Final exams are just around the corner. Liu Haoxuan, 14, who studies at Beijing Dayu School, is quite busy However, he still had to find time to practice his spoken English. That’s because he had to take a new English listening and speaking test.

Liu is not alone. This is a new test for all students who are taking senior high school entrance exams (中考) in Beijing, Junior 3 students have to take an English listening and speaking test that counts for 40 points on their full English exam. The test is taken on a computer. They can take the test twice—once in December and again in March -to try to get the highest score possible. The test was just introduced last year.

During the 30-minute test, students have to fill in blanks, answer questions and retell stories after listening to different materials. “It pushes us to speak. Though it was hard at the beginning, it’s a good thing,” Liu said. He got a low score when he first took it last semester. But he kept working hard in order to improve his pronunciation and other skills. He pracised speaking in front of a mirror every day. Later, he got a score of 39 on the test.

LiTianyou, 14, from Beying Yuying Middle School, has his own way to prepare for the spoken English test. He uses apps to take practice tests every day. “The apps will score your performance so that you can improve accordingly,” he said. “Also, the practice tests help me learn to take notes properly. They help me grasp topic sentences and connection words.”

1.How many times can they take the English listening and speaking test?

A.Only once B.Twice C.Three times D.Four times

2.According to the passage, we know ________.

A.All the students have to take the test.

B.The test was introduced this year.

C.It is worth 40 points on the full English exam.

D.Most of the students can get high scores on the test.

3.What do we know about Li Tianyou?

A.He got a score of 39 on the test.

B.He prepared for the test by using apps.

C.He was afraid of speaking English in class.

D.He still finds it hard to grasp topic sentences.

4.What’s the passage mainly about?

A.The difficulties students face in learning English

B.The research of English education in China

C.An oral English class that students in Beijing have to take

D.a new oral English test for Beijing Junior 3 students

I’ve been playing in rock bands since I was about 14 years old. It’s my favorite hobby in the world and I don, t think I’ll ever give it up. When I moved to China, I wasn’t sure what it would be like to play in a band here. Would it be hard to find people to play with? Or places to play at? As it turns out, Beijing is a great place to play music.

One of the main differences is that the music scene here is much smaller than those in most big Western cities. This might seem like a disadvantage, but I actually kind of (有点) like it. It means that most of the people involved, whether they are promoters (宣传人员) or musicians or Just music fans, know each other well. It’s like having a big family. I’ve met some amazing friends by playing music here.

Another big difference is that every practice studio and live-house in Beijing has the basic equipment (设备) for playing music. When I played drums in the US, I had to bring my whole drum kit everywhere we played. But here, I just bring my drumsticks and cymbals (钹). This makes it way more convenient to practice, record and play music.

And I’ve definitely had some unique experiences since I’ve been playing here. For one concert, we played on an outdoor stage next to a farm in the suburbs of Baoding in Hebei province. For another show, we played at a tiny bar inside of a huge shopping mall. These kinds of experiences are rare in the US. It’s definitely been a lot of fun to play music here.

1.In the first paragraph the writer wasn’t sure ________?

A.whether he would miss his friends

B.whether he would bring his whole drum kit

C.whether he could continue playing music

D.whether he could start a new hobby

2.From the second paragraph we know ________.

A.the music scene in Beijing is the same size as Western cities

B.people in the music scene come from a big family

C.the writer gets on well with people in Western cities

D.the writer makes some new friends by playing music

3.What does the underlined word “unique” mean in the last paragraph?

A.独特的 B.危险的 C.艰难的 D.可怕的

4.What do we know from the passage?

A.The writer has played rock music for 14 years.

B.Rock bands in Beijing are not very popular.

C.The writer enjoys playing music in China.

D.The writer once played on an outdoor stage on a farm.

Portia gave the decision. “One pound of the merchant’s flesh is yours It is what the contract (合同) says. You may take his flesh!”

Shylock held his knife and told Antonio to get ready. “Wait!” exclaimed Portia. “You will not do anything that is not written in the contract. Is that right, Shylock?”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Shylock. He wondered what the wise young judge was going to say.

“Well,” said the young judge, “I have read the contract carefully, and it does not say anything about taking his blood. It says ‘a pound of flesh’. You can take your pound of flesh, but you may not take one drop of his blood. If you take any of his blood, the duke will take everything you own!”

Now it was Graziano’s turn to bless the judge and call him wise.

“You wanted justice,” Portia told Shylock, “and you will have more justice than you wanted.”

Shylock didn’t want to give everything he owned to the duke. He decided not to take his pound of flesh. He said he would take the money.

“Give me ninety thousand dollars,” he said, “and I will have mercy on Antonio and let him go.”

Bassanio was happy to give him the money. He was very pleased that his friend Antonio would not die.

“Wait!” Portia said again. “He does not want the money. It is not written in the contract.”

Bar shylock said he just wanted to have his money back and wouldn’t even demand interest. Bassanio was ready to give it to him, but again Portia stopped him.

“He said he wanted only the penalty that is in the contract.”

Shylock understood that he would not get his pound of flesh. He understood that he would not get his money. He decided to go home.

“Wait!” said Portia, for the third time. The law of Venice, says that if you plan to kill a citizen of Venice, you will lose everything that you own. Half of what you have will belong to the person you tried to kill, and the other half will belong to the duke.

Taken from The Merchant of Venice

1.Who was the young judge?

A.graziano B.Bassanio C.Portia D.the duke

2.What do you think of Shylock according to the passage?

A.brave and clever B.cold-hearted and selfish

C.generous and patient D.helpful and warm-hearted

3.Why did Shylock give up taking a pound of flesh at last?

A.Because Antonio’s ships sunk and Shylock had mercy on him.

B.Because Shylock thought that a pound of flesh was worth nothing.

C.Because Antonio gave Shylock ninety thousand dollars.

D.Because Shylock couldn’t take a pound of flesh without any blood.

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

A.Shylock was stopped taking money from Bassanio three times.

B.Shylock would have his money back without interest.

C.Shylock lost everything for planning to kill a citizen of Venice.

D.Shylock would give everything that he owned to the duke.

Remembering things, like names, dates, and other fine details is a skill—one that you can develop. Here are four memory improving skills everyone can learn.

1. Play video Games

Believe it or not, Playing video games helps to form better memory as you age. 3D video games seem to work better than 2D ones. Playing games like Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day has been found to increase the brains gray matter (脑灰质). So you’ll have fun while building a bigger brain.

2. Strengthen the Power of Music

We forget names and numbers so easily, but lyrics to our favorite songs or rhymes from childhood? They seem to remain a longer time Music helps us remember things through rhythm. If you want to learn a foreign language, try training with music videos. Generally singing can help increase your brain.

3. Remember People’s Names by Forcing Yourself to Interact with Them Differently

For us, forgetting someone’s name might be the worst. It’s just that our basic working memory isn’t that great. However, if we try to make connections between the strange name and the person, we’ll be more likely to remember the name. It takes a little work: Try asking a person you just met a question to give you time to repeat his or her name in your head, introduce the person to someone else, which means to force you to repeat his name, repeat the person’s name at the end of the conversation.

4. Take Care of Your Health and Learn New skills

Unluckily, our memory gets worse as we get older. Taking care of our basic health, though, can go a long way towards improving our health that means it will reduce the stress in your life if you train and exercise your brain by learning new skills.

Tricks to1. your memory and remember anything

For the first time on our long voyage, I went to the captain’s room and knocked on his door. He was s1. to see me. He told me he was writing his life s2. and would throw it into the sea in a bottle b3. he died. I asked him if he would ever let us l4. the Nautilus.

“When you entered the Nautilus seven months ago, I told you that you would n5. leave. That is still my answer. Do not ask me again!”

Ned was disappointed and a6.. “We will try to escape, even if the w7. is bad,” he said.

However, the weather was worse than bad. It was a huge s8.. Captain Nemo stood on the deck as the waves rose above the submarine and crashed onto it. It was i9. to stand in the strong wind, and he tied himself to the deck. Lightning flashed across the sky. The n10. of the waves, the wind, and the thunder was deafening (震耳欲聋的). At last, the captain came back inside, and the Nautilus descended to fifty meters. Here the water was calm and quiet. It was difficult to believe that the storm was just fifty meters.

Taken from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

将下列句子译成英语，并将所译句子写在答题卡上标有题号的横线上。

1.为了减肥，许多女孩宁愿不吃晚餐。

_________________________________________________________________

2.我想要知道你的机器人买了多久了？

_________________________________________________________________

3.如果再多给点时间，我就会成功地解决这个问题。

_________________________________________________________________

4.我爷爷太健忘了，昨天忘记锁门。

_________________________________________________________________

5.虽然她在那部电影里扮演主角，但是她从不炫耀。

_________________________________________________________________

写作

亲爱的同学，在你三年的初中生活中，总会与有些同学成为朋友请以“My Best Friend and I”为题，根据以下要求与提示，用英语写一篇短文。

要求：

1. 如果你最好的朋友是女生，请用名字Mary；如果是男生，请用Jack。短文中不得出现任何真实人名、校名及其它相关信息。

2. 词数：100词左右（开头已给出，不计入总词数。）

提示：1. Who is your best friend?

2. How long have you been friends? How did you become friends?

3. How are you the same as and different from your best friend? And what do you like about him /her?

My best Friend and I

It is needless to say that friendship plays an important role in our lives. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

英汉互译。

1.would rather ________________

2.drive sb. mad ________________

3.越……越……_____________

4.成为某人的朋友______________

5.leave out _____________

—How was your history class?

—It was boring. Many students felt ________ during the class.

A.sleeping B.sleepy C.asleep D.sleep

—Hi, why do you make the boy at home?

—It’s not my will. He is ill.

A.stay B.to stay C.staying D.stayed