The e-mail request came into Ekiben restaurant late on a Thursday afternoon in March. Brandon Jones, the man who sent the e-mail didn't actually want the food himelf. He was writing on behalf of his mother-in-law, Shirley, who loved the broccoli（西兰花）dish with fresh herbs and cucumber vinegar. He went on to explain that she was now in the final stage of lung cancer at her home in Vermont and that he was hoping to get the recipe（烹饪法）to make it for her there. Steve Chu, one of the restaurant's co-owners, read the e-mail and quickly replied, "Thanks for reaching out," he wrote. "We'd like to meet you in Vermont and make it fresh for you."
Brandon was shocked. "I emailed back, saying, 'You do know that this is Vermont we're talking about, right?'" says Brandon. "But Chu responded, 'No problem. You tell us the date, time and location and we'll be there."
For the past six years, every time Shirley visited Baltimore, the first place she wanted to go was Ekiben so she could order that dish. "She loves that broccoli, and I really wanted her to have it one more time," Brandon says.
"She had always told us, 'When I'm on my deathbed, I want to have that broccoli,'" recalls Brandon's wife, Rina Jones. That Friday after work, a day after receiving Brandon's e-mail, Chu loaded his truck with a hot plate and a cooler and then headed for Vermont with his business partner, Ephrem Abebe, and an employee. They stayed overnight in a tent and drove the next day to the small town where Shirley lived.
As soon as Chu and his team pulled into the parking lot, they got to work. They pulled down the gate of the pickup, fixed the hot plate on the truck's power port, and started cooking and deep-frying. In addition to broccoli, they made tofu with peanut sauce and fresh herbs and some steamed rice. After neatly boxing everything up, they knocked on their customer's door.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡上的相应位置作答。
"Go ahead and answer," Rina told her mother.
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The Joneses invited Chu and his team to join them for dinner.
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相似题推荐
A powerful storm erupted in North Carolina, causing many roads to be severely damaged and some houses to collapse. In the aftermath of the terrible storm, an animal protection society discovered a surprise at their booster that both broke and warmed their hearts.
The surprise was that a group of baby dogs were left with a sad note, revealing a tale of sympathy in the hardship. The note, written by a homeless man, explained that the heartbreaking circumstances led him to adopt the baby dogs. He regularly fed their mother dog, but he discovered that she had unfortunately been hit by a car. Despite his own homelessness, he had provided the baby dogs with a chance to have a better life. However, the storm destroyed his temporary residence, and he had to leave them at the animal protection society’s doorstep with a heartfelt request for help.
The note read, “Please help! I was sad to find a local homeless dog that I used to feed when I could, dead by the road. What made me sadder was that her babies were left homeless. I’m sorry for leaving them like this, but I am also homeless and cannot afford to look after them. My heart breaks for them and their mother. I just want them to be taken good care of. I know that it’s wrong to abandon them. But please don’t think poorly of me. I really don t have any other choice. Sincerely, a homeless man, George.”
David, who was in charge of the animal protection society, posted the story, on the social media pages, expressing gratitude to the homeless man and admiration for his selfless act. David assured nim that his kindness, had not gone unnoticed and promised to honor his gesture by offering the baby dogs the love and care they would deserve. David also gave an invitation to him which read, “If you would like, please come to the animal protection society to see how the baby dogs will live, and I think that they will be glad to see you again!”
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。
A few days later, George, the homeless man, walked into the animal protection society.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then George and David started looking for new homes for the baby dogs.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Stepping into the enormous house in Chullora, I was astonished. Hundreds of volunteers were wrapping presents or filling baskets. It was like Santa’s workshop.
It was December 2018, and I had discovered the Sydney Basket Brigade, a charitable organization that relieves poverty by providing food and other basic necessities of life to individuals or families who are poor, of low income or in need. The charity was packing baskets and gift boxes with basic daily items as well as Christmas treats. Help us change lives one basket at a time, their website read.
It was important to me that my two boys, Kallum, 10, and Brayden, 9, learnt to be kind to others, so I immediately registered (报名) myself, my husband Tony, and the boys for the packing day.
We arrived dressed in Christmas colours, but it was clear my sons hadn’t yet caught the spirit. Brayden made a complaint and asked, “How long do we have to stay here for?”
“All day, dear,” I answered.
My sons’ lives were comfortable, but I wanted to show the importance of making sacrifices (牺牲).
“Why do we have to do this?” Brayden asked.
“Because the world’s a big place,” I said. “It’s not all about us.”
The atmosphere in the house was very lively, but my boys were doing a very half-hearted job with the wrapping. I told them that this might be the only present someone gets. I showed them how to fold the corners and make the present look neat. The boys, both lovers of origami (折纸), finally started to have fun. I praised their work when they showed off their perfected wrapping.
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 evening, we delivered the first basket to an old woman.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On our way home, my sons became unusually quiet.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Annie was having an awful day. And it had only just begun. Her car had a flat tire in the morning. She spilled coffee on her shirt and even worse, the man behind the counter had given her incorrect change (找零的钱). And now she was running late for work — another shift (轮班工作) at the grocery store.
Annie pulled into the grocery store parking lot, opened her car door and immediately stepped into a puddle (水坑). She let out a loud sigh and angrily headed toward the store.
She paused briefly to wipe off her feet and heard two ladies chatting.
“I’m so sorry to hear about your job, Mary.”
“Thank you, Sarah. So many people have been fired recently. It’s worrying, but I’ll figure something out.”
Briefly, Annie felt slightly jealous of the woman. She would give anything to not have to be at work this morning.
She dropped off her things in the break room and put on her uniform. Then, she made her way to her register for another long day, hoping that her luck would change. But her first customer spilled a bottle of juice on her counter, leaving it sticky well after he had paid and left. Another insisted on paying in all change, holding up her line for ages. Annie was close to just throwing in the towel and asking to leave early. But she figured she would have to wait until she went on break. That way, she’d have time to think of an excuse.
Annie absent-mindedly continued to ring up (记入收款机) her next customer’s groceries, placing them in the bag before reading out the total.
“It comes to $44.97,” Annie said.
There was a brief pause, and when she looked up, she saw Mary — the woman she heard chatting in the parking lot.
Mary pulled her wallet from her large bag and opened it. She bit her lip and blushed (脸红). Annie could see that she didn’t have enough to pay as she reached to start taking some of the items out of a grocery bag.
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。
Annie reached out and stopped her.
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Mary’s tears made Annie realize that she had been so selfish.
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A picture book stood quietly on the shelf of a children’s bookstore, waiting for young readers to read it.
One day, a little girl came. She sat down on the ground and read the picture book with interest. Then she put it back on the shelf, took out her pocket and said to the book, “I love you so much, but I can’t afford you. My father is working out of the town, and my mother is ill now. You see, my pocket is empty. I have no money.”
The next day, the little girl came again. She read the picture book again, and wrote a note, reading: “I want to read you once more, but I can’t come tomorrow because I will go to the hospital to take care of my mother. Can you fly over to my house like a bird? The note has my home address on it.” She put the note into the book, and left the bookstore.
How the picture book wanted to fly into the arms of the little girl! Books needed readers who liked them most, just like the little girl needed her mother. But it was not a bird. It could not fly, and its hardcover could not flap like wings. The picture book could do nothing but huddle (蜷缩) in the middle of the books, waiting for the girl to come again.
One day, there was a big boy who loved reading. He put all the books he liked into his shopping basket, including the picture book. His mother paid the bill for all the books without saying anything.
The big boy had his own bookshelf in his room, with all kinds of books ranked neatly on it. He began to read one book after another that he had bought. When he got to the picture book, he found the note. He was so surprised that he gave it to his mother. His mother read it and was deeply touched, knowing that there was a little girl who loved the picture book but could not afford it. They resolved to deliver the picture book to the address that the little girl had written on the note.
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
The next day, the deliveryman returned the picture book, saying the girl could not be reached.
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Paragraph 2:
Until one day, the big boy heard a woman and a girl talking in the house.
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Once, there was a villager called Rajkumar, who was very greedy and loved to take risks. One sunny summer morning, Rajkumar decided to walk his sheep out of his village for grass. After leaving his village, Rajkumar led his sheep to a small hill, which was close to a big forest and far away from his village.
When reaching the hill, Rajkumar looked for green grass. And he found it in the northern hillside. Then he let his sheep stay there to eat grass. One hour later, suddenly it started to rain heavily. To let his sheep escape the rain, Rajkumar led them to a cave nearby. And he tied them there, preventing them from running away.
When the rain became less heavy, feeling bored, Rajkumar left the cave and walked around. Soon he came to the western hillside. He found another cave there. And to his amazement, he saw many big wild goats inside the cave, which were also taking shelter from rain. Rajkumar thought if he could have these goats, he’d be the richest man in his village. So, he decided to use grass to attract them to his village. He knew there was little chance of success because the local wild goats feared humans and didn’t have much trust in humans. But he still wanted to have a try.
Since there was no fresh grass nearby, he came back to the previous hillside and started collecting grass. Soon Rajkumar managed to find a lot of grass. However, he found he didn’t have a rope to tie it. Looking at his sheep he had tied with a rope, he decided to untie them and use the rope to tie the grass. Although that meant the sheep would later probably run away, thinking about so many goats, he thought it was a risk worth taking. So Rajkumar untied his sheep. He tied the grass using the rope.
Carrying the grass, he came to the cave where the wild goats stayed.
注意：续写词数应为150左右;When he approached, the goats appeared nervous.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But he was shocked to find the goats had already left and were quickly jumping to the forest.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rebecca stretched her tired back. “That’s the last seedling(种树苗)，Pa. Have we planted enough?”Pa walked to the end of the row of cottonwood seedlings. “No,” he said. “We have to plant trees all the way to that rock over there. We’ll need about twenty more seedlings.”
“I’ll get the seedlings.” offered Rebecca. She longed to cool her feet in the shallow river running through the cotton field. “You’d better let me go, Miss Petticoats,” teased her twin brother, William. “There are dangers all over this prairie(牧场/草原）“You may both go,” said Pa. “But hurry back. I’d like to finish before sundown.”
They went across the shallow river to a sandbar where small cottonwood seedlings grew.Gently, they pulled the seedlings from the sand.“There! That’s twenty, with a few to spare.” said Rebecca.“OK，” said William. He led the way to the riverbank, then stopped.
“Look! There’s the dugout(防空壕）we lived in when we moved here last year.” He pointed to a hole in the grassy river bank. “Come on, let’s go inside.” “No,” Rebecca said, “Pa is waiting. Besides, it’s hard telling what’s in there.” “Then you start back.” said William, handing the seedlings to Rebecca. I’ll catch up.” He ran to the dugout and stepped inside.
Rebecca tied the seedlings into her long apron(围裙）and began to walk. Suddenly she froze in her tracks.A huge prairie rattlesnake(响尾蛇）moved along the river bank.It stopped right in front of the dugout and lay still, coiled up on the warm sunny bank.“William!” Rebecca shouted. “Don’t come out!”
“Huh?” Williams face appeared at a tiny window beside the door of the dugout. Rebecca pointed toward the rattler. William's face paled when he saw the snake blocking the doorway. He turned desperate eyes toward Rebecca, then he glanced behind himself. Rebecca knew what he was thinking: “Were there more snakes waiting in the shadowy corners of the dugout?”
Rebecca’s mind raced, trying to think of a way to get William out of there. An idea popped into her head. It was their only hope. It was risky, but it was the only hope.“Don’t move,” she said to William in a soft voice. “When I say NOW, you run out of there as fast as you can.”Rebecca removed the skirt-like petticoat(衬裙）from beneath her dress, then dipped it into the river. She squeezed out some of the water, then climbed to the top of the bank, directly above the dugout’s opening.
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:“Get ready to run, William,” she said, keeping an eye on the motionless snake.
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Paragraph 2: Are you OK?he asked, breathing heavily. Rebecca nodded.
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