广东省广州市越秀区培正中学2025-2026学年上学期八年级上学期期中英语试题

—Yes, only after the Nile River and the Amazon River.

—No, I have been here for ________ times.

—Yes, I can read it as ________.

—Because of the pollution.

One day, the king had a new plan and he said to his men, "This year, I will build the best palace in the world. It may be praised within my kingdom, and by the people of neighboring states."

After building his palace, the king invited noblemen (贵族) from his kingdom, as well as from neighboring states to come. And he asked them3 their opinions about the palace.

"Unbelievable! It is4 most beautiful palace," the noblemen said. They looked5 the palace and thought it was6. But one man who looked young stood in the corner. He hardly said7.

The king wanted to know why the man was quiet when everyone else was praising his palace. He walked up to the man and asked, "Hello, young man. You keep silent. Is there anything wrong with my palace?" The man smiled and replied in a calm voice, "Your Majesty! Your palace is strong and will last8 years or even longer. It is beautiful9 not perfect. Many of your people are still suffering a hard life. Because of that, I am silent."

The king listened to the young man's opinion10. Then he thanked the wise man for his honest words and said he would never try to rebuild his palace again. Instead, he used the money to help the people in need.

In the library, I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf. The cover of a book caught my attention. It was a2 of a beagle(小猎兔狗). I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal friend I ever had. But one morning, he was gone, given away to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never3 my beagle.

The beagle on the cover looked like my dog. I ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the cover. My4 ran across the title, Bobby, the Beagle with a Plan. Unknowingly, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I took it out of the library.

Under the shade of a bush. I started to read about Bobby. I read very, very5 with difficulty. I got the main idea of the story about a dog. Like mine, he had been away from his family and finally found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book.6 the story, my mind continued the final scene of getting together, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were running together in my mind.

My mother's call returned me to the real world. I suddenly7 something: I had read a book, and I had loved reading the book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be really8 and I was going to read them.

I never told my mother about my "miraculous (奇迹般的)"9 that summer, but she saw a slow but surprising improvement in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was10 that her son had read thousands of books, and wrote his own books, articles, and poetry.

Later that day, Tom asked friends, classmates, and other math teachers. Was it 64 or 512? One of the math teachers they asked was Mr Smith, our math teacher last year. He said it was 512. Then the fun began.

The next day, in Mr Green's class, Tom told him Mr Smith's answer. Mr Green didn't change his mind. As soon as the class was over, Tom went to Mr Smith's office.

A few minutes later, Tom returned with Mr Smith and four students from another class. And the classroom became an interesting place. Everyone was excited, waiting for a long, heated discussion between the two teachers.

We weren't disappointed. Right then and there, Mr Smith and Mr Green began their argument (争论). They tried to show their answers on the blackboard. They used some math words and expressions I had never heard of, but at one point, the vocabulary turned simple.

"No, …" Mr Smith said. "Yes, …" Mr Green answered.

"No, …" Mr Smith said again. "Yes, …" Mr Green repeated.

…

At first, we were on our seats listening carefully, trying to follow their ideas. Later, Tom and some other students began to stand together around them. As time passed by, students showed their support for different teachers and became two teams. Everyone worked so hard, just for the answer to a single math problem. That's the power of maths!

When the school bell rang, the problem was still not solved. "Why not ask all the math teachers at school to join us and have a meeting for it?" Mr. Smith said.

"How about lunch time? …" Mr. Green replied.

"Great! …" All the students shouted …

This tree was a scion (幼枝) of the apple tree which was said to give Newton the idea to develop the theory of gravity (万有引力). It was planted at Cambridge University Botanic Garden in 1954. And the tree caught a lot of visitors' attention. Unluckily, the tree was blown down during a storm in February 2022.

After it fell, the university waited for good ideas on what to do with the wood. A year later, Nabil Ali made ink from the tree. Ali said, "I thought I would find black ink but the ink is dark golden yellow. I'm calling the color ‘Newton's Gold'."

Ali used the ink to create an artwork with 68 apples to show the age of the tree before it fell. "As far as I know, this is the first time that anyone has used the hidden colors of a scion of Newton's inspiring (启发灵感的) tree to make art," Ali said. The artwork, called The Tree That Once Was, was on show for the first time at Apple Day at Cambridge University Botanic Garden on October 22, 2023. A lot of people went to see it.

From a fallen tree to a special artwork, the journey of this tree shows the power of creativity. Through the show, Ali hopes that his artwork will encourage people to find out more about their own talents.

Here is one of the most popular tricks to show you how amazing math can be.

Firstly, pick a friend with good math skills. To play the trick, your friend needs to know how to add numbers and do subtraction (减法).

Then, write down 1089 on a piece of paper without showing anyone.

Thirdly, ask your friend to write down a number with three different digits (数位). Tell him not to show you the number. Make sure the three digits cannot be the same. For example, he could pick 481.

Next, let your friend write down the number backwards. For example, 481 backwards is 184.

After that, make it into a subtraction problem. Now your friend has two numbers. Get him to subtract the smaller one from the larger one. In our example, the result should be 481-184=297. If the result has only two digits, ask your friend to add a zero at the beginning.

Next step, reverse this number as well. Ask your friend to take his answer and reverse the digits order again. If he added the zero at the beginning, remind him to include it as part of the number. For example, the reverse of 297 is 792.

Here comes the most exciting part. As the final calculation, get your friend to add the last two numbers and write down the result. In our example, 792+297=1089.

Finally, tell everyone that you know the last number your friend wrote down. Show others the piece of paper with the 1089 you've written down earlier.

In the trick, the last number will always be 1089. If your friend has a different answer, he did not follow instructions, or he made a mistake.

Pecan (山核桃) Pickin' Month

Whether you say it puh-CON or PEA-can, make sure not to miss out on Pecan Pickin' Month at Historic Oak View County Park. During the month of November, Historic Oak View County Park welcomes visitors to take some pecans home without payment.

The visiting hours are:

Monday to Saturday: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Things to remember:

Fill up one small brown bag every family.

Pick only pecans that have fallen from the trees. If they haven't fallen, they aren't ready.

Do not climb up, throw things at, or harm (伤害) any trees in any way.

Avoid (避免) pecans with green shells (壳) or those with holes in them.

Please be polite and take only a lunch-bag sized bag of pecans for your family.

While you're here, you can also visit our Main Farmhouse, the Farm History Center, and so on. Call us for more information at 479-8898.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》) used to be the king of encyclopaedias. It hopes to become the most important encyclopaedia again.

It moved to Chicago in 1935. In 1990, the company sold more than 100,000 sets of books. Book sales dropped during the time of the Internet because people stopped getting information only from books.

Some online encyclopedias started in the early 21st century. It was the beginning of the end of Encyclopaedia Britannica books. Several years ago, the company stopped publishing the books. It put the whole encyclopaedia on the Internet. One reason is that some online encyclopeadias have millions of articles, but Britannica has only 106,000. About half of Britannica's articles are free while almost all of the articles on other online encyclopaedias are free.

Still, some readers believe that Britannica's articles are more trustworthy (值得信任的). They make sure the articles are correct. The president of Britannica has a plan. He wants to offer all of the encyclopaedia online for free. The company hopes more people will read it.

A. This was Britannica's best year.

B. They began getting it online as well.

C. Britannica began in Scotland nearly 250 years ago.

D. It's said that each Britannica article is checked by experts.

E. Sadly, Britannica online is not as popular as some other online encyclopeadias.

Luna was a young a in her town. She loved sitting by the river to paint, and her works were always lively.

This year, the town held its first painting competition. The p was a set of high-quality watercolor tools—something Luna had dreamed of for months. She knew she was not a t painter. She was not born to paint. But she also knew practice makes perfect. She practised hard, day and night.

On the day of competition, thanks to her efforts, her paintbrushes flowed s and slowly on the paper, bringing her ideas to life. For a minute or two, she w if (是否) she could be the winner but she wouldn't let this thought stay long. The result soon came out. She won the first place! She made it!

Jane Goodall in protecting the chimpanzees.

To study chimpanzees, she lived in the wild with them .

When the number of chimpanzees , she tried every possible way to protect them waiting for changes.

At the age of 90, she still gave talks to call on people to protect animals and the environment.

To protect the earth, she didn't rest . We will always remember this great lady.

要求：

1. 词数：80词左右；

2. 短文须包括所有内容要点，可以适当发挥，使短文连贯；

3. 不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息，否则不予评分。

Use Smart Phones Wisely

Nowadays, nearly everyone has a smart phone.   

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