Glory International School

Date: Nov 30th, 2020 Grade 8 English Midterm Exam English teacher: Zain
Part one: Reading
Read the following text and answer the questions below. (5 pts)
My father copies his feelings from Mother the way one copies homework. On some
mornings, they whisper a few words, then my father pretends to go to work early, but he
waits outside until I walk to school, and follows me. He must want to see how I behave
on the streets when I am alone. He does not know that I read him the way I read a street
sign, and that I watch for him every day the way I watch the large buildings in Ramallah.
They, too, watch how we walk and what we do. Without looking at them, we know
exactly where they are.
“Yaba, why not wait outside until I leave?” I said one morning.
“What for?” he asked.
“So that you can follow me,” I fumed. He became angry and charged after me. I went
into a room and locked the door.
“Why do you challenge me?” he shouted. I opened the door and walked right up to him.
He only shook his head, blamed my defiance on my schooling, and blamed himself for
sending me to school.
The soldiers are another force that separates us. Father knows that they, not he, are the
ones who control every one of us. We are not free to be a family the way he wants, with
him a lion in our lives. He is like a lion in the zoo. Any of us can be taken away any day
No one can stop that, no matter how hard he tries to protect us. I compare my father with
the fathers of other girls. He is poorer than many, and war lives inside him. But every
night I run to comfort him. I bring him a cup of water and sit beside him. I ask him to tell
me what he sees. Catching his breath, he mixes words and tears. My father has no
language for the pain and loneliness he feels. Is that because he has lived all his life not
knowing freedom?

1. What did the father do when the girl went to school?

________________________________________________________________________
________.
2. Could the girl read her father? How?
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________.
3. What was her father like? Describe him using two adjectives.
________________________________________________________________________
4. What does the pronoun them refer to?
_______________________________________________________
 Glory International School
Date: Nov 30th, 2020 Grade 8 English Midterm Exam English teacher: Zain
Part Two:vocabulary
a. Write the meaning of the following words (6 pts)
Gigantic: ____________________
rag: ____________________
ferried: __________________
iceberg: ____________________
voyage: ___________________
passengers :____________________

b. Fill in the blanks with the suitable word from the box. (5 points)
Wreck expeditions harbor mast junks cabins
1. Christopher Columbus led a very famous_______________ to discover the
Americas.
2. ________________ is a place on the coast where ships may moor in shelter.
3. The ____________ had a sail attached and was used to guide the boat.
4. In 1402, Zhu Di, the third Emperor, came to power in China and decided to build a
fleet of ___________.
5. _______________ passengers enjoyed more space, privacy and better food
including fresh meat and fruit.
Part three: Grammar
a. Complete the following sentences using can be used or is/are used (5 pts)
1. Porcelain _____________________________________________________.
2. Ivory ________________________________________________________.
3. Cooper _______________________________________________________.
4. Wood ________________________________________________________.
5. Silk __________________________________________________________.
 Glory International School
Date: Nov 30th, 2020 Grade 8 English Midterm Exam English teacher: Zain

b. Use the following text to write the questions for the following answers. (5 pts)
Post Office Box 34 is the only place in the world that belonged to me. I was 19 years old, the box
belonged to my brother Basel first. He left Ramallah and did not want to give up the box, so he passed
it on to me. On the days I don’t go to Birzeit, I buried the key in the dirt under a lemon tree near our
house. If I die, the key for the box will be under the ground with me.

1. _______________________________________________________________
Answer: Post Office Box 34.

2. ______________________________________________________________.
Answer: because if she dies, the key will be under the ground with her.

3. _______________________________________________________________.
Answer: He passed the box on to her.

4. _______________________________________________________________
Answer: 19 years old.

5. _______________________________________________________________.
Answer: under the lemon tree.