广东省河源市紫金县2021届九年级上学期英语第一次段考试卷

During the Warring States Period (475BC—221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi. One day he saw a piece of gold on the road. He picked it up and 1it home. But his wife was2and said, "I hear 3a great man doesn't drink a thief's water or accept alms(施舍物). What do you think of the action of keeping others' thing for 4?" Yue Yangzi felt sorry5what he had done, so he put the gold back to the place where he found it.

The next year, Yue Yangzi decided to go to a faraway school 6 himself. A year later, he came back home suddenly. "Why have you returned?" asked his wife in 7surprise. "You've only spent one year studying with scholars(学者们). ""I come back because I missed you very much."

Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom(织布机) at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done cloth, she said," The cloth is woven (编织( from the best silk. Now8I cut it, all my previous(先前的) work will be wasted. It's the same as your study. You 9 learn a lot only by working hard. Now, you've stopped halfway. Isn't it the same as cutting the cloth on the loom?"

Yue Yangzi10by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.

John, 11 years old, was in bed in hospital. Several days before, while he was 1 in a baseball game, he fell and hit his head. The doctor believed that he might 2 get well.

"He seems to have given up hope. So medicine alone won't 3. Perhaps he needs something else," said a doctor. "When I visit him, all he ever says is that he would like to meet Babe Ruth."

To meet Babe Ruth, of course, was not 4 . In America, Babe Ruth was as  5 a man as the President himself, and he was the most famous baseball player.

The next day John's father managed（设法）to tell Babe Ruth about the story of his son on the phone. Twenty-four hours later, as the boy 6 in his hospital room, in walked 7 . Young John could hardly believe his own eyes!

The great baseball player sat down at John's bedside, saying, "Now, listen, kid, you've got to get well. I've brought you a new American League baseball, 8 you must start throwing it."

For John this was the beginning of a new life. 9 his doctor's surprise, the boy walked out of the hospital on his own a few weeks later. He was able to live a healthy life—all because of the 10 of Babe Ruth.

Ted, my little brother, is in Grade One. Last Friday he came back from school with a letter. The letter was from his teacher. "I got a red flower today. Could you please sign this note?" he said to Mum. The note showed that he had been talking in class.

Ted hardly gets top scores in his school work. The best he gets .is "OK", but often he gets "You can do better than this." Mum knows what it means. She tells me "You can do better than this" means "Extremely bad" in China.

In the USA, teachers never say anything too bad about their students, even if the students are making trouble in class or not working hard enough. The worst they might say is "Please be nicer tomorrow". Many parents are satisfied with a B-grade for each subject.

But things in Chinese schools are quite different. Parents have high expectations for their children. I sometimes felt that my second-grade cousin spent more time on homework than I did when I was a 6^th grader in the USA! Yet his parents and teachers didn't think he worked hard enough.

Is it too strict in China? Or is it not strict enough in the USA? Maybe both are true.

What Brian loved most was to make people laugh. He studied in a middle. All his friends loved his jokes. He thought making people laugh was best thing in the world.

When he of the school's talent show, he decided to sign up（报名）so that he could make more people laugh. But when some of the students knew he would in the show, they laughed at him.

"You are not funny," the students told him." You will do a terrible job. No one will like what you do!"

He didn't understand why those students were so negative(否定的), he decided to go on and prepare for the talent show. Brian decided to do a great job at the talent show to show those unkind students that they were. He won the first  ! Even so, the students told Brian that he would never be a successful comedian (喜剧演员). Though he didn't understand them, he realized that it had nothing to do them. He happily continued working towards his goal. Finally, he became a successful comedian. And he got more and more  to perform. He was invited to appear on television and act in movies.

Brian followed his heart to keep doing what he loved most. And he really thought he chose the best job in the world.

In the past, many students practiced English with their pen friends-they sent letters to people all around the world.

However, we now send e-mails to others and chat with people who live quite for away on the Internet.

Here's some advice on how to succeed in your online language exchanges：

How to start a conversation wher speaking English online.

When you speak to somebody online, start by asking "Yes or No" questions. Use questions such as" Do you like...?" or" Can you...?"or" Have you ever...?"Remember your goal. You are trying to learn about the other person. Think about things you enjoy and try to find some common ground between you. And share your own experiences to show that you have similar interests. If you only ask questions, you will sound like a policeman or a policewoman!

How to keep a conversation going.

"Listen" carefully. In that way, you can get to know somebody well. When you know him or her well, you will have more to talk about. Then ask follow-up questions. After you "listen", use what you "hear" to learn more about that person. Use "open ended" questions, such as "What do you think of...?" or "What was the most interesting experience...?"

Remember some basic rules for online language exchanges.

Be patient. Do not try to find a good friend right away. Be careful. Don't give any personal information on the Internet, especially your address, telephone number, and even your real name. It's dangerous.

要点包括：1）英语的重要性

2）随着社会发展，英语在我们日常生活中越来越重要。

3）如果你学会英语，就可以随时和外国朋友交流。

4）可以阅读英文报刊，了解国外文化等。

5）给出至少3个学习英语的建议。

词数要求：不少于80词。

How to learn English well?