湖南省怀化市会同县2023-2024学年八年级上学期期末考试英语试题

Discover the best music, sport and shopping in the UK. 

As we all know, eating too much sugar can make a person get fatter, so you should try to eat less sugar. In order to eat less sugar, you should know about the following tips. 

First, sugar is almost everywhere in the modern diet. It is in sandwich, chicken stock, pickles, salad and yogurt. And of course, it is also in drinks and foods, like soda and desserts(甜点). 

Second, you do not need to worry about the sugars that are a natural part of fruit, vegetables, and dairy products(产品). Most people do not overeat natural sugars. 

Third, come up with a few simple rules and habits that become second nature. One idea is to drop all added sugars for one month. Then add back only the ones you miss. It is easier than it sounds. 

Fourth, don't drink too much juice. It can be dangerous because even natural sugars can be too much. You are not eating the fiber of a single orange when you drink a glass of orange juice. Have only one glass per day.

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Chinese friends can be great, but, because of the cultural gap(文化差异), it can be really easy to give the wrong gift for Chinese New Year. Here are five things you should not give as a Chinese New Year gift. 

• Wallet—Loss of fortune                In traditional Chinese culture, giving a wallet as a gift means giving away all your money and you might lose all your finances and luck. However, it is no problem to give a wallet to your family member who already shares your money. 

• Handkerchiefs—Saying goodbye forever                Handkerchiefs are a symbol of saying goodbye forever. Giving someone a gift like this meas you are saying goodbye forever. 

• Umbrellas—Break up Umbrellas are a bad idea to give as gifts, because the Chinese word for "umbrella" sounds like the word for "breaking up". Giving somebody an umbrella may mean that you feel your relationship has broken.

• Sharp objects—Cut off relationship Giving anything sharp, such as a knife or scissors, is also a bad idea, because it means cutting off the relationship. A common Chinese saying "one cut and it is in two parts" means the end of a relationship between people.

• Shoes—Evil Shoes are a bad idea as a present for Chinese New Year because the Chinese word for "shoes" sounds exactly like a word for bad luck or "evil".

Eastern island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean. It is home to around 8000 people. In 1995, UNESCO named it World Heritage Site(世界遗产地). 

The first people came to the island more than a thousand years ago from a place called East Polynesia. These people made large statues(雕像) called moai out of a special kind of rocks on the island. 

The moai statues are very big and very heavy. They have big heads and bodies that are mostly buried in the ground. The heads are the most important part of the statues because they have special red stones like hats on top. The status were put on big rocks called ahu and faced the center of the island. 

Recently, people found a new moai statue in the dry lake on the island. Nobody knew it was there before. This is a very important discovery for the people of Easter Island because it shows that there may be more statues to be found. 

Although the moai statues are very important and protected, they still faced threats. The ocean can damage(损坏) them, and humans can damage them too. For example, there were fires that broke parts of the island and some of the statues. It is important to protect these statues so that they can still be a special part of the Eastern Island for many years. 

You must write clearly and carefully. If your teacher or the examiner can't read your writing, you will lose marks. Here are some tips to improve your handwriting for exams.

 Time yourself doing writing tasks at home to practice writing clearly. 

If your handwriting is bad, try different pens. Some people write better with certain types of pens. 

Write on every other line of the paper (i. e. write on lines 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. ). Then you have space to go back and add or change information clearly and easily.  If you have lots of time in the exam, you may want to write a clean copy of your task again.  If you have extra time, you should review your work and check for mistakes. 

Children gather around a big, old tree. They bring pigs' feet and cakes. An old host(主持人) stands at the front of the tree. The host asks the tree to bless the children. Then, the host cuts the food into pieces and gives it out to everyone.

This is a big part of the New Year of the Yi ethnic group (彝族). The New Year begins on November 20 and lasts (持续) for three days. Yi parents cook pigs' feet for their children. They tie strings onto the pigs' feet. This way, the children can carry the feet on their backs.

Usually, there is a small pigs' feet competition. A good pig's foot should be big and strange in shape. The stranger it is, the more luck the family has. Yi children share the "lucky" pigs' feet with the tree during the New Year. They hope they can grow as tall and strong as the tree!

Why do Yi people love trees? Most Yi people live in the mountains of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. They grow up with lots of trees. They like the strong vitality (生命力) of trees. 

Yi children have many fun ways to play with the pigs' feet. In some villages, children pretend (假装) to be tigers and eagles. When the old host gives out the meat, they all rush to take it. Every Yi family makes a famous pork dish during the New Year. It is called tuotuorou. People cut pork into big pieces and cook them with salt.

Young men and women of the Yi ethnic group get up early. They bring some water and vegetables back home. They do it secretly. They believe it brings good luck to their families. 

Exercise has become a very important part of our world. There are gyms everywhere, but 1 you don't like them, there are hundreds of exercise videos to choose from. Exercise is good for you. It makes you feel better, look better and it can also help you live 2 .

But 3  happens if you are the kind of person who would do anything rather than spend five minutes on an exercise bike, including cleaning the house, visiting a boring relative or watching a 4  TV program? If you are that kind of person, you need a plan! 

First of all, decide when you are going to exercise. Choose three days a week, like me. 5 exercise in your diary, on your calendar, or on the wall if necessary! Make sure you do it. Don't do anything else. I 6 make other arrangements.

7 , change what you do. I went to the same aerobics(有氧运动) class for two years! No wonder I was bored! Now I use 8  machines at the gym. And I often change my jogging route. 

Finally, make exercise fun and find a kind of exercise you enjoy. Why not play a sport, or 9 a dance class? I recently started a modern dance class. It's great fun and I have 10 lots of new people, but as soon as I get bored, I'll find something else!

In twenty years, I think I'll be a newspaper reporter. I will live in Shanghai, because there will be jobs in that city. As a reporter, I think I will meet lots of people, so I'll have more . I will have fewer pets, though, because I'll have less free time. And my apartment will be no good for pets because it'll be too small. So I will probably just keep a bird. During the week, I'll wear smart clothes. On the weekend, I'll look less smart but I'll be more . In the future, people will work more so they will probably have fewer vacations, but I think I'll take a holiday in Hong Kong when possible. One day I'll even go to .

Have you heard of the film Hua Mulan? The film comes from an old Chinese story. 

In Mulan's days, a woman cannot do many things as a . But Mulan dresses herself as a man and joins the army instead of her father, her father is too old. In the army, she tries hard not to let others know she is a girl. One day, her friend Wentai finds Mulan's secret. But he agrees not to tell others. For 12 years, Mulan and her army fight for the country. At last, they win the war. And the friendship between Mulan and Wentai is deeper before. It's quite difficult for Mulan to keep the secret for such long time.

Jingle Ma is the director(导演) of the film. He wants to  people Mulan is a common girl more than a hero in his film. 

注意：1. 文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称；2. 内容连贯，不要逐条翻译；3. 词数80左右4. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Mary, 

Let me tell you about changes and my life in middle school. 

Best wishes!

Li Ming