浙江省台州市2020年中考英语试卷（音频暂未更新）

    Luke's father is a farmer. Instead of cows, pigs, and horses, there is corn, beans, strawberries and tomatoes around his house.

Luke doesn't mind that there are no 1. In fact, he likes living a fruit-and-vegetable farm much better. He feels it's magical that his sable to 2 something in the place where there used to be nothing.

"I'm planting 3 today, son." Luke's father said. "They grow best in hot summer heat, 4 I need to plant them early in spring. That way there will be tall, healthy tomato vines(藤)once August arrives. "

"How do you 5 they grow tall and healthy?" Luke asked.

    "The vines grow strong when you give them care and attention and have a little bit of hope, "his father laughed.

    "Can I help?" Luke begged.

    "Of course!" said his father

So when Luke was 6, he helped his father and Luke learned that a tomato plant does need much 7. He spent one whole day in the early June sun, hitting wooden sticks into the ground by young tomato plant. After the tomato vines had grown a little taller, Luke 8 the tomato vines to the sticks so that they would not fall over.

    "The tomatoes 9 need a lot of attention!" Luke said one late afternoon.

    "Most 10things do require a lot of attention, Luke," replied his father with a smile.

    "What do you mean?" asked Luke.

    "Well, "his father said." We should pay close attention to things that make our lives better. "

    That is 11 you pay attention to Mom?" asked Luke.

    "Yes," replied his father, "I pay close attention to you and Mom because you both make my12better."

    The rest of Luke's work that day went 13 a lot quicker. Taking care of the tomato plants, Luke 14 he was taking care of his mom and dad. With a little bit of 15 magic and a lot of attention, Luke was certain these would be the most beautiful tomatoes he had ever seen once August arrived.

     Seven years ago, Joyce Akinpe moved to Australia to start a new life, finding an exciting job in Sydney. After the outbreak (爆发) of COVID-19, she suddenly lost her job.

     Seeing that there were many others like herself in trouble from the outbreak, Akinpe and her two roommates, Michele Gomez and Maureen Lee, brainstormed ideas for how to help their local community. They came up with a street pantry (储藏柜). Gomez said the idea was very simple, "Take what you need and leave what you can."

     With the help of Gomez's father, they built the Blessing –Box – a a street pantry, with shelves and hanging baskets and two doors made from old furniture.

     It sits just at the back of the three girls' home, so they can look after it. They put some information notices into their neighbors' mailboxes, and the Blessing Box was quickly filled with the donations (捐赠)from the community, "It is the community's strong support that keeps the project alive, " Akinpe said.

     We now have hundreds of people visiting our box every day. It might only a hours for the box to be full and next hour it might become empty again. We are now h others to carry out similar projects in their own communities, too, "Gomez said.

     Lee said things in the box were mostly convenience foods. as well as some necessary life things such as spaghetti and toilet paper. "Few people take everything at once. They think there are other people who need them more. "Lee added.

     There were many people rushing there for donations. The three girls needed to sanitize (消毒)all the donations and make sure all food packages were not broken. Gomez said that they had no time for rest, but what they did was well worth.

     Imagine this. There's an apple and a piece of cake on a table. Which one would you like? The delicious cake or the healthy apple? A bestseller, Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength, suggests that willpower(意志力)is the ability to make decisions that are better for us in the long term, rather than in the short term.

     Here is a famous experiment in the book: The Marshmallow Test. In 1972, Professor Walter Mischel tested the willpower of 600 four-year-olds to six-year-olds. In the experiment, each child was left alone in a room for fifteen minutes with a marshmallow(棉花软糖）on a table in front of them. They were given two choices: they could either eat it or, if they waited fifteen minutes, they'd be given a second one(and then they could eat both).

     So, what did the kids do? Well, as you can imagine, 70% ate the first marshmallow within the fifteen minutes. But the other 30% showed willpower—they controlled themselves and waited for the second marshmallow. But then Mischel discovered something really interesting. Twenty years later, he got in touch with the children, who, by then, were in their early twenties. And he found that those who'd shown strong willpower were getting better marks at university and were more popular.

     Willpower is like a muscle (肌肉), and the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

     So, if you do daily "self-control exercises", such as making your bed or brushing your teeth, you'll improve your overall willpower. And daily willpower exercises will help you with those bigger goals, such as studying for an exam or training for a marathon.

     Be careful though. Just like any muscle, your "willpower muscle" can get tired. If you've had to do lots of things that require willpower, take a break or give yourself a treat.

     That way, you'll build up your willpower again.

And one last thing, the writer mentions people who learn foreign languages usually have a lot of willpower. So, congratulations!

     Living on an island might sound wonderful. But what it you left for a trip and found you could never return? What if your home, and even the land it stood on, was gone forever? For people living in the Pacific Islands, this is really possible.

     Why? Climate (气候)change. Climate change is causing the sea to rise. That's bad news for the Pacific Islands. Young people on the islands are even starting to wonder: Will they be the last generation(一代人)?

     Not if the islanders have anything to do about it. These people are deeply connected to their homelands. The Pacific Islands are made up of 1l different countries: the Marshall Islands, Fuji, Samoa, and others. But now, those countries are working together. They're joining forces to fight climate change.

     Why is climate change such a huge threat to this part of the world? Islands are low elevations(海拔). So they are among the first places influenced by rising sea les. That's why countries of the Pacific Islands are working together to do their part.

     But these are small countries. When it comes to climate change, can they make a big difference? They can, because most of the things that people on islands buy are brought by ships. This is very harmful to the environment. After all, ships put out almost3penatof the world's carbon emissions (碳排放), That makes climate change worse.

     Pacific Islanders realize the problem. So, in 2019, six countries got together: Fuji, the Marshall islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, They came up with a plan. They agreed to cut carbon emissions from shipping by 40nercent by 2030. And by 2050, they expect zero-carbon shipping.

     How will they pull this off? They plan to use some really to use some really cool carbon-free technologies. They'll make use of solar and wind energy.

Sea levels are rising, but hopes aren't sinking in the Pacific Islands.

     Last year I went on an amazing trip by boat along the west coast of Canada It was my brother Harry's idea. He's a (记者)who's also a great fan of boats. But I'd dreamed of visiting the area. So I kept asking Harry if I could go, too (直到)he agreed at last!

     A few weeks before we left home, there was much (雨)in the area we were going to. But luckily the weather was OK at last. However, I was (忙碌的）at work so I didn't think about what needed doing. But Harry promised he'd take care of everything, so I knew everything would be all right.

     After arriving in Canada, we packed our  (工具)into small boats and set off.

     Since very few people now lived along that coast, the only other living animals we saw for the first few days were dolphins and birds.

     We often stopped for hours to explore the (岩石)pools on the beaches. And we never  (忘记)lunch or dinner, though, which we all made together over camp fires.

     When we  (最后)fell sleep on the boats each evening, even though the beds were hard, it really felt like stress-free living!

     When the time came to leave, I was sad. How could I return to (正常的)life again? But I knew if I stayed, I would (想念)my family and friends. I was also looking forward to telling everyone at home about our experiences.

     Beth Jones was only eight years old when she first tried playing the drums. This was during a lunchtime music club at school, which she only went to because it was snowing  (heavy). Of all the musical instruments, the drums were  (interesting) to Beth. She thought it was cool that there were many different shapes and sizes of drums, and she wanted to hit (they), to see what they sounded like.

     Now, Beth is thirteen and gives concerts around the country. She also has her own YouTube channel and  (get) over a million hit a year. What's amazing is that Beth hasn't ever been to  drum lesson. "You can learn anything on the Internet, so I've never felt it was important for me to take classes, "explains Beth.

     Giving concerts wasn't easy for Beth in the beginning because usually she only played drums alone in her bedroom when she came home  school. At her first concert, she played in a band with many  (adult). She could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes looking at her, that made her feel afraid.

     So, does Beth enjoy (be) famous now? "I didn't plan to be famous," she says. "All I want is to show others what I love. I don't think I'm someone special. I just want everyone (have) a great time at my concerts.

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