Surfer Guys to the Rescue
Past the Breakers, about 50 feet from shore, two brothers were fighting for their lives. They had been swept out to sea in a wild current, their mouth barely able to stay above water. Thick fog made it difficult for beachgoers to see the guys, but the screams were unmistakable. And every second counted. The brothers, ages 15 and 20, were wearing shorts and T-shirts, unsuitable for a November day, let alone the 50-degree water. Keven Harder, a supervising ranger, told the North Coast Journal that swimming in such a temperature “takes the fight right out of you.”
Luckily, four surfers in wet suits were nearby. Narayan Weibel, Spenser Straton, and Sdrian York, all 16, along with Taj, 15, were on their surfing boards riding up and down the coast on five-foot waves when they heard the cries. They turned and saw two bobbing heads and four flailing arms.
“We looked at each other and knew these guys were about to drown,” Weibel told the Washington Post.
Weibel, Stratton, and Ortize-Beck paddled toward the distressed swimmers while York headed to shore to alert someone to call 911. He then dived back in to help his friends.
As the surfers drew close, the brothers were struggling. “It was pretty stressful, but there wasn’t any time to think about it, and that helped me keep cool,” Ortiz-Beck says.
Ortiz-Beck pulled up alongside the younger brother. Grabbing him under his arms, he lifted him onto his board. Stratton and Weibel, meanwhile, were straining to help the older brother. He was large, 250 to 300 pounds and he was panicked!
York arrived in time to help get the older brother atop the second board. The surfers then paddled several minutes through the water to the medical help waiting onshore. The brothers were scared but fine.
“When we get a call like this, it’s usually too late by the time we get there,” says Dillon, a first-aider. “I can’t say enough about what these guys did. They were willing and prepared to risk their lives.”
相似题推荐
Sometimes when you are a kid, it is easy to feel pretty helpless. Indeed, if you stop and think about it, there are so many things that you can’t do. You can’t play sports as well as your football or basketball heroes. You can’t do some of the stunts (特技动作) that other kids do at the skate park. Sometimes it is hard to see that you even have the potential to develop any of these abilities. What you want to achieve may seem such a long way in the future that it feels you will never reach it.
Well, I once beard an inspiring story—a true story, I believe—about a boy named Trevor. It shows there are little things kids can do that make a big difference. One night Trevor was doing what a lot of other 13-year-old kids would be doing: He was watching TV. On the news he saw a story about some homeless people sleeping out in the cold on the streets, in a downtown area of Philadelphia where he lived. Trevor had never really stopped to think how fortunate he was to live in a fairly well-to-do suburb(郊区) of the same city. The story of the homeless people touched his heart and he began to wonder what he could do to help these people.
It might have been easy for Trevor to forget about it. There are so many sad stories that you see on TV at times. This could have been just another that he ignored.
Trevor also might have thought, “Well, what can I do about it? I’m just a kid’‘, but he didn’t. Instead he began to wonder how he might help and that led him to remember there were some spare, unused blankets in their garage.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
So he went to his father and asked whether he could take the blankets to the homeless down town for the night.
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Paragraph 2:
To collect more blankets, the next day Trevor went to some public places where there were notice boards.
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Passing Kindness On
Mrs. Brown was in the store with her little boy Jack, having just come from Urgent Care Center to get him some medicine for a virus. While Jack looked around in the store, she couldn’t wait to get him home to warm soup and a warm bed.
“Mommy, look!” Jack said when they got close to the register. He pointed at a row of toy cars for sale. “Can I have one? Please?”
“No, Jack. You have plenty of cars,” said Mrs. Brown. “Besides, it’s very close to Christmas. Who knows what Santa will bring you?” Jack accepted his mother’s decision, but it didn’t help his mood. Now he was tired and disappointed.
When they got up to the counter, the lady at the register handed Jack one of the toy cars. “The woman in front of you in line bought this for you,” she said. “I chose the yellow one, but you can have any one you want.”
Jack looked so happy because it was the very thing he wanted. Mrs. Brown looked around for the mysterious (神秘的) benefactor, but she was long gone. “That was very nice of that lady,” she said. “Maybe we can also give an anonymous (匿名的) gift to someone else today.”
“Yes, we should!” Jack agreed. The unexpected kindness made him feel better than any medicine could. Immediately he thought of the little girl who was badly ill in Urgent Care Center. “Mommy, why not give the girl we saw in Urgent Care Center something nice to comfort her?” he suggested.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“That sounds like a good idea,” said Mrs. Brown.
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When she woke up, the girl found the doll(玩具娃娃) beside her.
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For years, my wife Teresa taught physical education at the elementary school level. Travelling on a regular schedule to the six schools in her district, she had a chance to get to know most of the kids in the area and see them at their best and their worst.
One day, in her class, Teresa noticed a third-grade girl, Meagan, who was short and grossly overweight, with a closed and hopeless look on her face. Meagan always sat alone in class, played alone at break, and ate alone from a recycled paper sack at lunch. The teachers and staff were kind to Meagan, but the students were not.
The stories made your shoulders drop. Teresa heard that when the playground supervisors (管理员) turned their backs, kids would run up to Meagan, calling her “Meagan the Fat Pig.” They did far worse than isolate (孤立) her; they filled her school days and walks home with physical and emotional torment (折磨). Also, Meagan’s single mother, a hard-working woman, was trying her best to make ends meet but she had never made it before.
Meagan’s situation disturbed my wife deeply. After talking with the principle and other teachers, Teresa came up with an idea. She knew from talking to Meagan that the child had never had a pet. Teresa was sure a pet would be the perfect way to inject some high-powered love and acceptance into Meagan’s life.
So one Saturday afternoon, Meagan was invited to Teresa’s office. When the door buzzer sounded, a dog engaged in a predictable and vigorous welcome. Getting down on one knee, Teresa introduced herself to Meagan. She told Meagan her thought that she could take away a puppy if she liked. Like any creature that has been cared about, Meagan gleamed in her eyes and playfully lifted the puppy almost off the ground. That day Meagan left the office with the puppy.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: Now she had a living, breathing friend who wanted to play with her.
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Paragraph 2: Ten years later, Teresa received an invitation to the high school graduation ceremony from Meagan, where Meagan made a speech.
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My sister Jeanne and I were born only 14 months apart, and we once shared many happy moments.She liked telling jokes to me and I would laugh heartily.She always said she loved my laughter and it’s the most impressive sound for her.But by the time we were teenagers we had years without speaking and lost touch due to family breaking. By age 19,I had moved away from our home in Wisconsin to live on my father’s horse farm in Virginia.Jeanne got married at 20,moved to Chicago, and became—well, I didn’t know what we lived separate lives in separate states, and our connection somehow ended.
Fastforward about five years.I was 24 and on a trip with my best friend to New York City, a place I had never been to.It was so different from my hometown.I was used to riding my horse to the corner store where everyone knew everyone and everything went on in the quiet little cowboy town of Driver, Virginia. We went to New York to visit my friend’s cousin and see the sights.We went to Little Italy, the Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, and several Manhattan clubs. I had never seen so many taxis in one spot in all my life.
During a day of sightseeing, we were crossing a very busy street loaded with people.Everyone was in a hurry.I was laughing at something my friend just said, and then I suddenly heard my name yelled from somewhere behind me：“Cheryl!” The voice was so familiar.I froze in my steps in the middle of the road.Tears welled up spontaneously(不由自主地) in my eyes.I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was my sister Jeanne.I yelled back before even turning to look.“Jeanne?”
It was her.“Oh my God!” I screamed, and I began pushing people out of my way to get to her.The crowd started to part—even by New York standards, we must have seemed crazy. And there we were, standing in the middle of a Manhattan street, facing each other and smiling. I couldn’t believe it.
注意：1.续写的词数应为150左右;
2．请按如下格式作答。
I later asked how she’d known it was me.
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Since that time, my sister and I have never been separated.
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Looking over the top of the book, I glanced across at the new girl named Rochelle. She only joined our class at the beginning of the week. It must be hard starting a new school in the middle of the year.
At last, the bell went for the end of the day. I spotted Rochelle running towards a tall woman who must be her mum. Then I saw a surprising thing. Rochelle’s mum was waving her arms round and making shapes with her fingers, and Rochelle was doing the same with hers. It was like they were talking to each other with their hands. Oh, could her mother be deaf? My mind was filled with questions.
The next day, I was reading this week’s words when I felt a tap (轻拍) on my shoulder. I looked up and Rochelle was standing in front of me. “Shall we test each other?” she asked, pointing to my spelling book.
“Yes, of course,” I replied. But I was still wondering how to ask the questions that had been tumbling (翻腾) around in my head since yesterday.
“So, um, that hand thing you did with your mum...”
“Signing.”
“Yeah, signing. Is it because she’s, um. deaf?”
“Yes, both my parents are deaf, so I communicate with them through sign.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. That must be really difficult.” I could tell by the frown on Rochelle’s face that I’d said something wrong, but I didn’t know what. “So, did your parents need someone to help them look after you when you were a baby?”
“Of course not,” Rochelle got annoyed.
“Why would being deaf mean they can’t look after me? Being deaf doesn’t mean they’re stupid,” she was almost shouting. “In fact, they’re much cleverer than most people I know.” Hearing that, I got hot all over. I didn’t say her parents were stupid. But before I could explain, the bell went and she strode (阔步行走) out of the classroom. I hurried after her, but when I tried to speak to her, she kept her back to me as if I were her enemy.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: After school, I saw Rochelle and her mother moving their hands quickly.
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Paragraph 2: Rochelle came over to me, saying, “I really treasure our happy semester together, but I’ll have to leave with my parents again.”
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A young man had bought an old house that was in bad shape, but he and his wife believed they could restore it. They immediately went to work. Their goal was to have the old building look best for the Christmas Eve get-together.
Just two days before Christmas, however, a storm swept through the area, leaving a hole in the wall of the house. There was obviously no time to repair the damage before Christmas. The sad couple attended local auction (拍卖) that afternoon. One of the items put up for bids (竞标) was an old gold-and-ivory-colored tablecloth. Seized by an inspiration, the young man was the highest bidder at $6.50. His idea was to hang the cloth to cover the ragged hole.
On the day before Christmas, it was snowy. As the young man unlocked the house door, he noticed an old woman standing at the bus stop. He knew the bus wouldn’t be there within at least half an hour, so he invited her inside to keep warm.
When the old woman walked in and saw the tablecloth, she rushed at it and said excitedly, “It’s mine. It is my tablecloth.” She told the surprised man its history and even showed him her name in one corner of the tablecloth. She and her husband had once lived in Vienna, Austria, and their village was hit by a deadly disease. So they decided to flee to Switzerland, but her husband told her to leave first, saying he had something urgent to deal with. A few days later, it was reported that the bus her husband took fell off the cliff and he was never to be found. Her husband was believed to have died. Touched by her story, the young man asked about her address, planning to send the tablecloth to her after Christmas. As the bus came, she left.
When the Christmas Eve came, the man invited his friends to come to his house to enjoy the dinner together. In the candlelight of the Christmas Eve, the tablecloth looked even more beautiful. As the man’s friends left the house, they thanked the man for his arrangement and mentioned how beautiful the house looked.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One older gentleman stayed, admiring the tablecloth.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The young man drove the old man to that old woman’s home.
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