It’s eight o'clock on a cold spring night. Our apartment has been hit by a tornado. Every bit of furniture is draped with scissors and Scotch tape, modeling clay, and party favors. I’m so tired tonight.
The phone rings-for the sixth time in less than an hour. We know who it is. When my mother was 68,a stroke claimed her brain. She is haunted by paranoia (妄想症)—she thinks she has been kicked out of her assisted living facility; she thinks her daughters have not visited in months; she thinks that her friend Jimmy never wants to see her again.
Each time she calls, I play a game with myself called “How Good a Person Can I Be?” She has no idea that she has repeated the things she is about to say a million times today and a million times yesterday. She has no idea that I had surgery, nor can she recall her own granddaughter’s name. She is unaware of most of the past, and she is lonely.
“MOM!” I yell. “You are not being removed from your home!And we visited you two days ago!” “Mom, you have to believe me, and if you don’t, I cannot talk anymore! Everything is fine!”
Silence. Then: “I was only calling to say hi. But I also doubt about something; do you have a minute?”
“No, Mom, I don’t, I can’t have this again!”
“Why are you yelling?”
I flop(猛然坐下)on the couch, aware that my daughter is witnessing. She hears me complain my mother, lose my patience, announce that someone I love is an unwelcome burden. I have not only failed at being a good person; I have failed at being a good example to my daughter.
“Can I talk to Grandma Ellie?” My five-year-old reaches for the phone.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:
Wordlessly, I hand it over.
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Paragraph 2:
I listen to my daughter singing to her grandmother, caring for her with patience.
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相似题推荐
A Thrilling Camping Trip
Grady and his family went camping every summer. As it was becoming hotter, here came the camping time.
The family had been planning it for a long time and had decided on their destination — the Great National Forest. With food and equipment loaded into the car, the family set off. It was cool inside the car.
Jared, Grady’s younger brother, played with a toy dinosaur and made a lot of noise.
Grady’s mother talked excitedly with his father. Grady put on his headphones and listened to some music. He didn’t want to play with his brother or talk to anyone. After what seemed like hours, the car reached its destination. Grady unloaded his backpack and closed the car door.
“This is going to be a long week,” he said unhappily to no one in particular. He looked around the campground. Hundreds of tall and green fir trees (枞树), some as tall as church towers, covered the mountainside like a green carpet. It would be going dark soon. Grady had hoped the July weather wouldn’t be too hot but now he was feeling sticky.
Grady hated camping, but it was something his family did every summer. His father liked cooking in the open air, telling stories about how to survive things like bear attacks and bee stings. His mother and Jared liked to hike and take pictures of animals. Jared had a collection of insect pictures that he had stuck to the walls in his half of their room. Grady didn’t like them and thought they proved that Jared was a strange kid.
They set up camp — two tents, one for his parents and one for himself and Jared. While everyone else started preparing dinner, Grady, looking for somewhere to cool down, set off for the nearby stream, which was deep enough to swim in.
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。
As Grady got close to the stream, an adorable bear cub( 幼 崽 )caught his eye.
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Turning around, he saw a large angry mother bear moving swiftly towards him.
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Lek raced down the street, ran around the corner, and at last pushed open the door of his parents’ restaurant. If he hurried, he might have time to make his krathong(水灯) before the celebration started.
Tonight was Loy Krathong, the Festival of the Floating Lanterns. All over Thailand, people would send out lighted candles in tiny boats along rivers so that the past year’s problems could sail away with them and be replaced with wishes for the new year.
As Lek wrapped a pile of banana leaves around a bamboo base to form his boat, Lek thought about his sister, Dao. She was too sick to float a krathong. Perhaps a wish on Loy Krathong would take away her illness. Maybe then she would be able to laugh the way she used to. He put four red flowers inside the banana leaves and in the middle, he placed a tall, white candle.
“The river goddess will be pleased with your krathong,” his grandma looked at Lek’s boat and said. “Tong will help you launch your boat. You are too small to do this by yourself.” She gave him a serious look. “Now we must hurry to get ready for our customers.” Like last year, only his brother Tong was allowed to launch krathongs into the river for their customers. But this week, Lek had practiced launching the way Tong did and he was sure he could make it by himself.
After washing piles of dishes, Lek realized that it was time to launch the krathongs. Lek made his way outside through the crowd standing under the full moon, and spotted Tong standing on the jetty(码头) and lowering a krathong into the water with his pole. Lek took out matches and lit the candle on his tiny boat. He looked over his shoulder to see if his grandma was watching. Then he lay down at the edge of the jetty and made a wish that Dao would get better from that minute on. He lowered his krathong toward the water, stretching to reach its surface.
注意：1.续写短文词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Suddenly, somehow, his krathong fell out of his hands into the dark water.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Let’s make another one for Dao.” Tong said gently.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________An anonymous (匿名的) person’s rude note was sent to a struggling neighbor. Prior to receiving the unpleasant letter last month, Randa Ragland and her family had been facing a variety of tough challenges. Her husband had lost his job; she had been diagnosed with some health issues; but worst of all, her 3-year-old son Jaxen had been diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma just before his birthday. Jaxen had already suffered seven surgeries and been hospitalized more than 20 times.
Being a desperate Mom, Ms. Ragland had to care for her little one attentively and tried to get in contact with the “best doctor in the world for this condition”. She and her husband travelled all the way state after state to give her little one a fighting chance. Exhausted and worn out, she found the sparkle (火花) of the hope for lighting the messy situation was to go out.
On top of all of this, she opened her mailbox in Pinson, Alabama, to find an unaddressed note from a neighbor criticizing her for the state of her lawn. The note said that since her yard had fallen into disrepair, its appearance was “affecting the resale value” of their homes and that Ragland needed to “do better.”
At first, she felt a little angry. But so much had been going on with her and her family. She just didn’t have the energy to be more negative.
She posted a photo of the note on Facebook as a means of encouraging her friends to have patience with their own neighbors because we never know what hardships someone might be going through.
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。
Unexpectedly, her post was shared by dozens of people.
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Ms. Ragland had never met any of these people before in her life.
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One morning Jack woke up with an aching arm. He touched it carefully with one finger. Ow! That really hurt! He climbed out of bed and put on his dressing gown(睡袍), very, very carefully. Then he went downstairs.
Mum was in the kitchen, searching for cornflakes(玉米片)in the cupboard.
“We’re out of cornflakes again,” she said, not looking round.
“Mum,” Jack began, “I think there’s something wrong with my…”
But at that moment, Lucy, Jack’s twin sister, came into the kitchen.
“Mum,” she cried, “I’m very, very ill! Very ill indeed! My stomach hurts really, really bad! I am far too sick to go to school!”
Mum was worried. She felt Lucy’s forehead. “You do feel hot. But you were fine yesterday.”
“I’m not fine now,” said Lucy. “Please, Mum. Can I go back to bed?”
Lucy didn’t even want breakfast. Jack tried to tell Mum about his arm. But Mum was too worried about Lucy.
“Please just get dressed, Jack, or you will be late for school!”
Mum stayed home to look after Lucy. Dad gave Jack a lift to school, and Jack tried to explain about his arm. “I was playing football yesterday and I hit my arm and it still hurts,” he said.
“Probably just a bruise(瘀伤),” said Dad. “I hope Lucy is better soon. She looked a bit feverish to me.”
It’s always about Lucy, thought Jack crossly.
At school, Jack had to be very careful of his arm. He had to keep it really still. Luckily he could still write with his other hand. At home, Mum was looking after Lucy. She put her back to bed and brought her a glass of warm water. She read her a story.
“How do you feel now?” she asked. “Would you like to try a little breakfast?”
“I can’t eat a thing,” said Lucy.
Mum was worried. It wasn’t like Lucy not to eat anything. She bent down to pick Lucy’s teddy bear off the floor. As she did so, she caught sight of something under the bed.
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 huge pile of candy wrappers(包装纸)! And an empty box!
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Mrs Smailes, the headteacher, came running to meet them. ”I think you need to go straight to hospital. Jack is there!"
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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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【推荐3】阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
I was an impatient mother and frustration always kept me from enjoying life, until some strange insects came to my family.
It was Friday. We were having friends over for dinner, but Mike had to stay late at work. I was now on my own to get everything ready for the night. I could feel my frustration increasing as I drove to pick up Haydn and Michael from school. I rushed them into the car and told them that we were making a few stops before heading home, and that they needed to help me tidy the house. Both of them started complaining immediately. I turned and gave them fair warning that I was not in the mood to listen. For the next hour, I dragged the boys from one place to the next…
Just as we finished our last task, the boys reminded me that we needed to stop at the pet store to pick up crickets (蟋蟀) for their lizards(蜥蜴). Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the driveway with only forty-five minutes left to unpack the car, clean the house, and set the table before my guests arrived. How would I make it?
I started barking orders at the boys, but they were focused on pouring the crickets from the plastic bag into the top of their little cricket container. I just let off steam and yelled at them to hurry up.
I didn’t really know how it happened, but the next time I looked up, one hundred crickets were jumping all over my kitchen…
My frustration exploded. I could feel myself about to start yelling in a way I rarely do. I watched my two sweet boys try anxiously to chase the crickets, screaming with laughter. Strangely, I felt something different.
In that split second, I realized I had two choices. Could I continue feeling annoyed and angry, or could I let go and enjoy this silly moment?
注意：
1. 所续写的短文词数应为 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，每段的开头语已经为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词。
Paragraph 1
I jumped off the chair and started chasing crickets with my boys.
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Paragraph 2
Our guests arrived and we had a wonderful dinner party.
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