四川省绵阳市涪城区2022-2023学年八年级上学期11月期...

Cars are very popular in America. When kids are fourteen years old, most of them dream of having their own 1. Many students do part﹣time jobs after school to 2 a car. In most places young people began 3to drive in high school. They have to4 a driving test to get a license (执照）. Learning to drive and getting a driver's license may be the most 5things in their lives.

Americans seem to love their cars 6than anything else. They would like7their cars to a "hospital" even because of a small problem. At weekends,  people 8most of their time washing and waxing (打蜡)their cars. For some families, one car is not enough. They often have two 9even three. Husbands need cars to go to work. Housewives need cars to go shopping or to take the children to school or 10 activities.

To many Sichuanese, a hot pot can solve almost any problem.

I was born and grew up in Sichuan. Hot pot is a (n)1part of my life. We usually eat hot pot in some big celebrations. 2 , after I came to the UK, I found that it took more than 100 yuan per person to have hot pot in town. And the local people knew nothing about hot pot.

So I3 an idea, which was to invite some foreign friends to a hot pot dinner. I wanted to introduce (介绍) the Chinese4to them, such as Sichuan people's love for spicy food, and Chinese table manners (餐桌礼仪). It also gave me a chance (机会) to make5 friends.

I first cooked a hot pot dinner for my best friend Gina, a German girl. I took my rice cooker with me6 I went to her house. She had different kinds of vinegar (醋), but not the Chinese kind. So we7use another kind. To our surprise, the taste was even better. It was a really8hot pot night. When you go to a foreign country, a good way to make friends is to introduce your culture through something special9 food. This will bring you more friends and you will get10from it too.

I was in a strange (陌生的) town. I didn't know anyone, and I could not speak a word of the language. On the second day, I got on a bus. After riding for a few stops, I got off and walked on.

I felt happy enough in the first three hours, then I decided to walk back to my hotel for lunch.

After walking around for half an hour, I thought I should ask the way. The problem was that I only knew the name of the street and I pronounced (发音) it badly. I stopped to ask a newspaper seller. He gave me a paper. I shook my head and said the name of the street again. But he gave me another paper. I had to give him some money and went on my way. Then I met a policeman and asked the way. He listened to me carefully. He said something and pointed left and right and left again. I thanked him and began walking in the direction (方向) he pointed.

About an hour later, I found the houses became fewer and fewer. I came to the countryside! The only thing for me to do was to find the nearest train station.

The question whether there is life on Mars (火星) has made the public think a lot for more than a century. The closest look showed Mars to be a dusty, cold world, covered by air too thin to breathe. A British spaceship and Europe's Mars spaceship plan to land on Mars or enter orbit (轨道) around it. One of the NASA's (美国宇航局) spaceships is expected to land on January 3, the other is going to land on the opposite (在……对面) side of Mars on January 24.

Since 1960, over twenty spaceships sent to Mars have failed. Most have been lost on flying up or landing because those are the most difficult times of any flights. Scientists wanted to find out whether there was water in Mars. In October, a team of scientists reported that Mars had been a dry wasteland. But weeks later, a second team reported differently that they had found some marks showed clearly that they were made by the rivers. Such marks told us that Mars was a warmer place billions of years ago—just as life first appeared here on Earth. Scientists at once raise a question: if what they said is true, what happened on Mars? Then what about the earth?

China is trying to get an international certification (认证) for Pao Cai. It's a vegetable dish from Sichuan. But some other countries have different ideas about it.

The disagreement (分歧) is between Chinese and South Korean Internet users. Kimchi is a usual Korean food made of cabbage, just like Chinese Pao Cai. Chinese and Koreans both think the vegetable dish comes from their own country.

China recently got a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for Pao Cai. South Koreans quickly disagreed, especially on the Internet.

"It's really wrong, Kimchi is a part of our culture" a South Korean Internet user wrote on Naver. com. "I read a story that China now says Kimchi is theirs, and that they are making an international standard (标准) for it. I'm worried that they might take away Hanbok and other cultural symbols, not just Kimchi, " said Kim Seol﹣ha, a 28﹣year﹣old in Seoul.

On China's Weibo, Chinese Internet users were describing Kimchi as one kind of Chinese Pao Cai. "Even the name of Kimchi came from Chinese, what else is there to say, " one wrote on Weibo.

South Korea's agriculture ministry (农业部) on Sunday said that the ISO's standard is different from that to make Kimchi. "It is not right to report that Pao Cai wins the ISO without differentiating Kimchi from Pao Cai of Sichuan, " it said.

The story of Hua Mulan is well﹣known in China. Mulan, a brave young girl, takes her father's place in the army and fights for her country. Disney turned this story into a cartoon in 1998. And now, they are planning to make it a real action movie. It was reported that in the online script (剧本), the movie would not be mainly about Mulan saving her family, but about how a white European man saves Mulan and wins her heart. Then, lots of people made an online topic called Make Mulan Right. A user named Krystal Lin said that the story of Mulan wasn't a love story about a girl who needed to be saved, but a story about her saving her father, about family and honor (荣誉).

Others said that it would whitewash Asian culture. The word "whitewash" means Western culture takes the place of other cultures. They give other examples, like the American actress Scarlett Johansson playing the Japanese character Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell (《攻壳机动队》).

Facing these words, a man from Disney later told Vanity Fair magazine that the online script was only an initial version (初始版本) and that Mulan would be the main character in the story.

"Although Disney needs to think about American tastes, it has to make sure that the movie isn't whitewashed", a critic (评论家) told China Daily.

Lee Ching loved tennis. He hoped he would become1famous player one day. However, Lee's family was very2. He couldn't afford (支付得起) to pay for tennis lessons. Lee played with the other players on the courts in his town, but they just made fun of his old racket and old clothes. So, Lee3 his time watching them play, and then just practising what he had seen them do.

The boss of the tennis courts, Mr. Song, heard4story. He gave Lee a job sweeping (扫) the tennis courts every day. Instead of paying him, he offered to give Lee tennis lessons.

Through the lessons, Mr. Song realized (意识到) that Lee knew a lot about tennis, 5he asked him to coach the6children's tennis class; this time Lee got7for his job. He was able to buy new clothes and a new racket and soon people were asking him8their games.

Lee became a very good tennis player. He played in a competition once. The world-class tennis coach, Mr. Wei, watched Lee play. Lee9very well and won all his matches. Mr. Wei was so impressed (印象深刻的) that he offered Lee a place at his tennis school.

For many years, Lee worked hard at his tennis. When he played in tennis competitions, he10lost a match. He was on the road to becoming a famous player.

The Voice of China was hot during the summer of 2015!

The Voice of China is the largest music show in China. This show is also the only one which regards the voice as the only ruler. It has attracted great attention. The show became an overnight sensation.

The first season used "Real voice, real music" as its slogan. As a mentor (导师), singers like Zhou Jielun, Na Ying, Yu Chengqing and Wang Feng looked for world﹣shaking voices of China during three and a half months, through four stages:  "blind choosing", "selecting", "team PK "and "yearly grand ceremony".

The Voice of China can stand out in the flood of today's talent shows in China and attracts lots of people. A great many of people said it would be the best television show in this summer. They were all proud for these good voices of China.

The students' beautiful voices moved everyone. Bei Bei, a girl from Wuhan, sang Fireworks to realize her father's dream and Wang Feng was moved to tears by her song. Li An sang "Love passed by" showing his feelings and all of the mentor spoke highly of him. But he chose Zhou Jielun. Zhang Lei preferred campus folk songs and Na Ying lost herself in his music and chose him.

The Voice of China regards "inspiration" and "professionalism" as the ruler of music. The singers use their songs to tell their real stories and the happiness of life.

1）自行车是一种非常方便的（convenient）交通工具；

2）自行车价格便宜，人们都可以支付得起（afford）；

3）骑自行车是一种锻炼身体的好方式；

4）骑自行车可以节约能源，利于环保。

提示词: energy能源；protect保护；environment环境

Riding Bikes Becomes More and More Popular