广东省广州市2018年中考英语试卷

    Xian Xinghai was a very famous musician in China. He wrote one of the greatest pieces of music of the 20^th century. In his short life he wrote 1 300 songs and an opera.

    Xian was born in Panyu, Guangdong, China in 1905. Because his father died before he was born, Xian moved from place to place with 2 mother. He began learning to play 3 violin when he was 20 years old. In the beginning, his violin was 4 cheap and badly made that he5not play it well. His friends laughed at him. Xian did not stop 6 and soon showed his talent. In 1934, he was one of the first Chinese students7studied in a special music school in Paris. Before he 8, Xian became the school's best student 9 won several prizes for his talents.

    In 1935, he returned to China and helped fight against the Japanese army. Later, he came to Yan'an 10 music at a college. 11 there were no pianos in Yan'an at that time Xian still wrote 12 of his most important music there, including The Yellow River, his most famous work.

    In May 1940, Xian 13 to the Soviet Union by the Chinese Communist Party to write music for movies. In the Soviet Union, life was very 14. Xian got sick and later died of a lung illness 15 October 30, 1945, aged only 40. Xian's music, however, lives on in the people's hearts.

    Before graduating college, Jackie began to look for a job. She aimed at a famous company, but the 1 for such jobs was very strong. The company Jackie chose planned to employ only one person, but more than twenty people applied for the job. 2, Jackie was one of the three people invited for the final interview. The interview was very 3. The interviewer asked just a few questions and it was all over in less than 10 minutes. Then the interviewer said to them, "All of you are very good. Please go home and 4 our response.”

    Three days later, Jackie received a message saying she would not be 5 the job. She felt deeply disappointed. That evening. However she received another 6. This time it said that she got the job.

Jackie later found out that the first message sent to her phone was part of the interview—a 7 to see if she was suitable for the job. All the three people received the 8 text, butonly Jackie's reply 9 the company of the three, one did not reply. The other said “goodbye” and Jackie said “thank you”. This reply showed that Jackie was a/an 10 person, so the company offered her the job.

    For his eleventh birthday, Lin was given a gift that would shape his life. On that day his father took him to the Children's Activity Centre and said he could choose any course that interested him. There was just one requirement: Lin would have to promise to study it for at least one year.

    To that point Lin had had many hobbies, but none kept his interest for more than a week or two. His mum once gave him a bag of stamps to encourage stamp collecting. That hobby lasted a week. Then his father got him some paints hoping that Lin's artistic side would shine through. Those paints were now under his bed, still unopened. This time Lin's parents would let him decide.

    Lin's eyes moved down the noticeboard that listed all the courses on offer. He stopped at "Photography". He liked the idea of taking beautiful pictures but the notice said that each student needed their own camera. Although Lin's family weren't poor, they weren't rich either, and a camera cost a lot of money. He continued looking.

    The next course to catch his eye was "Language Art". He didn't even know what that meant. His father explained that it taught people how to make public speeches. Lin, a shy boy, could think of nothing worse.

    Then he saw it. "Cooking" sounded like something he'd like to do. It was inexpensive and convenient, it could be done alone and it was also creative.

    Based on Lin's hobby history, his dad had doubts, but he agreed. Much to his parents' surprise, Lin kept his promise. He studied cooking at the Centre every Saturday, and practised at home, making delicious meals for his family. Everyone looked forward to birthdays, when they could eat his cakes. Lin got great satisfaction from the pleasure his food brought to others.

    The months turned to years but his hobby never changed again.

    Now Lin is an adult and runs a successful restaurant. When customers say they enjoy his meal, he still gets the same pleasure he did as a child, and remembers the special gift he received all those years ago.

    Experts believe that there are more than 8 million restaurants in the world today. So it might surprise you to learn that restaurants, as we know them, have only existed for a few centuries. Before 1765, there were no restaurants. That is, there were no places that provided the restaurant experience. There was nowhere in which a waiter brought you food and drink that you picked from a menu. In fact, there were no menus anywhere.

    There were eating places travellers could go to centuries before that. The countryside was full of inns that would serve food. And there were taverns where one could get drinks. The rich could also eat special meals prepared by private cooks. But none of them could be called a “restaurant”.

A man called Boulanger changed that. In 1765, he opened a place in Paris that sold soups(汤). On his sign he used the word "restaurant" to describe what he was selling. At that time, soups were considered something that could help "restore"(恢复)your health- in French the word "restore" is “restaurer”— so he called the soups "restaurants". Soon, people started buying Boulanger's soups even when they were not ill. And over time, people began to use the word "restaurant" to refer to a place selling soup rather than the soup itself. More "restaurants" opened in France, and people began to buy soups more often.

    Later, restaurants in Paris began to serve other food besides soup. In the 1790s, menus started to appear. By the mid-1800s, there were many types of restaurants throughout the world. The United States offered coffee shops. Tea houses became popular throughout China. Paris created beautiful restaurants for the rich. The British began to copy the French, and the restaurant idea spread throughout the British Empire.

    Today cities are filled with all types of restaurants. Diners have millions of options from which to choose.

    Many people know that rubbish is a big problem on planet Earth. What many people don't know is that junk(垃圾)has become a problem in outer space too.

    According to BBC News, there are more than 22, 000 pieces of space junk floating around the earth. And these are just the things that we can see from the surface of the earth by telescopes (望远镜). There are also millions of smaller pieces of junk that we can't see.

    Objects, like bits of old space rockets or satellites, move around the planet at very high speeds fast that even a very small piece can break important satellites or become dangerous to astronauts. If the tiniest piece of junk crashed into a spaceship, it could damage the vehicle.

    To make things worse, when two objects in space crash, they break into many smaller pieces. For example, when a U.S. satellite hit an old Russian rocket in 2009, it broke into more than 2,000 pieces, increasing the amount of space junk.

    To reduce additional space junk, countries have agreed that all new space tools can only stay in space for 25 years at most. Each tool must be built to fall safely into the earth's atmosphere after that time. In the upper parts of the atmosphere, it will burn up.

    Many scientists also suggesting different ways to clean up space junk. In England scientists are testing a metal net that can be fired into space junk. The net catches the junk and then pulls it into the earth's atmosphere to burn up. The Germans are building robots that can collect pieces of space junk and bring them back to Earth to be safely destroyed.

    The problem is becoming more challenging because we're sending more objects into space to help people use their mobile phones and computers,” says Marco Castronuovo, an Italian space Researcher.

    “The time to act is now. The longer we leave the problem, the bigger it will become,” he says.

    Most of us think the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.In fact, an Italian named Antonio Meucci was officially recognised(认定)as the inventor a few years ago. Who is Meucci and why wasn't he known for his invention at the time?

    Antonio Meucci was born in Italy in 1808. He studied engineering and drawing. During his studies, Meucci started to experiment with electricity. When two places were connected with wire, people in those places could hear each other talk.

    In 1850, Meucci and his wife. Ester, moved to New York. Meucci was worried about his wife, because she had become very ill. To solve this problem, he connected metal cables between his home and his workshop. This way, they could talk to each other conveniently.

    Meucci invited a group of people to see his new invention. They listened in amazement as the voice of a singer was heard through the wires.

     Even worse, Meucci never applied for a patent (专利) on his invention. Meanwhile, Alexander Graham Bell was working on the same idea and in 1876 the patent for the telephone was given to him.

    In 2002, more than a century after Meucci's death, his work was finally recognised by the government.

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