— delicious the cake is ! I need one more.

A. What B. How C. What a

— do you have a sports meeting in your school? — Once a year.

A. How long B. How often C. How soon

—Could you tell me ? — At nine o’clock, in ten minutes.

A. how will he leave

B. when he left

C. when he will leave

One day a poor man was traveling on horseback. At noon, he tied his horse to a tree and then down to eat something. A few later, a rich man came along and tied his horse to the same tree.

“Please tie your horse to another tree,” said the poor man. “My horse is wild. It will kill yours.” the rich man said, “I shall tie my horse as I like!” he tied up his horse and had his lunch nearby. After a moment they heard terrib , the two horses were fighting. They went up to them, but it was too . The rich man’s horse was killed. “See what your horse has done!” cried the rich man. “You will have to for it.” And he brought the poor man before Mr. Know.

Mr. Know asked the poor man some questions. But he made no . At last Mr. Know said, “This man is dumb. He cannot speak.” “Oh,” the rich man shouted . “He can! He spoke to me when I met him.” “Are you sure?” asked Mr. Know. “What did he say ? “He told me not to tie my horse to the same tree because his horse was and would kill my horse.” “Oh,” said Mr. Know. “So he you. Then can you expect to get money from him? ”

The rich man said nothing and left silently.

1.A. put B. sat C. turned

2.A. days B. minutes C. weeks

3.A. So B. And C.But

4.A. song B. bell C. noise

5.A. late B. hard C. quick

6.A. pay B. wait C. care

7.A. idea B. mistake C. answer

8.A. heavily B. angrily C. happily

9.A. quiet B. nice C. wild

10.A.helped B. warned C. ordered

Do you know something about tree rings? Do you know they can tell us what the weather was like, sometimes even hundreds of years ago?

A tree will grow well in a climate with lots of sunshine and rainfall. And little sunshine or rainfall will limit the growth of trees by studying the tree rings. For example, to find out the weather of ten years ago, count the rings of a tree from the outside to the inside. If the tenth ring is far from the eleventh ring, then we’re sure that it was sunny and rainy most of that year. If it is near to the eleventh ring, then the climate that year was bad.

Tree rings are important not only for studying the history of weather but also for studying the history of man. Many centuries ago, there lived a lot of people at a place in New Mexico. But now you can find only sand there－no trees and no people. What happened?

A scientist studied the rings of dead trees there. He found that the people had to leave because they had cut down all the trees to make fires and buildings. As all the trees had gone, the people there had to move.

1. Tree rings can tell ______ according to the passage.

A. whether a tree was strong or not.

B. whether the climate was good or not

C. how tall trees used to be.

2. If you want to find out the weather of twenty years ago, you should study ________.

A. the twentieth ring

B. the tenth ring

C. the twenty-second ring

3.What does the underline word “limit” mean?

A. 证实 B. 限制 C. 促进

4.Which of the following is NOT TRUE?

A. Trees can’t grow well in a climate with little sunshine and rainfall.

B. Tree rings grow far from each other in a bad climate.

C. The people left the place in New Mexico because the land became sand.

5.The passage mainly tells us ________ .

A. how climate affects the growing of trees

B. the importance of the trees

C Tree rings can help us study the history of weather and man.

阅读下面的图表，做1-3小题。

1.We can probably find the advertisement .

A. in a news report

B. on a website

C. in a TV program

2.Sara Myers is .

A. the mother of a child

B. the owner of a pet store

C. the name of a writer

3.Which of the following is NOT true ?

A. The book is written mainly for children

B. From the book , we can know what dogs eat.

C. The book came out in December, 2013 .

阅读下列图表，做1-2小题。

1.You can’ t _____ at Lisa’s Gym.

A. play basketball B. watch a movie C. dance

2.If Mrs. White exercises at Lisa’s Gym for two hours every Sunday, she should pay ___ a week.

A. $80 B. $40 C. $160

Different countries have different kinds of birthday traditions. No matter what they do, they want to express their love, thanks and so on.

Canada: The birthday child is ambushed(伏击)and his /her nose is greased( 在…涂油) with butter or margarine for good luck. The greased nose makes the child too slippery for bad luck to catch him/her.

Denmark: A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in that house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child’s bed while he/she is sleeping so he/she will see them immediately upon awakening.

England: Certain symbolic objects are mixed into the birthday cake as it’s being prepared. If your piece of cake has a coin in it, then you will be rich. Also, when it’s your birthday your friends give you the “bumps”. They lift you in the air by your hands and feet and raise you up and down to the floor, one for each year lived then another one for luck.

South Africa: On the twenty-first birthday , a key made of anything from paper to aluminum foil(铝箔) to silver to gold is presented by the parents as a sign that the child is ready to unlock the door to their future.

United States: A cake is made ,and candles are put on top based on how old the person is. The everyone sings the “Happy Birthday” song, and at the end of the song , the birthday child blows out the candles. If they blow them all out with one blow , their birthday wishes will come true.

We all know that foods will easily go bad if they get too warm. So we usually put them into our fridges to keep cool in hot weather. But can you make it without fridges?

In 1995, Abba, a teacher from Nigeria, found a cool way. His invention was called Pot-in-Pot Cooling System.

It uses two clay pots (陶罐). There is a smaller pot inside a larger one. The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. Fruit, vegetables or drinks can be put into the smaller pot. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system. Some foods can be kept fresh for several weeks in it.

Abba built five thousand pot-in-pot systems for the villagers in his hometown. Then people all over the country began using the invention. Soon it became popular with farmers in other African countries.

In 2000, Abba got a prize --- the Rolex Award. If you are trying to do something to improve human life, you may have the chance to get this prize.

1.Who is Abba?

2.Where should we put fruit and drinks in the Pot-in-Pot Cooling System ?

3.What can farmers use Abba’s invention to do?

4.How many pot-in-pot systems did Abba build for the villagers?

5.From the passage, how can we have the chance to get this kind of prize like Abba?

Dear Friend,

My name is Simon and I am a Grade 9 student. 1.I am crazy about football! I love watching football, reading about football, and of course, playing football. 2.我梦想成为一名足球运动员. However, my love of football has become a big problem.

I have many friends, and we always play football together at school or in the park after school. We like staying out late to play football. We often play for three hours or more and forget when to stop. Then I get into trouble at home 3.因为我爸妈不让我在下午6点后出去玩.I really do not understand why they are so strict. I feel stressed and angry . I believe it is important for us to spend some time on our hobbies. 4.They can help us relax and make our life more interesting . I wish I could have my parents’ support.

Is it bad to stay out late to play football? Should I spend less time on it? I really do not know what to do. 5.Could you please tell me how to keep a balance between my schoolwork and my hobbies? Thanks a lot.

Best wishes