重庆市潼南区六校2023-2024学年九年级上学期第一次联考...

Dear Lucy,

First, I'd like to say that I love your name. When my teacher asked us to choose1 pen-pal, I chose a girl named Lucy. I think the name seems very friendly.

I have a happy family. My father2 in a factory two years ago, and now he is a successful businessman. Mom is a teacher. She3 English for eighteen years. She takes care of us very well. My father always say4 my mom is the best cook in the world. I have a sister. She is5 than me. She thinks she knows more than I do, so she can always tell me what 6 . It really drives me mad. 

I live in Chongqing. It is called the Mountain City. It is a "hot" city, too. It is7 for its hot pot and 8 . And it is really hot in summer here. The people here are kind and hardworking. Every year many people come to have a visit. Welcome9 Chongqing. If you come, I'll be glad to be 10 guide.

I hope you can write back soon. 

Your pen-pal, Isabel

You never know where life will lead you. 1 I was a young boy, I got water up my nose one time. After that I never wanted to get in the water again. I thought2 was not for me. 

One day, I fell off my skateboard and broke my leg so3 , and the doctors said I could never really skateboard again. They said swimming was the only4 that would be good for me. 

Well, I5 it a try. Every week, I got a little better and hated swimming a little6 . I worked at it so much that one day my high school swimming coach asked me to7 the school team. You can imagine how that made me and my family feel as I was so8 of the water before!

Much to everyone's surprise, I9 third place in the city finals. Swimming is a big part of my life now. You never know which road life will take you down. Look at me—a swimmer!

10 this reason, I say: don't limit (限制) your choices. And remember, life is a swimming pool. Jump in and start swimming! You might be surprised where you end up. 

The Communist Party of China(CPC,中国共产党) opened its 20th National Congress in Beijing on Oct., 16th, 2022. How much do you know about it? Let's take a closer look. 

The purposes of the meeting:

●    To talk about the work of the Party in the past five years. 

●    To make decisions about the future of the Party and China. 

●    To elect(选举) new central leadership(领导). 

Who goes to the meeting?

●    Delegates(代 表) from across the country go to the meeting. 

●    A total of 2,296 delegates take part in it, representing 96. 7 million Party members of China. 

●    There are 619 women delegates, including Wang Yaping, Zhang Guimei and so on. 

What do the delegates do?

●    Show the opinions and needs of Party members and the public. 

● Discuss and decide on the Party's big issues.

●    Elect new central leadership. 

When I was very young, people in our village lived by planting fruit trees. My grandmother always took me to the orchard(果园) on the hill. At that time, they had to carry water from the river at the foot of the hill to halfway up the hill. Even though we worked so hard, the production

level(产量） of fruit was still low because it was short of water there. One day, two young men led a group of workers to our village. They learned about the difficulties we faced, and later, canals and other projects began to be built in my village, "Who are they?" I asked. "They are good men from our government. " My grandma replied.

Shortly afterwards, I moved to another city for my junior high school. The only reason I ever came back to my hometown was my grandmother. 

One day, my family and I made time to return. We were surprised because everything had changed. The canal ran past every orchard so villagers didn't have to go up and down the hill anymore. The river was now so clean that fish swam happily in it. When we arrived home, my grandma took out some fresh pears and apples. She told us that after the water conservation project(水利工程) was completed, a policy(政策) was made to encourage more people to increase the fruit production with clean water in the river. 

Thank those good men who have devoted themselves to the development of our countryside. Nowadays, people work hard to live in a big city. However, we should not forget our hometowns where we are from. 

Holidays play an important part in our life. We work hard during the year, so we feel tired and stressed at times. We need holidays to relax, even if they only last for a few days. This is especially true for women. They could get away from their husbands, children and family for even one week in the year. 

Holidays have many good results. Firstly, they can improve the economy (经济). If there were

no holidays, people would have little time to spend the money they earn. Secondly, holidays allow people to relax after working hard throughout the year. During and after the holidays, people feel more relaxed and energetic, they then bring this energy to work when they continue working. 

Lastly, holidays help people learn how to enjoy life. Most people improve their relationships with their other family members during holidays. 

However, holidays also have bad aspects (方面). For example, many people said that they

couldn't enjoy shopping or travelling because there were so many people shopping and travelling, too. Anyway, most people realize that they need holidays. I can't imagine what people's lives would be like if there were no holidays. 

One of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction(破坏) of our environment. 

Brown clouds，polluted water，endangered(濒危的) wild animals…These problems seem so huge. 

So my family do what we can. We take cloth(布制的) bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don't have to drive…

But does it do any good？When I am the only one at the market with cloth bags，am I doing any good？Does my walking to stores make any difference to the world?

I recently learned something about flamingos(火烈鸟). They like to get together in groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when it is time for migration, a few of them first take off from the lake. But the others don't notice it, so the small group returns. However, the next day they try again. This time a few more fly along with them，but most of them still pay no attention，so they return again. They try for several times. 

Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before，then more. Finally，they all take offand the migration really begins. What a wonderful view it must be—thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at the same time!

A few can make a difference. Even if you're the one to take the first step continue trying, and others will notice. If we work together, we will solve even our greatest problems. 

①"Helicopter parents" are those parents who pay too much attention to their children. They are always making a big effort to provide children with every opportunity to succeed, from baby steps at age 1, homework at age 8, employment at age 25 to family problems at age 30, 40 or even older.

②Helicopter parenting can develop for a number of reasons. Worries about children's future success can push parents to take more control over their children's life. Adults who felt unloved as children may want to give as much love as they can to their own children. And when parents see others doing so, they will also follow. 

③Although it develops with the idea of doing good things, yet the result isn't always satisfying. Mary is taken to five after-school classes each week, but she doesn't do well in any of them. "I feel like I am just checking off things on the checklist(清单)," she says.

④Worse still, over-parenting can do the exact opposite. A child raised in this way may feel helpless once he has to do things on his own. "        ▲    ," an expert said，"and if parents don't let their children experience failure themselves, the children won't get them. "

⑤ Since helicopter parenting does such great harm, does it mean parents should just back off and let it go? Of course not! "The point is to prepare the kid for the road but not the road for the kid," another expert said. "Give them the morals, give them the right start and develop their good habits, but you have to let them live their own lives. "

A: Hi, Mary. Did you enjoy your holiday in the countryside last Sunday? 

B: Yes. I really enjoyed myself there. 

A: Great! Who did you go with? 

B:

A: In a hotel?

B: No, we stayed in a villager's house. We had meals with his family. 

A: Interesting! 

B: In the morning, we took a walk in the countryside. In the afternoon, we had a picnic in the field. 

A: 

B: Yes, I will show you some photos tomorrow. What about your weekend? 

A: 

B: Wonderful! I guess you had a lot of fun too. 

Floods, droughts(干旱), storms, hot days... extreme(极端的) weather is becoming more and more common all over the world. This is caused by greenhouse gas emissions(温室气体排放) from human activities, reported China Daily. 

This summer，big storms hit areas of Europe. At least 13 people died in Austria, France and Italy by Aug.19. In Portugal and Spain, huge wildfires have forced thousands to leave their homes. In the US, more than 80 percent of the west is in drought, causing three-quarters of farmers in these areas have stopped growing food. 

In China, the heat has hit the south since June. The duration(持续时间) of this year's high temperatures has broken the 62-day record in 2013, becoming the longest heat wave in 61 years. If you visit Chongqing this summer, you may see a very"dark"city: no more neon lights（霓虹灯） in the streets with only a few lights on in shopping malls. The highest temperature there reached 45℃! People there have no choice but to turn on the air conditioner the whole day, which is a big burden for the power system.

Extreme weather has also made 218 of the known 375 diseases more serious. You may have recently heard the word"thermoplegia (热射病)". It is the most serious type of sunstroke(中暑 ). Many cases of death are reported to be caused by it this summer. If people stay in high temperatures for too long, the heat will damage their organs(器官)and make people feel sick, even die.

We remembered the words .

Peterhis dirty shoes behind the door?

theof India?

Great changes havein our school in the past few years. 

We should learn tothe pressure from schoolwork. 

China has the largest population in the world. In order to the population, China started to out the one-child policy in 1979. And it made great success. 

However, as the time went by, many people saw not only its advantages but also . So in 2016，our government started a new policy, the two-child policy. Many people believed that if one couple(夫妻) had two children, the children could share the burden (负担) of looking after their parents. 

In modern society, we face a big problem of an aging population（老龄化）. To this problem, the Chinese government decided to carry out a three-child policy in June 2021. It allows（允许）one couple to have three children. The new policy marks the of the two-child policy. Experts hope the new policy can change the situation（局面）of a falling population. However, many couples would like to have a second child. They refuse to have a one. 

They're worried the high cost of a third child, and they don't want to spend too much time  a new baby, although the government promises to take some measures to encourage the couples to raise three children. What will the new policy bring to the society is still on the way.