Positive Action Fuels Hope
“I’m not going back to group therapy (治疗). I refuse to be treated like that.” The voice was so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear.
Alicia Gonzalez suffered from depression. This was her second month at the homeless shelter, where I work as a case manager.
Alicia had been a nurse for 10 years. Her work was intense and demanding, and she loved it. To her, the trauma (精神创伤) she’d suffered was that her son lost his life in a car crash. With her brain overloaded by the trauma, she couldn’t focus on her work. Finally, she had to quit her job. With no income, she couldn’t pay her rent. For almost three years, Alicia lived in her truck. Alicia told me all this at our first meeting.
“I want to help you,” I said. “There are lots of resources here. All I ask is that you tell me what’s going on with you. That way I can make sure you’re getting the services you need.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “It’s just hard. I used to feel as though what I did mattered. Now...” Her voice became quiet. Before I could say something, she stood and walked out of the room.
Two months later, I still felt as if I hadn’t gotten through to Alicia. Sometimes the things sending her into a violent anger were so minor—a piece of rubbish someone had dropped on the floor—it was hard for me to think of coping skills that didn’t sound like I was criticizing her.
Maybe this latest talk in group therapy was the last straw (稻草). “Finding something small you can feel good about can help you cope with anger,” I suggested. “It doesn’t need to be some huge thing.” Even as I said it, I wondered, “Was that really the best advice I could come up with?” Alicia took a long deep breath. “I know,” she said.
注意：1.续写词数应为 150个左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A few weeks later, I saw her in the hallway with a rubbish bag.
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One summer when I was ten years old,my brother and I received a wonderful gift — tennis rackets (球拍) and balls. We had never had the opportunity to play tennis, so this was exciting. However, there was one problem — the small town we lived in did not have a tennis court (网球场).
One Saturday morning my brother said, “Hey, I’ve got an idea.Let’s take our tennis rackets and balls to the school and hit the balls against the school building.”
“Great idea! Let’s go,” I agreed, not realizing what a lesson we would learn.
When we got to the school ground, no one was around, so we began hitting our balls against the side of the building. “I’ll hit it the first time,” my brother suggested,“then you hit it the next time. We’ll hit it back and forth to each other.” So we began taking turns hitting the ball, getting more confident with each hit. Actually, we became pretty good at returning the ball and we were hitting the ball higher and faster each time. Suddenly, the unexpected thing happened — the ball got out of control and went crashing through one of the upstairs windows, leaving lots of broken glass on the ground. We looked around and no one was in sight except there was a guard sitting there over a distance.
Quietly, I asked, “Now what should I do?”
“Well,” my brother answered, “no one saw us, except that old man down there. And he probably can’t see this far.”
“He probably doesn’t know who we are anyway... Let’s go home,” I added.
As we picked up the rest of our balls and went home, we discussed whether to tell Mom and Dad what had happened. Would we be punished for our mistakes? Would every penny we had saved go to pay for the window? Or just keep it a secret? We thought about all these things all the way.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
But that decision was made the moment we walked into the house.
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On Monday, my brother and I went to school.
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The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath a willow tree. It must be as sick, for the branches were kind of yellow and dry. I was a deserted girl. Endless quarrels with my parents had left me nowhere to go but this desolate (荒无人烟的) corner of the park. As I sat on the bench, things that happened recently began to flash through. Days seemed months to me recently. No cozy home to stay. No happy memories about my life. No considerate family members to talk to. Even the book I was reading was no fun. Not content with life, I had a good reason to frown, for the world was intended to drag me down.
And if that were not enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath approached me, all tired from play. He stood right in front of me with his head tilted (倾斜) down and said with great excitement, “Look what I found!” In his hand was a flower. What a pitiful sight, its petals (花瓣) were all worn—not enough rain, or too little light. He must have picked the flower from somewhere shady and sunless, just like where I was staying these days. I couldn’t help being self-pitying. Wanting him to take his dead flower away and go off to play, I faked a smile and then looked away. “Why couldn’t everyone just leave me be!” I thought to myself, upset and gloomy.
But instead of leaving, he sat next to me and placed the flower to his nose and declared loudly with certainty, “It sure smells pretty and it must be beautiful, too. That’s why I picked it; here, it is for you.” The “weed” before me was dying or dead, not vibrant with colors, orange, yellow or red—anyone having eyes can see that clearly! But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.” Strangely, instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it in mid-air without any reason or plan.
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。
Casting a curious glance at the boy’s eyes, I was hugely shocked.
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“I had to make a change,” I thought to myself.
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As an enthusiastic climber, I would make an annual trip to the peak of Mount of the Holy Cross. This year, my new running partner, Merle—a young and athletic dog—would climb with me. I hadn’t thought twice about taking Merle; actually, I’d expected him to beat me to the peak.
Before setting off, I filled my pack with water bottles, dry food, and a can of fish. Having put the collar—with his name and my phone numbers—on Merle, I started my big adventure with him. Several hours later, when we were rushing towards the peak, Merle still seemed energetic and I also felt energized by the clear mountain air.
When reaching the peak, I heard a short bark but thought Merle would be seconds behind me. He was always incredibly bonded to me. I shot a photo of the view, called out to the dog and headed back down the trail. However, Merle was nowhere to be seen.
“Merle! Merle!” I called. “Where are you?” I felt a tickle of panic in my throat as I still saw no signs of him.
Then I saw something moving in the basin below. It was Merle! After nearly an hour, I made it to the basin and saw Merle standing on a large rock. Relief washed over me. Soon, I was close enough to see that he looked oddly swollen and was badly injured. When I got within a few feet of him, he dived into a crack at the edge of a field of rocks.
I immediately struggled to clear snow and rocks, but could only stick my head in the crack. Peering into the darkness, I just heard the rings of Merle’s collar. I yelled. No response. Then I went to the scene of the fall and saw the path Merle had taken: He’d slid some 700 feet down the upper snowfield, fallen off a 40-foot cliff, and then rolled down another 100-foot cliff to the lower snowfield.
“It’s typical of a dog in great pain to hide, who is on the edge of dying.” My vet’s words flashed across my mind.
注意:
1. 所续写的短文词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Para l:
I returned to the crack and called his name again.
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Para 2:
Three weeks later, I received a call claiming to have found Merle.
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