山西省太原市2018届高三上学期阶段性英语期中考试试卷

    One day when I was 13, my family was working in the fields to clear away old brush when somehow the electric fence sparked(冒火星) and1a fire. We didn't see the fire2it had blocked the way to the only gate. I3to jump over the fence to safety but the fire was all around us. I could only watch in4as the flames continued to rise. Little did I know that my father had once been a(an)5and knew what to do.6with only a pump sprayer, buckets, and his boots, he7down to the nearby pond, filled the buckets and the sprayer, and began spraying the8while my older brother threw water with the buckets. Soon the wind9 however, and with the Fire Department too far away to arrive in time, my father began to stomp(踩灭) out the flames as he moved to the10 so that my family was able to move inch by inch toward the gate.11he arrived at the gate, he jumped into the truck, rolled up the windows, and drove12the fire. Then the fire was put out, and my mother was looking at my father with her13eyes.

    After that, my father began telling us about his days as a firelighter, and my brother and I became14 asking him what other jobs he had done before he15 Well, it turned out that he had done just about16except brain surgery!

    He had been in the military as a carpenter, carpet layer, and electrician, and had built B2 bombers before being poisoned in an accident that had17him to retire. My father has a blood disorder as a result of that18 but that hasn't stopped him from being a full-time electrician.

    To all those people whose fathers have worked in the military and in other dangerous jobs, be19of them, and remember that some day their20might save your life.

    Notice: Medical Alert(警报)

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    The wedding tradition of “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” has been around for hundreds of years. The tradition of carrying or wearing one of each item is said to bring luck and fortune to the newly married couple. Have you ever stopped to think what the saying really means? What is its origin and what does each item represent?

    The original saying dates back to the Victoria times and states, “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe.”

    Something old   A bride may wear or carry something old to represent her continued ties to her family and her old life. Many brides wear a piece of family jewelry as their old item. Some brides wear the wedding dress worn by their mother or grandmother. In many cases, something old may also be something borrowed.

    Something new   Wearing something new is supposed to represent success and hope in the bride's new life and in her marriage. If the bride purchased her wedding dress new, it may represent her new item, but any item that is new may be used. Something “new” is usually the easiest kind to fill.

    Something borrowed   The borrowed item should be something borrowed from a friend that is happily married. It is said that their happiness will rub off on you and bring lasting happiness to your marriage. Some brides borrow an item of clothing, a piece of jewelry, a handkerchief or perhaps a beaded(带珠子的) purse.

    Something blue Wearing something blue dates back to ancient times when a blue wedding dress was worn to represent purity, fidelity and love.

    Silver sixpence   Placing a silver sixpence in the bride's left shoe is said to be a symbol of wealth. This not only refers to financial wealth, but also a wealth of happiness and joy throughout her married life. Since most brides probably don't even know what a sixpence is, this part of the tradition is not used very often in modern times. However, if a bride would like to include it in her wedding, she can purchase a silver sixpence from many companies that sell bridal supplies such as garters(袜带) and invitations.

    Sometimes people call each other “scared-cat”. But have you ever thought about this expression? When a cat is frightened, its heart starts beating faster, its muscles get tense, and there are changes in the chemicals in its blood stream. Although the cat doesn't realize this, its body is getting ready for action. If the danger continues, the animal will do one of two things .It will protect itself, or it will run away as fast as it can.

    Something like this also happens to people. When we are excited, angry or seared by other feelings, our bodies go through many physical changes. Our hearts beat faster, and our muscles get tense. All of these changes make us more alert and ready to react. We, too, get ready to defend ourselves or run.

    Human beings, however, have a problem that animals never face. If we give way to our feelings and let them take over, we can get into trouble. Have you ever said something in anger or hit somebody and regretted it later? Have you ever shouted at a teacher, told someone you were lonely, or said you were in love, and then wished later you had kept your mouth shut? It isn't always clever to express your feelings freely.

    Does this mean that it's smarter always to hide our feelings? No! If you keep feelings of anger, sadness hidden away or bottled up inside, your body stays tense. Physical illnesses can develop, and you can feel disturbed badly inside. It can actually be bad for your health. It isn't good to keep pleasant feelings inside either; all feelings need to be expressed.

    Feelings that you keep all bottled up inside, don't just go away. It's as if you bought some bananas and put them in a cupboard. You might not be able to see them, but before you'd smell them. And if you opened the cupboard, chances are that you'd see little fruit flies flying all over them. They are bad.

    You can try to treat feelings as if they were bananas in the cupboard. You can hide them and you can pretend they don't exist, but they'll still be around. And at last you'll have to deal with them, just like those bananas.

    Diamonds are considered the most famous and valuable jewel in the world. The precious stone for its great value is believed to be the symbol of wealth. Diamonds were made as a result of great volcanic beat and pressure. When a volcano is active, it sometimes explodes and causes great damage to the nearby towns.

    However, at the same time of such a disaster, diamonds were pushed towards the surface of the earth by a number of great volcanic explosions millions of years ago. Thus, it may be very likely to find a diamond after a volcanic eruption. Besides, diamonds are also found among the sand and stones of certain river beds, and in a few places on the floor of the sea, for they were washed down the mountain sides by the rain.

    Diamonds are very rare. There are not many places that produce such precious things in the world. During the last century adventurers from Europe went to Brazil, because they had heard that there were diamonds in the River Amazon. Many of these early diamond miners died of illness or were lost forever in the great forests. But some returned home rich.

    The earliest known diamonds were found in India many centuries ago. The most recent and exciting discoveries have been made in eastern Russia. But most of the world's diamonds now come from the Congo, from Tanzania-which has the largest diamond mine in the world and also from South Africa.

    When high temperatures are around the country, some things also go up. Here are four things expected to rise along with our desire to stay indoors and best the heat.

    ①Sales of goods that keep you cool.

    Malls are high on the list of places where people often go for free air conditioning outside home in summer.Goods related to keeping cool, like air conditioners, fans or sun care items, are very popular.

    ②

    Pests like stink bugs(椿象) grow fast during summer heat waves, and many agriculture experts are expecting a repeat of last year's incident that harmed fruit and crops, particularly on the East Coast.

    ③Energy bills

    With all those air conditioners and fans working, it makes sense that energy bills will be higher than average. “Not only are people going to have extremely high energy bills for July, it will also put increased stress on power plants, and we're going to see more air pollution because of it,” says Angela Fritz.

    ④Violence

    Heat waves may cause violence, right?

    Not necessarily, says Richard Larrick, a researcher. He took a unique look at the relationship between violence and heat through baseball. Larrick and his research team examined 57,294 Major League Baseball games taking place between 1952 and 2017 and found that while heat may increase violence, there always has to be a motive. “Instead, heat affects a specific form of violence,” he said.

A. Air pollution

B. Pest population

C. Rising heat is the expected response in any summer

D. Heat does not directly lend to more violence in general

E. More and more people are worried about their expenses

F. As more energy is used, air-quality problems may occur

G. So it's not a surprise that some sales jump during heat waves.

    Marry of us wake up feeling(tire) in the morning. Many of us ignore the problem as the day goes on, (forget) that it might have a(danger) effect. Society even glorifies “burning the candle at both ends” assign of our devotion to work and family.

    Believe itnot, all this bad sleep has far-reaching consequences. We just do not give ourselves enough chances to sleep. A survey of over 74,000 people found 35 percent reported sleeping less than seven hours dailyaverage. Furthermore, the amount of sleep(change) greatly over the past 15 years.

    This lack of sleep can lead of many serious(problem). One study found that(simple) limiting yourself to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks had similar effects to staying up all night the night before,could make you perform poorly on a timed attention task.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1).每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2).只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Chinese is the world's most widely spoken language. There are much different types of Chinese. For example, one type known as Mandarin, bad almost a billion speakers. Outside of China, Chinese in some form is spoken Chinese communities worldwide. The different kinds of Chinese language use a same script. While someone from the north of China may need the speech of someone from the south interpreted, but it is not usually necessary to have written documents translating. In the early twenty century, a government language policy created Modern Standard Chinese, that is now the official language of China. It is one of the official language of the United Nations to develop more effectively communication.

要点：1).活动的主题；

2).自我介绍；

要求：1).词数：100左右；

2).可合理增加细节，以使行文连贯。