浙江省湖州市吴兴区2018-2019学年八年级下学期英语期末...

    Sixteen years ago, I learned an important life lesson in a New York City taxi. I was on my 1 to the station, and we were driving in the right lane（车道）when a black car 2 jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

    My driver hit the brakes（刹车）hard, skidded（滑行）, and at the last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the front car.

    The driver of the other car, the man who had just nearly caused a huge accident, started 3 at us. But then here's what really 4 me. My taxi driver just simled and waved at him. He was really 5!

    "Why did you just do that?" I asked him, "This guy almost destroyed your car and could have sent 6 to the hospital!"

    This was when my taxi driver told me what I now call the "Law of Garbage Trucks（垃圾车法则）".

    "Many people 7 garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of 8, and full of disappintment," he said, "As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump（倾倒）it, and if you let them do, they'll dump it on you. 9 when someone wants to dump on you, just simle, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be 10 because of what you do."

    I started thinkng, how 11 do I let garbage trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and dump it on other people at work, at home, or on the street?

    I began to see garbage trucks. I see the "garbage" that people are carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don't feel hurt. I just 12, wave, and move on. It was on that day that I said, "I'm not going to dump anymore."

    Welcome to the Art Museum!

    You've just stepped into one of the world's greatest collections of art, covering centuries of human creativity from around the world. With thousands of workds on show, you may wonder how to start your visit, but we are here to help. On the back of this visitor guide, you'll find directions to some must see works in our collection-the "don't miss" list for the Art Museum. It's a great choice to start if you are new to the museum. The overlook（鸟瞰图）might be helpful. Enjoy your visit and feel free to ask for help and directions at any point during your stay.

Help Fight World Hunger

    What would you do if you wanted to help hungry people in the world but you didn't have billions of dollars? We asked some students for their ideas.

    Simon: If a friend would join me, I'd volunteer with an organization or foundation that works to fight world hunger. Maybe we could travel to another country to help people. It would be a good education about other countries for us, too.

    Gwen: I would get photos of children who don't have enough to eat. I would put the photos on a website with this question: What would you do if these chidren were yours? I would also list the names of organizations that help fight world hunger. Then I would send the link for the website to people and ask them to donate money to help these hungry children.

    Ray: I think we can also ask celebrities for help. They are famous people and usually have a lot of fans. If they can stand out and call on people to do the thing, I believe that many people will follow them. I'd write a letter to a celebrity and ask the celebrity to come and talk at our school. I'd ask all the students in our school to sign the letter. People would pay money to go to the talk, and we would use the money to help fight hunger.

    These are great ideas—but send us yours! What could you do to help hungry people?

    Long ago a small village, there was a place known as the House of 1,000 Mirrors.

    A small, happy little dog learned about this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he jumped happily up the stairs of the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway. His ears lifted up, and his tail wagged（摇摆）as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself looking at 1,000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile and was answered with 1,000 great smiles that were just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back to visit often."

    In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the other one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the doorway. When he saw the 1,000 unfriendly-looking dogs looking back at him, he growled（咆哮）at them. He was afraid when he saw 1,000 little dogs growling back. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a terrible place. I will never go back there again."

    All the faces in the world are mirrors of you. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of people you meet?

    Have you ever shopped in a Virgin Megastore? Have you ever flown on Virgin Atlantic Airways? If so, you may have put a few more dollars in Richard Branson's pocket.

    Born in England in 1950, Richard Branson is a world-famous businessman, billionaire, and adventurer. He's kind, nice, and exciting-and he's never been afraid to take any risk. "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and falling over." He syas.

    However, when Branson was a student, he had problem with reading and writing. Even so, he started a national magazine called Student when he was only 16 years old. At 17, he decided to set up a student center to help young people who had problems in their teenage life.

    Branson was just 19 years old when he started a mail0order company to sell records that were cheaper than in many other music stores. At 20, he opened a record shop on Oxford Street in London. Two years later, in 1972, he built the recording studio where the first musical artist under the Virgin label was recorded. Branson even took chances on new bands that no other record company would like to sign.

    Virgin Atlantic Airways, which Branson started in 1984, is now the second largest British international airlines.

    Today, Richard Branson has about 150 companies and more than 5,000 people work for him. He's busy, but he still enjoys his time off from the business world. One year his boat crossed the Atlantic Ocean faster than any other boat at that time. The next year, he was the first person to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon. He simply knows how to enjoy life to its fullest.

    Do you know what the world's tallest animals are? How do they sleep and drink? You may think they have （困难）while sleeping but actually giraffes don't often stop to （休息）. As they are so tall that they can grow up to 18 feet and need the shortest sleep of all mammals, with an average of half an hour a day. When they fall （睡着）, they hardly lie down and sleep for minutes at a time, because it's hard for them to get up again from the （地面）and it's dangerous in the wild. But the giraffe in the zoo sleeps around 4-6 hours a day, （主要地）at night. Drinking water is also hard for the giraffe because of the long （脖子）. To drink, they must spread the legs in an uncomfortable way and if so they will be easily caught by other animals. So, they get most of water from plants to （保护）themselves.

I have a stomachache.

    When I was told to play for a play competition, I became nervous. I had never (do) anything before. But after reading Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, I was (excite) about what to come. I was playing Sir Toby Belch, a very funny Knight. I had to remember a lot of funny words. I worked hard (act) well, like a real knight from the old days. But the (difficult) thing was to be funny in all my acting. "OK. It's time to be a different me now!" I said to myself. I didn't know what to do when acting this stupid way. But I always told myself that I was Sir Toby now and I should forget who I really was. I was in the bath, I was thinking about Sir Toby's words. The competition day finally came. I tried hard to make my words clear enough to be understood and my actions funny enough to make everybody laugh. When the (result) were finally read out, I immediately knew we had won the (one) prize. I made it.

    From this experience, I've come to know that I can be different person. It doesn't mean I've changed my personality, but I can do something I had never imagined possible.

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Are after-school classes necessary?

    Nowadays, more and more students take all kinds of after-school classes on weekends or during the holiday.