2 . In China, the year 2024 is known as long nian in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. Over a long period of time, it has been called the Year of the Dragon in English. But actually, there are a lot of differences between the Chinese long and the Western dragon.

The Chinese long is made up of parts of some gentle animals, such as a rabbit’s eyes and an ox’s ears. In Chinese mythology (神话), long is able to fly. In addition, it can also spray (喷洒) water from its mouth to create rain.

However, in Western culture, a dragon breathes fire and has the body of a snake and big wings of a bat. What’s more, you will find most of the Western dragons in dark colors because they usually stand for evil (邪恶). As a result, normally at the end of the stories, the evil dragon will be beaten by the superheroes.

What makes such differences? In fact, they have something to do with the cultural differences. In Chinese Confucian (儒家的) ideas, kindness and harmony (和谐) are very important. Western culture, on the other hand, prefers individual heroism (个人英雄主义).

In recent years, Chinese have tried to translate long in another way. For example, Zhejiang’s Loong Air has already written long as Loong. One of the reasons is that Loong sounds the same as the Chinese character long. Besides, the letters “oo” in the word Loong look like the two big eyes of the animal, which makes it easier to memorize this word.

Anyway, no matter how long is translated, there is one thing for sure: the Chinese long is different from the Western dragon, and it is a symbol of good luck.

Wish you and your family the best in the Year of Loong!

1. Which of the following is the picture of a Western dragon?

A．

B．

C．

D．

2. According to the Chinese mythology, what might be the reason for long to spray water?

A．To fight against the evil dragon.	B．To help the farmers in the dry weather.
C．To show its power and ability.	D．To make itself the superhero in this world.

3. What makes Loong the new translation of the Chinese character long?
①its pronunciation        ②its spelling               ③its historical background               ④its cultural meaning

A．①②

B．③④

C．①③

D．②④

4. In which part of a magazine may we find this passage?

A．Healthy Life.

B．Creative Art.

C．Amazing Animals.

D．Colorful Culture.

3 . A few weeks ago, my school’s ninth grade class went on a trip to the Black Country in England, UK, to learn about geography and history. Many believe the name comes from the 1760s because of the smoke put out by factories at that time. There is also a 1-meter-thick coal seam (煤层) close to the ground’s surface in Black Country.

The aim of this trip was to prepare us for a geography project about rivers. We also learned more about the history of England during the Industrial Revolution (革命). On the first day of our trip, we went to Carding Mill Valley near Birmingham and learned about the changes that could happen to a river as it flowed downstream (下游). Our teacher had given us a few lessons on how rivers worked before the trip, so we were well-prepared for the project we had to do.

The next day, we went to the famous Black Museum where we learned about coal mining (开采) and the lives of the people who lived during the Industrial Revolution. The highlight of the day was when we visited a coal mine and watched a skilled man make iron chain.

The trip was truly satisfying. I like how we got the chance to experience what we learned in class and practice it in real life. It was a useful way to get us more interested in what we were learning about. It also showed us the importance of the journey while learning something new.

1. ________, the ninth grade class went on a trip to the Black Country a few weeks ago.

A．To enjoy a beautiful river	B．To visit a skilled man
C．To visit a coal mine	D．To learn about geography and history

2. It’s believed that the Black Country was named for ________.

A．coal production	B．the name of the place
C．the smoke put out by the factories	D．its black people

3. The underlined word “highlight” in the third paragraph means ________ in Chinese.

A．亮点

B．高度

C．灯光

D．疲惫

4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．On the first day’s trip, we visited a coal mine.

B．A river will change as it flows downstream.

C．We knew the lives of the people who lived before the Industrial Revolution.

D．Our teacher gave us lessons on how rivers worked after the trip.

4 . The Oscars 2019 winner Green Book was p______ by movie fans in this area.

5 . 在我们的学习和生活中，能够全身心地投入到一件事情中去，享受做事情的过程，是一种幸福！但求耕耘，不问收获！某英文网站正在以“全身心投入 (Devotion)”为主题的征文活动。假如你是慧洁，请用英语写一篇短文投稿，包含下列问题：

1. What did you devote yourself to? 2. How did you do it? 3. What have you learnt from the experience?

注意：1.文中不能出现真实姓名、校名等信息；
2.词数90词左右，文章开头已给出，不计入总词数。

Devotion

I’m glad to share my ideas about my devotion in my life.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . As a fossil (化石) scientist, Mary Anning (1700—1847) made great c    1     to her field in the 19th century. Her name is now widely known in Britain and even Europe. But that was not always the case.

Anning was a talented woman. She was born in a poor family in Lyme Regis, Britain. She did not receive any p    2     education and had to teach herself geology (地质学) and paleontology (古生物学).

Anning grew up by the sea. At a young age, she showed great i    3     in studying the fossils along the coastline. Anning worked very hard. She went out in all weathers to search for fossils. At the age of 12, she uncovered a skeleton that looked like a crocodile. Then, after ten years of tireless e    4    , she m    5     an amazing discovery. It was a huge fossil of something that the world had never seen before.

However, many of Anning’s findings differed with the w    6     accepted theories (理论) at that time. So most of the scientists didn’t believe or r    7     the value of her findings. What’s more, in that period, people seldom respected women. Anning’s findings were eveh published without her name. During her lifetime, the woman was never seriously considered to be a scientist.

But such t    8     didn’t stop Anning from making more discoveries. The woman was still keen on studying different sizes and types of fossils alongside the sea. Some of them were as large as a huge rock while others were smaller than an egg. Until 1829, she carefully uncovered a skeleton of a fossil fish which made her k    9     among first-class scientists. Her discoveries helped to study some extinct (已灭绝的) animals. They formed the basis for Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (《物种起源》) .

In recent years, more and more people have come to realize the importance of Anning’s work. She is now listed among the top ten British women who have greatly a    10     the history of science. Anning was an ambitious and hard-working woman in history. She deserves to be remembered.

7 .

in order to, achievements, As a result, job, simple

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m here today to share a good lesson with you. It is a true story about an overseas student living in Germany.

After years of hard work, this student graduated with amazing     1    . Everyone thought he was going to get a good     2     easily and have a bright future. But to his disappointment, he was not even given the chance for an interview! The third time he was refused, he couldn’t help telephoning the company to ask why they didn’t want him. The answer was     3     “We don’t offer jobs to dishonest people in Germany.”

What was wrong, you might wonder? The truth is, shortly after he arrived in Germany, this clever student found that it was easy to skip buying subway tickets. So     4     save money, he often went without a ticket.     5    , he had been caught without a ticket in the subway 4 times.

From this story, we learn that we may get short-term benefits in dishonest ways, but the truth will come out sooner or later and the cost is high. So remember: honesty is the best rule.

That’s all for my speech. Thank you!

8 . Natural resources on the Earth are limited, so we should use them w______.

9 . In the end, he s______ in getting to the small town with the help of the map.

10 . Jenny’s idea is very creative, so it is worth c______.