Long, long ago there lived at the foot of the mountain a poor farmer and his aged mother. Their life was poor but peaceful, and happy.
Unfortunately, their cruel governor gave a strict order to immediately put to death all aged people. Those were cruel days, and the custom of abandoning old people to die was not uncommon. The poor farmer loved his aged mother, and the order filled his heart with sorrow. But no one ever thought twice about obeying the order of the cruel governor, so with many deep and hopeless sighs, the youth prepared for what at that time was considered the kindest way of death.
Just at sundown, he took a quantity of unwhitened rice, and he cooked, dried it, and tied it in a square cloth around his neck along with a bottle filled with cool, sweet water. Then he lifted his helpless old mother to his back and started on his painful journey up the mountain. On he went, climbing blindly upward—ever upward towards the top of what is known as Obatsuyama, the mountain of the “abandoning of the aged”.
The mother’s loving heart grew anxious. Her son did not know the mountain’s many paths and his return might be one of danger, so she stretched forth her hand, snapping the twigs (折断树枝) as they passed. She quietly dropped a handful every few steps of the way so that as they climbed, the narrow path behind them was dotted with tiny piles of twigs. At last the top was reached. Gathering fallen leaves, he made a soft cushion (坐垫) and tenderly lifted his old mother onto it. He wrapped her coat more closely and with tearful eyes and an aching heart he said goodbye.
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。
The trembling mother’s voice was full of unselfish love as she gave her last instruction.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once more he shouldered his burden (how light it seemed now) and walked down the path back to their shabby house.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
相似题推荐
Two little girls, Addie and Gracie, neatly dressed as they were going for a pleasant walk and pretty lunch-baskets filled with the nicest of things, started out for a walk up the canyon(峡谷). There was a good road for long distance. Then it branched off right and left. The trees grew taller, the bushes thicker and more twisted and they felt as if they were away off in a little world of their own. How nice it was! Birds came close overhead, and they saw several live squirrels. After gathering a great many flowers and eating lunch, and having had enough walking for a while, they began telling certain fairy stories in which the parties all lived out in the woods.
The day wore along until afternoon, when the canyon began to grow dark very fast. “Do you think we’d better start home?”asked Addie.“I guess it’s early yet. But if you wish we might walk slowly down a little way”, said Gracie. With a show of some reluctance, Addie gathered her treasures together, and they started at a leisurely pace, which somehow was gradually accelerated without the apparent notice.
These children had gone farther up the canyon than they had realized. The many charms had attracted them along and they didn’t feel tired for a long while. Suddenly, a low rumble was heard that increased and seemed to be rapidly coming in their direction.
“It’s raining! Are there any caves?” “Only way up on the side.” “Let’s take hold of hands and run!” “We’d have to drop our flowers.” “I don’t care. Hurry!” Away they went, the wind driving the rain right in their faces. The pretty hats were dripping. The light pink dresses hung straight down, and their shoes were sopping wet. “Do you think our parents will come after us when they know it’s storming up here?”
Addie began to cry.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They were about to leave the cave when a figure came into sight, calling their names.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Panting Trout
Julia always enjoyed running through The Dark Walk towards the light at the end of it, which was a dark, damp tunnel of smooth branches. This year she had the extra joy of showing it to her small brother, Stephen, and of terrifying him as well as herself.
One day they found a hole on one side of the walk. Inside there was water, where they perceived (察觉、发现) a breathless trout (鳟鱼). They were both so thrilled that they were no longer afraid of the darkness as they bent down and peered at the fish panting (喘气) in his tiny prison, his silver stomach going up and down like an engine, otherwise he was motionless. Julia wondered what he ate and thought of his hunger. She found him a worm. But he ignored the food, and just went on panting. She bent over him, wondering how he had been here. All the winter, in the dark tunnel, all day, all night, floating around alone.
Nobody knew how the fish got here. Her mother suggested that a bird had carried it here. Her father thought that in the winter a small stream might have carried it down there as a baby, and it had been safe until summer came and the water began to dry up.
Before going to bed, Stephen asked his mummy to tell him a story as usual, while Julia lay in her bed, not interested in it. That night mom told a story about a trapped little fish. “And so, in the end, the naughty fish got bigger and bigger, and the water got less and less…Then a Fairy Godmother appeared…”
Passionately, she turned around and cried, “Mummy, don’t make it a horrible old story.” Staring at the moon she knew there was no such thing as a fairy and that actually the trout, down in the tunnel, was panting for his life:
She sat up in the silent night and Stephen was sound asleep.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Julia poured the trout out of the pot into the river.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chuck and his elder brother Peter lived with their dad Kyle and their grandfather Stan. They referred to each other as “the Hardy boys.”
One evening, Chuck and Peter asked their grandfather about the number one activity on his bucket list(人生愿望清单). “I was going to rebuild my dad’s farmhouse and maintain it. It’s a shame I could never do it,” he sighed(叹息). Stan worked hard as a car mechanic, but his earnings were never enough to maintain such a huge farm.
Months passed and there was no mention of the farm again. Stan and Kyle continued working in their car repair shop, while Chuck and Peter worked downtown. On Stan’s 75th birthday, Chuck and Peter decided to give him a surprise.
“Grandpa,” Chuck started, “this year we decided not to give you a cake for your birthday. ” He smiled. “Really? You broke your years-long tradition of giving me a chocolate cake?! How could you?! ” Stan joked. “Ah, wait and see, Grandpa. I think you’re going to like this a lot better than a chocolate cake,” Chuck replied.
At that moment, Peter excitedly brought out his laptop and flashed a 3D model of a modern farmhouse. Kyle and Stan stared at the computer screen. “What are we looking at?” Stan asked his grandsons. “We know how much your dad valued his farm and how much you wanted to honor him by maintaining it. Chuck and I raised money to fix the farmhouse and the farm,” Peter said with a smile.
Stan covered his mouth with his hand. Tears instantly streamed down his face. “You’d do that for me?” he cried. “Grandpa, you’re the best grandfather on earth,” Chuck told him. “We do absolutely anything for you. There’s nothing else you need to say but to assure us that you’ll help us rebuild the farm, Grandpa! You too, Dad! ”
Kyle and Stan nodded their heads. “Absolutely. When we’re done, I’ll throw a barbecue party! My dad said that if I ever get to maintain the farm, we should throw a barbecue party, ” Stan said excitedly.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150 左右;2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Every day after that, the Hardy boys set out to work on the farmhouse.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
That Sunday, they decided to host a barbecue party and invite their neighbors.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
