北京市房山区2020-2021学年高一下学期英语期中试卷

Chad has been delivering packages for a small town for more than 10 years. Everyone in the town knows how special Chad is.

When Chad thought an unwrapped package was likely to be a gift for the kids, he didn't 1 it when the kids were in the yard. He just drove by and gave it to the adults after dark because he didn't want to ruin the 2 for the kids. When it comes to 3 service, Chad is really responsible.

The people living there thought that Chad deserved to be 4 for his kindness. So, through a community page, they organized a "Thank You" event for the 5 Chad. That day, Chad's last stop was to be an on-demand collection at the municipal building. Driving there, Chad thought he was going to6 a regular package. But what he came to was several people holding up balloons and big signs with messages for him. Several community members clapped and yelled, "Thank you, Chad!" The people 7 him with cards and gifts.

"Well, thank you." Chad said as he read through a giant card. "I don't know what to say now." He was so moved that he took out his handkerchief to wipe his 8.

A man who truly cares about others deserves to be recognized and rewarded for his 9. Thumb up for you, Chad, and for the community for thanking him in the most 10 way.

This year I entered the Great Gorilla (大猩猩) Run in London. This is a programme run by The Gorilla Organization which raises money  (save) the world's last remaining gorillas from dying out. Each runner receives a gorilla suit and off they go! It's a bit hot and sweaty inside the suit, and my legs ache, it's a lot of fun. The funniest moment was when someone watching the race offered me a banana—a real treat for a(run) gorilla! I had a great day out in London, as well as helping to save gorillas!

Until a few years ago I was a chef, and a happy one at that, but I wanted more out of life. I wanted to travel. At that time, I  (find) that I took pretty good pictures. So I decided to post pictures on my blog. In less than 18 months, there were over 200,000 people (read) my blog! At first, I only regarded it as a hobby, but many (company) started paying me to take photos and publish them. 2013, I was determined to make my dream come true: I would become Australia's first professional photo blogger. It was a challenging job, but I did it.

It seems like common sense: eating local food should be better for the environment, because it  (transport) short distances.(Unfortunate), it is not that simple. It is the production of food, not its transport, that uses most of the energy and (produce)most of the greenhouse gases. In some cases, local produce might have used more energy and produced more greenhouse gases than produce grown a long way away—even taking into account its transport.

Classic Dutch Experiences Online

Take a journey to the Netherlands through online tours, streaming videos and interactive imagery. Soar over the windmills, coast along the canals, explore the colorful tulip fields and enjoy other classic experiences from your comfortable couch.

See the windmills

Not even a virtual journey to the Netherlands is complete without visiting the windmills. Visit the classic Dutch landscape with 360-degree interactive images. There's no better way to start your day than watching a misty sunrise over traditional wooden windmills along the river.

Cruise the canals

There is a network of more than 165 canals, covering some 100 kilometers, that spirals outwards from Amsterdam's city center. A cruise along these particularly picturesque waterways passes by some of the city's most popular attractions, including 1,500 historic buildings. Watch this video that puts you front and center on a glass-enclosed boat as it coasts through Amsterdam, passing by beautiful bridges, houseboats, the NEMO Science Museum. It is a calming and relaxing way to get a taste of the amazing cities.

Get lost among the tulips

See Keukenhof in bloom with the flower park's immersive 360-degree videos of Technicolor tulips. Dutch gardeners have been planting tulips for more than 400 years and today you can see 26 different varieties blossoming. Check out the interviews with expert gardeners for fun facts about the flowers or click on the "visit the park" videos to have the beautiful fields all to yourself.

Take in a Dutch concert

You can watch — and even dance along to — performances from across the Netherlands on your computer, phone or tablet. Every weekday, for example, the Rotterdam concert hall puts on a lunchtime performance, covering everything from classical piano to world masterpiece, by famous musicians.

Sam was born with a bone disease. He has never walked. His bones are so fragile that they can break if he just coughs or sneezes.

When Sam was young, he was always breaking bones. He never liked fireworks. A sudden loud bang would scare him so much that he could break some bones. Sam's family had to learn how fragile he was. When he was a baby, it was very difficult for them.

No one knew much about what would happen to Sam. His friends grew taller, but he didn't. Sam didn't let how he looked worry him. "How we look on the outside," he said, "is only a small part of who we are."

Sam wanted to do everything that his friends did. Doctors put metal pins in his legs to make them stronger, but the pins didn't help him walk. So Sam needed wheelchairs. Sam had wheelchairs to take him to different places. He had some wheelchairs for going over sand and others that would take him over muddy, rocky places.

Once, Sam's wheelchair got stuck in some mud. There was no one around to help him, so he had to crawl home on his stomach.

Sam has been to many places in the world. He has been down rivers and in rainforests. If he couldn't get somewhere in his chair, people would carry him.

One day, when Sam was in the mountains, his wheelchair broke. He knew a lot about chairs, but he couldn't fix this one. Then, he had an idea. He would invent a new and different wheelchair. So Sam invented a chair that he can do everything in. Sam's wheelchair, the EZi-Riser, can go as high as a bench and as low as the ground. It can move around in small places. Now, many people around the world are using his wheelchair.

Sam will always be small. He will never be able to walk. But he says, "There is always a way to do everything. It may not be the way most people do things. It may take a while to work it out, but there is always a way."

Human activity is changing the surface and temperature of the planet. But new research shows it is also changing the sound of the Earth's oceans and seas.

Scientists say the changes in the sounds of our oceans and seas affect many marine(海洋) animals—from very small fish to huge whales. Sound travels "very far underwater," Francis Juanes told the reporter. Juanes is an ecologist at the University of Victoria and co-writer of the recent research published in a magazine. "For fish," he explained, "sound is probably a better way to sense their environment than light."

Sounds help fish and other marine animals survive. They use sounds to communicate with each other. Sounds also help some ocean animals find food and avoid their hunters. Many ocean animals use sounds to find good places to give birth. However, increased noise from humans is making it harder for these animals to hear each other. The noise comes from shipping traffic, underwater oil and gas exploration, offshore construction, and other noisy human activity.

"For many marine species, their attempts to communicate are being masked by sounds that humans have produced," said Duarte. The marine ecologist at the Red Sea Research Center co-wrote the paper with Juanes. The Red Sea, Duarte said, is one of the world's most important shipping passages. It is full of large ships traveling to Asia, Europe, and Africa. Some fish and other animals, he said, now avoid the noisiest areas. Also, the overall number of marine animals has gone down by about half since 1970. In some parts of the ocean, scientists now record "fewer animals singing and calling than in the past—those voices are gone," said Duarte.

Juanes and Duarte examined studies and research articles about changes in noise volume(音量) and frequency in the world's oceans. Then they put together a detailed picture of how the ocean soundscape is changing and how marine life is affected.

Climate change, the researchers found, also affects physical processes that shape ocean sounds. These include such things as wind, waves, and melting ice.

Some studies suggest that noise may cause hearing loss of marine animals. Besides, many marine animals are showing higher levels of stress due to noise, which might also affect the immune(免疫) system.

Scientist Juanes says sound pollution may be easier to deal with than other ocean threats. "In theory," he said, "you can turn down or turn off the sound immediately. It's not like plastics or climate change, which are much harder to undo."

Think about all those successful people in your life that you know. How many of them build their success overnight? How many of them didn't care about their goals? How many of them gave up after the first failure?

Most of the people we know to be successful were very persistent and devoted to their dreams. In other words, they work hard towards their dreams and keep trying, even if their goals aren't easy to achieve. They didn't give up just because they faced barriers and problems. They might even get encouraged by them.

Persistence really matters. It can help build your character. Nothing builds your character more than overcoming failures and problems in life. You get tougher and can handle anything life might throw at you. Each time you win your urge to give up, you make your mind and personality a bit stronger. Each of those wins will build your character to be healthier and to handle more stress.

When you are committed to something, you are willing to learn what it takes to be successful. You will be required to learn new skills and solve new kinds of problems. When you are persistent about your goals, you will have to learn new ways of doing things. Sometimes you might notice that to solve a particular problem, you need to learn more about it. When you study more about the topic, you discover new exciting subtopics to know about. As you think more in-depth into that problem, you will be exposed to new ideas and thoughts. Persistence is the driver behind your ability to learn what you need to know.

When you keep building your persistence and willpower, you will face many failures. Things don't always end up as you have planned. With persistence, you will learn how to solve those problems and get back up after a failure. You will learn that failure is not the end of the world. Life goes on, and so can you. Each time you decide to overcome your failure, you will learn something new, and you will be a bit stronger than before. Those changes won't show daily, but slowly they will start to stack up. If you look back and analyze your process, you will discover that you handle the stressful situation more efficiently, and after failures, you won't go into despair. You rather know how to handle each failure as you have accumulated experiences from them and handle challenging situations.

Persistence is a basic quality to develop in life because it is closely related to personal development and improvement. As you already know, it is not easy, but it is worthy of your effort.

Do you feel your legs trembling before large audiences? Do you forget everything you memorized for discussion? You are not alone. However, with good preparation and delivery techniques, you can handle even the biggest of audiences.

 Challenge yourself to think more about how the performance could go well. Remind yourself why you are doing this performance and why you believe in it. Good feelings will boost your confidence instead of your nerves.

Practice and make good preparation before performance day. Make sure that you know your lines, music, note cards, anything at all, completely by heart. You can go through everything to ensure that you've already been well prepared.

If you're participating in a debate or giving a speech, research the topic of discussion thoroughly. This will increase your knowledge of the subject matter. Therefore, you can speak confidently. This is especially important if you will answer questions after the speech!

Get rid of all negative thoughts. If you start telling yourself that you can't do this, you don't know what you're doing, and so on, your confidence will drop dramatically. This will make you think that you can't show confidence on stage no matter how hard you work.

Talk to your friends or fellow performers. Chances are, anyone else that is going on stage with you is lacking confidence as well. It is completely normal to be nervous.You can also tell a trusted friend or family member how you are feeling, and they will most likely share their excitement at seeing you on stage.

Getting plenty of rest is really important. You don't want to appear tired for your speech or performance. Allow for your best night's sleep the night before, whether it means going to bed early or listening to some calming music. If you can follow these tips, then you can do it!

A. Imagine it will be your best performance.

B. Don't overdo anything for your performance.

C. Sharing these feelings can help you feel a little relaxed.

D. Anything that you tell yourself regularly, you start to take as reality.

E. Choose the topic that you like and makes you feel secure and confident.

F. This way you won't be worried about the possibility of forgetting something.

G. Even the most professional performers can suffer from lacking confidence on stage.

Kun Qu Opera developed under the Ming dynasty (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries) in the city of Kunshan, situated in the region of Suzhou in southeast China. With its roots in popular theatre, the repertory of songs developed into a major theatrical form. Kun Qu is one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera still performed today.

Kunqu has gone through several stages of change over the past hundreds of years. It was composed of long and short lines at the beginning, with a singer singing solo and the orchestra coming in at the end of each line. During the Ming Dynasty (1368—1644), it became more mild, and graceful, with performers attaching great importance to how clearly they recited and sang lines. The songs were written in seven-character or ten-character lines. This contrasts greatly from the opera's emphasis during the Yuan Dynasty(1271—1368), when only percussions(打击乐器) were used in the chorus. In the style that developed during the Ming Dynasty, more musical instruments were used.

It is characterized by its dynamic structure and melody (kunqiang). It combines songs and recitals as well as acrobatics and symbolic gestures. The opera features a young male lead, a female lead, an old man and various comic roles, all dressed in traditional costumes. Kun Qu songs are accompanied by bamboo flute(长笛), small drum, wooden clappers gongs, all used to punctuate actions and emotions on stage. Renowned for the rhythmic patterns, Kun Qu opera has had a considerable influence on more recent forms of Chinese opera, such as the Sichuan or Beijing opera.

The opera has suffered a gradual decrease since the eighteenth century because of the high-level technical knowledge that it requires from both its performers and audience. Of the 400 arias regularly sung in opera performances in the mid-twentieth century, only a few dozen continue to be performed. The Kun Qu opera survived through the efforts of dedicated connoisseurs(行家) and various supporters who seek to attract the interest of a new generation of performers.