浙江省湖州市2020年九年级英语中考仿真试卷（五）

    The first note I ever wrote for my mother said "Hi, Mom！Have a nice day! Love, Marie!". I was twelve when I wrote it, and I folded the1into her change purse（零钱包）.

    My mother worked as a cleaner in a clothing factory. I knew that when she 2meals in the dining hall, she would have to look for change in her purse. I didn't know that she would be3that note, and always carry it with her.

    From the day that I4folded the small piece of paper into my mother's change purse, she and I left each other5notes. They would be put in the fridge, under a lamp, or beside the TV set. I6found one hidden in my shoe. From the outside, our notes may have been general 7 of our days, ideas and wishes. But to my mother and8, they were a lifeline-a communication with each other that no one else 9.

    On October 20, 2016, my mother died after a long illness. I stood near her bed, 10her hand. I didn't cry the day my mom died, 11I didn't cry a week later when I went to collect her things. I was so thankful that she no longer had aches and12.

    Recently, I found a note that my mom. had 13 me. It had been hidden in the 14 of my favorite childhood book for years. It read"Dear Marie, I love you always. Miss you a lot. Don't forget me. Be15! Love, Mom·"That day, I cried.

    A new report shows what life might be like in 100 years from now. It describes skyscrapers that are much taller than today's buildings, underwater 'bubble' cities and holidays in space. Th3e report is from a company. It asked experts(专家) on space and architecture, as well as city planners, to give their ideas on the life in 2116. They said the way we live, work and play will be totally different to how we do these things today. The experts used the Internet as an example. They said that 25 years ago, people could not imagine how the Internet and smart phones would change our lives. The Internet has completely changed the way we communicate, learn and do daily things. The experts said the changes in the next century would be even more unbelievable.

    Researchers questioned 2,000 adults about the prediction(预言) they thought were most likely(很可能的) to happen in the future. They predicted that in the future, few people will go to an office but will work from home and have work meetings online. People will have highly developed 3-D printers that will let you download(下载) a design for furniture or a food recipe and then 'print' the sofa, table or pizza at home. There will also be less need for visits to the doctor. We will all have a home health instrument that will tell us what the problem is and give us treatment. We will also be going into space for holidays and to get resources that we have used up on Earth. A prediction that is missing is whether people will need to study English.

    Many people travel to different places in the world by air. Usually it takes a long time, perhaps half a day, for passengers to stay in the plan. So airlines（航空公司）offer passengers food. But it is common that they feel bad about food taste. Do you agree?

    To solve this problem, airlines try hard to improve their food. They would like to do so because they don't want to lose customers.

    However, according to scientific research, part of the reason why plane food tastes bad is that at high altitude（海拔）we can not taste things as well as we do on the ground. Also scientists have found that our noses become very dry even before a plane takes off. As the plane moves up, the change in air pressure（气压）reduces one third of the sensibility（感觉）of our taste buds（味蕾）. So our taste buds become senseless. The sad face, however, is that our noses don't know it.

    All of these help explain why food on the plane tastes so bad. They also help explain why airlines choose to offer passengers salty and spicy（辛辣的）food. Without doing so, the food would be tasteless.

    Now there are many researches on this. According to one of them, some volunteers are asked to lie with their feet higher than their heads for weeks. And scientists write down their feelings about food taste.

    Though scientists try their best, it is not as easy as they thought. Because they can't deal with the special environment successfully, such as the change in air pressure, making food taste good is still hard for them.

    In 1845, a deadly disease struck the farms of Ireland, killing all the Lumper potato plants. In another place or time, the death of single crop species (物种) might not have been so important. But in Ireland, in 1845, people depended almost solely on the potato for food. The death of one species caused a terrible famine(饥荒). Now, some scientists are worried that such a famine could happen again, but on a much wider scale.

    Over the centuries, farmers have discovered thousands of different species of food crops. Each species has special qualities. Some can be grown in very hot or cold climates. Others are not affected by certain diseases. However, you won't find many of these species in your local supermarket. To feed the seven billion people on Earth, most farmers today are growing only species of plants and farming only species of animals that are easy to produce in large numbers.

    For example, in the Philippines, there were once thousands of varieties of rice: now fewer than 100 are grown there. In China, 90 percent of the wheat varieties grown just a century ago have disappeared. Scientists believe that over the past century, we have allowed more than half of the world's food varieties to disappear.

    One solution to this problem is to collect and store the seeds (种子) as many different plant varieties as we can before they disappear. The idea was first suggested by Russian scientist Nikolay Vavilov. In the 1920s and 1930s, he collected around 400,000 seeds from five contients. More recently, others are continuing the work he began.

    In the U. S. state of Iowa, Diane Ott Whealy wanted to protect historic plant varieties, like the seeds her great –grandfather brought to the U. S. from Germany more than a hundred years ago. She and her husband started a place called Heritage Farm, where people can store and trade seeds.

    More importantly, the people at Heritage Farm don't just store the seeds; they plant them. By doing this, they are reintroducing foods into the marketplace that haven't been grown for years. These food species are not just special in terms of appearance or taste. They also offer farmers food solutions for the future, from the past.

Time Management

    Do you ever wish you had more time? Everyone gets the same amount of time each day. But here are some ways to use those hours better. As a popular saying says, "Work smarter, not harder. "

    The most important way to manage your time is to set priorities（优先权）. Also, consider whether or not they are urgent—if they need to be done right away. It can be easy to forget important tasks that aren't urgent, so make time for them.

    Decide ahead of time what you're going to do at certain times each day. Schedule times not only to meet people but also to do things alone. Then you can make sure everything gets done.

    Are you smarter in the morning, afternoon or evening? Schedule difficult tasks for times you feel good, saving easy ones for when you're tired.

    Write down what you need to do and when. I keep two to-do lists: one for the present tasks and one for larger projects I'm working on.  And I don't get discouraged by looking at a long list of items I can't finish. I focus on the shorter list of each day's tasks.

    When someone wants to give you a task, think carefully. Is it really important enough to spend your precious（宝贵的）time on? Could someone else do it instead?

    If you're in charge of running a meeting, keep it short. Reading articles or talking to friends online can also use up much of your time. Don't allow it.

    In the end, using time well is about making a good plan and sticking to it.

    If you pay a visit to Liu Hasheng's restaurant in Harbin, you will find 18 robots there. They are ready to serve you and make sure that your dining   （经历） is perfect. After the visit, you can tell others that the robots serving customers isn't a dream any more.

    It's wonderful to see how the 18 robots work in the restaurant. The wonder  (开始)when you walk in. You'll see a robot come up and say, "Earth person, hello! Welcome to the Robot Restaurant." When you have ordered your  (菜单）, the robots in the kitchen begin to do the cooking. After the food is  （准备）, a robot waiter will glide (滑行) out of the kitchen to serve you with the meal you've ordered. And as customers enjoy their  （美味的）food, a robot sings lovely songs for them.

    You may ask, "Where did all these robots come from?" Liu said they were designed (设计) and  （制造）by the Harbin Haohai Robot Company. Liu said he invested (投资) 5 million yuan in the restaurant, with each robot costing 200,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan. And the whole robot team is  (完成)by the workers in the computer room.

    After a busy day, all the robots will go for a "meal", which is （电力）. After 5 hours, the robots can continue their work for a day. The restaurant now provides a menu with more than 30 dishes (菜肴), and the average (平均) cost for a dinner is  （大约）40 to 50 yuan. Do you want to go and have a try in this restaurant?

    We confirmed that Jim was locked in the hut. We spent two nights（dig) a hole under the hut. We came up under Jim's bed. He was very surprised to see us. We （ promise） Jim to free him when we were ready. Then we climbed  the hole back to our bedroom and talked about a plan.

    Tom wanted to make an adventure. He wrote a letter to Uncle Silas telling him somebody was planning to steal Jim. I put the letter under the front door. We waited for the  (chance)to free Jim.

    The next night,some men were in Uncle Silas's sitting room--all with guns!We jumped out of the bedroom window and climbed into the hut. "Come on,Jim!"Tom whispered. "Huck, you go first. Then you, Jim. I'll go  . "

    We heard somebody shouting, "The thieves have（stole）Jim!" We quickly climbed out and ran towards the fence.

    We kept running like our  （feet）were on fire. We made it to the fence. I jumped over the fence and Jim followed me. Tom was right behind us.  （luckily ）,he caught his trousers on a nail. He pulled  free but the men heard the noise. They started shooting. We ran to the river and jumped into the canoe. We lay down,out of breath.

    "Jim!You're a free man!" I said. We were all happy and Tom was the （happy）.

    "It was a great adventure,"Tom said. "And look!I got a bullet in my leg!"

    It was true. His leg was bleeding badly but he considered it as part of the adventure.

—Taken from The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

某英文网站正在开展以"自律"为主题的征文活动。假如你是李华，请用英语写一篇短文投稿，谈谈为了增强自律意识，你做过什么，以及这样做给你带来的好处。

提示词语：self-disciplined(自律的), plan, goal, habit, improve

提示问题：⒈What did you do to be self-disciplined?

⒉What benefits have you got from doing so?

    Self-discipline plays an important role in our life.