A good answer might be:

Ordinarily, you would say "yes", assuming that the comments are correct. 

start:   ori   $8,$0,4      # $8 = 4
         ori   $9,$0,12     # $9 = 12
         addu  $10,$8,$9    # $10 = 12+4 = 16
         sll   $10,$10,2    # $10 = 16*4 = 64

Bug-free Software

The answer assumes that execution starts at start. What if execution started at the addu instruction? Registers $8 and $9 would probably contain different numbers. That could happen if the following code were somewhere in the program: 

         ori   $8,$0,99     # $8 = 99
         ori   $9,$0,43     # $9 = 43
         j     start+8      # jump to the second statement after start

start is a symbolic address that stands for the first instruction's run time address. start+8 stands for the address 8 bytes away. The jump instruction transfers control to that address.

QUESTION 8:

Is there a way to prevent distant statements from jumping into the middle of a block?