Our three kids were all under age five. We’d recently moved to the suburbs, and I’d stopped working to be a stay-at-home mom. Most of our friends lived outside our immediate community and didn’t have children. This all added up to a nonexistent social life for my husband and me.
I needed to fix this, so I became a room parent in my son’s kindergarten class, partly to spend time with him, but also to make more friends within the school community. I also signed my son up for weekend soccer. While those activities gave me the opportunity to socialize with other moms, it was challenging to cultivate friendships. I only saw my fellow room parents a few times a -year, usually during class parties. On the soccer sidelines, I found it impossible to watch the game, keep track of my young children, and maintain conversations with other parents at the same time.
I desired deeper interactions with the smart, interesting moms I saw around school. But we all led busy lives. How could I make this happen?
“You should throw a party,” suggested a friend who happened to be a professional event planner. “I can’t do that. I don’t really know these women,” I replied quickly. I hardly even had my closest friends over to my house. The thought of hosting an adult party terrified me.
“Just invite a few people that you’ve talked to and ask them to bring along a friend. You’ll meet even more people that way. It will be fun,” my event-planner friend said. I ran this idea by my husband, and I was certain he’d agree it wouldn’t work. “Great idea,” he said. “I’ll stay upstairs with the kids, and the party can take place on the main floor.”
I picked a date and set up an electronic invitation, making a guest list of moms from my son’s soccer team, my fellow room moms, and a few other moms I’d started saying “hi” to at school pick-up. But I didn’t hit Send. I started to talk myself out of it. There were so many reasons this wouldn’t work.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With four mess makers in my household, I imagined many “what ifs”.
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注意：词数80左右。
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You know how when big things in your life aren’t going well and the little things bother you more? That happened to me last year. Like many people during the pandemic, my husband, Paul, was laid off. I was still working, but my job was only part-time and would likely be ending soon too. I was worried about money, pandemic and our future.
That’s when our mailboxes really started getting to me. I’d never liked our mailboxes much. They stood at the end of our long driveway, far enough away from our house. Fortunately, I didn’t see them often. The mailboxes had already been in rough shape when we moved in and the paint was faded.
At some point, someone had driven into the pole. It was now bent slightly, making the mailboxes bend, pointing in different directions. Still, because the boxes could hold the mail and the mail carrier wasn’t complaining, there really was no need to replace them.
“I wish we could have better mailboxes,” I found myself thinking as I pulled out of the driveway one day on my way to work. It was just a passing thought. I probably would have forgotten all about it if not for the news we got the next morning.
The next day, my neighbor Ailsa told me a girl drove her car right into the mailboxes and completely knocked them down. Ailsa saw the accident and gave her our number and information. “That certainly wasn’t in our budget,” I thought. Though I wanted new mailboxes, getting them would be expensive. With our income decreasing since Paul’s layoff, this was an expense we didn’t need. I sighed.
However, the next day where our old, rusted mailboxes had once stood were two new shiny mailboxes-one black, one white. Each one had large, neat numbers on the sides, the white mailbox with black numbers and the black one with white numbers. They were beautiful. I sat there, feeling surprised.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:
I opened one of the mailboxes and found a note.
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When we called, the girl’s mother answered.
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Jack tossed(抛，扔)the papers on my desk—his eyebrows knit(皱眉)into a straight line as he glared at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He pointed at the proposal. “Next time you want to change anything, ask me first,” He said, turning on his heels and leaving me in anger.
How dare he treat me like that, I thought. I had changed one long sentence, and corrected grammar, something I thought I was paid to do.
It’s not that I hadn’t been warned. Other women who had worked my job before me called Jack names I couldn’t repeat. One coworker took me aside the first day. “He’s personally responsible for two different secretaries leaving the firm,” she whispered.
As the weeks went by, I grew to hate Jack. His actions made me question much that I believed in, such as turning the other cheek and loving your enemies. I prayed about the situation, but to be honest, I wanted to put Jack in his place, not like him.
One day another of his episodes left me in tears. I stormed into his office, prepared to lose my job if needed, but not before I let the man know how I felt. I opened the door and Jack glanced up. “What?” he asked abruptly.
Suddenly I knew what I had to do. After all, he deserved it.
I sat across from him and said calmly, “Jack, the way you’ve been treating me is wrong. I’ve never had anyone speak to me that way. As a professional, it’s wrong, and I can’t allow it to continue.”
Jack snickered(暗笑)nervously and leaned back in his chair. I closed my eyes briefly. God help me, I prayed.
“I want to make you a promise. I will be a friend,” I said. “I will treat you as you deserve to be treated, with respect and kindness. You deserve that. Everybody does. That’s what friends do.” I slipped out of the chair and closed the door behind me.
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。
Jack avoided me the rest of the week.
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One year later, one day after my surgery for breast cancer, Jack stood awkwardly in the doorway of my small, darkened hospital room.
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I shared confidently that I wanted to be a wife and mother. Everyone urged me to aim high. I couldn’t think of a higher calling, but they didn’t seem to understand including my parents. No one did except one college teacher, my English teacher. She encouraged me by telling me that she trusted my judgment and knew that in the end all would work out for me even if I followed my heart and chose to simply be a wife and mother. I was so grateful for her understanding and encouraging words.
Well, life was good as I pursued my goals. I did attend college while waiting for my love, who was serving in the Navy to get back home. I knew that I was really just buying time until our marriage, but I had scholarships that took care of the expense, so it seemed like a good thing to do. Finally, we were married, and I was extremely happy with my choice to be a wife. Two years later, we started our family; and again, I knew that I’d made the right choice. Being a mother was so wonderful. We went on to have two more children, and I was blessed by being able to be a stay-at-home mom. It was all I’d ever dreamed of. My parents gradually accepted my happiness.
When the day came that all our little darlings were in school, I began to pray about what to do with the time I found I had on my hands. Through a series of events that could be an entire story of their own, God let me know without a doubt that my next goal should be to become a teacher. I was so excited! I mean, how many people get the chance to grow up and be exactly what they want and then do it again with a new dream? I decided to take education courses and was all set to begin classes in June of 1991.
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。
Unfortunately, on May 16, I received my husband’s boss’s call from a nearby hospital.
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Overturned Bins
I weaved my cart around table after table of hungry customers. “Char siu bao (叉烧包),” I called out. “Barbecue pork buns!”
It was Saturday morning—the height of the yum cha (brunch) rush-and everyone in the neighborhood knew that Grandma Wu’s restaurant was the place to go for the warmest tea and the freshest dim sum.
Grandma’s array (大量) of shareable Chinese dishes was irresistible,and a line of customers always formed out the door.Knowing I wanted to be part of the excitement, my parents agreed to let me help at the restaurant on weekends.
The yummy sweet scent of the barbecue pork-filled bao followed me around the room, and it wasn’t long before I was handing out the last bamboo steamer basket and marking down the order on a customer’s stamp card.With my cart now empty, I was free to enjoy some of Grandma’s cooking myself.
l took my break at the tiny table in the alley behind the restaurant. I poured myself some tea and peeled the little square of paper off the bottom of my bao. But just as I was about to take my first bite, I noticed something odd.Our garbage bins had been knocked over!
How could those have fallen? I wondered.Trash and half-eaten dim sum littered the ground.After devouring (狼吞虎咽) my treats, I found my dad inside. We put on some plastic gloves and quickly picked up the mess. When we were finished,we washed our hands, and I headed back into the restaurant to help with the rest of the rush.
l forgot all about the mystery of the knocked-over bins until the last customer had left. I was about to follow Dad to take the trash out to the alley. “KABOOM!”Upon hearing the loud noise, we rushed out and found that the garbage bins had tipped over again!
Could it have been the wind? As we cleaned up for a second time, I looked at the darkening sky. A storm was heading our way, but the tree branches were barely moving. So what had caused the bins to fall over?
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。
That’s when I noticed two yellow eyes staring at me.
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With the rain picking up, the poor cat was too scared to come out of his hiding spot.
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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 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.
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:
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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“Helen! Are you coming?” a voice from downstairs. “Yes!” Helen replied, quickly putting on her slightly tight dress. “Where are we going, Dad?” she asked, surprised by this rare opportunity to spend time with her father. He had been working tirelessly to support the family.
“We’re off to collect the rent,” he responded. “Oh,” she understood. The rent was their lifeline during the Great Depression, and going without it was unthinkable.
Their first stop was Mrs. Miller’s, who quickly handed them the rent in dollar bills, but the second tenant(租客)Mr. Schmidt was still searching his home for coins when they arrived. Apologizing, he gave them a bag of coins.
But the third tenants, the Katzes, worried Helen and her father. Their financial struggles had worsened, even though her father had reduced their rent. Her father said it was important to be especially good to this family because Mr. Katz had served in the army in the Great War and deserved their gratitude.
Mrs. Katz greeted them at the door, her eyes red from crying. Despite their financial difficulties, the inside of the apartment was always beautifully clean. Mr. Katz and the two children were sitting at a table, waiting for Mr. Resnick. They all had such thin faces! Helen was embarrassed, suddenly, by her own round cheeks and strong body. They felt like marks of her guilt when she saw the little girl’s narrow, sad face and the boy’s big eyes.
Mr. Katz gave Helen’s father the money he was holding, and her father thanked him. Just as they were about to leave, Mrs. Katz’s trembling voice stopped them. She said, “Mr. Resnick, we haven’t eaten in two days.” Helen couldn’t imagine such a thing. Her stomach ached just to think of it.
They returned to the table, and Helen’s father silently placed the Katzes’ rent money back on it and counted out two dollars in coins. “Helen,” he said, “I want you to go to the grocer’s with this money, buy food, and bring it back here.”
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。
Helen nodded, took the money, and rushed off to the grocer’s.
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Everyone’s eyes turned to her as she entered the Katzes’ house, and her father smiled.
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Last Saturday, David was taking a walk in the park near his home when he noticed a woman with a boy about eight years old. When David passed them, he heard the woman yell, “How stupid you are! You’re good at nothing.” David stopped and looked at the little boy.The boy said nothing. He just stood there, looking upset.
David was reminded of his English teacher Mrs Brown in middle school. After he entered middle school. David lacked(缺乏) self-confidence because he was often made fun of by others. He was often told that he was good at nothing, which David believed.But one day it all changed.
One day, in an English writing class, Mrs Brown asked them to read a novel.They were asked to write a new chapter(章节) of the novel after reading the book. A few days later, David handed in his story. He didn’t give it much thought, but the next day, to his surprise, he got the comment “well done” from Mrs Brown .
When David read that, he almost burst into tears. He never expected to be praised one day.He suddenly gained some self-confidence.
David became very interested in writing. He often wrote short stories and asked Mrs Brown to read them. Mrs Brown always corrected them for him and gave him good advice to improve them. One year later, David joined the school newspaper and became an editor(编辑) of it.He was no longer that boy who lacked self-confidence.
Several years later, he became famous as a writer in his country. And he owed(把...归功于) his success to Mrs Brown’s encouragement. Without her encouragement, his life might be very different now.
Inspired by his own life story, David decided to do something for that boy._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Canadian couple Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier first noticed that their daughter Mia was having vision problems, she was just three years old.
A few years after they first took her to see a specialist, Mia, the eldest of their four children, was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa(视网膜色素变性), a rare genetic condition that causes a loss or decline in vision over time.
By this point, Lemay and Pelletier, who’ve been married for 12 years, had noticed that two of their sons, Colin, now seven, and Laurent, now five, were experiencing the same symptoms. Their fears were confirmed when in 2019 the boys were diagnosed with the same genetic disorder. Their other son Leo, now nine, was given the all clear. There’s nothing they can really do, because there is currently no cure or effective treatment to slow down the progression of retinitis pigmentosa.
Once they came to terms with the news, the couple focused their attention on helping their children build the skills they’d need to lead their way through life. When Mia’s specialist suggested that they absorb her with “visual memories”, Lemay realized that there was one truly incredible way that they could do just that for her and the rest of the children.
“I thought, ‘I’m not going to show her an elephant in a book. I’m going to take her to see a real elephant’,” she explains.“And I’m going to fill her visual memory with the best, most beautiful images I can.”
She and her husband soon began making plans to spend a year traveling around the globe with their kids. They think there are great things to do at home, but there’s nothing better than traveling. Not only the scenery, but also the different cultures and people.
After gathering up enough savings,they soon began their family journey with an in-depth itinerary (行程) that involved traveling through Russia by land, and spending time in China.
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。
The trip has provided the children with unforgettable visual experiences.
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Lemay says, “Traveling is something you can learn from.”
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