Try reading the following sentences as fast as you can. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”

Not very easy, was it? What you’ve just read is called a tongue twister (繞口令). It is an exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce(發(fā)音，讀) in order to help people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Pete Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

Tongue twisters usually do not have much meaning. They are just designed to improve people’s ability  to pronounce words. Although they may be very difficult, these exercises are very important to people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is because tongue twisters help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.

So if you wish to pronounce words more smoothly, you’d better try picking out some tongue twisters and practicing them.

1.Tongue twisters are helpful in improving ___________ skills.

A. listening        B. writing      C. pronunciation     D. communication

2.The first tongue twister is hard because ___________.

A. it is very boring to read            B. it teaches us a lot of knowledge

C. we don’t know who “she” is        D. the sounds of “s” and “sh” are similar

3.The passage is probably taken from _________ in a school newspaper.

A. Story Time          B. Study Garden

C. Latest News          D. Lost and Found

根據所給提示或句意寫出單詞

1.Doctor, I have a pain in my_______（胸部）．

2.It is said that blood type Os are_______（好奇的）and generous but stubborn.

3.CZ 12，or Chinese Zodiac（《十二生肖》），is Jackie Chan's last big_______(動作)film.

4.Young people usually like popular __________(a long written story).

5.----You'd better wear_______ to protect your eyes when you go out.

---I will, thank you. The sun is shining so brightly.

選用方框中所給詞的適當形式填空

1.I had everyone’s support because they thought my plan was  _________.

2.Tom is the __________ of the two young men.

3.People who steal are called ____________.

4.He is watching TV while I’m cooking ____________.

5._____________ with life on Mars, life on Earth may be better in some ways.

選用方框中所給動詞的適當形式填空

1.Mr Smith asked his children __________at others. It’s rude.

2.They ___________ up before they find the answers.

3.This is impossible. You ______________ again.

4.Some food can ___________ for many days in the fridge.

5.His house _________ fire last night and everything in it was burnt up.

將下列詞組譯成英文（5%）

1.太多吃不下

2.最著名的女演員之一

3.在一家醫(yī)院工作

4.產生足夠的水

5.做洗衣服的活

6.一個動物愛好者

7.自然的美麗

8.中等高度

9.到2100年為止

10.探測危險的地方

句型轉換（5%，每線0.5）

1.“When will he have a concert?” the boy asked.（改為間接引語）

The boy asked        he          have a concert

2.These tigers are facing great danger.（改為感嘆句）

_________  ________ danger these tigers are facing!

3.Was he killed? Did he kill himself? I wonder. (合并為一句)

I wonder _________ he was killed _________ he killed himself.

4.We shall make an extra model.（改為同義句）

We shall make __________  ___________ model.

5.To prevent us from floating in the air, we must wear special boots.(提問)

_________  _________ we wear special boots?

選出錯誤項并改正（5%）

(     )____________ 1. Lucy forgot her homework at home yesterday.             

A         B    C       D

(     )____________ 2. The gravity on Mars is about third-eights of that on Earth.           

A      B        C         D

(     )____________ 3. My sister prefers to wear black to red.

A        B      C         D

(     )____________ 4. He was too tired that he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

A               B       C      D

(     )__________ 5. Since her mum is busy, Mary oughts to do more housework.

A             B         C        D

 短文填空（5%）【2012南通】

     If you think of after-school activities as a waste of time, you are wrong! After-school activities help us grow up in many 1.w  __   . Above all, they offer us chances to practise  what we learn in 2. c  __  . Through various activities, we can also learn more about today's society (社會) and a lot of3.n  __   things that we can't learn from our books. What's more, they help to develop our abilities that we need both for our studies now and for our work and life in the 4.f  __   .

        We are busy with our studies in school, so after school we all need to 5. r    _ ourselves. After-school activities just make it possible for us to breathe 6. f      air and remove tiredness. Then, we can pay7.a   _    to our studies and achieve good results.

        Some after-school activities will make us useful and helpful to 8.o   __  ; some can keep us strong and 9.h    __     ; some may even change our life. So, all the students, get out and take an 10.a   __    part in various after-school activities!

任務型閱讀（5%）【2013南通】

Courage is the ability to be brave in various situation in our life. Here and there, now and then, everyone needs courage to do something well. Courage may make you confident of your success. If you have courage, you will not show fear in face of anything difficult or dangerous. With courage, you mak look someone in the eye who you have wronged and say “I am sorry”: you may still smile even if you are seriously ill and know you are at the end of your life.

How can we build up our courage?

Believe you will be successful. Take chances and know that you have your own talents. Besides, your family and friends are always there for you.

Exercise your courage. It can be compared to a muscle(肌肉). The more we use it, the stronger courage gets.

Know that giving up is not a choice. It’s much easier to give up, and it takes courage to say or do what you think is right, even when other people think you are wrong.

Fight to control your fear. Courageous people may still be afraid, but the differnce is that they can control their fear.

They don’t let it hold them back but use it as a reminder of what they can lose if they don’t go on.

Get courage by reading inspiring stories of brave people. Abraham Lincoln is one of the people who you may think of.

1. What is courage?

_________________________________________________

2.What wil you do in face of difficulty or danger if you don’t have courage?

_________________________________________________

3. How can courage become stronger?

_________________________________________________

4. What is the difference between courageous people and others?

_________________________________________________

5. What will you do if you have courage in your study?(請結合自身實際，自擬一句話作答)

_________________________________________________

書面表達（20%）【2013蘇州】

初中生在成長的過程中總會碰到一些煩惱。就這一話題你班正積極籌備召開一次主題班會。請根據以下所列舉的幾項煩惱，用英語寫一篇發(fā)言稿，并對這些煩惱逐一提出你的建議。

    1．不被人理解，朋友少；

    2．作業(yè)多，沒有時間從事業(yè)余愛好；

    3．父母給的零花錢不夠用。

    注意：1．文章開頭和結尾已寫好，不計入總詞數；

      2．詞數90左右。

Dear classmates,

We middle school students do have many pains while we are growing up.

_________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

That's all. Thank you!