The average present merely satisfies a temporary desire; the great one becomes more precious with time going by.

When I was a boy of fourteen, I needed to have 80 hours of community service per year and I used to take care of Mrs. Long’s garden, which was near the Presbyterian Church. As a junior high school student, I devoted myself to it, sweeping the fallen leaves and mowing the lawn (修剪草坪). There I learnt how to cut away dry branches and even helped to plant a sapling (小树苗). Tired as I was every time I finished my work, I did enjoy the time there for learning something new. I clearly remembered that Mrs Long, a nice and caring elder, always treated me to delicious meals and drinks. She also loved taking photos, always with an old camera in hand. It was said that the camera was passed down from her father and she cherished it a lot.

Several days before Christmas, she whispered to me, “When Christmas comes, I shall have a present for you.” I spent much time wondering what it would be. The boys I played with had baseball gloves, ice skates and bicycles, and I was so eager to acquire any one of these that I convinced myself that she intended to choose from among them. But at the same time, I had some doubts whether she would buy me such things because she was not that well-off.

The day before Christmas, I went there as before. With the work done, I was going to leave when she pulled me aside. “Kid, wait for a minute,” she said, leading me into her living room. She seated me on a chair, went to another room, and in a moment stood before me holding a small package that under no circumstances could hold a bicycle or a pair of skates or even a baseball glove. It weighed almost nothing.

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。

Moving In

My eighty-five-year-old mother offered that familiar tilt (歪头) of the head, the one that told me something was up. I tensed my shoulders and bit my lip, waiting for whatever was coming next.

I could handle it. She was predictable, though dramatic. I expected her to express her thoughts on the latest news or share the senior community news.

Instead, she calmly said, as though she were sharing her dinner menu, “I’m going to downsize and sell my house and nearly everything I own.” The breaking news was followed by a matter of fact stare.

“Do what?” I asked. “I’ll be a floater,” she said.

“I’ll stay with you, then with my brothers in Maine, and then with some of my friends. I’ll just float around and enjoy myself.” She laughed as though she’d just discovered the perfect lifestyle. “I’ll take my cat everywhere with me. I can’t bear to leave him behind or give him away. What do you think?”

“No one will want you to show up with your cat.” My answer seemed a shock to her. After only seconds, she added, “Well, I just won’t tell them he’s coming. We’ll just show up. What can they do?”

Shocked, I took a deep breath and forced myself to respond by explaining all the reasons why selling, moving in with me, and fearlessly dragging the cat across the country in secret were terrible ideas.

Unbothered, she simply said, “You’re so dramatic. It’ll be fine.”

I didn’t take her announcement seriously. A few days after her announcement,my brother and I enjoyed a few laughs over her idea. After all, our mother was too independent to be placed in a place long-term with any of her children. She had made this clear on many occasions when I’d begged to live next door to her. I’d wanted to be close enough to watch over her but not too close, but she’d always refused.

I enjoyed living alone, hearing the quiet, writing and reading. I hated noise. My mother loved radio, television, and phone calls, endless phone calls. We would not make good housemates.

Sometimes I just felt like there were two of me. On the night of our school science fair, Mum and Dad both came because I was getting an award (奖励). They didn’t sit together but they each told me how proud they were of me. It was the first time in a long time that I’d seen them in the same room.

When I went back to Mum’s the next day, I was feeling sad and wasn’t paying attention as I rode my bike down the street. My bike hit a rock, and I fell down hard into the street, twisting (扭伤) my leg.

Mum rushed me to the emergency room calling Dad on the way. Someone put me on a bed and took an X-ray of my leg. My leg really hurt, but I almost forgot about it when I saw Mum and Dad both standing next to me. When the doctor said my leg wasn’t broken and I could go home, I went back to being the same old rubber band (橡皮筋).

At least at school nothing had changed, and I could be just me. My best friend, Trish, was in my class and we told each other everything, our deepest, darkest secrets. But one day Trish decided to pick Lisa instead of me to be on her softball team. I was so mad! So I hid her lunchbox. No one could find it. Later that day the teacher asked the kids again if anyone knew what had happened to the lunchbox. When she got to me, I couldn’t lie. I was sent to the principal’s (校长) office, and the principal called my parents. We had a meeting. Mum gave me her disappointed look that said, “How could you embarrass (使难堪) me like this?”

Tears filled my eyes. “I know. I feel terrible. ” Then the words kept coming out of my mouth like rocks rolling down a hill. “I hate that you get divorced (离婚)! You don’t even talk to each other unless I’m having a problem. My whole life has changed. I have two different homes, and two different sets of rules. And Tm always afraid that if you get mad at me, you’ll divorce me, too. ‘‘I froze. Did I just say all those things out loud?

Mum and Dad stared at each other, speechless for a moment.

Anyway, after that day things seemed different.

When Mark was five years old, his parents separated and he stayed with his mother.

As Mark grew up he occasionally (偶尔地) thought of the brief time he shared with his father and longed to see him again one day. However, as he grew into his late teens, thoughts of his father began to fade away.

After he graduated from college, Mark got married and one year later, had a boy. The years passed.

One day when Mark’s son was five years old and as Mark was preparing to shave his face, his son looked up at him and laughed, “Daddy, you look like a clown (小丑) with that cream on your face.”

Mark laughed, looked into the mirror and realized how much his son looked like him at that age. Later, he remembered that his mother said he had told his own father the same thing.

This event started him thinking about his own father a lot and he began asking his mother. It had been a long time since Mark had spoken of his father and his mother told him that it was now over twenty years since she had spoken to him. In addition, all her knowledge of his father stopped when Mark became eighteen.

Mark looked deep into his mother’s eyes and said, “I need to find my father.” His mother then told him that his dad’s relatives had all passed away, and she had no idea where to begin searching for him but added, “Maybe, just maybe, if you contact the United States Embassy in England, they might be able to help you.”

Even though the chances seemed slim, Mark was determined. The very next day, he made an overseas call to the American Embassy.

“U.S. Embassy, how may we help you?”

“Ahh...hi, my name is Mark Sullivan and I am hoping to find my father.”

There was a long pause and the ruffing of some papers,’ and then the man said:

“Is this Mr. Mark Joseph Sullivan?”

“Yes,” Mark answered anxiously.

They checked the birth place and date.

Mark then overheard the man as he made an excited announcement to his coworkers.

The following day, Mark received a phone call from his overjoyed father.

Craig watched as his older sister Riley and friend Liz skated on the lake. When the game was over, Craig asked Riley what skating felt like.

“When I go really fast, I feel like I’m flying,” she said.

That’s silly, thought Craig. Flying is something birds do in the air, not something people do on ice Skates. Then he watched Riley go back out on the ice. She skated around and around the edge of the lake with increasing speed and soon she was going so fast that her arms looked like wings and her scarf like a long tail. Maybe skating really was like flying.

When Riley sat down to take her skates off, Craig said, “I wish I could fly.”

Riley didn’t say anything, but a few days later she asked Craig if he wanted to go skating. “Mom and I found a pair of my old skates. They might fit you.

The skates were a little big, but when Riley stuffed (填塞) newspaper in them, they fit. Craig couldn’t stop smiling. He didn’t want to take them off, but he had to so that he could walk to the lake.

Riley and Liz went with him. They carried a wooden chair. When they got to the lake. Craig put his skates back on and Riley helped him onto the ice. Then she put his hands on the back of the chair.

“Hang on to this and you won’t fall,” said Riley. “Just push it along in front of you, OK?”

Craig smiled. “OK.” He held on to the chair and kept himself balanced. Riley and Liz cheered him on as he started to move forward. Craig tried to skate like his sister but when he let go of the chair, he just fell. So he grabbed on to the chair again and moved on little by little. This wasn’t like flying at all. It was like being a snail (蜗牛).

“How’s it going?” Riley finally asked. Craig looked upset. “What’s wrong?” Riley asked.

“I wanted to skate like you,” Craig said, “I wanted to fly”.