I was twenty when living away from home alone. I kept a gentle dog named Beaufort who weighed more than me and had a mouthful of sharp teeth. I felt safe going anywhere with Beaufort. In order to be free to walk Beaufort in the park during daytime, I worked the four-to-midnight shift in downtown. The only disadvantage was that I had to ride the last subway home late at night. As time passed, I developed a way to keep to myself like other passengers—avoiding eye contact and keeping reading while I rode.
One night, the station was quiet as usual. I walked over to the collector’s booth (售票亭) and pulled out a dollar. “One token (乘车币), please.” As the collector slid the token and my change under the window, he spoke, “Would you like a dog?” I looked at him in surprise, not sure whether I had heard him correctly. “Would you like a dog?” he repeated.
He picked up a little dog and set it on the counter. I bent over and it was only then that I saw the subject of his inquiry. The dog appeared to be trembling (颤抖). I was surprised. “Where’d it come from?” I asked. “She showed up this morning and has been here ever since. No one has come for her. I’ve asked everyone coming here if he wanted her. Nobody would take her.” “What about you?” He smiled, “Me? No. My wife would be angry.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the dog. The collector continued: “If you don’t take her, I’ll have to let her go when I leave.” I couldn’t believe it! He explained that it was almost closing time, he couldn’t leave her in the booth, neither could he bring her home. I, in other words, was the dog’s last hope.
“Okay, I will take her. I’d name her Phyllis”. With excitement, the collector walked out of the booth and handed me my new pet. “Thank you so much.”
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。
When we stepped into the train all the passengers turned to look at us.
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Arriving home, we found Beaufort at the regular corner.
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“Sophie would make a good therapy(治疗) dog.”
The day my dog trainer said those words, I didn’t even know what a therapy dog was. I certainly had no idea what features my little dog had that would make her a candidate. But why not, I thought, if we can help people in need of some cheering up?
Last week, I accompanied Sophie to a hospital for our first day on the job. In the year and a half I had spent getting her certified, I had learned what to expect. I would bring Sophie into a patient’s room to be a pleaser, and then we would move on. Of course, Sophie herself couldn’t understand her purpose in all of this, but she was always happy to meet new people, and that was enough.
We walked through the wide automatic sliding glass doors and into the hall, where we were met by a nurse who ran the therapy dog program at the hospital. “Welcome,” Sophie, she said. “I’ll be taking you two around today.”
I followed the nurse down the hall. Sophie trotted (小跑) along at my side, just as she had been trained. “We’re a care unit,” the nurse explained. “Most of our patients are seniors.” I knew how important it was for Sophie to be her gentlest. “She was trained and ready for this, I reminded myself.
Up ahead was an old lady making her way down the hall with a walker. A nurse walked beside her, holding on to a gait belt (步态训练带)to keep her steady. We caught up with them, but the patient remained focused on her walker. As we were passing by at a safe distance, the lady turned her walker towards a chair against the wall. “Okay, we’ll stop for a rest,” her nurse said. Once the lady was settled, she pointed a finger at Sophie, as if to say “Please bring me that dog.”
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。
I picked up Sophie and placed her in the lady’s lap.
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“It’s a wonder! We had thought the lady lost the ability to speak,” the nurse told me excitedly.
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Snowball came into our lives one winter. Since the moment my dad brought him home, they have formed a close relationship. While Snowball was still young，my dad began training him. A good herding (牧放牲畜) dog is necessary for our farm where cows are raised, so Dad began preparing him for the role. Snowball’s determination to please my dad was amazing. Watching them herd cows together was interesting.
One summer morning when Snowball was six, he herded our cows out of the corral (畜栏). When the cows walked around and ate grass, my mom and I left home to visit my grandma. And as usual, Snowball sadly watched as my dad left for work in the truck. Although Snowball wished to go along, he made no move toward the truck, knowing he shouldn’t leave.
That afternoon, Snowball walked back to the roadside, lay down under a tree and patiently looked down the road, waiting for my dad to return. When finally seeing my dad’s truck back, he stood up right away. Moments later, my dad pulled up beside the tree. As my dad got out of the truck, Snowball ran to him, voicing his joy. And he danced happily around my dad.
Then, it was time for Snowball to herd the cows into the corral. All the cows, except a yellow one, were successfully herded into the corral. This yellow cow refused to go in, though Snowball did his best to herd it. Probably it was because the extreme heat of the day had made this cow angry. When it had no patience anymore, the cow turned and suddenly charged (进攻) at my dad, who was standing nearby. Catching Dad off guard, the cow knocked him to the ground. My dad wanted to go into the nearby truck but his legs got injured. While he was trying to stand up, the cow looked at him in preparation for charging again. Just then, Snowball rushed to help my dad.
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。
Showing teeth and looking at the cow, Snowball stood bravely in front of my dad.
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Before long, my mom and I returned home and learned what had happened.
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I met Bosco in the remote wilderness near Mount Robson. At the end of a long day of backpacking, I had put up my tent beside a river and was preparing to catch supper. Then I looked up, and there he was: an enormous black bear, slowly circling within 30 yards.
He wasn’t Bosco to me yet, and I viewed his presence with fear. However, I decided to go about my fishing. The bear came along.
I’ve lived with wild creatures for 30 years, always respecting their first fear—fast movements—so I let the bear see every slow move. Soon he was sitting less than five feet away, interested in my activity. When I landed a fish I threw it to him lightly. He gulped (大口吞咽). And then he moved closer and settled half his 225 kilograms next to me!
When darkness set in, I was still fishing for that bear, attracted as much by his gentle manners as by his eagerness for fish. I began to think of him in a friendly way as Bosco, and I didn’t mind when he followed me back to camp.
After supper, I build up the fire and sat on the sleeping bag. The moment I comfortably lay, he walked over and sat down beside me. I rather enjoyed his warmth. I listened to the rain beating on the tent in time with the steady, powerful heartbeat beneath his thick coat.
Then suddenly Bosco began licking (舔) my hands. Guessing what he wanted, I got him a handful of salt. He excitedly licked until the last grain of salt was gone.
It is from the fish and salt I offered him that I received his trust, dependence and friendship. During the night, he left and came to the sleeping bag several times. Each time he climbed around and over me, but he never put his full weight down when he touched me.
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 next day I set off again, Bosco followed me as my dog.
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However, the bear was nowhere to be seen the next morning.
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16-year-old Tim looked up to his father Roger, who worked as a firefighter. While the teenager always talked about his dream of joining the fire department, the man didn’t believe the boy was cut out to be a firefighter because Tim left the usual stereotype of a bookworm: a straight-A student who wore large glasses, and was physically weak.
It was a typical school day. Tim’s math teacher announced their weekly test results, and the boy was delighted to learn that he had scored the highest mark. His friend Harry, however, was upset because he got a bad grade.
Seeing him sit in a corner with his head resting on the table, he approached him and said, “Hey, Harry, I know you got a bad grade, but I can teach you these topics. You’ll grasp it in no time, I’m sure. And you can improve your grade next week. What do you say?” “That’s so sweet of you, Tim! Let’s meet at my house after school today,” Harry said with a smile. “Sure!” Tim replied.
Harry lived on the outskirts of town. It took Tim, who passed his driving test recently, half an hour to drive there. Once his car neared Harry’s estate, he was shocked to see a blazing fire. Upon driving closer, he realized his house was on fire. Frightened, he quickly picked up his phone and called 911.
Then, Tim took off his shirt, grabbed a bottle of water from his car, and poured it on the shirt. He wrapped the wet shirt around his face, as he had seen in movies, and entered the house. He started climbing towards the hallway window of Harry’s bedroom.
Tim found a baseball bat in the hall. It took him five whole minutes to swing it hard enough to break the window. Once the glass was broken, he rushed towards Harry’s room. He couldn’t see much because of the thick black smoke floating in the air, but he managed to locate him. He was lying unconscious (昏迷的) on his bed after breathing in the smoke.
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
Paragraph 1:
He knew he had to act fast before it was too late.
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Roger received an unexpected call from the hospital telling him of Tim’s heroic act.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I’d had a rather stressful day at work. It didn’t help that I’d also had another argument with my teenaged daughter that morning. By the time I arrived home, I eagerly anticipated(期盼)getting my evening walk to clear my mind. It was getting cloudier and I could tell that rain was coming. No problem. I would be home long before the liquid sunshine fell.
The intense walk worked off much of my energy. I slowed my pace, but a quick glance down shocked me. The cutest Jack Russell Terrier had appeared out of nowhere and was keeping pace beside me. I knelt to pet her, delighted to discover that her ears were so soft that she reminded me of my childhood dog. She had the same coloring as Lucky — white with a large black spot on her back and side, brown face, and white nose.
“Where did you come from, little one?” She was not wearing a collar or identification tags. I remembered seeing a Terrier when I drove into the neighborhood a few hours earlier. It had darted(突然行进)into the street in front of my car, but I had assumed she lived in the area. She must be the same dog.
I continued my walk, thinking she would find her way home on her own. The little stray continued to keep pace, walking next to me as if we were age-old companions. When I looked around, I was not surprised that, other than the dog, I was alone on this dreary(沉闷的)night. The sky had already darkened. I was worried. If I left her out there, she might be hit by a car. I wondered if I should just take her home.
The timing was ironic(讽刺的). My sixteen-year-old daughter, Megan, wanted another pet. Our family dog, Daisy, had slowed considerably in her old age, and Megan hoped we would adopt a younger, livelier dog. We had resisted her requests, since she would be leaving for college in a couple of years. Besides, Megan and I had not exactly seen eye-to-eye earlier that day. I didn’t want it to seem as if I was rewarding her after yet another argument.
The heavens opening and rain pouring, I made my decision.
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The neighbor offered to give me a spare leash(遛狗绳), and I accepted gratefully.
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I’m retired and not responsible for much these days. I don’t have school-age children who require help with their homework. I sleep in when I choose, do a little writing and repair a few things around the house. My wife’s work, on the other hand, is never-ending. Diana takes care of her parents in their mid-nineties, tends to home and garden, volunteers for various community organizations, and is a gold-star grandmother. She is also a dedicated cat lover, and cats have always been her pet of choice.
All that changed when two small black-and-brown dogs scampered into our yard and melted Diana’s heart. It happened not long ago. The dogs appeared unannounced and had been seen by hikers on numerous occasions, roaming the woods like tiny lost souls. They were homeless dogs, as wild as the wind. No one could get within 100 yards of them. In their struggle for survival, the two had figured out a way to avoid people and find food and shelter in the wilderness.
They were undeniably cute and appealing. Many of our neighbors tried to lure them in with treats, but the tiny dogs remained unapproachable. My wife began leaving tasty food out, slowly moving the food bowl closer with each feeding. As days passed, they ventured closer and closer. Diana made a conscious effort not to frighten them. She called them to dinner with a comforting voice, letting them know they were safe. It was important that they trusted her. Why? She was looking for something to mother. For Diana, love is the medicine to everything, and nothing tugged at her heartstrings more than a hungry and homeless animal.
Diana named them “Emma” and “Daisy” and she called the dogs her “little wolves.” Initially, they would not let her touch them. As days turned into weeks, their bond slowly grew. Soon, Diana was petting them. Next, they were eating from her hand. Before long, she had them sitting in her lap and following her around the yard. And poof! My wife was instantly transformed from cat lady to dog lady.
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:
It wasn’t long before the dogs were sleeping in the house and assuming their role as “watchdogs”.
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Paragraph 2:
Time in the yard feels like a second childhood with Daisy and Emma playing about our feet.
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