广东省深圳市东升学校2021-2022学年八年级下学期期末英...

Gorge lived with his sick mother in a poor village near forest. One day, he got up early and went to the1to pick up something to eat. After working hard for a long time, he looked around to find a cool place to have lunch. Suddenly some wild strawberries(草莓) caught his eye.

"How2 these will be with my bread and but Gorge thought. He at once began to3all the strawberries he could find. Then he4by the river, ready to enjoy them.

As he was lifting the first strawberry to his5, he thought of his mother. "Shall I save them for her?" He6how much they would make her happy.

“I will eat one half, and take the other half to her, "he thought. Then he divided (分) the strawberries in half, But he found each half looked to7, so he put them together again.

"I will only taste one. "Then he too the biggest one, but soon put it back. Finally he8covered them with leaves, deciding to keep them all for his mother.

When it was getting dark, George went home. How9he felt that he had all his strawberries for his sick mother! The nearer he came to his home, the less he wished to taste them. As soon as he arrived, he ran to his10and happily offered his wild strawberries. Tears in eyes, she put her hand on his head and said lovingly:" Thank you for keeping the strawberries for me. God will bless you, my child. "

Hans Christian Andersen was best known as a writer of fairy tales. And he was also an actor, a singer, and a artist. And as an artist he was good at paper cutting.

Andersen began practicing paper cutting when he was very young. It is known that he loved to play with puppets (木偶) and often created clothes for them from pieces of cloth. He might also help cut leather (皮) for his father, a shoemaker. These actions could have made him good at using scissors to create works of art.

Paper cutting was not well-known in Denmark during the 1800s. Some Europeans created silhouettes (剪影) out of black paper, but Andersen's cuttings were quite different. Andersen usually used white or colored paper. He never drew an outline first but simply cut out something in his mind. Sometimes he cut a piece of paper. Other times he folded the paper, made some cuts, opened the paper, and then refolded it in a different way before cutting again. When at last he unfolded the finished paper cutting, a wonderful artwork could be seen.

Andersen liked paper cuttings not only because they were beautiful and amazing but also because he could enjoy himself when making them. He also found that his paper cuttings helped build a communication bridge between himself and others. His stories and paper cuttings helped him communicate when he felt uncomfortable, He loved to travel and always took his scissors along. When meeting those who spoke different languages, Andersen found he could always make a connection by showing his beautiful paper cuttings.

Though more than 100 years have passed, many of Andersen's paper cuttings are still shown in a museum in Denmark.

Can red TV dramas (红色电视剧) make young people more interested in learning about China's revolutionary (革命的) history? The answer is yes. Chinese TV drama Awakening Age(觉醒时代), which tells the story of how the Communist Party of China (CPC)中国共产党 was founded in 1921, ended several months ago, but it remains a hot topic on social media, where discussion shows that it has played a positive (积极的) role in educating young people about China's revolutionary history.

The TV series celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC has won high praise(称赞) online. The stories of the young people in the drama—who gave everything, even, their lives, to the revolution— have touched a large number of viewers (观众). The storytelling in the show has also been commended by viewers for successfully showing the depth of the CPC' s history and spirit, as well as the warmth of China and every family in the country.

Many audiences( 观众) tried to find the background information about the drama and commented that they learned more about the history about the founding of the Party and the country. "I read many of Lu Xun's novels such as A Madman's Diary when I was a student, but 1 couldn't understand why he wrote them or the angry feelings hiding in the characters. After watching the drama, I read these novels again and found that I could now understand what they wanted to express to readers, " said Li Lin, a 29-year-old viewer.

Some school teachers have been showing video clips (片段) from the series in classes to help students learn more about history. A junior high school teacher from Taiyuan, in North China's Shanxi Province, said that some students told her after class that the show had left a strong impression on them.

Everybody has a brain, but not many people know how the brain works. Some people believe that the brain is like the hard disk of a computer. We use it to store files—pictures, words, text, sounds and so on. Others compare the brain to a huge cupboard with lots of shelves and boxes in it. We put information into these boxes and hope to find it again later. However, the brain is not a computer disk, and it is not a cupboard, either.

Look at the picture here. It looks a bit like weeds (杂草) in a garden, doesn't it? The picture actually shows a child's neocortex一a part of the brain that controls sight and hearing. You can guess what happens—more “weeds" grow as the child gets older. Scientists call these neuronal networks (神经网络). The networks grow around our neurons. What makes them grow? Learning! "Leaning causes brain change, " says Professor James Zull from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. " Without learning, nothing changes in the brain. For every new word you learn in your English lesson, every problem you solve in maths, and every new song you learn to sing, a neuronal network grows in your brain and the brain changes. '

The more neuronal networks we have, the better we can think and the better we can remember tings. You may wonder if there is anything you can do to make the networks in your brain grow better. Professor Zull says, "Yes there is" He says that brain change is the strongest when you are interested in and like what you are learning. You are in control of what you learn and you get a challenging task that makes you feel good and develops your brain. So you can become cleverer as you learn more.

Do you blieve that you know what people are thinking from what they say?People can say one thing but mean something else. That's because what people do can give them away. You can learn a lot about people just by how they stand, or what they do with their hands or their hair. An expression on their face can give them away too. Remember that this is how people will learn about you to. People will judge (判断) you mostly by what you do with your body Then they will judge you by how you say ting.

So pay attention to your own actions and words and to those of others. You shouldn't make a judgment from just one action. Crossing the arms, for example, is supposed to show that someone does not agree with you. I could just mean, though, that somebody is cold.

 Is it open or closed? A closed body is someone making themselves small, with their head down and arm lose to her body. This probably means they are shy or lacking confidence. Someone who stands or sits with their head up and arms wide is showing that they are confident.

. It is true that your eyes can carry a lot of meanings. When someone smiles at you, check whether they ore genuine (真诚的)Are they smiling with heir eyes as well as their mouth? If no, they may not really be pleased.
 

Are you ready to celebrate Word Letter Writing Day on September 1? Writing something down may seem like an ou-o-dare idea for (we) in this day and age. However, it can be one of  most interesting things for you to do. The letter can be a love letter or even one  (simple) written to create memories.

The day was founded Australian author and photographer Richard Simpkin, who loved writing letters. It all started he began writing to the people who were seen as Australian legends(传奇人物) He also received lots of (reply) from these celebrities (名人), Late, his experience of (exchange) ideas with these celebrities by letter made it possible for him to print the book Australian Legends.

To honor handwritten letters, he created World Letter Writing Day in 2014. Letter-writing written on itself has been present for centuries. In ancient times, letters (write) on special objects, such as metal and even wooden tablets (牌). In the 17th and 18th centuries, letters were品powerful tool for people (communicate). This is why a few letters collected from the past can serve as (充当) documents of(persona) or diplomatic (外交的) communication for historians.