The Trouble With Chores (家庭杂务)
The twins, Jenna and Jeff, were good at most things. Their dad was good at most things, too. But there was one thing the twins and Dad were not good at—that was chores. It wasn’t that Dad and the twins didn’t want to do their chores. It was just that they always seemed to have reasons not to do them. And they had such good excuses.
“You’re right, my dear,” said Mum. “The grass does need cutting. But a spider has spun a wonderful web on the lawn mower and I haven’t the heart to put all her hard work to waste.”
“Mum,” said Jenna, “I know it’s my week to put up my cards. It’s just that I’m waiting for them to dry. They’ll be easier to scoop up that way.”
“Mum,” said Jeff, “may I skip setting the table tonight? There’s a TV show on the Ice Age, and I have to do a report on the Beast of Baluchistan.”
There were also the endless quarrels about who did what and who got the easy job. Mum sighed. If only Dad and the twins were as good at doing their chores as they were at arguing about them, life would be easier. Talking of chores, Mum thought instead of pushing them for chores, it would be a lot easier to do them herself. And that was what she did. She put away all cards and set and cleared the table. She chased the dust bunnies from under the furniture and cleaned up the twins’ messy room.
The twins did pick up and put away things occasionally. Dad did cut the grass once in a while. Not surprisingly, things began to slide. Everybody got a little unhappy, especially Mum, who spent much time doing chores. Something had to be done. But what?
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。
Mum decided to host a family meeting.
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Living in all that messy build-up wasn’t much fun.
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John and Nancy were left with their grandmother Linda after their mom was hospitalized for illness. They were curious about when they could finally see their mom.
“The hospital won’t allow her to leave until all of her medical bills are settled. I have given your mom all I could, but there’s still a large amount that we need to pay off,” Linda explained. John and Nancy missed their mom a lot and wanted her to come back home as soon as possible.
“What if we put up a lemonade stand (摊位), John?” Nancy asked her older brother.
“We can pick the lemons from the garden and make fresh juice out of them,” she suggested. Her brother smiled, “That’s a great idea, Nancy!” From then on, John and Nancy stayed outside the entire afternoon after school selling lemonade. A week went by, they only managed to earn ten dollars.
On Saturday morning, they sat on the side of the yard, looking worried. After a couple of seconds, their silent pondering (沉思) was interrupted by loud police sirens. “Hey, fellas!” one of the policemen greeted. “My colleague Jacob said that his neighbor had a lemonade stand in front of their yard.” The two children nodded. “I’m sorry, officer. But I didn’t think there would be anything wrong with that. Besides, we didn’t earn a lot,” John tried to explain.
“Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble. I bought a cup of it from you two the other day, remember? I asked why you were selling lemonade, and you told me it was to raise funds to get your mom out of the hospital,” Jacob interrupted upon seeing John and Nancy looked nervous.
“I told my friends over here, and we decided we wanted to help. Come to the back of the police car, and we have something to show you,” Jacob told the kids. They slowly made their way to the back of one of the police cars and saw a nicely-painted wooden lemonade stand. “That’s beautiful!” Nancy said in surprise.
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。
“There’s a big food festival downtown today, and we got you a stand.” Jacob said. “Why not go there and give it a shot?”
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There was a large crowd eager to buy lemonade.
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In my childhood, my teacher Mrs. Hunter announced that our class would complete a pen-friend project. We would write letters to children in some African countries to make friends with them. So all of us needed to bring stationery (信纸) to school the next day.
Finding some beautiful stationery which was designed with lovely cartoon characters, such as Minnie Mouse and Snow White in the store, I asked my mother to buy it for me. At the store, we learned that a pack of ten pieces of such stationery cost close to seven dollars.
“You’ll have to use common paper,” my mother said. Then, she bought a pack of cheap common paper for me. Obviously, there weren’t any cartoon characters on the paper, so I was upset and disappointed. At that time, I didn’t know my mother was facing some financial (财政的) problems and was trying hard to support the family.
That night, my mother, a lover of schedules, sent me to the bed at the usual time of 9：30. But then instead of going to bed as she normally did, she remained in the living room. When I didn’t hear the voice of a news host through the TV, I wondered what exactly kept my mother up past her bedtime. Walking up to her I found she bent beneath our single lamp, sketching (画素描). When I asked what she was drawing, my mother just covered the page with her arms and ordered me to return to my bed. A week ago, I had begged her for a new box of crayons and she refused. Now I wanted beautiful stationery and she refused again. That night, I lay in bed looking at the moon, believing I was the unluckiest girl in the world.
The next morning, my mother’s eyes were black-ringed, and she looked so tired while preparing the breakfast of oatmeal (燕麦糊) in the kitchen. “Drink it before school,” she said, pointing at the food.
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：
“I don’t want any,” I said unhappily, still upset she didn’t buy beautiful stationery for me.
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“Mom, the cartoon characters are so beautiful”I said, with a smile.“Thank you.”
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My 12th birthday came at last. What a wonderful feeling it was to know that I turned twelve and that I might possibly get the thing I wanted most.
I saw my mom and dad coming towards me with a small box wrapped up (包装) with nice pink paper with flowers on it. When I removed the paper and opened the box, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had got a cell phone! I ran to give my mom and dad the biggest hug ever, and said, “Thank you! I love you!”
“You’re welcome. We knew this was going to make you happy. But we give you this not only because you have turned twelve but also because you are doing well in school. We expect you to keep getting good grades.”
I said confidently that I would. As soon as I got to school the next morning, I was showing off my phone and asking everyone for their number. It was cool how I got so many contacts (联系人) on the first day. It felt like I didn’t even exist in that class any more. I didn’t pay much attention to the teachers because I was too busy on my phone. I texted my friends, surfed the Internet for stories or played games.
Luckily, I didn’t get caught using it. I had formed a habit of secretly enjoying my phone in class. But I was pretty sure that the teachers did notice that I stopped paying attention to them, because a week later we took a test and I failed. What’s worse, my parents had to sign the test.
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:
I had to show my parents the test paper when I got home.
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My mom added, “Let us help you keep your cell phone until you’re old enough.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, carrier, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit(追寻）of thedreams. There, in the rush of hisbusy life. Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time tospendwith hiswife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him,“Mr. Belserdied last night The funeral(葬礼）is Wednesday.”Memoriesflashed through his mind like an old newsreel(新闻短片）as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
“Jack, did you hear me?”
“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago,” Jack said.
“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisce(回忆）about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,” Mom told him.
“I loved that old house he lived in,” Jack said.
“You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man’s influence in your life," she said.
“He’s the one who taught me carpentry. I wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things that he thought were important Mom, I’ll be there for the funeral.” Jack said.
Busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before he had to return home. Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time, which was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture... Jack stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” his Mom asked.
“The box is gone,” he said.
“What box?” Mom asked.
“There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what wasinside. All he’d ever tell me was ‘the thing I value most’,” Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.
“Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to him,” Jack said sadly.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Returning to his office the next day, he found a package on his desk.
Paragraph 2:
Inside he found these words carved:
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：花架flower shelf
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Curious About Everything
Jackson did not feel good so he stayed at home from school today. He did not like to be sick. It was no fun at all. He got out of his bed and walked into his brother’s bedroom. Carter, his brother, loved cars. He had them all over his room. Jackson touched one of the black tires. He wished Carter was home. Carter liked to talk about the model cars as he was putting them together.
Jackson left Carter’s room and walked down the hall to the room his twin sisters shared. Ella liked wearing pretty clothes and Madison liked riding her horse. Ella decorated the wall behind her bed with pictures of girls in fancy clothes. A big poster of a horse was on the wall behind Madison’s bed. Jackson turned and walked back out of the room.
He walked back down the hall and into his little sister’s room. Sophie was the youngest kid in the family. She loved to dance and you could sure tell that from looking at her room. A big poster of a ballerina (芭蕾舞女演员) was over the dresser. She was wearing a funny pink outfit with a special skirt. Sophie told him what the dress was called, but he couldn’t remember right now.
As he stood there, trying to remember what it was called, he realized all of his brother and sisters’ rooms looked like the things they loved. Carter had cars in his room, Ella fashion, Madison horses, and Sophie ballet. Jackson wondered what his room said about him. He walked back down the hall and stood in the doorway of his room.
His bed was a mess. There was a racetrack on his floor, a plastic hat that was part of a magic trick set he got for his birthday, and a couple of plastic dinosaurs lying on their sides. Some clean clothes were stacked (堆放) on his dresser. His walls were bare. No posters of any kind.
“Are you feeling better?” his mom asked as she walked into the room.
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。
Jackson asked his mom why his room looked different from the others’.
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“A person doesn’t have to like just one thing. Some people, like you, are just curious about everything.” the mom said.
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