浙江省杭州市余杭区乔司中学2021届九年级上学期英语开学考试...

Here is part of the FAQs page of Free Comic (连环画) Book Day Site. Read it and answer the questions.

When I arrived, it was early morning and it was raining. I looked to the east--the sky was becoming gray. I got out of the car, went through a gate and walked along a dark path. There was nothing to see, but I knew it was there.

After about a mile, a stranger appeared in front of me." Am I going the right way?" I asked. He knew where I was going. "Yes," he replied," you'll get there in five minutes." Finally, I came to some rocks and stopped. I looked carefully over them, but it was still too dark to see anything.

Suddenly, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared. The sun rose behind me and shone on the rocks. Far below me, the ground fell away and down to a river. I was looking across one of the wonders of the natural world--the Grand Canyon.

I looked down to the Colorado River nearly one mile below me. If you put the two tallest buildings in the world at the bottom of the canyon, they still would not reach the top. Then I looked across to the other side of the canyon. It was about fifteen miles away, maybe more. Finally, I looked to my left and to my right and on both sides the canyon went far away for more than 200 miles. The Grand Canyon was not just big. It was huge!

I remained by the canyon for about half an hour, and I asked myself, "Is the Grand Canyon the greatest wonder of the natural world?" I certainly know the answer. What do you think?

A desert is a very dry land where there is hardly any rain. In the day, it can be so hot that you could fry an egg on the ground. But during the night it is sometimes so cold that water would turn into ice.

Many desserts are covered in sand. But some have mountains, rocks, or lakes that have dried up in the heat. The Great American Dessert has cliffs( that have been made into amazing and beautiful shapes by the wind. The Sahara Desert in Africa is mostly sand. The Australian Desert has red sand.

Sometimes it does not rain for a whole year in the desert. But there is water deep under the ground and some plants have roots that go very deep to find it. Other plants have roots that spread out (延伸) long way so they can take in the rain as soon as it falls.

One desert plant is the cactus, which has long, spreading roots. The cactus stores water inside its hard skin. This skin protects it from heat and cold. Camels are a bit like cactus plants! They store water too-inside their bodies. They have special fur which protects them from the sun during the day and keeps them warm at night.

Some people live in the desert but they always make their homes near an oasis. An oasis is where water comes from an underground river. Near an oasis, people can grow lots of plants and keep animals.

Life is hard in the desert, for people, animals and plants. But desert people like to live there.

There are many stories about fights between people and wild animals. We have heard about elephants in Africa eating village people's plants. There have also been reports of foxes living in people's gardens in the UK. As towns and cities use more and more land, animals have less land to live on. Usually it's the animals which lose the competition, It is reported tigers gradually lose their natural areas to live. Forests and grasslands are being changed into cities, towns, farming regions and industrial areas. But in some places the animals are slowly winning.

    I've discovered an amazing story from South Africa. In one part of the country, people grow a lot of grapes for making wine. A few years ago, they began to have problems with large groups of monkeys which live in the mountains nearby. The monkeys love the sweet fruit. They ate all the grapes they wanted, and then ran off to the mountains to sleep. The farmers reacted angrily, but some people defended the monkeys. "The monkeys have always lived here." they said.

    But recently, the monkeys have become difficult because they get into people's homes to steal food. And they're not friendly like the monkeys on TV! One day, they even frightened a ten-year-old boy when he heard strange noises in the kitchen. People call the police, but they're not allowed to hurt the animals. So many families are selling their homes and moving away.

Imagine that! If you have any good animal stories from your town, please send them to our website-www.animalnews.net.com!

A. The taxis are always tidy.

B. The taxis are cheap and easy to pay.

C. The taxi drivers are quite friendly.

D. The taxi drivers drive very faster.

E. The taxis can be easily connected.

F. The taxis are always available.

A New Way of Calling Taxis

Nowadays, many companies provide a new taxi service through Apps on the smart phone. They have grown quickly. An App, in fact, is a computer program working on smart phones, computers and other communication devices.

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The nicest thing about this kind of Apps is that you can see where your taxi is or how long it will take to reach you on your smart phone screen. And you can also find the telephone number of the driver in the App, so you can call or send messages to the driver when you are waiting.

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The App is always there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you want to go somewhere, you can easily open the App at home or anywhere in the open air, then it connects you to the nearest driver. Usually it takes only between 5 and 15 minutes to get a taxi by using the App.

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This way of calling taxis is popular because of its great service. You have nothing to do with a taxi company. If you are very pleased with the ride and the driver, you can give the driver a high score through the App, so the taxi drivers usually serve well. Generally speaking, it can make you feel good.

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Moreover, the payment can be easily done through your bank card or Alipay. How much you need to pay depends on the country and the city that you are in. Actually discounts can be found from time to time. So calling taxis through the Apps is usually much cheaper than hailing the taxis on the road.

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Also, the taxis are cleaner than normal taxis. Sometimes the drivers are not the real taxi drivers. They have their own work. They drive their cars for exchange money, so they keep their cars clean all the time. They want passengers to feel comfortable.

A girl complained toher father about her hard life. She didn't know what she had to do and wantedto1 up. She felt tired of fighting and fighting.One problem had been finished but2 came over and she felt tired. Her father, acook, took her into the3. He poured water into three pans (锅) and boiled it. When the water was boiling, in the first pan he putsome carrots, in the second he put some eggs and in the last he put somecoffee. He4 for them for a few minutes without any words.The girl waited impatiently, not knowing5 her father was doing that. About 20 minuteslater, her father turned6 the stove, took out the carrots and put themin a bowl. He took out the7 and put them in another bowl. After that thecoffee was poured into a cup. Turning back to his daughter, he asked, "Mysweet heart, what do you8?" "Carrots, eggs and coffee."she answered. Her father told her to9 her eyes and let her touch the carrots. She didso and felt that the carrots were10. After that he asked her to take eggs and11 them. Then, she got the eggs.warm and hard. At last, the father asked her to smell the coffee. She asked, "Whatdid you do this for, Father?" He12 that each one had the same unluckyexperience-the boiling water, but13 had a different result. The strong and hardcarrots had become soft and weak after being in the boiling water. The eggsbecame hard after being cooked. The coffee was very14 and it changed the water. "Who are you?"asked her father, "When bad luck15 your door, what's your decision? Are youcarrots, eggs or coffee?"

Can memory be improved? Most people hope to have a better memory helps them succeed in study, work and life. Luckily hundreds of studies in the past 50 years have already given us a clear answer.

A healthy lifestyle keeps your brain young and memory sharp. First of all, it is necessary to have a healthy diet. Eating more food rich in Vitamin and Vitamin E helps you have a better memory. Doing exercise can keep your brain alive, too. Proper exercise (provide) much needed oxygen for the brain. Running, swimming and even walking two or three times week are helpful. Moreover, getting enough sleep is important. The (healthy) your lifestyle is, the better your memory will become, but do not expect a sudden change--it takes a long time to make a difference.

Memory skills help you remember things better. Here are two (wide) used skills. Chunking is way of remembering a piece of information by (cut) it into smaller ones. For example. to memorize a ten-digit telephone number 2127983630, you can divide the digits three groups: fast 212, then 798, and lastly 3630. Teaching is a simple way to train our brains to be more effective you need to understand before teaching something. Teaching strengthens the understanding.

In fact, memory skills will hardly work if you don't understand the information. What's more, only a regular review can make the memory last long. That is why students (advise)to go over what they have learnt after one day and then after three days, and then use it as regularly as possible

Human brains are like muscles that need nutrients and exercise to become stronger. If you make a few lifestyle (change)and try some memory skills, you can certainly improve your memory.

注意：1）80词左右，开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数

2）必须使用所给的全部提示，且每个地方至少补充一条建议。

Dear Tina,

I'm sorry to hear that you can't study well after being a middle school student. I'd like to share some great tips with you.

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I'm sure that with the tips, you will improve your grades soon.

Yours,

Lynn