It was a bright spring afternoon along the Maryland coast, and Jonathan Bauer, 51, a technology executive at a hospital, and his 13-year-old daughter, Ava, were taking full advantage of it. They were driving with the windows down as they headed home on the 1.4-mile, two-lane Route 90 bridge, which spans the shallow waters of Assawoman Bay. Suddenly, the calm was disturbed by the scream of tires.
Not far ahead of them, a black truck was sliding from one lane to the other. To the Bauers’ horror, it crashed into a concrete barrier, spun like a circle, jumped over the SUV directly ahead of them, and came to rest hanging over the railing (栏杆) of the bridge. Bauer hit the brakes in time to avoid the vehicles in his path.
And then another scream. It came from the truck, which had come to rest on its right side. The driver’s door flung open and a man climbed out. He dropped to the ground, then rushed to the railing. Bauer ran up beside him. The man pointed down, saying something in Spanish. In the water was a car seat. Moving next to it, a girl, about two years old. Pink polka-dotted dress, brown hair, brown eyes, terrified, floating on her back, kicking and splashing and screaming.
From around the truck, more screaming from others who had gotten clear of the accident came. Matters quickly went from bad to frightening when the little girl rolled over onto her stomach. Bauer waited for the truck driver to do something, but he was rooted. Maybe he was in shock.
He was not sure about his chances jumping from this height into such shallow water. Four feet of depth was the most he could hope for—he’d gotten his boat stuck here a time or two. And were there rocks this close to the concrete pillar (桥墩) of the bridge? But the truck driver didn’t move. Time ticking by, he had to take action. “Ava!” Bauer yelled, ready to remove his shoes. “Stay by the car!”
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。
Then he climbed onto the railing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finally he reached the shore with the little girl in his arms.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
相似题推荐
Many organ transplants (器官移植) come from those who are blood relatives or close friends. It’s rare for a person to make a living organ donation to a stranger. Not surprising when you consider the operative risks and other potential problems.
That’s what Paul Wagner thought until he read an article about matchingdonors.com, a website that connects people who need transplants with those willing to be donors (捐赠者), Paul grew up in a poor family and admits to making many mistakes in his youth, including using drugs. “But I always got another chance,” he said. Paul said help came when he needed it most, and because of that, he wanted to give someone else a chance.
That someone turned out to be former opera singer Gail Tomas, who was suffering from kidney (肾) failure and badly needed a new kidney. But her hopes for a donor were so slight because of her O+ blood type. Paul, also type O+, emailed Gail, offering to donate his kidney to her. He said, “It would be wrong of me not to help.” That attitude, however, was not shared by most surgeons, who refused to participate. The surgeon who agreed only did so after long interviews with Paul to be certain about his motivation. The transplant finally took place on National Donor Day.
Afraid that Gail and her family would feel tied to him merely out of appreciation, Paul made it clear to Gail that he didn’t want to get to know her. But Gail insisted on making friends with him and was trying to find an opportunity to break down the barriers to their friendship.
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。
Then Gail’s first birthday after the transplant was approaching and she got an idea.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Their friendship started after the birthday party.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the first day of fourth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Brown, told my class a story about her husband Rob, who is a brain cancer survivor. She became emotional as she talked about their journey through his treatment and recovery. After what Mrs. Brown experienced with Rob’s illness, she decided to devote part of her life to helping people in similar situations. She told us about a local organization she was a part of called Be Head Strong, which works to support and comfort families with a member suffering from brain cancer.
Mrs. Brown never showed any sadness about the disease. She instead spoke only with words of determination to find a cure. Through her positive spirit she showed us how strong hope could be.
My parents taught me form a very young age that making wise choices with my money is important. I would always set aside most of my $2.50-a-week allowance. By the end of the school year, I had saved over one hundred dollars, $131.30 to be exact. One day I was wondering what to do with it. I thought about the stories Mrs. Brown told us. I decided that was where I wanted my money to go.
As the last day of school approached, I told my parents about my gift for Mrs. Brown. My mom helped me wrap the heart-shaped box full of dollars and coins. After all the other kids had left on the last day of school, I handed Mrs. Brown the present. As she opened it, I told her that I wanted the money to go to Be Head Strong to help people like Rob. She broke into tears and hugged me tightly. At last, she invited me to Be Head Strong’s annual fundraiser and auction.
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 night’s theme was hope and giving and many stories were shared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At the end of the night’s auction, people were asked to donate what they could.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aubrey, a mom of three, was breastfeeding her 10-month-old daughter in her Maui home last week when alarms started going off and she saw her entire neighborhood was covered in black smoke.
Aubrey and her husband Alex rushed out of the home and into their car, escaping with their 10-month-old daughter as well as their 6-year-old twin daughters. They didn’t take any necessities. In fact, they had never thought the wildfires would ever get to where they lived. After all, they were very far.
While Aubrey and her family eventually made it to safety, a relative’s home, they later learned their own home was burned to the ground.
They were left with no possessions, so Alex had to go to the neighborhood surrounding his relative’s home searching for supplies for his baby daughter Blue. He went door-to-door, asking if anyone had a baby and if there was a bottle or a diaper (尿布) and some extra milk.
One neighbor just had a baby so he gave Alex two bottles. And some neighbors gave Alex two diapers and some gave her three. Alex later said. “They were holding onto their own diapers too, which I understand.”
The disaster turned into a crisis for countless parents like Aubrey and Alex, who had to escape quickly and now needed basic supplies to keep their children alive and safe.
The wildfires claimed the lives of over 100 people, while many more remained missing. Officials on Maui warned that their supplies were running out.
Aubrey and Alex decided to travel to another island, Oahu, where they could stay in the home of Alex’s brother’s. There, they had more access to supplies like diapers and milk. Then they managed to contact with volunteers and left in a lifeboat for Oahu. Thinking those helpless people, they cried in pain.
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。
Now on Maui, situations were becoming worse.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Together with other volunteers, Alex and his brother collected large quantities of supplies on Oahu.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A man came home from work late, tired and impatient (不耐烦的), to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
“Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.
“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”
“That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.
“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded (恳求) the little boy.
“If you must know, I make $20 an hour.”
“Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I please borrow $10?”
The father was angry, “If the only reason you borrowed some money is to buy a silly toy, then you walk straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish (自私的). I work hard every day for such childish behavior.”
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often.
注意:
1. 可参考划线词汇续写故事,内容合理即可;
2. 词数应为120左右;
3. 故事的开头语已为你写好。
The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hometown Feelings
Some people still live in their hometown. However, others may only see it once or twice a year. Nowadays, millions of Chinese leave the countryside to search for work in the cities. Among these is Zhong Wei, a 46-year old husband and father. He has lived in Wenzhou for the last 13 years. With a hard job in a crayon factory, he doesn’t find much time to visit his hometown. “I used to return home at least once a year, but I haven’t been back for almost three years now. It’s a shame, but I just don’t have the time” he says.
Many people like Zhong Wei regard with great interest how their hometowns have changed. Perhaps large hospitals and new roads have appeared. In many places, the government has also built new schools and sent teachers from the cities 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。
“I noticed that’s true of my hometown” adds Zhong Wei.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
According to Zhong Wei, however, some things will never change.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My great-grandmother Eileen is fierce, loyal and strong and a bit of a legend in her own lifetime, which now stretches to 92 years. I should add that we’re not allowed to call her Gran, because she says it makes her feel old.
That summer, I lost my job and felt hopeless. One day, I paid a visit to her. She picked up a box which she placed on the coffee table. “There you go,” she said. “You do know what you’re doing with these things, don’t you?”
It was a new phone. Her current mobile was pretty ancient. I was amazed it was still going.
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. That’s why I ask you. You young people know more about such things than us oldies. You can take it home with you and get it all set up,” she went on. “Then, when you bring it back, you can show me how to use my new phone, such as getting on the internet, sending e-mails and so on.” She smiled so sweetly that I felt a surge of love for her.
I grabbed the box and stood up. Setting up the phone would be easy. It was teaching her how to use it that may prove challenging.
The following day I headed back to my great-grandmother’s with the phone. “Here’s your phone. It’s all ready to use.”
For the next hour, I was busy setting up her passcode and fingerprint recognition, which she said was like something out of James Bond.
She chose a picture for her screen and it was all going so well until I tried to show her how to swipe (滑动屏幕) . “What do you mean, swipe?” she asked. She was 92, I reminded myself. This had been tiring for her.
She pressed at the up arrow and got angry when nothing happened. When I finally got her to swipe, she didn’t put the right amount of pressure on and the menu slipped away. After what seemed like hours, she threw the phone across the room and it landed on the sofa. “Take it away!” she howled. “I want my old phone back!”
I picked up the phone and was about to leave to give her time to cool down when I realized I didn’t want to go home when she was angry and upset.
“Come on, Eileen. You’ve been doing so well! One more try.” I said.
“No!” She insisted, “I just want my old phone back!”.
Pausing a few seconds, I stepped forward, hugged my Gran and gently explained that the old phone, just like an antique, was incapable of providing internet access or sending emails. “Please let go of the old one, and embrace the new world, Eileen.” I encouraged. “You can make it.”
注意:1. 续写词数应为80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Empowered by my words, she gathered the courage to give it one more shot.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________