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 (绕口令). It is an exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce(发音，读) 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

根据所给提示或句意写出单词

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_______(动作)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.

选用方框中所给词的适当形式填空

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.

选用方框中所给动词的适当形式填空

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.

将下列词组译成英文（5%）

1.太多吃不下

2.最著名的女演员之一

3.在一家医院工作

4.产生足够的水

5.做洗衣服的活

6.一个动物爱好者

7.自然的美丽

8.中等高度

9.到2100年为止

10.探测危险的地方

句型转换（5%，每线0.5）

1.“When will he have a concert?” the boy asked.（改为间接引语）

The boy asked        he          have a concert

2.These tigers are facing great danger.（改为感叹句）

_________  ________ danger these tigers are facing!

3.Was he killed? Did he kill himself? I wonder. (合并为一句)

I wonder _________ he was killed _________ he killed himself.

4.We shall make an extra model.（改为同义句）

We shall make __________  ___________ model.

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

_________  _________ we wear special boots?

选出错误项并改正（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 (社会) 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!

任务型阅读（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?(请结合自身实际，自拟一句话作答)

_________________________________________________

书面表达（20%）【2013苏州】

初中生在成长的过程中总会碰到一些烦恼。就这一话题你班正积极筹备召开一次主题班会。请根据以下所列举的几项烦恼，用英语写一篇发言稿，并对这些烦恼逐一提出你的建议。

    1．不被人理解，朋友少；

    2．作业多，没有时间从事业余爱好；

    3．父母给的零花钱不够用。

    注意：1．文章开头和结尾已写好，不计入总词数；

      2．词数90左右。

Dear classmates,

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

_________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

That's all. Thank you!