2 . California is one of the richest states (州) in America. It is the third largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas. And California also has more people than any other state in the United States. Besides, it has lots of natural resources (资源). But not everything is perfect there. California has two important problems: earthquakes (地震) and forest fires.

The San Andreas Fault (断层) runs through California. As a result of it, the state gets many earthquakes. Some of the earthquakes are very strong. For example, there was a strong earthquake in San Francisco in 1906. Many buildings fell down. And the earthquake made a large number of fires happen. Up to 3,000 people died in it. There have also been many other strong earthquakes. Some people are afraid that a “big one” will hit the state someday. They think an earthquake will bring a huge number of problems.

During summer and autumn, much of California is dry. So forest fires or wildfires often start. Those fires can spread quickly and burn many forests. What’s worse, they also burn people’s homes. They often kill people before firefighters can put them out.

3 . Travel Information

4 . The basketball flew through the air. Dai Jiameng moved her wheelchair (轮椅), shot and scored!

Dai, 27, started to play basketball 13 years ago.

At the age of 4, a terrible accident made Dai lose her left leg. As a child, Dai’s favourite activity was watching basketball games on TV. His favourite star was Dwyane Wade. In 2007, Wade was hurt badly and had a “wheelchair game” in Guangzhou. It was then that Dai got to know that people like her could also play basketball.

Two years later, Dai became a wheelchair basketball player. Then she found it much more difficult than the sport she watched on TV. The players must control their wheelchairs well and train as hard as they can. Dai and her teammates spent many hours training and got hurt often. After such hard work, the national women’s wheelchair basketball team won second place in Tokyo last year. Dai was one of the players.

“For me, the sport is far more than winning or losing,” Dai says. “It is a great way to get confidence. I hope more people like me can feel good about themselves and make their dreams come true.”

I loved painting very much, but my parents didn’t allow me to learn it. They thought I should     1     all my time on my studies. They always wanted me to     2     good grades at school. It made me worried and I didn’t know     3     to talk to my parents about it. So I decided to do something to show     4     that I could do both well. I studied     5     than before and spent most of my free time painting.

Luckily, my art teacher, Miss Green     6     to help me. She thought I was good     7     painting and she taught me lots of painting     8    . Miss Green helped me improve a lot in painting.

One day, Miss Green pushed me into entering a paining competition. After a week the     9     came out. I got the first place in the competition! My parents were     10     and they were happy that I kept a balance between studies and hobbies.

7 . ①Simon, a 28-year-old German student, rode 5,800 kilometers in China for his trip blog (博客). He wanted to learn about the Chinese Dream.

②“What’s your Chinese Dream?” This is the question he interviewed every stranger he met on his 100-day trip.

③Simon came to China for the first time in 2011. After a year in China, he was able to speak Chinese. Because of his interest in Chinese culture, he went to Zhejiang University in 2017.

④Simon learned “Chinese Dream” in 2013, and now it has become one of the hottest phrases in China. To learn the true meaning of it among Chinese people, he started his trip in May 2018.

⑤Simon believes that riding across China is natural. And it is also environmentally friendly (环保的). During his trip, he found that people in the cities usually follow their hearts. What’s more, older generation (一代) of Chinese cares more about social stability (社会的稳定) but the young generation cares more about education and environment.

⑥“People look for their ways to make their dreams come true. They all believe that a strong country is the most important,” Simon said.

8 . After serving as a doctor in the village for over 50 years, Ma Wenfang, who is from a village of Henan Province, still likes people calling him “a barefoot (赤脚的) doctor”.

“Back in the 1950s and 1960s, there was no doctor in our village,” Ma said. Ma’s mother died of typhoid (伤寒) at the age of 32 in 1961. His younger brother also died of the same disease in less than two months. 10-year-old Ma saw his family die, he made up his mind to become a doctor.

After finishing his studies in middle school in 1967, Ma started to have medical training as a barefoot doctor. He learned both Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Finally, Ma won the villagers’ trust through his hard work. In the 1960s, malaria (疟疾) made many people lost their lives and people had no idea how to control it. Ma visited his village’s families one by one to tell them about malaria. If someone was not at home, Ma would go out to look for him or her. When some villagers refused to take the medicine, Ma would persuade them into accepting it.

In the 1990s, Ma said he had more than 150 patients a day at the busiest time. At that time, he could make some money. After saving some of the money for his family, Ma used the rest to help poor villagers.

Now people live a better life and they want better medical services. And Ma still tries his best to help the villagers.

9 . 如今的你经过一年初中生活的洗礼，早已由一名懵懂的小学生变成了心怀梦想并为之而战的好少年。请你结合以下提示，写一篇英语短文，运动方面，性格方面介绍你自己的成长之路。

How time flies! Now I am a wonderful middle school student for a year. I change a lot, but I like what I am. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . ①AR (增强现实) is a new technology (技术) right now. AR lets us see the real-life environment (环境) right in front of us—a pterodactyl (翼手龙) landing in the tree and the palaces in the past. Many of us know that we use AR in mobile games. But many people don’t know that this new technology is very important and useful in education (教育).

②AR brings science to life in education. In the past, teachers used 2D pictures and lifeless models (模型) to teach science. With AR, science will become more lively. Students can use AR apps to learn different animals. _________ For example, in geography classes, students can see great natural phenomena (自然现象) wherever they are. In history lessons, students could walk into the buildings of last century or talk with historical heroes (历史人物).

③AR brings the real world to the classroom. AR is also useful for schools in villages and small towns, where students can’t often go to museums in big cities. In the past, only students from rich families could pay for the travel to famous places like the British Museum or the Louvre. Soon, students from around the world may be able to visit these places. In some ways, the AR experience would be even more exciting than a real trip to a museum because students could touch historical things freely.

④AR in education is the future of all students. It will change the education a lot. With the help of AR, the education of the future may be better and better.