My ex-husband had made some very bad choices in his life, and I did not want my children to pay for them all their lives, so the boys and I talked and we decided to move. We moved 2,700 miles from home. We had a small car that pulled a small U-haul over the Rocky Mountains. I could barely read a map (my 8-year-old reads them great, I learned).
We arrived in our new town three days later, and found an apartment. I started the boys in their new school and went to our new home to unload the U-haul. I had brought all the clothes, dishes, blankets and toys that I could fit in the U-haul. As I began unloading, a lady whom I had briefly met the day before was driving down the road and she stopped to help me unload and carry everything up the three flights of stairs. After getting moved in, I was blessed two days later when I found a job.
Things were going great. The boys went to the Boys & Girls Club after school, and I would pick them up after work. In December, two months after moving, the manager of the Boys & Girls Club called me and said that there was a group of people who wanted to choose a family for Christmas and would I mind if they chose our family. My first thought was no, because we had all the love we needed for the holidays, but then he said that my children had told him that there was no furniture in the house, and this group had a lot of used furniture, and that the boys and I would be making them very happy. So I agreed.
They called me and asked what the boys wanted for Christmas and I told them that anything would be appreciated, and I told them what their favorite toys were.
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。
They showed up on December 23.
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My children and I have supported a child every year since then.
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My Own Label
It seemed to me that I had two different identities when I was in fifth grade. Outside of school, I was a reasonably happy kid who enjoyed spending time with my friends, reading or listening to rock music. When I was in class, however, I turned into a very different Denise, one who was on guard all the time, and one who wanted nothing more than to get through the day without being teased.
To my classmates I was strange, because I wasn’t just like them. The most obvious thing they focused on was that I didn’t wear the same designer clothes as they did. Designer clothes were beyond my family’s reach. My mother was a single parent, and she worked long hours to support our small household. As far as love and attention were concerned, I was rich beyond all imagination. I was supported and cared for. The only thing that my classmates cared for was fashion, though, and there, I was poor.
I never knew if my classmates would torment (戏弄) me in class, but on the bus I could count on it. My trips to and from school were the horrific, painful bookends to stressful days. One girl made a point of running over to my seat every morning to see what I was wearing, and then returned to her friends to laugh about it. I shrank into myself and stared out the window.
I was the smallest girl in my class. One of my classmates’ mothers noticed, and offered me a beautiful skirt that her daughter had outgrown. I wore it happily, thrilled to have a cool item of clothing for once. When I outgrew the skirt, my mother bought me a new one of my own, one without a label. When my classmate saw it, she shouted on purpose, “Oh, that’s not my skirt, is it? Where did you get this one, Denise? The poorhouse?” My classmates burst into laughter, and I slipped away, my eyes locked on the ground. I stopped wearing the skirt.
注意：
1.续写词数应为 150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
After fifth grade ended, over the summer, I spent a month at a day camp.
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With the love and support of my new friends, I became more confident.
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My mother believed in using things up. Last year, our cornfield had a bad harvest because birds feasted on the crops. It was probably then that Mom’s frugality(节俭)became even more extraordinary. She began keeping everything that seemed useless in the attic(阁楼)—worn-out clothes, old sheets, broken umbrellas, and some other old items. Mom’s favorite saying was “waste not, want not”(俭以防匮). My brother Josh and I weren’t sure what that meant until the “Affair of the Scarecrow(稻草人)”, which, as it later became known, left a lasting impression on us.
The story began with a pretty hat that Mom received as a gift to protect her from the sun. However, Josh and I could see that Mom’s frugal nature and fashion sense were in battle. Mom really didn’t want to get rid of the hat—it was new and had a lot of use left in it—but neither could she stand wearing it. She tried to take off the fancy decorations, but they were stuck on tight. She’d have to find some other solution.
Josh and I watched as Mom headed upstairs to the attic with the hat. “Waste not, want not,” she called back down. We heard boxes being moved around. Moments later, Mom leaned out, holding a flour bag full of straw, and with a mysterious smile, she placed the hat on it.
“What is that for?” I asked, confused. “A scarecrow! ” Mom exclaimed. “But not a good one yet.It needs a strong body to stand firm in the field,” she said with a frown. “And it doesn’t look scary enough,” Josh remarked. I had to admit that Josh, though younger than I was, could sometimes be more imaginative. Josh and I turned to each other, searching for a good idea. Soon enough, Josh’s eyes lit up with inspiration.
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: “Come with me!” Josh called out.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: In the following days, the scarecrow stood proudly.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________During the past two years, I felt down from time to time, especially when I stayed indoors. To get out of the house, I decided to teach myself how to skate again even though it had been more than 30 years since I had been on the ice. Little did I know, I would also be teaching myself how to rise to the challenges I’d soon face in life, too.
I dug out my old figure skates, but they didn’t work. So I ordered a new pair of skates and found a place to get them sharpened. I assumed it would be easy to pick up from where I had left off, so I reserved our ice time. Armed and ready, I was awake before the online reservation system opened to secure spots at my neighborhood rink (滑冰场). I even convinced my son to join me for my first go.
Filled with fear, I estimated there was a five-centimeter drop down from the walking ledge (台子) to the ice and nothing nearby to grab onto in order to keep my balance. My son was already circling around but skated over to offer his arm for support.
I climbed down, one skate at a time and my leg shook slightly when both feet landed on the ice.
“Can I hang onto you for the first few minutes?” I asked my son nervously. I took baby steps but I had forgotten how to glide (滑行). Eager to see how far I could go, I let go of my son’s arm.
With great efforts, I began to do slow laps, inching ahead with my skates and staying close to the rink boards.
I avoided falling on my first attempt but as I walked home silently with my son, I wondered whether I should quit. Fear had held me back and I hadn’t given it my all.
“You used to skate so well, what happened?” asked my son.
“Life got in the way.”
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。
But I did not cancel my future reserved ice times.
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After some progress was made, I decided to sign up for adult learn-to skate lessons the following winter.
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When I was young, I lived in a small village in Melaka. The spirit of neighborliness was very strong then. All of us were quite poor by today’s standards but we got by. However, one family which could be considered as poor as a church mouse was the Lim family living in the bicycle shop just opposite our house.
Mr. Lim, the shop owner, had twelve children. The joke amongst the neighbors was that he was aiming to form a football team among his children. However, seriously speaking, it was no joke for him trying to feed his growing children daily. My family was relatively better off in the village and my father was the headman. My mother was a kind-hearted soul. She would bring over whatever food we could spare to our neighbors.
I remember one particular year when times were very hard. The economy was doing very badly. For many people, three meals a day was a luxury let alone buying a new bicycle. Even my family had to make do with two meals a day. One day, I noticed my mother looking troubled. She had learned that the Lim family had not been eating for the past two days. There and then, she decided to sacrifice part of our meals to the family. Despite my protest that we too were hungry, she kept on doing the kind act from then on. Fortunately, the troubled situation did not last long, and the children in our family returned to our three meals a day again.
As time went on, I noticed Mr. Lim grow cheerful. The number of customers at his shop had increased steadily. Business at his shop took off like a rocket as bicycles were very useful and popular for transport then.
However, it was at this time that my father’s business took a turn for the worse. My father was a grocery owner and he trusted many people readily. One day, his senior assistant ran off with almost all the shop’s earnings. My father had to run around, trying to make up for the loss.
During that time, his health was also worsening. One night, my father suddenly fainted, putting the whole house totally in chaos. My mother tried several times to wake him up but failed. We children were all frightened and cried loudly.
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。
Hearing our cries, Mr. Lim rushed to help.
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Finally, my father recovered with piles of bills to pay.
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I walked to Mrs. Windsor’s house and waited outside. She was working with another student, and I was not supposed to bother them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and daydreamed what I’d rather be doing. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn’t have a gift for it. Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons for free, so I felt it my duty to try.
The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to sort through my sheet music. Today Mrs. Windsor introduced her niece Pasha to teach me.
With a smile, Pasha sat beside me on the piano bench, opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I arranged my fingers on the keys. Then I frowned (皱眉) and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I had to admit I was a rather mechanical (不加思考的) pianist.
After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as if to calm my fingers. There was a long pause. “What are you hearing in the music?” I looked at her rather strangely and admitted I didn’t know what she meant. “Like a story. Here, let me try and you listen,” Pasha advised.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers dance lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. “See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?” Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. “Now a princess appears and she’s picking flowers from the water’s edge.” A happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha’s dancing fingers.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
Suddenly the music changed.
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That day means a lot in my musical life.
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I first became conscious of my body image last year in fifth grade. One day I was walking by my mirror getting ready for bed and I noticed that my stomach looked big. I started to really hate that and think I was fat even though my family always told me how skinny I was. It wasn’t only my stomach—I started to think my nose was ugly and that my laugh was disgusting. I was even afraid to laugh or smile in public.
Then, in the sixth grade, a popular guy in my class named Luke made it worse. He told his table group that my body looked swollen in skinny jeans. I heard about it from someone else, but then Luke even told me to my face! I couldn’t stop thinking about what Luke had said. Even worse, I started to believe it was true, and I hid my skinny jeans all the way at the bottom of my drawer.
I know I cared too much about what other people said and thought about me. I guess I just wanted to be liked. In fact, I really wish I could have just brushed off comments like that, but I couldn’t change my personality and what I care about that easily.
Luke’s mean comment affected me in a big way. I lost confidence in more than just my body—I started to think that I didn’t matter and that I didn’t have a place in the world. To make it worse, some people also started telling me that I was not meant to be an author, which is what I really want to be. That especially hurt and I started to feel really sad all the time.
I hadn’t really told anyone how I’d been feeling until a couple of months ago when I got a call from my cousin. I’m really close to her, and hearing her voice and laugh made me feel so good inside. I thought about how I used to be that way too, and how I was so sick of feeling sad.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Then I started telling her and it all came out.
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When I went back to my bedroom, I looked at myself in the mirror for a long time.
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