On May 22, a huge tornado (龙卷风) struck Joplin, Missouri. It destroyed 8,000 tructures and injured more than 1,100 people. At first, many residents, including me, felt hopeless. The world seemed over. Faced with confusion, uncertainty, loss and hopelessness, we looked for any light to lead us out of the darkness.
The home of my parents, who were in their eighties, was severely damaged. Their roof was blown away, and the roof from a nearby school crashed into the front of their house. In seconds, the house they had lived in for years became impossible to live in.
As soon as my parents safely moved, I tried to determine if any of their remaining possessions could be saved. Regrettably, I discovered their roof, before departing for parts unknown, had dropped massive amounts of fiberglass insulation (绝缘材料). This pink material made everything appear to be coated in cotton candy, but the glass fibers within it had ruined most of their furniture and clothing.
My parents had hoped, however, that I might be able to save some of their books and pictures. Unfortunately, every time I tried to remove a photo album from a drawer or a book from a shelf, the non-stop rain wet what I was trying to protect. Between the rain and the glass fibers, it all seemed hopeless.
Trying to fight off hopelessness, I took a minute to stand in what was left of my parents' bedroom. When I looked up through their non-existent roof, I saw gray clouds floating above me, and suddenly everything seemed so strange. Rain coated my upturned face, flooded my eyes, and flowed into my mouth. Overwhelmed (压倒性的), I felt like I was drowning. I needed fresh air, so I ran outside.
Standing on my parents' front yard in the rain, I could breathe better but I still had an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.
注意:
1.续写的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a thin, elderly man appeared at my side.
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I watched him through the rain until I remembered I was supposed to be saving my parents' prized possessions.
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My family moved in a small house in Brighton, Colorado on my seventh birthday. My first memory is our neighbor Bill, an old man, handing me strawberries from his garden through a hole in the chain-link fence. “We need to make the hole bigger,” he said jokingly. Later I knew that he lived alone.
Bill spent much time working in the garden, and I was always talking lo him from our yard. I was a chatterbox. I think what drew me to Bill is that he never got tired of listening to me. I also think Bill saw a lot of himself in me — we were both lonely and anxious — and that may be why he always took the time to listen to me. It was a wonderful connection.
There weren’t any kids of my age in the neighborhood, and my parents were very busy, so I mostly played in the yard with my dog. I had a lot of imaginary friends — a whole family, actually, with a wife, children, a best friend…no joke. Weird kid.
One day, my parents asked Bill whether he’d watch me while they were away on business. This worked for everyone, so it became a somewhat monthly occurrence. Bill had a spare room in his house, which became “my” room.
Bill promised to teach me to drive the lawn tractor someday and I was always looking forward to it. In winter, Bill would attach a snowplow to the front of the lawn tractor. I seriously told him that I would invent a better snowplow when I grew up. “Sure you will. You’ll get a patent certificate. It takes a certificate to prove an important thing,” Bill said with a smile.
One snowy morning, an idea suddenly hit me. My parents were watching TV when I spit it out, “What if I adopted Bill as my grandpa?” My parents said I could go over and ask him.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右：
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分为两段，开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1
I knocked on his door, sat down in his living room, and asked, “Can I adopt you as my grandpa?”
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Paragraph 2
The next morning, while learning to drive the lawn tractor with a snowplow, I accidentally plowed down our chain-link fence.
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In one of my Management classes in college, I sat in the same seat in the front every day. Every single day I sat there. Then one day I found myself sitting next to some foreign guy who hardly spoke English. His name was Albert. The most advanced thing that I had heard him say in English was: “Wow, my muffin(松饼) is really good!”.
This guy also had a habit of stacking(堆放) every item he owned in the exact space I sat. His bag, his food, his books, and his phone were always right on my desk space. Then every single time I walked into class, Albert would greet me with a broad smile: “Ah, Tom. You’re here. Okay,” and start wildly clearing my desk of his belongings. He then made it a habit to say “Ready for class, yeah?” and gave me a high five. Every morning the guy sitting next to me would give me a high five.
I was always annoyed with this guy. I was thinking: “Dude, you know I sit here in this seat every day. Why are you always stacking your stuff(物品) here?” And the last thing I wanted to do was give a guy who hardly spoke my language high fives at 8 in the morning! Just get your stuff off my desk!
But today I came to class and was a few minutes late. I was standing outside the classroom because I had to send a quick text. But through the door out of the comer of my eye, I could see my space—Of course, the usual—my desk was filled with Albert’s belongings!
As I was standing there on my phone, I noticed another guy who was also late walking into the class before me and trying to take my seat since it was closest to the door.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The new guy caught Albert’s eye immediately.
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It was then that I realized this guy wasn’t putting stuff on my seat to annoy me.
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When I was a teenager my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for thecircus. Finally there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.
This family made a big impression on me. There were four children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice. One could sense they had never been to the circus before. The father and mother were at the head of the line, standing proudly as they could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him and smiling. The husband responded to her with a big smile, too.The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy four children's tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man's wife let go of his hand, lowered her head and her lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?” The ticket lady told him the price again. The man obviously didn't have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight children that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus? Actually we were not wealthy in one sense, so I understood how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右。
2. 续写分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
Seeing what was going on, my dad seemed to have an idea.
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Paragraph 2:
Then my father and I went back home. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
