1．　　From my father I have learned a lot. And I'm very thankful to him. I remember when I was a child my father always got up very early, quietly putting on his clothes and going off to work. To arrive in time to open his tiny store at 8:30, he needed to leave our apartment at 6:30. After all, he had to take a bus and then the subway. The last journey was a long walk through a neighborhood much of which was full of the smell of rubbish. I learned: it is very important to work. No excuse.
　　When I was 12, I would, on some Saturdays, go to my father's store to help out. After helping set up the outside clothing display, for the rest of the day, I'd watch to make sure no one stole anything. When I noticed someone looking unusual or strange, I would look the person in the eye, smile and say, "May I help you?" Usually that worked, but sometimes someone would run off with something. The first time, I ran after the thief but my father shouted, "Martin, stop! There is no need to do that." It's true that safety is more important than money.
　　After 10 years of hard work, he saved up enough money to buy his first car, a cheap one — he wouldn't buy one until he could afford to pay for it without borrowing money. I learned: buy only what you can afford. Buying necessary food and clothing won't make us go in debt (债务). The unnecessary things won't give us happiness which comes from achievement only.

2．　　The dragon is a great animal in Chinese culture. It brings the wind and rain. It is said that every year on the second day of the second lunar (阴历) month, the dragon wakes up from its winter sleep and raises its head. Because of this, the day is called "Dragon Heads-raising Day" (Longtaitou). This year, it falls on March 14th.
　　Old people believed that after Longtaitou, there would be more rain. And rain is very important to farming. So Longtaitou was the start of spring and farming.
　　People have many ways to celebrate the festival. The most popular one is to have a haircut. Many people believe that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to your uncles — mainly your mother's brothers. They hope getting a haircut on Longtaitou keeps them away from bad luck.
　　Among Chinese people's festival traditions, there is always a place for food. During the Longtaitou festival, people eat food named after dragons. Noodles are called dragon's beard (longxu). Dumplings are dragon's ears (long'er). And spring roll (春卷) are dragon's skin (longlin).

3．　　"Who needs a shopping mall (购物中心 ) if you have Taobao?" says Wang Lin, 28, a writer in Beijing.
　　Taobao , China's largest online shopping site (网上购物网站), has become an important part of Wang Lin's life. She spends lots of money on Taobao.
　　A growing number of Chinese Internet users like Wang have found the joys of online shopping. Most online shoppers are students or young workers. More women shop online than men. Clothing and home-use products are the most popular online.
　　It was reported that more than 900 billion yuan, was spent on online shopping last year, 80% through Taobao.
　　Taobao means "looking for treasure" in Chinese. People can find almost everything they need on Taobao, from clothes to books, from candies to DVD players.
　　"You may question the security of online shopping", Wang Lin said, "It's very safe and convenient. Unless you receive the products from the sellers and are satisfied with them, the shop owner will not get the money. You can also get your money back if you want to return the products."

4．　　There was an eight-year-old girl named Jane Eyre whose parents had passed away. Jane used to live with her aunt and her three spoiled (被宠坏的) children. Her cousin always got her into trouble so her aunt did not want to look after her anymore. Soon, Jane was sent to a school far away home.
　　On her first day at school, the headmaster, Mr. Brock introduced Jane to the other pupils. He told them that no one was allowed to talk or sit beside Jane because she was a winched (坏) child. He punished her by making her stand in a corner that day. She was very sad and lonely. Nobody dared to disobey (不服从) Mr. Brock or they would have to clean the school hall all night. The pupils had no enough food to eat and they were usually hungry. Jane felt very miserable there.
　　Ten years later. Jane completed her schooling. She was glad to get away from the school. She worked for a rich man named Mr. Rochester. Jane was asked to look after his young daughter, Adele. Jane liked working in the house. However, Mr. Rochester was a strange man. He was very quiet and always looked sad. Jane felt sorry for him and was kind to him. Jane would spend time talking to him. Soon, little by little, his sadness lifted.

13．　　Mo Yan was one of the most famous writers in the world. He was born into a farmer's family in Gaomi, Shandong, (1)       February, 17, 1955. He (2)      (drop) out of school when he was 12. Little Mo enjoyed reading. But at that time, there were only a few books available in his village. With no more books at hand, he started (3)      (read) a Chinese dictionary. He read it so many times that he found several mistakes in it. In 1976, he joined the army. He began to study literature and write stories. In 1981, his first short story was published. He became famous in 1987 when his novel Red Sorghum was made into a film. In 2011, he won the (4)      (eight) Mao Dun Literature Prize. In 2012, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Now more and more people are becoming (5)      (interest) in his works.

14．　　The monkey mother has two little monkeys. They (1)      (live) in a big forest for many years. She likes the younger monkey, not the other. One day, while they (2)      (play), a tiger came up to them. The monkey ran away with the younger monkey and left the older alone. She climbed up a tree and took the (3)      (young) in her arms.
　　 After some time, the tiger went away slowly. The monkey took the baby out of her arms. She was surprised to see that the baby was dead, because just now, the baby was held in arms too tightly (紧紧地). Very long time later, she remembered to look (4)       the older baby. The older baby was hiding in a tree hole. He saved (5)      (he). How clever the little kid is!

15．
Dear Mrs Smith,
　　I was a student of yours in Grade Six, and I hope you still remember me. I'm writing this letter because I want to let you know that the school year with you was important and special to me. I take (1)       in it all the times.
　　I know I (2)       to be quiet in your class. But you did something in my life a lot. You see, all through my first years in schools, I(3)       to read. Books were just words that had very little to do with me, and I was bored by them. I'll never forget the first day of Grade Six when you took out a thick book and began to read the story to our class. Your voice (4)       to change with the people in the story, and you drew pictures in my mind as you read aloud. From then on, I made a (5)       to do the reading well. I will never (6)       reading in my life.
　　When I picked up a book and read it myself, I find that I could make the words interesting, too. Now, I love to read! Thank you for (7)       the world of books for me.
Yours,
Linda

16．　　Chinese noodles have a long history. They were first mentioned in the Eastern Han Dynasty (朝代), over 1,900 years ago. At that time, noodles were called "cakes". They were "cakes" that were boiled in water.
　　From the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there were written records about noodles. "Mian" became the name of noodles in the Song Dynasty. Before that, there was no specific name for this kind of food. There are all kinds of noodles, such as cold noodles, warm noodles, and fried noodles. There are also all kinds of noodle-making methods, such as brushing, pressing, rolling and pulling.
　　China is where all noodles originated (起源), including the noodles, such as spaghetti (意大利面), that we thought came from other countries. In the Yuan Dynasty, Marco Polo came to China. He learned to make noodles, and then taught the method when he went back to his country. In 1912, the traditional Chinese method of noodle-making was brought to Japan. Japanese noodles were first called "Dragon Noodles", meaning food eaten by the Chinese — the descendants (后代) of the Dragon.
阅读短文，根据短文内容回答下列问题。

17．时光荏苒，初中三年转瞬即逝。跟三年前的自己相比较，你会有很多变化。请以"I have changed a lot!"为题，根据以下要求与提示，用英语写一篇短文，具体描述你最重要的变化及其如何发生的。
要求：
1. 短文不得出现任何真实人名、校名及其它相关信息，否则不予评分；
2. 不少于60词。
提示:
1. What did you use to be like?
2. What is the most important change?
3. And how did it happen? Tell a story about it.
I have changed a lot!
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