hide and seek (捉迷藏) with other children in the garden. One child wanted to hide in a big vat, which was unexpectedly full of water. The other children were frightened and broke up in a hubbub(一哄而散), where as Sima Guang remained there. The water flushed out.

When this story became known extensively，people drew a picture for it, which was spread out in Kaifeng and Luoyang.