16． A little girl lived in a small, shabby house on a hill. She enjoyed playing in her small (1)       as she was growing up. She was able to see over the garden and across a valley (山谷) to a wonderful house high on a hill﹣a house that had golden (2)      .
Although she loved her own family, she dreamed all day about (3)       wonderful and exciting it must be to live in that golden house.
She eventually (终于) (4)       an age, where she could play outside of her garden. She asked her mother if she could go for a bike ride outside the gate of her home. Her mother finally (5)       her to go. The little girl rode her bike until she got to the gate of the golden house.
As she leaned her (6)       against the gatepost, she focused on the path that led to the house and then looked at the house itself. However, she felt a bit (7)      . All the windows were actually plain (普通的) and rather dirty.
She was so sad that she didn't try to go any further. Heartbroken, she got on her bike again. As she (8)      , she saw a sight that amazed her. She could see a small house on (9)       side of the valley. Its windows glistened (闪耀) as the sun shone on her little home.
She realized that she had been living in her own (10)       house all along. Everything she dreamed of was right there in front of her eyes!

17． The word photography was first used in 1839. However, at that time the subject (被拍对象) had to keep still while a picture of it was taken. Few people had ever tried to take photos of moving subjects. The first man to do so was Eadweard Muybridge, a world-famous photographer. He created the first moving picture.
When a horse is running, do all four hooves (蹄) ever leave the ground at the same time? That was the bet that a gentleman called Leland Stanford had with some of his friends. Most people believed that a horse always had one hoof on the ground, but Stanford didn't think so. Because a horse's legs are moving so fast, it's impossible to tell just by looking. Stanford needed a way to record the movement of a running horse. In 1872, Leland Stanford offered Eadweard Muybridge ﹩25, 000 to find the answer. Muybridge had no idea if he could successfully set up and perform an experiment to settle (解决) the bet, but he thought he should give it a try.
In 1878, after years of experiments, Muybridge got what he wanted. He had a sequence (连续) of 12 images (图象), and one of them clearly showed all four of the horse's hooves were off the ground at the same time. In the end Muybridge collected his well-earned ﹩25, 000 from Stanford.
Though Thomas Edison is usually considered as the person who created the first cine-camera (电影摄影机) in 1889, it was the work of Eadweard Muybridge and the bet that led to Edison's invention.

18． Why Should We Learn Body Language
In English classes, we spend a large amount of time studying grammar and learning new words. We work hard to improve our reading and listening skills. Few of us, however, pay enough attention to body language. So body language is not important, is it?
The answer is, "Yes!" As the old saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." Sometimes, we can communicate things even without a single word. For example, shrug our shoulders (耸肩), and, without a word, we've just said, "I don't know."
Body language can help us stress what we are saying. It can help us express our true, inner feelings. Moreover, body language can help us find out if someone is lying. Often, people who are lying do not make eye contact (接触). They may turn away or raise their shoulders because they are uncomfortable with the conversation.
In job interviews, the interviewers can sometimes judge the interviewee before he or she speaks. Body language is important in our personal lives, too. It can show if you really care about your friends. Leaning forward into the conversation, for example, means you are interested in what is being said. Listening without making eye contact means you are not paying attention but are waiting for your turn to speak.
Scientists have been studying body language for a long time. They say more than 70 percent of our messages are delivered (递送) through body language. Sometimes, body language is more accurate (精准的) than the words we use.
So it is very important for us to learn body language. By understanding body language, we are less likely to be misunderstood. We will find it easier to get a job. We will also have lasting friendships.

19． When the two brothers were old enough to marry, their father was not happy because their family wasn't so rich that the brothers often argued (争论) with each other about some small interest (利益) and he really didn't know how they would quarrel (吵架) when they broke up the family and lived apart.
One day, their father was sick, lying in bed and staring at something, when the elder son came over to wish him good health. His father said, "Ask your brother to come here, and I have something to say."
The younger brother arrived. Their father sat up and said. "I don't know how the disease hit. I'm feeling terribly unwell." The brothers persuaded (劝说) their father not to worry about it, but he shook his head, "In fact I don't worry about this disease because I can manage it, but if you are in disorder with each other in the future, it will be our family's disease' and no one can deal with it." The brothers felt ashamed.
The father got out of the bed, pointed to some chickens in the yard and said, "Look at them in peace with each other, isn't it good?" Then their father brought out a bowl of corns, went quietly behind the house and spread most of them on the ground. Then he went back to the yard with only a few corns left and flung(挥动) at the chickens. As soon as they saw the corns, the chickens jumped up, quivered their wings and fought for it. The peaceful world was now filled with "smoke of gunpowder" for some corns.
The brothers smiled and understood what their father was driving at.
Their father added, "Both of you should see more corns behind the house. . ."
Actually, aren't many troubles in life because God scattered (散播) some corns before us?

20．
A: Excuse me, I want to join a club.
B:(1)      
A: I don't know. What kind of clubs do you have?
B: Quite many: the art club, the music club, the chess club, the English club, the swimming club and the running club. (2)      
A: I've no idea.
B: Well, do you like to paint?
A: No, I don't.
B: Can you play chess?
A:(3)      
B: Do you want to make some friends and talk with them in English?
A: I want to make more friends, but I don't want to speak English out of class.
B:(4)      
A: No, I can't. I don't like water.
B: OK. You can join the running club.
A: Why? I'm not good at running.
B: (5)       The running club is for people like you who do not want to join the other clubs.

26． "Reading makes a full man (Bacon, 1597)." Novels written by the writers like Jane Austen, Victor Hugo and Ernest Hemingway help us to know more about our history, culture and many other things.
Jane Austen was one of the most well-known women writers in the world. She was born in England in 1775. Jane loved reading and writing. She wrote a number of famous novels in her life. Among them, Pride and Prejudice (傲慢与偏见) written in 1779 was the most popular.
Victor Hugo, born in 1802 in France, was one of the best writers in the 19th century. The talent for writing and hard work brought great success to Hugo at an early age. His most popular novel, Notre-Dame de Paris (巴黎圣母院), was published in 1831. The book was so successful that it was quickly translated into many other languages across Europe.
Ernest Hemingway, an outstanding American writer and reporter, was born in 1899. His life experience had a great influence on his writing style. Hemingway lived in France and Italy between the 1920s and 1950s. Most of his books like The Sun Also Rises were written at that time. He won the Nobel Prize in 1954 mainly because of the novel The Old Man and the Sea.

27．　　King Hiero asked the crown (皇冠)-maker to make him a gold crown. But when the king got the crown, he wondered (1)i             the crown was entirely (全部地) made of gold. Then the king (2)s             the crown to Archimedes, the best scientist in the kingdom.
　　Archimedes thought about the (3)p             while a servant (仆人) poured some water into a bath for him. Archimedes got in the bath and some water came out of it, onto the floor. Archimedes was very (4)e            . "That's it!" shouted Archimedes to the servant. "If we put an object (物品) in a pot full of water, some of the water will come out. The object displaces (取代) the water. A (5)b             object will displace a lot of water. A small object will displace a (6)l            . "
　　Archimedes went to the palace to weigh the crown. It (7)w             one kilogram. He put the crown in a pot of water. Five centimetres of water came out. He then put one kilogram of gold in (8)a             pot of water. Three centimetres of water came out of this pot. Archimedes said to King Hiero, "Silver made the crown bigger. That is why the crown displaces (9)m             water. So, the crown is not made entirely of gold, it is made of both gold and silver."
　　King Hiero was very (10)a             when he heard this, and he sent the crown-maker to prison.

28．假如你是九年级的学生李雷,你有一个英国笔友Tom,请你根据下面表格中的提示和要求给Tom写一封信.

参考词汇:感觉有压力feel stressed;处理deal with;开朗cheerful
要求:
(1)不得使用真实的姓名和校名.
(2)短文包含以上所有信息,可适当增加细节,使内容充实,行文连贯.
(3)字迹工整,语言精练,表达准确,条理清楚.
(4)词数不少于80词.(短文的开头和结尾已给出,不计入总词数)
Dear Tom,
How is everything going? This year I'm in Grade 9.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Lei