学校八年级英语下学期期中试题人教新目标版(2)

A. His teacher was writing. B. His teacher was working. C. His teacher was having dinner. D. His teacher was sleeping.

( ) 56. Yang Shi waited because ______.

A. he wanted to have a rest B. he liked the snow very much

C. he didn’t want to wake up his teacher D. he wanted to move his teacher

C

Do you think stones can move by themselves? There are some famous moving stones in Death Valley, the US. Many of the stones are small but a few of them are very big. Some of the big stones are as big as a man. The biggest stone weighs about 350kg.

The stones only move at night. Nobody has ever seen them moving, but now scientists know the answer to the question. The answer is the wind. When the wind comes from the west, the stones move to the east. When the wind is from the north, they always move to the south. But how can the wind move a very heavy stone?

Death Valley is one of the hottest places in the world, but it can be very cold at night. Sometimes, there are even bad storms （风暴） at night. Rain falls, and the wind is strong and cold. The water on the ground turns into ice easily. Then the strong wind can move the stones along the flat （平坦的）ground. In the morning, the sun comes up and dries the ground. So people can find them move from one place to another in the daytime. ( ) 57. When do the stones move in the Death Valley?

A. At night. B. During the day. C. All the day. D. Nobody knows.

( ) 58. If the wind comes from the northwest, the stones move to the ______.

A. west B. east C. southeast D. northwest

( ) 59. Sometimes there’s some ice on the ground in Death Valley because ______.

A. it’s one of the hottest places in the world B. there’s strong wind C. rain falls and the wind is strong and cold D. it’s very high

( ) 60. Which of the following is TRUE in the passage?

A. Most stones in Death Valley are as big as a man.

B. At night, the strong wind can move the stones along the flat ground. C. In Death Valley, it is hot during the day and at night. D. The wind always comes from the west and the north.

D

One day, a young man was taking a walk with a professor. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying in the path. They thought it belonged to a poor man who worked in a field nearby. The student said to the professor, “Let us play the man a joke: we will take away his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those trees and wait to see what will happen when he cannot find them. That must be very interesting.”

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never make ourselves happy at the cost of the poor. But you can put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery（发现）changes him.”

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