A couple of years ago, I volunteered to be a finish-line “hugger” at the Kentucky Special Olympics held in Richmond.
The day of the event dawned dull, wet and gray. Even though it started to rain and a cold wind blew, most of the participants were so excited that they didn’t seem to notice the weather at all.
My job was to stand at the end of a lane on the track and hug the person in that lane when he or she crossed the finish line. It seemed to me that many of the participants completed their races just so they could get that finish “hug”. As the arms of the hugger closed around them, their faces lit up with pure joy, whether they came in first or dead last.
While we huggers stood around, we talked. I was told that most of the participants had been training for the races all year. I also noticed that, the Special Olympic participants weren’t here just to win. They didn’t talk negatively about the people they were racing against. In fact, they hugged and wished each other luck before they started, and hugged again when it was over, whether they had won or not.
What I remember most vividly from that day was the long-distance race. It was a long race by any standards: twelve laps around the track. There were only four participants, three boys and one girl. They were only a couple of laps into the race when the rain started up again. Standing in the rain, I began to feel miserable. My feet hurt. I was soaking wet. I was hungry. I was cold when the rain and wind came and hot when the sun came out. I thought irritably: This race is lasting entirely too long. Even though the three boys were nearly finished, the girl was at least four laps behind. I wondered why she kept going when there was obviously no way she could win.
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。
Finally, the three boys finished but they didn’t leave right away.
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As she approached the finishing line, the girl was barely running.
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Every corner of the small bedroom was filled with summer heat. Hot air snaked across my chest and made my already labored breathing more difficult. At nearly ten years old, I thought I was too old to have the croup (哮吼). The bad cough told a different story.
Earlier that monring, fever and congestion (鼻塞) had been my greatest enemies. I became mad because of the mix. As the excited voices of my sister and two cousins came upstairs, I squeezed deeper into the soft bed. The closing of the front door, followed by the noise of my uncle’s old car threw me further into disappointment. They went off on an afternoon outing adventure. They were close to nature while I was stuck in bed. AGAIN!
I complained, which only served to fuel my anger. Worn out by the bad cough and the heat, I fell asleep. When I awoke, my grandmother was sitting in a chair next to my bed, peeling peas (剥豌豆皮) into a big pot.
She looked at me and smiled, “Good, Max, you’re awake.” She reached over and pressed my hand against my forehead. “Better. In a few days, you’ll be up and running around.”
“Not soon enough,” I said unhappily.
Her hands stilled for a moment, several peas held in her fingers. “Ah, the trip.”
I hit the bed hard with my fist. “They could have waited. I’m stuck here and they’re off having a good time. Why always me? Why is it me that suffers a lot again and again? It’s not fair.” Tear welled up in my eyes as I spoke.
My grandmother remained silent. Her hands again moved smoothly, continuing to shell peas as if they had a life of their own. When she finally spoke, her voice had an edge to it. “So who told you life was easy and fair?”
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。
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I looked at my grandmother in surprise and asked, “What do you mean?”
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Then my sister and cousins raced into the house and said, “We got these strawberries for you.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I have always been free and easy when it comes to handing out small change on the street, and a couple of months ago I lend 200 to a man I had never met before. Anyway, let me tell you about Brendan.
On my way back to London, I spotted a man with a large backpack and his thumb out to ask for a free lift. I pulled over and lowered the window.
“Which way are you heading?” I asked. “I’m going back to London.”
“Ah, that would be grand,” came his immediate reply. He opened the door and put his backpack on the back seat, “I’m Brendan,” he said with a smile. “I’ve had my thumb out for a day and half. Nobody seems to stop these days.”
As we headed cast along the motorway, Brendan told me about the two recent family tragedies that had pushed him out of his old life and on to the road. He told me that he was 52. He laughed a lot and enjoyed his off-grid (离网) lifestyle until the week before when he’d been mugged (抢劫). And now he just wanted to get some casual work in London, so he could then get himself home to Ireland.
It must have been the notion of home that got me and helping a man who’d clearly had a tough time seemed like the right thing to do. To my surprise I heard myself say: “Well, I’ll lend you 200 to fly home, Brendan.”
“Grand,” he replied excitedly. Then, after a pause, “and please don’t worry. I’ll definitely pay back the money when I get home.” He took my phone number and address, saying he’d call as soon as he could.
Eight weeks past, a call from Brendan made me disappointed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A month after I got the call, to my surprise, a package was delivered to me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Barry is a middle-aged man who is going through a very difficult time in his life. His wife recently passed away. She and Barry had many happy years together, sharing their free time and even starting a business together. Without his wife, Barry is full of sorrow and feels that life is pointless. He even decides to close their business because working there makes him miss her too much.
Even months later, Barry sits around in his house all day feeling gloomy. His friends and family try to get him out of the house and encourage him to start doing new things and enjoy life, but they are not successful.
Barry’s neighbor, a very old woman named Gertrude, sees him from her yard one day as he steps out onto his porch. She has not seen him outside in days! She asks him to come closer. Irritated, he walks to the fence that protects the front of her house.
“Hello, Barry! Just look at this fence. I only had it put in two years ago, but it is falling apart. You are a strong man, and you have some free time. I want you to fix this fence for me,” Gertrude says.
Barry is angry. She knows the situation he is in. He is the one who needs help and support. He thinks the old lady is being very selfish. Still, he knows she is too old to fix the fence herself, and they have been neighbors for years. She is a nice woman, and he respects her. He agrees to fix her fence because it is really not safe for her to have it broken like that.
Barry works on the fence for days. Gertrude brings him lemonade while he works. When he finishes, she is very grateful. Barry smiles for the first time in months.
“Now that you did such a wonderful job fixing my fence, do you think you could paint it for me?” Gertrude smiles at him.
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。
Barry cannot believe she is asking for more help.
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Barry no longer feels that life is pointless.
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Thin, average, and undisciplined, I was the underdog of the boys’ basketball tryouts (选拔赛) in seventh grade. Making the team was very important to me. Although I was extremely nervous, I truly thought I would make the team. But I went in overly optimistic, and quickly faced a cruel reality check.
When on the court, I huffed and puffed like an old man on his last legs; clearly, I was out of shape and having trouble keeping up. When it hit me that this was only the first day, and that there was a second to follow, I realized I would have to step it up in order to gain a spot on the team.
Unfortunately, day two went exactly like day one: I missed shots, passed badly like an out-of-breath fool. Hoping the coach was not watching all my bad moves, I had trouble keeping a positive attitude. Finally, Coach-who at five-foot-four usually seemed small, posted the lists of the Boys A and B Teams. Everybody quickly ran to catch a glimpse of the chosen few.
After scanning the list once, twice, three times, my name was nowhere. Although I had predicted the disaster that had now settled on me, with my head hanging. I slowly walked to the car. This experience definitely had not gone as I planned.
On the way home, I complained “How could that foolish boy is a better choice than me? And…”
“Adam!” my mom cut me off. “Why don’t you realize maybe you need a little more practice? You’d better go to basketball camps next summer.”
Although I did not want to believe her, I knew it was true. Failing to make the team was nobody’s fault but mine. Right then and there, in the middle of my anger, I realized I had to get my act together.
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。
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Then I threw myself into as many basketball opportunities as I could find.
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When I took part in the eighth-grade basketball tryouts,I was moderate,swift and strong.
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How exciting! Today is my basketball Grand-final! My team of six enthusiastic boys led by our coach, Jack, has worked extremely hard just to make the finals. My heart was pounding a hundred kilometres an hour as I walked into our home ground. As I hurried to our team bench, our opponents caught my attention. They seemed a lot taller and “meaner” looking.
Whistle blew. Five of us started on the court. Our opponent got hold of the ball first. They were unbelievably fast. They kept breaking our defences and kept scoring goals. Excited parents were cheering so much that their faces were as red as beetroots. Even our best, Bryce, could not stop our opponents from scoring, which annoyed him a lot. By half time, both teams were extremely exhausted and our opponents were ten goals ahead, which presented us with an enormous but achievable challenge.
Jack was awfully anxious as we were not playing anywhere near our best. He told us that we could still win if we made our transitions much quicker so that penalty shots came our way.He also directed us to rebound (抢断篮板) and position ourselves better to receive and score goals. Most important, he reminded us to play as a team.
Our team was all fired up. The second half started in our favour. We were as quick as lightning on the court. We were dribbling (运球), passing, shooting and rebounding without any mistakes. We caught our opponents by surprise. The scores were almost level. We were trailing only by one point. The crowd was growing wild with excitement, fuelling our confidence. At the same time, our opponents switched back to attention and started playing like what they did in the first half, making it harder for us to score.
One minute left! Our opponent threw in the ball but I managed to steal it! Our team was bursting with happiness! More opponents were heading my way and I had to pass the ball to Bryce. Instead of passing on the ball, he did the most unexpected thing. He tried to score from half court! He missed by miles!
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。
Then I noticed Jack signaled to the referee for a pause.
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Whistle blew again and we came back to the court.
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In a small town located in the mountains, there was a young boy named Owen. He was crazy about basketball more than anything else in the world. He would spend hours every day practicing his dribbling (运球), shooting and passing. He dreamed of one day winning games on a team.
Owen’s town had a small basketball court that was often empty. Owen would go there every day after school to practice. One day, as he was shooting hoops (投篮), he heard a voice behind him, “Hey, kid! You’re pretty good!”
Owen turned around to see a tall man with a friendly smile. The man introduced himself as Coach Johnson and asked Owen if he wanted to join his basketball team. The team was made up of kids from all over the town, and they practiced every day after school.
Owen was overjoyed because he had never played on a team before. He wanted to start and win games. Owen quickly became the star player of the team.
However, the team never won a game. “I had trained so hard and performed excellently, but we were always losing! Jack should have run much faster towards me and Kris should have passed the ball to me!” Owen kept complaining to the coach.
The complaint seemed understandable! Owen was admired by his teammates because he was fast and had incredible shots. However, Johnson knew Owen lacked something important. He told Owen to learn to play with his teammates as a team instead of just focusing on himself. Owen didn’t quite understand that at first and insisted he just needed to practice harder to win games.
However, disaster struck. Owen injured his ankle one day and had to sit out for several weeks, which let him fall into anxiety. He felt his dream was slipping away.
During his recovery at home, Owen refused to see anyone on the team, except his coach. Johnson handed Owen a phone downloaded with some videos about the best basketball teams and some cards from Owen’s teammates.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Owen couldn’t wait to watch those videos.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After recovering, Owen returned to his team as a changed player.
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