It’s eight o’clock on Christmas morning, and my dad says he wants to listen to the news. My 11-year-old self is wondering why on Earth grown-ups would be interested in the news when there are important things to be done, such as handing out presents. And then, while I am only half-listening, something strange happens: the newsreader begins talking about a Christmas message. Hadn’t we heard that report earlier?
My older brother, Colin, figures out what’s happening. “Pete, Pete, it’s a tape recorder! We’ve got our tape recorder!”
It finally dawns on me: my dad recorded the news and is playing it back now.
Colin and I had both been blind from birth. At the special school that Colin and I attended, a recorder of your own was the height of desire. However, realistic about family finances, we had no real expectations of getting one.
The tape recorder my dad bought us would have cost more than four times his weekly wage. He could only afford it by borrowing the money. I know my mum and dad would have thought long and hard before being in the debt.
The new toy controlled the rest of the Christmas holidays. Once we had mastered the controls, we recorded anything and everything: each other, our parents, the milkman, the dog... and we very quickly learned how much fun we could have with it.
It wasn’t the first time I had been attracted by a tape recorder. I vividly remember walking into a room when I was four and hearing a child’s tuneless singing. I stopped dead. “It’s you,” Dad said.
It turned out that he had borrowed a tape recorder. So for the first time, in the same way that a sighted child might react to seeing themselves in a mirror, I got the sense of myself as a separate person who existed outside my head and was experienced by other people.
注意：1.词数150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I took my first steps down the path to my career as a broadcaster when I returned to school.
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Ten years later, I walked into a radio station, in the hopes of selling myself as a broadcast journalist.
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Tim’s daughters, Hope and Hannah, have smartness, great humor, athletic abilities and beauty. His home is full of medals and many other awards his daughters have won over the years.
But the one thing they have never had in abundance (大量) is money. Having a single parent with a low-paid job, they never have pocket money. They wear hand-me-downs store clothing. But they never complain and never cry out for something Tim can’t afford.
Tim has many wonderful memories of his daughters. However, there is one that stands out.
When Hope was 10 years old and Hannah was 8 years old, they were looking for a gift to give Tim for Christmas. “Dad often gave us gifts. Now I think we should also give one to him,” Hope suggested. Hannah said it was a good idea. And they wondered what gift they should give their dad. After thinking for long, they thought of the National Geographic magazines. Their dad always loved the magazine. But because money was especially tight (紧的) that year, Tim had not been able to subscribe (订阅) to it. “The magazines sold in the bookstore aren’t that cheap. Well, at least, we can buy one and give it to Dad as a Christmas gift,” Hope said.
Not having any money of their own, Hope and Hannah then wondered how to solve the problem. Finally, they decided to find part-time jobs in the small neighborhood to make money. First, they needed to be permitted (允许) by their dad.
When they shared their decision one night, Tim thought they wanted to buy some toys, candy or something else for themselves. Since he couldn’t give them pocket money and thought part-time jobs could be helpful to a kid, he agreed. But he didn’t want them to be too tired, so he reminded them, “When you find you dislike the jobs, you can just give up.” Hope and Hannah smiled and nodded, and Tim thought they surely wouldn’t stick to their part-time jobs for long.
Paragraph 1:The next morning, Hope and Hannah walked around the neighborhood to look for possible part-time jobs.
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With the money, Hope and Hannah rushed to a nearby bookstore.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I had a trip to New Mexico last year, a trip I still remember very well to this day. I went to a place called Philmont and attended a summer camp. There were thirteen people including me. The entire 10-day hike we took through those mountains went well, except for the second day, because of the terrible weather.
It had been a nice sunny day up until we were halfway to the camp we were staying at that night. Then without a word it started raining gently. There was nothing too bad and certainly nothing we couldn’t handle. We put our raincoats on and continued on our way. It stayed raining slightly for a while, so I decided it would be a good idea to say, “Well, it can’t be much worse than this, right?” And in less than five seconds the thunder crashed around us. It almost sounded like a laugh, as if it was laughing at us. Then the rain started to come down harder, and then, the hail (冰雹) came.
Getting hit with balls of ice in the middle of the New Mexico mountains was not something I had ever thought would happen to us, but here we were. All thirteen of us were wishing at that moment that we could go home. But we quickly abandoned the idea. It was freezing, and my feet felt like they might fall off. Wet, cold, and carrying 40 pounds on our backs, we hiked on.
But soon enough we got lost for about a mile because of a mistake that our “Navi-guesser” made on getting us to our destination. At the same time, one of our boys got a minor case of hypothermia (低温症). We decided to stop for a while, unpacking our tents to get into a nice warm sleeping bag. I don’t know if you know this, but unpacking camping gear (装备) in the rain was not very fun, especially setting up a tent.
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。
We came up with a solution.
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The rain stopped just as we were about to start.
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【推荐3】Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. All claimed that they were the best. The most important. The most useful. The favorite.
Green said: “Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority.”
Blue interrupted: “You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing.”
Yellow chuckled: “You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun.”
Orange started next to blow her trumpet: “I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and papayas. I don’t hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you.”
Red could stand it no longer he shouted out: “I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood - life’s blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy.”
And so the colors went on boasting,
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Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.
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Sometime during the seventh grade two things happened to me. The first was that I got hooked on salami (腊肠). The other thing was that my mom and I weren’t getting along really well. We weren’t fighting really badly or anything, but we didn’t laugh together much anymore. Things were changing, and my mom and I were the first to feel it.
As far as the salami went, my mom wouldn’t buy any because she said it was too expensive and not that good for me. To prove my emerging independence, one day I used my pocket money to buy a full sausage of dry salami. I didn’t want my mom to see it. So I hid it in the only place that I knew was totally safe — under my bed. There was a special corner under the bed that the upright hoover couldn’t reach. Under the bed went the salami, back in the corner — in the dark and the dust.
A couple of weeks later, I remembered the delicious treat that was waiting for me. I peered beneath the bed and saw... not the salami that I had hidden, but some green and hairy object that didn’t like anything that I had ever seen before. The salami had grown about an inch of hair, and the hair was standing straight up, as if the salami had been surprised by the sudden appearance of my face next to its hiding place. Being a picky eater, I was not interested in consuming any of this object.
Some time later, my mom became obsessed with spring cleaning, which in her case meant she would clean places that had never seen the light of day. I knew in my heart that the moment would soon come when she would find the object in its hiding place. During the first two days of her cleaning, I watched carefully to judge the time when I thought she would find the salami, She washed, she scrubbed, she dusted... she screamed! “Ahhhhhh... ahhhhh... ahhhhh!” The screams were coming from my room. Alarms went off in my head. She had found the salami!
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:
“What is it, Mom?” I yelled as I ran into my room.
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Paragraph 2:
When my mom continued pushing it hard, I finally burst out laughing.
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| Viewpoints | Pros | Cons |
| Reasons | 1. Not feeling lonely 2. Taking turns to look after parents | 1. Worrying about getting less love from parents 2. Not getting along well with brothers or sisters |
| Your opinions | ||
1.词数：100左右，开头已给出，不计入总词数；
2.应覆盖所有要点，可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Do you agree that your parents have a second child? Different students have different opinions about it.
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Love makes the world go around and a mother’s love never changes
After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. It’s hard to imagine that the other woman was my mother, who has been living alone for 19 years, but I am too busy to visit her often. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
“What’s wrong? Are you well?” she asked. My mother always doubts that a late night call is a sign of bad news.
“It would be pleasant to spend some time with you,” I responded.
As I drove over to pick her up, I noticed that she seemed to be nervous about our date. But she smiled from a face that was as beautiful as an angel’s. “I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,” she said.
We went to a restaurant that was very nice and comfortable. My mother look my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. I saw mom sitting there looking at me with a smile on her lips.
“I used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said. “Then it’s time to let me return the favor,” I responded.
During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation - nothing special but catching up on recent events. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为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语。
Paragraph 1:
When I got home, my wife shared her story about her mom who passed away years ago. _________________
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Paragraph 2:
Several days later, I received my mother’s invitation. _____________________________________________
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Last summer vacation, I traveled to Sanya in Hainan, China. When my dad told me one of the items on the journey would be one of the highest water slides (水上滑梯) in Asia, I asked my dad repeatedly whether I could stay, at home. But my dad said that I would love it and we should go together.
Three days later, I was standing in front of that water slide in Atlantics Waterpark. The slide was located in a building. When I looked up at the thousands of stairs leading to the peak of the building, I thought to myself, “If I fall-from that place, I will definitely die.”
As we started climbing the stairs, I saw three words on the wall: Leap (跳跃) of Faith. I had never heard of these words, and at that time they reminded me of death rather than success. Five meters, ten meters... I looked down and thought, “I am going to die today.” Fifteen meters, twenty meters... I thought about many things I hadn’t done and asked my dad whether I had life insurance. Twenty-five meters, thirty meters... and we were finally at the top, ready to jump into the slide. I looked at the three people next to me and thought, “These are the last three people I will see in my life.”
I had to admit that at that moment, my heart was filled with fear, and my legs were trembling. I hesitated about taking the step. Just then, a younger boy next to me said, “Excuse me, if you don’t want to go now, I will go first.” Then he walked past me and jumped into the slide, disappearing in seconds.
My father said to me jokingly, “Look, that boy is not even half of your height. He dares to challenge himself. Come on, Selina. You can do it.”
注意：1．续写的词数应为150左右；2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答；
3．续写的内容中须有环境（景物）描写。
With a dep breath, I stepped closer to the edge of the slide.
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A moment later, my father came down the slide, too. There was a note of excitement on his face. He rushed over and gave me a high-five. “Nice job! Selina. It wasn’t that hard, was it?” Looking up at the high slide again, I exclaimed proudly, “Yes! We survived!” We exchanged a knowing smile, both realizing I had conquered the fear inside and made a perfect leap.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I didn’t know the lady, but I saw her often around town with her two small children. She appeared to be shy, always looking down, trying not to make eye contact. She often wore the same clothes, and so did her children. I felt her discomfort when I saw her at the supermarket checkout. She reminded me of myself years ago. We had to go through a tough time.
Back then, I couldn’t afford a new winter coat for my daughter, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. Luckily, my three younger children could wear hand-me-downs. One night, I said to myself in my heart that I wished someone to offer me help. I did it for the first time since my husband’s unemployment.
The next morning, a neighbour came into the place where I worked. “I know you must feel unbelievable, This morning, I had an overwhelming(无法抗拒的)feeling that you needed this,” she whispered. She insisted on giving me twenty dollars. My eyes started to tear as she continued, “I also have a box of clothes in my car that I was going to donate. Please take what you need. “It was really a shock of getting her help. Was this the response to my word the night before?
Going through the large box of clothes, I found several winter items for my children, including a dark purple jacket that looked like it would fit my daughter. Although grateful, I felt embarrassed. The woman must have sensed my discomfort. She raised my chin so I could look at her. “We all need help at one time or another,” she said. “One day, you’ll be the one helping someone in need.”
I thanked her and promised I would always try to pay it forward.
注意：
1.续写词数为100左右;
2.续写部分分一段，开头语已为你写好;请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Looking at the lady at the supermarket checkout, I knew perhaps it was the proper time.
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In high school, I was a straight-A student, a member of many school clubs, and a receiver of many rewards. However, I had been subjected to (受到……折磨) peer pressure. Wanting to be “cool!”, I started going to parties and drinking, drunk beyond recognition. My life took a turn for the worse. However, the experience in one summer program taught me a lesson: never do something you believe is wrong just to gain the approval of others.
In June, I worked part-time at a restaurant. The day before I left for the program, one co-worker offered me his driver’s license, telling me to have fun in Quebec since we two almost looked the same. I’d seen friends walk into liquor (酒) stores with fake licenses and come out carrying a twelve-pack of beer, smiling proudly. So I took the license, but I promised myself that I wouldn’t use it. However, I easily got carried away.
On the first night of the program, while walking around, my new friends and I came across a liquor store. Kai asked if anyone had a fake license. After everyone shook his head, I cleared my throat and declared, “I do.” With everyone’s admiration and Kai’s twenty dollars and instruction, I boldly agreed to take on the task without thinking. I managed to buy a case of beer. The boys cheered and gave me pats on the back. “You’re the man,” someone said to me. The praise boosted my self-confidence.
The last night there was a party. A few of my friends insisted that we drink before the dance. They asked me, the “ID man,” to buy alcohol. To earn their admiration, I took the cash and bought what they wanted. Later that night, I was enjoying myself when Kai said nervously, “Cristian isn’t okay.” Worried for my friend, I went to assess the situation. Clearly, Cristian was overly drunk and almost unconscious (不省人事的).
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中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语。
Paragraph 1:
Suddenly, something went wrong: Cristian fell to the ground.
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Paragraph 2:
The next day, I was called to the program director’s office.
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