北京市西城区2020届中考二模英语试卷

—Sure, here you are.

—She's          the kitchen.

—OK, Dad.

—Just a moment please. I          a problem of our computer.

—At six o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

When a Man Made Fun of His Seatmate

    Soon after Savannah Phillips, a 33-year-old mother, sat down in her window seat on a United Airlines flight this past May, she glanced (瞥见) over at her seatmate. He was busy 1. His phone was not far from her face and the letters were unusually 2, making it easy for Phillips to read the message on it: "Hey Babe, I'm sitting next to a smelly fatty."

    Tears streamed down the poor woman's face as she tried to hide herself to the corner, trying to make herself as 3as possible.

    "It awoke all the unpleasant things I think about myself. I always preferred to sit alone on flights because of my 4, fearing others next to me would feel uncomfortable." Phillips wrote in a Facebook post after the flight.

    Sitting a row behind them was Chase Irwin, a 35-year-old bar manager. He could see Phillips crying—and then he oversaw the man's texts." I could not have this guy, who's making fun of her, sit next to her this whole flight," he said in an interview later.

    5, Irwin unlocked his seat belt and went over to the texter. "Hey, I need to talk to you," Irwin said. "We're switching (交换)seats—now." When the texter asked why, he said, "You're texting about her, and I'm not putting up with that."

The texter quickly 6. Irwin took his place next to Phillips and was soon cheering up his new seatmate.

    "He 7me not to let that guy get to me and that everything was going to be fine," Phillips wrote. They spent the rest of the flight chatting like friends.

    With her trust in humanity restored, Phillips wrote this on Facebook: "I was so grateful (感激的) he was there. What he did set such a good8for others to follow, that is, sticking up for people when they need help."

Cool Places to Visit In the World

	Beipanjiang Bridge in China is 565 meters above Beipanjiang Canyon and it is the highest bridge in the world. It links Guizhou and Yunnan, and it reduces travel time from five hours to one. On the bridge, visitors can have a wonderful view of the canyon.
	CopenHill is a power plant in Denmark (丹麦) and it creates energy by burning waste. A 1,300-foot man-made ski slope (斜坡) on the roof makes it special. The slope doesn't depend on machine- made snow or cold temperature. That means visitors can enjoy Earth- friendly fun throughout the whole year.
	Canada's Wonderland is home to 17 roller coasters including the world's fastest and longest dive (潜水) coaster. Riders hang over a 90- degree drop for three breathtaking seconds and then fall 245 feet into an underwater passage
	Icehotel in Sweden (瑞典) is the world's first hotel made of ice. Every winter, this magical place is completely rebuilt by artists using more than 3,000 tons of ice and snow. They are made into works of art that make up every part of the hotel.

Luisa's Letter

    Luisa checked the mailbox. An eggshell-white envelope lay on top of all the letters. It was still there, thank goodness. She picked it and put it into her bag.

    Upstairs, she handed the remaining letters to her mother. "How was school, Luisa?" Mom asked.

"It was fine," said Luisa, giving her mother a quick hug.

In her room Luisa tried to focus on her English homework, but the letter called to her. It had traveled more places than she had. All her life, Luisa had lived in Seville, an ancient city in the southwest of Spain. Luisa loved her hometown, but she wanted to see the world.

    A year abroad! What an attractive possibility! But Luisa couldn't bring herself to raise the subject with her parents because her parents just wanted her to stay in Seville, get married, give them grandchildren. Last spring, on her own, she applied for (申请)   a year of high school in England. Now, this envelope held her answer.

    Luisa went to the kitchen to help with dinner. She asked, "Mom, do you ever think about traveling?

    I mean, I want to. And maybe someday…live somewhere else."

    Luisa's heart beat harder as she waited for her mother's reaction. But Mom nodded. "Luisa, of course you'd like to travel. I want that for you and—"

    Just then Dad arrived. When they sat down at the table to eat, Dad said, "Seville is the best, yes, my Luisa?" Luisa's heart sank (为之一沉) . Dad continued, "Why would people want to leave Seville?" Mom smiled, "When Luisa is old enough, we can discuss with her what's best for her future."

    Dad raised an eyebrow but didn't argue.

    Luisa couldn't wait any longer, but her parents' easy chatter (聊天) was the sound of her childhood. She sank deeper into her chair and listened. Home would always be here. But when the time was right, she'd leave. And she wanted it to be with her parents' support.

"Something came in the letter," she said at last. "I want you to see." She took out the letter. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," her voice was shaking. "I wanted this more than anything." Luisa waved at the unopened envelope. "But only if you say it's okay."

    Bacteria (细菌) play an important role in our lives. They can keep us alive as well as make us sick. It wasn't until fairly recently that we learned bacteria can communicate with one another.

    In the 1960s, researchers found that a kind of bacteria called Vibrio fischeri(费氏弧菌) produced no light whenthey were alone, but that they exhibited great amount of light as the bacterial population grew to a certain number. How did this happen? How can Vibrio fischeri tell the difference between times when they're alone and times when they're in a community, and then all do something together?

    Researchers found they talk to each other with a chemical language—signal molecules (信号分子). Vibrio fischeri makes signal molecules, and it also has a receptor on its surface that fits like a lock and key with a signal molecule. As the bacteria increase, more and more signal molecules are sent into the environment. When signal molecules increase to a certain amount, they lock down into those receptors and information comes into the bacteria, which tells them how many neighbors there are. As soon as they realize the population has hit the certain number, all of the bacteria behave as a group, making light together. In the past ten years researchers have found all bacteria have systems like this: they make and recognize chemical words, determine (判断) the size of the community, and carry out tasks that would be unsuccessful if a single one were to act alone. This process is called quorum sensing.

    Most of the time, bacteria live with thousands of other species (种类) of bacteria. There has to be a language of interspecies communication. In fact, bacteria have another kind of signal molecule, which is the common language used by all species. Moreover, this kind of molecule has its own receptor. In this way, bacteria are able to count different populations, and then they decide what task to carry out depending on which species has the greatest population.

    Knowing how bacteria communicate could influence how we fight disease. What if bacteria can't talk or hear? They won't recognize when there are enough bacteria and when to exhibit the group behavior to make us sick. Researchers are developing a method—to make molecules that look like the real ones and then they lock into the receptors to jam recognition of the real situation.

    On the other hand, researchers also improve the conversation of the beneficial bacteria, so they can do things that we want them to do better than they would do on their own.

    Everybody hates that feeling when you spend three weeks reading a book, and a month later somebody asks you about it and you can't remember a thing you read. It makes you wonder why you wasted a couple of hours on the words that didn't stick.

    There are some effective ways to learn. And when I say "to learn effectively", what I mean is to not just build up knowledge, but to be able to apply (应用) that knowledge effectively at some point in the future. By this definition, most of the courses people spend money on is not learning. Something is not truly learned until it changes you in some way.

    1 Memory is based on relevance (相关性)

    One of my favorite online book clubs is Mentor Box. What's cool about the club is not only do they send you books to read, but they send you study materials related to them. The study materials, instead of being like school, where it asks you to repeat information in the book to help memorize it, are designed to help you apply the lessons to various areas of your life.

    That's because memory works based on relevance. We only remember what our brain has considered important to our own lives. If you don't find a way to make it relevant to you and your well-being in some way, your brain will conveniently forget it.

    You can do this on your own. When you come across something interesting in a book, write down its application or relevance to something in your life—how you can use the idea, how it explains something in your past, how it can help with your problems, etc.

    2 Reading does not have to be linear

    People believe they have to read everything, line by line, one after another. This is not only not true, but it's often a waste of time and energy.

When you buy a book, you're not buying the words, you're buying the useful ideas. The point of a book is to gather the information that is relevant and important to you, not to finish it or to understand every word. What matters is the principle or key idea. Once you've received that principle or idea, there's no reason to feel obligated to sit there and read the rest.

    3 Think critically and ask the right questions

    Everything you read should be questioned. You should question the writer's biases (偏见), whether they're explaining information correctly, whether they're overlooking something. When reading something I agree with, I'll ask myself, "Is it possible that this could be wrong?" Everything should be taken with a grain of salt, for the simple reason that almost everything is largely uncertain. And it's the ability to manage those uncertainties effectively that will determine the depth of your knowledge and understanding, not the ability to memorize a lot of facts and numbers.

    If you live in Europe or the Americas, you likely pick up a fork every day and give no thought to it. Using it probably seems as natural as breathing. Yet compared with the knife and the spoon, which appeared very early, the fork is a latecomer to the table.

    Researches show that the fork was first used in Ancient Egypt, China and Greece. Since the 4th century BC, the fork managed to become common on the tables of upper society in Eastern Europe and by the 9th century, it travelled to the Middle East and started being used by the upper class under the name "barjyn". This enabled the fork to slowly become popular in these areas.

    In the 11th century, the fork came to Italy in the dowry of a princess   (王妃的嫁妆) from the Middle East who married an Italian official. After seeing the princess use the fork, the church strongly criticized her, saying that the fork disrespected the practice of using the fingers. Then the fork disappeared from the table for nearly 300 years. It began to get acceptance in Italy by the late 16th century, because the upper-class Italians expressed renewed interest in cleanliness. However, most European countries accepted the fork only by the 18th century and United States didn't welcome it until the early 19th century.

    During its life, the fork has changed in terms of appearance. In its early use, the fork had only two tines (齿) . As the centuries went on, its design slowly started taking on a modern look. The fork that we know today, which has four tines, was introduced in the 18th century in Germany. By the early 20th century, the invention of stainless steel (不锈钢) enabled the fork to be made more easily. Since then, the fork hasn't changed much in design.

题目一：

假如你是李华，在交换生 Peter 的帮助下，你们社团成功地举办了学校的英语才艺展示活动

 (English Show) 。请你用英语给他写一封感谢信，简述感谢他的原因以及你从他身上学到了什么。

提示词语：activity, design, advice, creative, helpful, patience

提示问题：● What did Peter do to help?

What have you learned from him?

题目二：

曾子曰："吾日三省吾身。"自省（self-reflection）有助于解决自身的问题，也是自我完善 和自我超越的必经之路。

某英文网站正在开展以"自省"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，谈谈为了提升自身的品德修养或学业素养，你平时是如何进行自我反省的，以及这样做给你 带来的好处。

提示词语： think, improve, record, behavior, question, emotion

提示问题：● What do you do to be self-reflective?

What benefits have you gained from doing so?