Once there lived an old frog. He was a big frog and he was very proud of his big size. All the other frogs saw him as their king. All the other animals thought so. Even the _____ in the river were careful not to make him angry. The frog ruled（统治）his watery kingdom _____.

The farmer who lived by the river had an old ox（牛）. The ox worked hard for the farmer all his life. But now he was growing old and could no longer work as hard as he _____. So, the farmer decided to let the ox spend his old age in the meadow（草坪）by the river.

One fine morning, the ox walked around the meadow. The grass was soft and _____. The ox was happy. However, the little animals of the meadow looked at him _____ because they had never seen any animal as big as the ox. Not even the old frog in the river was quite this big!

The frog heard about the large monster who had come to live in the meadow. But he did not _____ there could be anyone bigger than him! Just then the ox walked closer to the river, and sat down for a rest.

The old frog saw the ox and _____, “The terrible monster was nothing but a silly old ox! I can be twice as big as that if I want to!”

The frog took a deep breath, huffed and puffed and swelled up like a balloon. “Everybody, watch me!” The frog took another deep breath, huffed and puffed and swelled up some more. “I must be bigger than him now!”

He gasped（喘粗气）with great _____. The frog’s skin was thinner and thinner. He could _____ see his own legs. He decided to make one more _____ so that he would show the little animals who was bigger!

He took as deep a breath as he could, huffed and puffed and swelled. He blew and blew, and he grew larger and larger till suddenly.

POP!

The frog burst!

21.

A．frogs

B．oxen

C．fishes

D．animals

22.

A．unluckily

B．confidently

C．friendly

D．uncomfortably

23.

A．ought to

B．agreed to

C．had to

D．used to

24.

A．pretty

B．green

C．colourful

D．beautiful

25.

A．in danger

B．in trouble

C．in surprise

D．in need

26.

A．believe

B．realize

C．understand

D．consider

27.

A．asked

B．sang

C．answered

D．laughed

28.

A．sadness

B．difficulty

C．interest

D．confidence

29.

A．suddenly

B．surely

C．hardly

D．easily

30.

A．decision

B．try

C．promise

D．success

“Ugh, meat all again? I hate it!” Matt yelled. “The dinner is a disaster（灾难）again!”

Matt’s mom and dad looked at each other. Matt said things like this at least once a week all summer long.

“OK, Matt. We’re going to let you cook for us from now on. You can pick the meals and cook them, as long as they’re healthy,” Mom said.

“Great!” Matt jumped up happily.

That night, Matt and his dad tried to make a plan about the whole week’s meals. It was a lot more work than Matt thought, and almost every time he picked something out, his dad would tell him that someone in the family wouldn’t like it. “That’s an impossible task to please everyone!” Matt said, “but at least, the dinner won”t be a disaster.”

Finally, it was time for Matt to make his first meal. His parents were both in the kitchen to help him. “Wow, that’s a lot to do”, Matt thought. He was usually playing video games while his parents were making dinner.

It took almost two hours to make dinner. Matt was tired and hungry when he finished. He was also proud of himself—he made it!

“Ew, this rice tastes funny.” Sophia said. Matt took a little and tried. It did, but he had worked so hard! He felt like he might cry.

The next day, Matt started cooking at the same time. Again, he was tired and hungry when dinner was finally ready.

“I don’t like corn,” cried Sophia, “This dinner is a disaster!” Matt realized then how his parents must feel every time he complained（抱怨）about dinner.

“I’m sorry, Sophia. I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I shouldn’t say the dinner was a disaster all the time.” Matt said with a lower head. “Well, Matt,” Mom and Dad said, “We’ll take back dinner responsibilities. You’ll have to do it when you’re grown up!” Matt felt a lot better. He happily finished his dinner and never complained again.

31. Why did Matt’s parents ask him to cook the dinner?

A．Matt was interested in learning cooking.

B．They wanted to teach him a lesson.

C．They wanted him to help with the housework.

D．It was Matt’s turn to cook for the whole family.

32. Which of the following statements about the first dinner Matt made is TRUE?

A．He spent a lot of time cooking it.

B．He himself thought that was delicious.

C．It was welcomed by his family members.

D．He succeeded in finishing cooking on his own.

33. What is the change of Matt’s feeling after his parents let him cook?

A．Excited—proud—sad—sorry.

B．Happy—sad—surprised—tired.

C．Worried—relaxed—bored—angry.

D．Peaceful—angry—proud—surprised.

34. What might be the best title for the story?

A．Delicious Dinner.

B．Dinner Disaster.

C．Never Complain about Food.

D．Enjoy What You Have.

When they first arrived in Wuhan, Hubei Province, about three years ago, Lyaysan and Maxim, a couple from Russia who came to teach at a local ballet school, faced the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ballet school was closed at that time. The couple tried to think of ways of keeping in touch with their students, like providing students with free online classes every day. “We were worried about our students, and we wanted them to have training as usual. Though the classes were online, students worked very hard to keep up with us. It was a difficult time for all of us back then, but we worked together to get through it.” recalled Maxim.

Once the COVID-19 was brought under control, and daily life returned in the city, the couple finally met their students in the classroom which was like “having a family reunion”, Lyaysan said.

“We saw and experienced the city when it was hit hard by the COVID-19, but now everything is back to normal, which has allowed us to explore and enjoy our lives here.” she said.

Before teaching ballet in Wuhan, the couple were at a ballet school in Xiamen, Fujian Province, where they worked from 2012 to 2018. During that period of time, they toured Chinese cities many times with their ballet performances such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Don Quixote.

“We have seen lots of changes in China, and we are especially impressed by the love for dance in the country.” said Maxim.

Three years ago, when the couple started living and working in Wuhan, they didn’t think that they would move to the city permanently. And now they’ve decided not to leave this lovely city. “We are planning to have a bigger family. We want to have two or three children. We love children and we want to raise ours in Wuhan,” said Lyaysan, adding that they also planned to open their own ballet studio in the city.

35. What do the Russian couple choose to do when facing the outbreak of the COVID-19 in Wuhan?

A．Trying to help people door-to-door.

B．Going back to their country at once.

C．Teaching students online for free.

D．Sending videos about ballet dance online.

36. Which is the right order of the things happened to the Russian couple?
a. They went to Wuhan to teach ballet.
b. They visited Chinese cities with ballet performances.
c. They started to work in Xiamen, Fujian Province.
d. They met their students from Wuhan in classroom.
e. They decided to have and raise their children in Wuhan.

A．a-c-e-d-b

B．c-e-a-b-d

C．c-b-a-d-e

D．a-b-d-c-e

37. What does the underlined word “permanently” mean?

A．In the end.

B．For a long time.

C．In the future.

D．With great gladness.

38. According to the passage, which of the following words can best describe the Russian couple?

A．Honest and polite.

B．Friendly and quiet.

C．Strict and careful.

D．Helpful and hopeful.

Long ago, people made up interesting stories to explain what causes lightning and thunder. To many people, lightning and thunder can be very frightening especially because they often happen just before a big rainstorm. Actually, having a better understanding of something can make it less frightening.

Lightning is caused by electricity building up inside a cloud. When a large amount of warm air and cold air come together high above the earth, it causes a lot of movement in the air. The cold air moves down while the warm air moves up, which creates something like friction（摩擦）. An electric charge builds up in the clouds. The charge gets stronger and stronger until the explosion（爆炸）happens—and the LIGHTNING flashes.

When the lightning flashes, the air around it becomes unbelievably hot—five times hotter than the surface of the sun! The heated air becomes larger and larger and gets into the cooler air around it, causing the big shock wave that we call thunder. We now know what causes lightning and thunder. Have you ever noticed that you often hear thunder just a few seconds after you see lightning? In a joke, people even said the reason was our eyes are in front of our ears! In fact, that’s because it is lightning that causes thunder. If the storm is far away from you, there are a few seconds between the lightning and the thunder. If the storm is close to you, you hear the thunder almost at the same time that you see the lightning.

Even though we usually see lightning before we hear the thunder that it causes, the two events happen just a fraction of a second（瞬间）apart. In addition, both light and sound travel through the air in waves. However, light waves travel faster than sound waves, so the light waves from the explosion get to us first.

In our daily life, something similar to lightning and thunder can happen when you brush your feet along a carpet and then touch a doorknob. You can sometimes hear the little sizzle（咝咝声）of mini-thunder, and see the flash of mini-lightning.

39. Why did the writer talk about people making up interesting stories in the first paragraph?

A．To lead in the topic of this passage.

B．To help readers become less afraid of the nature.

C．To get people interested in the stories about lightning and thunder.

D．To help readers better understand the stories behind lightning and thunder.

40. What is “thunder” according to the passage?

A．An explosion developed by air friction.

B．A sound created by electricity in the air.

C．A heat produced by the surface of the sun.

D．A large wave caused by the growing heated air.

41. Why do we usually hear thunder a few seconds after seeing lightening?

A．We are very close to the storm.

B．Our eyes are in front of our ears.

C．Lightening is the cause of thunder.

D．Sound waves travel faster than light waves.

42. What can we learn about lightning and thunder from the last paragraph?

A．They can be seen and heard anytime anywhere.

B．Things like them might also happen around us.

C．We should be careful and not get hurt by both of them.

D．Brushing your feet along a carpet can be very dangerous.

Have you ever thought of using the sun to make delicious food? In this article below you will learn how to make solar sun syrup（糖浆）that you can use on waffles, pancakes or even ice cream. This is a great hand on STEM project.

Science Discussion Topics During these experiments in your class, you can talk to kids about what is going on.Questions you can ask are: •What is going to happen at each step? •How does using the sun to cook help the earth? •Why do these experiments need to be completed during the hot months?

Solar Sun Syrup Creating solar sun syrup is fun to do and tastes great too! This activity does take a lot of time so make sure you start early on a bright and sunny day.This makes a great Science Project, Earth Day Activity, Camp Activity or just something fun to do with the kids at home!Follow the step-by-step directions below to make your own solar sun syrup.

Materials: •2 cups of berries cut in half （strawberries, blueberries or raspberries） •1.5 cups of sugar •1 teaspoon of lemon juice •1 piece of plastic wrap（保鲜膜） •1 pot •1 cake pan

Steps Step 1: Place berries, sugar and lemon juice in the pot and mix together. Step 2: Let the mixture sit for 45 minutes or until berries look juicy. Step 3: Bring the mixture to a boiler and cook for 7 minutes. Step 4: Pour the mixture into a cake pan, let cool. Step 5: When the mixture has cooled down, wrap the pan with plastic wrap and place it in the sun for 5—7 hours. The mixture will thicken into a syrup. Pour syrup into a container and keep it in a fridge.

Enjoy! You can pour your fruity solar syrup over pancakes and waffles or you can pour it over your favorite ice cream or dessert. When you finish, you can pour your solar syrup into a container and put it in the fridge for a week.

43. The writer writes the passage for________.

A．parents who want to improve their children’s Maths

B．kids who like eating ice cream with syrup

C．teachers who teach science at a primary school

D．students who try to do a project about reusing the waste

44. What is the right time to do the experiment?

A．In the wet spring.

B．After the sun sets.

C．On a day with strong sunlight.

D．On a cold windy morning.

45. Which of the following item is needed only in the last step?

A．

B．

C．

D．

Have you noticed fewer mosquitoes（蚊子）this summer?     46    

The right amount of rain at the right time is important for mosquitoes because it lays eggs in water, but it’s too hot and there is much less rain this year.     47     At the same time, at high temperatures, mosquitoes may develop more quickly but become smaller and weaker, so it’s much difficult for them to lay healthy eggs. As a result, there are fewer mosquitoes than before.

However, don’t get too excited about that.     48    

In addition, high temperatures also have a bad effect on other animals on earth. According to the WHO, more than 15, 000 people die of extreme heat in Europe in 2022.     49     This means that after a heat wave, the production of crops and fruits will reduce without bees’ help.

    50     If we do not protect the earth or try our best to stop global warming, human beings will be in danger one day.

A．A lot of lakes and rivers are drying out.

B．It’s probably because of the hot, dry weather.

C．In fact, this is what the Great Nature wants to tell us.

D．It’s also reported in Europe that an unusual number of honeybees die this year.

E．Although they are less active（活跃）and bite less, the diseases they carry are more active in hot summer.

There were two mountains between Jizhou and Heyang. Both of them were high and h    51    . An old man called Mr. Fool decided to move them because he had to walk a long d    52     from one side to the other of the mountains.

Some people couldn’t u    53     why he did so. Some even laughed at him and thought he was s    54    . Day by day, finally, Mr. Fool made it.

The story Mr. Fool tells us that never give up and we will achieve success t    55     hard work.

61. 假如你收到来自英国好友Tom的一封邮件，得知他正准备在学校的International Day给同学们讲述一个中国传统故事，希望得到你的帮助。请依据表格提示给他写一封回信，从以下三个中国古代故事中选择一个推荐给他，根据要点简单介绍故事并写出一个推荐原因。

Title	Mu Lan joins the army in place of her father	Cao Chong weighs an elephant	Sai Weng and his lost horse
Main Characters （主要人物）	Mu Lan, Mu Lan’s father	Cao Cao, Cao Chong	Sai Weng, Sai Weng’s Son
Main plot（主要情节）	join the army；dress up as；light；war；	find out the weight lead, …onto boats；rock；weigh	be missing；come back fall off；hurt；stay away from；war
The Reason for recommendation （推荐原因）	……	……	……

注意：
1）词数：80词左右（回信的开头已经给出，不计入词数）；
2）不得透漏学校、姓名等任何个人信息，否则不予评分。
Dear Tom,
       I know you are always interested in Chinese culture and it’s my honor to give you a little help on telling a traditional story.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
       Hope to hear from you soon.

Yours,

Li Hua