中考英语复习-八年级短文阅读6.docx

中考英语复习-八年级短文阅读61.Tradition Sets SailLets say a group of students are given a craft-making task, what do you think they will be able to do? In terms of this question, some students have given a satisfactory answer. They built a wooden Chinese sailing ship.The students come from the No. 8 High School in Fuzhou, Fujian. In a practical class offered by the school, about 30 students decided to build a sailing ship. Their inspiration came from a typical Fujian-style trading shipused during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. With the help of their teacher and two experienced craftsmen, they started their work in March, 2021.However, building a sailing ship was far more difficult than they had thought. A group of the students spent time drawing design sketches, bringing wood to make the hull, and raising the sails. When they finished the ship, another group started to paint the ship. Liu Xinyi, a student who learns traditional Chinese painting, worked with her partner. One of their paintings is a bird with big wings. “My inspiration is from a traditional Chinese story about the bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea with stones,” said Liu.Now, the wooden Chinese sailing ship stands still among teaching buildings. Teachers use the ship as a teaching tool. “Its so great to encourage creativity in students, improve their hands-on skills and inherit the spirit of craftsmanship,” said one of the student groups teachers. 2.Want to Be a Writer?Would you like to be a writer? If you want to choose writing as your career, you had better be ready to do a lot of work. Writing is fun, but its not easy.Stephen King, a famous writer, says that in order to become a good writer, you must read four hours a day and write four hours a day. Reading is important because it helps you understand what a reader wants. Also, you can learn from other writers. Writing is important because it gives you practice. Practice makes perfect.When you have written a novel, you have to get it published. In order to have it published, you need to find an agent. An agent will introduce your book to publishing companies. Most publishing companies dont speak directly to writers. They only deal with agents.If a publisher accepts your novel, you still have plenty of work to do. Publishers usually have their own ideas about how to improve a book. An editor who works for the publishing company will read your book. The editor will look for mistakes, and give ideas about how to improve the story.If you want to be a writer, you have to be very patient. Writing a book, looking for an agent, looking for a publisher and editing your book all seem to take a long time. Dont give up. If you keep trying, your dream might come true.3.He Lets Music Speak for HimselfOne week after the popular star Lay Zhang celebrated his 30th birthday, he put out his new album East. Zhang has always wanted to spread the voice of China with his music and this album fully speaks for himself.The idea of Zhangs new album came from his love of Chinese culture and his own life experiences. The music is full of Chinese music elements, such as the sounds of the bamboo flute and the pipa. And many symbols of Chinese culture can be found in the lyrics to describe Zhangs own life.Zhangs new album has been popular with quite a number of his fans. Many say that the album blew them away and they loved it from the very first listen. “Ive been a fan of Lay ever since he was in EXO (a South Korean-Chinese boy band). I think he has grown a lot when it comes to using Chinese elements in his music to show his attitude towards life,” said Wessie, a fan of Zhang.Speaking of his music, Zhang said, “I hope to mix traditional Chinese culture and pop music to create something more powerful, which could be a different genre and bring us a different feel.”In fact, the popular star dreams bigger. Besides bringing Chinese culture into pop music, he looks to bring China to the world with his music. “Since I was a child, I have always had big dreams. Ive wanted to show the world what China is really about and that we are respectable people trying to better ourselves,” Zhang said.4.Market on The MoveWhen Pam Boyer sets her mind to something, great things follow then.With the help of volunteers, Pam runs Market on the Move, a nonprofit to find uses for things like leftover food.One way Market on the Move does this is by feeding families in need and people who are homeless in Arizona, US. Each week, Pam and her volunteers collect 50,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables that would otherwise end up in landfills.When Market Day comes, Pam and her volunteers give away the food. At 4 a.m., they begin setting everything up, and by 5:30 a.m., a line starts to form. For just $10, every family goes home with a big box of food. The food in the box is usually too much. For example, on one Market Day, a box of food includes potatoes, cabbages, watermelons, bananas, corn, tomatoes and so on. “We give a lot of food to each person. Each box is at least 60 pounds,” Pam said. “Were trying to encourage people to not only fill their fridges but the fridges of others.”Besides leftover food, the nonprofit also collects second-hand computers, books, scarves, and more. Those things are then sent to other nonprofits or the public. For just $5, anyone can fill a bag with whatever they want.To Pam, nothing would be possible without all her hard-working volunteers. “I have the best volunteers in the whole world. I cant live without them. They work really hard. And they make my life so enjoyable.”