黑龙江省大庆市第四十四中学2021-2022学年八年级上学期...

—Tea, please.

—The Yellow River.

—I will.

A life without a friend is a life without a sun. Friends are important in our life. Most people hope that their friends will always be there. They 1 friendship to last forever. Unluckily, even the best friendship can end.

As time goes by, many friendships end 2 a change in personality or way of life. The friendship slowly loses 3 and finally disappears.

Sometimes friendships die because of different ideas or friends moving to another place. Alice said，"The end of our friendship was a gradual (逐渐的) thing. I moved 4 one side of the city to the other. From then on, we 5 made a phone call or met each other. As times went by, our friendship finally ended. "

Jack said, "When I moved to Seattle after college, our friendship died. 6 of us were busy with our new jobs, so we didn't keep in touch as often as before. Our friendship was so dead that I didn't call him even if I went back home. "

However, of all the reasons, the 7 problem to a friendship is change. Lillian Rubin in her book Just Friends says, "Generally, friends will accept (接受) each other if they are still 8 they were like when they first met, or change in similar ways. 9 they change or grow in different ways, the friendship most likely will be lost. "

No matter (无论) why, when, or how friendships end, there is always some pain(痛苦). When 10 can be done to keep the friendship, it is important to forget the pain and move on to build a new friendship. New friendships may bring you fun and happiness.

When students go to a new school, they can be scary (害怕的). They worry (担心) about their studies.  But do not worry too much. Most of the time students and teachers in the new school are friendly (友好的).  These people often like you, too. How do people make friends? What makes a person (人) a friend?

 My name is Helen. Amy and Sally are my best friends. We are fourteen years old. I like Amy because she is happy all the time and she is very friendly.  She makes friends more slowly (缓慢地). But she is just as good a friend as Amy. They are both interested (对……感兴趣) in the same things as me.  Amy likes to talk and Sally likes to listen. We are all good at different (不同的) school subjects (学科), so we help each other (彼此) with our homework too!

A. Sally is a quiet person.

B. Here's what one student says.

C. It's easy for you to make friends.

D. We listen to each other's problems (问题).

E. They also worry about making friends.

F. Usually there are some people you like soon (很快地).

G. You can make friends with your teachers and classmates.

Ann: My hobby is reading. I can learn a lot from different kinds of books. But that's not the only reason why I like reading. The other reason is that there are many stories in books. I always lose myself in the wonderful world that books show me. So friends, why not join me in reading books? Let's have fun together.

Bob: I used to be a bit weak, but now I'm strong because of doing sports. I do sports every day, such as running, swimming and playing ball games. I keep exercising for at least two hours a day. Whenever I feel tired, I do sports. That can make me relaxed. Then I can study better. Doing sports is really a great hobby.

Many Americans love sports. This does not really mean that they get any exercise. What they do is to watch national teams on TV. They watch baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf and tennis which means that for most of the weekends they sit in front of the TV. Sometimes, their friends watch with them.

Baseball is the great American sport and every team has fans. Almost every big city has a team, and as each team plays 162 games a year, following baseball can take up a lot of time. The playing season begins in spring and finishes in the fall World Series(世界职业棒球赛), when two leading teams play against each other. The first to win four games wins the Series. Although called World Series, it has only one other country to take part in —Canada.

Football played in autumn and winter is also popular. It is not at all like the game called soccer. There isn't much kicking in American football, which has more to do with running with the ball and knocking people down. Each team only plays 16 games during the season, and these take place on Sundays and Monday evenings. Half the country watches the final game on a Sunday, in January.

When there are no good games on TV, Americans watch college sports. Many colleges(大学) feel that if they want their former(以前) students to give money to their old schools, they need a winning football team. To our surprise, this seems to be true.

We often get in touch with others by phone calls, WeChat, messages or other ways nowadays. It means that we seldom write letters now. But a TV show, Letters Alive(《见字如面》), is bringing back this old habit.

Letters Alive invites famous actors and actresses, but there are no funny jokes or different competitions. Instead, it's just one person walking up to a microphone and reading a letter.

The letters were written by people from different times in history. For example, in one episode(集), they read a letter written by the famous writer Xiao Hong to her younger brother in 1941. The letter shows that Xiao Hong missed her brother so much and had great hopes for his future.

"Every letter opens another world for us," according to Guan Zhengwen, the director of the TV show. "It seems that we can experience the real lives and feelings of the writers." Since its first episode on Dec 5, Letters Alive has been widely praised. Many audiences(观众) said that it has provided a breath of fresh air to today's TV shows.

Besides Letters Alive, some other cultural TV shows have also been well received by Chinese audience. They include Chinese Poetry Conference, a traditional Chinese poetry competition and Readers, a program that invites people to read poems and articles they like or wrote. It suggests that cultural values and true feelings are becoming our interest.

Reading is a very good hobby for all the student. You can known much about the world with the help of all kinds of books. I'm sure everyone has a favourite subject. For example, some are interested in animals, some in history. For example, some are interested in animals, some in history, and some are interested in literature. Mine is science. I like it because it's fun and educational.

My favorite novel is Around the World in Eighty Days. It was written by Jules Verne, a french writer. Jules Verne was regarded as father of Modern Science Fiction because he devoted(奉献)himself to literature and wrote several well-known scientific romances.

The exciting story of Around the World in Eighty Days tells us about an English gentleman whose name is Mr Phileas Fogg. He travels around the world in eighty days. From the story, we can see the writer's love for the sea, travelling and adventure(冒险). In fact, they played an important role in his life. Thanks to the writer's imagination, language skills and scientific and geographical knowledge, we can feel as if we were there when we read the story.