The Science of Happiness
Kate is a bright young woman with an intense focus on academics and a long-term goal of becoming a neuroscientist (神经系统科学家). Her path is charted very carefully each day according to schedule. She meets after school with the Brain Club, a group she started that discusses neuroscience and trades academic papers like baseball cards. It’s the kind of group you would never imagine in high school, which is mature beyond their years and led by their own initiative.
It would seem there was no room in Kate’s schedule for fun, let alone helping others. But then she found out about an elementary school hit hard by the pandemic, then inflation, and now a recession (衰退). It sits in the middle of a working-class neighborhood and most of parents were tired out by working physically demanding jobs from dawn to dark. Most families were doing the best but they could just put a few groceries on the table.
Halloween was approaching, and many of the families didn’t participate because they lacked costumes and couldn’t afford to give out candy themselves. So Kate called the headmaster of the elementary school. She was told the families wanted their kids to have fun on Halloween, but they also needed more books in the home.
So Kate went to work. She began with the Brain Club and then branched out to other clubs. They would sponsor a trick-or-treat event featuring games, candy and book giveaways. It was a huge organizational challenge—one that only a very organized person could handle.So Kate put her smarts to use. She arranged for groups of her fellows to decorate their cars and create games. She found a DJ and rounded up boxes of costumes for the kids. She even got the local police to decorate their cruiser (巡逻车). And she went to work getting kids books donated.
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。
At dusk on Halloween,the cars arrived in the parking lot.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The headmaster said this was the happiest time for the kids.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
相似题推荐
注意：1.书名可以用汉语拼音；
2. 词数：120-150。
Speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age. We read articles, e-mails and We Chat quickly, trying to understand key words and the most important meaning of a certain text. Faced with so much information from our smart phones, it would be impossible to deal if we read word by word, line by line. However, more and more people enjoy reading slowly.
There is a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smart phones. They sink into comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike other book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn’t exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from smart phones and read in a quiet, relaxing environment. Actually, the Wellington book club is just one example of slow-reading book clubs.
Nowadays, technology has made us unable to focus on reading. “Screens have changed our reading patterns from the straight and information left-to-right order to a wild skimming(略读) and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading a text with links leads to weaker understanding than reading an ordinary text,” says Patrick Kingsley from a newspaper. However, slow reading is good for readers in many ways. It sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize (共鸣).Another study last year showed that reading novels slowly helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships.
Aim for 30 minutes a day, advises Kelly, a slow reader. “You can put in half an hour pretty easily during your free moments. You pick up a meaningful book rather than start your computer to look for your favorite site for something to pass the time,” Kelly said.
1. 书目名称;
2. 分享理由。
注意：1. 词数80左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯;
3. 开头和结尾已给出。
Good morning, my dear fellow classmates!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
That’s all! Thank you for your listening.
My brother Joe and I no longer live in the same state, but I make sure to give Joe a call every Christmas. In fact, I will never forget a Christmas when I was seven and Joe was five. I’ve kept a secret about that Christmas for 20 years. Now hearing Joe’s voice makes me feel guilty (内疚的) about it all over again. I think he probably doesn’t even remember it.
When we were kids, Joe almost drove me “crazy”! If Mom brought home my favorite yogurt, Joe would make sure to eat it before I got a chance. When our parents gave us each our own basketball, Joe insisted on playing with mine instead of his own.
That Christmas when I was seven, I was determined to teach him a lesson. At that time I was old enough that I no longer believed in Santa, but I knew Joe did. I couldn’t stand him thinking Santa had put him on the “nice” list when I knew he’d been naughty (淘气的) all year.
One day before Christmas, I put on my winter jacket and headed over to our neighbor’s backyard. It was filled with rocks. To me they really looked like coal (煤炭). I was sure that they’d look like coal to Joe too. I filled a lot of the rocks into the pockets of my winter jacket, brought them up to my room and hid them under my bed. Then I waited.
That morning, I got up early, went downstairs secretly and put the rocks into the red stocking with Joe’s name on it. I watched Joe take down his heavy stocking, lay it on the living room floor.
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。
Looking at the gift inside, Joe’s smile disappeared suddenly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I said on the phone, “Hey, Joe, do you remember that Christmas morning when you were five …your stocking…”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Twelve Days of Kindness
Although it was less than two weeks before Christmas, I found it difficult to be in a festive mood. We had moved to Canada, and holidays were difficult for us because we missed our friends and relatives in Minnesota. Our family was also going through a very difficult year, with health problems and a serious work-related problem for my husband.
“Mom, How I wish we could spend Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma in Minnesota. I really miss them and my friends there.” said my fifteen-year-old daughter, Rachel.
“I know, Rachel. So would I,” I said. “But Minnesota is 2,000 kilometers away. Don’t you remember how hard it was to drive in that snowstorm last year? And then the temperature dropped to-30℃ on our way back?”
“I remember,” she said and ducked her head disappointedly.
We thought driving to Minnesota for Christmas was too risky and buying airline tickets for three people was out of the question. We would be spending Christmas alone in Canada, and had no money for a Christmas tree or a Christmas dinner.
We were surprised when the doorbell rang. It was dark and cold outside, and we weren’t expecting anyone. Hesitantly, Rachel stood up and went forward to open the door, and then said, “Mom, there’s a big box on the doorstep and nobody is out here!” My husband also went and looked. But there was nobody insight.
They brought the box in. We were surprised to find that the box contained many packages covered in bright Christmas paper. Each had a typewritten note: Open Dec.14, Open Dec.15...There were a total of twelve—the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” The note read: Our LOVE is given anonymously(匿名地), so enjoy fun with your family, but don’t tell anyone please.
注意：
1.续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
After that, we opened one more gift each day.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
We opened the 12th package on December 25th.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
【推荐3】Pumpkin (南瓜) carving at Halloween is a family tradition. We visit a local farm every October. In the pumpkin field, I compete with my three brothers and sister to seek out the biggest pumpkin. My dad has a rule that we have to carry our pumpkins back home, and as the eldest child I have an advantage — I carried an 85-pounder (85磅重的南瓜) back last year.
This year, it was hard to tell whether my prize or the one chosen by my 14-year-old brother, Jason, was the winner. Unfortunately we forgot to weigh them before taking out their insides, but I was determined to prove my point. All of us were hard at work at the kitchen table, with my mom filming the annual event. I’m unsure now why I thought forcing my head inside the pumpkin would settle the matter, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time.
With the pumpkin resting on the table, hole uppermost (向上), I bent over and pressed my head against the opening. At first I got jammed (塞住) just above my eyes and then, as I went on with my task, unwilling to quit, my nose briefly prevented entry. Finally I managed to put my whole head into it, like a cork (软木塞) forced into a bottle. I was able to straighten up with the huge pumpkin resting on my shoulders.
My excitement was short-lived. The pumpkin was heavy. “I’m going to set it down, now,” I said, and with Jason helping to support its weight, I bent back over the table to give it somewhere to rest. It was only when I tried to remove my head that I realized getting out was going to be less straightforward than getting in. When I pulled hard, my nose got in the way. I got into a panic as I pressed firmly against the table and moved my head around trying to find the right angle, but it was no use. “I can’t get it out!” I shouted, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the enclosed (封闭的) space.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请如下格式在相应位置作答。
It was five or six minutes though it felt much longer.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The video was posted online the Monday before Halloween.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Standing at the lake’s edge, I threw my line onto the smooth-as-glass water of Police Outpost Lake, lost in my own thoughts.
I’d learned to fish from my dad. He had taught me to fish alone, in silence. He had been a fish and wildlife officer with great passion for his job, especially the part where he protected nature from humans. He had showed me everything I knew about fishing. Then, he passed away.
My brother Isaiah shouted, “where should I stand?”
“Be quiet or else we won’t catch any fish,” I whispered.
Isaiah frowned, sighing, but it was “message received. ”
Pulling back on my fish pole, looking into the light of the sun, I caught sight of a few great northern loons(潜鸟)gathered together not far from the shoreline. What were they doing there? Loons usually travel alone, but here were five of them in a group. Maybe it was a family? One loon, crying in sorrow, swam away from the group, toward me.
“Isaiah! Come here! Take a look at that loon. It’s swimming toward us, getting closer and closer. ”
“It’s only a decoy(诱饵),”said Isaiah. “Look at that beak(喙)! It could easily stick us to death with that thing! It could tear our faces! Pull out our eyes! ”
Just then, the loon let out crazy laughing sound.
“It’s not a decoy! It’s trying to get our attention. ” I said.
The loon stopped in the shallow water near shore, not ten feet away from us. It was so close that we could see its small red eyes.
Oddly, the bird’s wings were held against its spotted black-and-white body. Walking into the water, getting closer to the loon, we both saw a thin wire surrounding its neck tightly. It was asking us to help!
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。
Thinking of its dangerous beak, I was rooted to the spot.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We put the loon on a rock gently, satisfied with what we did just now.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On a normal day at the Brooklyn Center Liquor store, one of the things any customer would be greeted with is a warm smile from Ta Leia Thomas. She is also known as “Ace” by her co-workers.
Her kindness is something that people know about her, and this side of her was fortunately caught on film after she did an act of real concern that made people online feel inspired to share her story.
After going out for lunch, store manager Tom Agnes found Ta Leia serving customers wearing only her socks. It was an unusual sight for him, and knowing the cold weather outside, the manager was a bit concerned about what happened to her.
He decided to carefully examine the security camera footage(监控录像) to find out why Ta Leia was in her socks and had no shoes to protect her feet. That was when he found out the kind act his staff(员工) did for a homeless person.
In the security camera footage, a homeless man can be seen dragging boxes as he passed by the store. The only thing is that he wasn’t actually bringing the said boxes, but he wore them on his feet to serve as his shoes.
Ta Leia saw the man walk by and within seconds, the woman took off her own shoes and approached the homeless man. She gave her shoes to him and returned to work with only her socks on.
“I see his feet and I just took my shoes off,” Ta Leia said.
Ta Leia did not hesitate to give away her prized possession(私人物品) to help others in need. Her kindness is clearly inspiring and something that people online have found to be very uplifting(令人振奋的). Knowing that someone as kind as her is out there helping those in need is quite comforting.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150词左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Tom bought Ta Leia a new pair of shoes.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ta Leia kept posting on social media about her mom that she wants to take care of her mom.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few days before Christmas, while enjoying coffees, my girlfriend and I noticed a woman trying to get her bank card to work.
“Do you know her?” I asked my friend.
“I do. Give me a minute. I’m going to go and see if I can help,” she replied, standing up to walk over to her.
A few minutes later, my friend returned to the table with the woman. The woman looked upset. Her eyes were swollen, as if she’d been crying all night. She looked pale, tired, and messy. After I was introduced, my friend asked her if she was okay. She admitted she wasn’t and burst into tears.
I could sense she was a little embarrassed by her emotional response. Wanting to put her at ease, I quickly told her not to worry. I shared that I was a new mom with many troubles and I’d already cried fourteen times that day. She laughed but soon her tears were flowing again.
For the next forty-five minutes, my friend and I both sat and patiently listened to her. She lost her husband before Christmas and their bank accounts were now left nothing. As a stay-at-home mom of two, in one split second, her entire life had come crashing down around her.
We tried our best to cheer her up. My friend even tried to give her some cash, which she refused. When she finally got up to leave, she wiped her tears, thanked us both for listening, and walked out.
As I drove home, I couldn’t stop thinking about how depressed she looked when she left the cafe. No one deserves to feel that sad, I thought, especially right before Christmas. There must be something I can do to help. I racked my brain (绞尽脑汁) for an answer.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头已给出。
Gladly, a solution came.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The kids were overjoyed when hearing that Santa (圣诞老人) sent them gifts.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
