It was Christmas Eve when my sister and I decided to open our presents before our mom got home from work. She usually came home about an hour after we got home from school, which we thought was plenty of time to sneak a peek at (偷看) the gifts under the tree. My sister opened the first gift while I was ordered to stand guard at the big picture window in our front room.
I was so excited that I could barely stand still. I also couldn’t keep my eyes on the window very long. My head moved from the window to my sister and back to the window again. I felt like I was watching a Ping-Pong match.
“All right!” my sister shouted. She pulled out a jewelry box. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
I jumped up and down. “Yeah, it’s my turn!”
“No,” she said. “It means that there must be some jewelry under here. I watched my sister rummage (翻找) through the presents under the tree trying to find one she thought was small enough to be a necklace or earrings.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” I said, stomping my foot. I couldn’t do anything except stand guard as she opened present after present. Finally, when my sister’s curiosity was satisfied and she had finished, wrapping her last present back up, we traded places.
My heart hammered so hard that it felt like my chest was moving in and out. My sister reminded me to be careful not to tear the paper, and wrap the presents back up the same way that I had found them.
After unwrapping a few presents, I found it faster to open one end of a present and peek inside. “Cool! Mom and Dad got me headphones for my stereo (立体声音响设备)!” I pulled the headphones out of the box and was about to put them on when my sister shouted, “Quick! Wrap it back up! Mom’s coming!”
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“Come on!” My sister’s face was as white as the paint on the wall.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our secret was safe, but somehow Christmas morning didn’t feel the same.
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Every previous year on Thanksgiving Day I’d woken up early, filled with excitement, unable to wait for the turkey, pumpkin pie with pecans, and my grandma’s famous cheesecake. But I would never forget the lesson that my mother taught me when I was 14 years old. That Thanksgiving, I couldn’t find the magic anymore. For some reason the holiday seemed fake (假的). I suddenly felt like Thanksgiving was a big lie. I saw no reason to celebrate.
As my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma started to arrive carrying plates of food, baskets of bread, and pitchers of egg nog, I grew more and more angry and frustrated. None of them were really thankful, I realized. The whole thing was a lie!
When my mom called for everyone to take their seats for dinner, I left. I ran into the guest room where no one would look, crying. I was defiant (反抗的) because I wanted to be an honest person but 1 was realizing that Thanksgiving was fake. It didn’t feel right to join in the tradition---say something beautiful one by one around the table.
My mom, worried that 1 was absent from the table, came to see what was wrong, “No one is really thankful!” I sobbed, “They just pretend for one day because that’s what you’re supposed to do!"
My mom sat down next to me and listened wisely. Then she nodded. “You’re right,” she told me, “it’s fake until you find the truth for yourself.” She said Thanksgiving was a time to reflect because we don’t always get a chance to see loved ones and eat a good meal. Then she left. I didn’t listen to her. I was convinced that I could never find joy celebrating again.
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But I was also starving and I had to eat something.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At her words, I realized they wanted me to be a part of the tradition.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A week before Halloween, my young children wild with great happiness were walking and running around our home in their Halloween costumes. Just then the babysitter called, telling me that she was extremely sorry for asking for a day off. I knew that emergencies did occur, and I told her that I completely understood. But what was actually going through my mind were feelings of frustration and self-pity. And I had to pack my three kids into the car, and then drove to the hospital.
On the way, numerous things flooded into my mind, and I especially thought about how life should be going. I was thirty years old, a mother of three girls-five-year-old twins and a one-year-old baby. At this moment, I should be playing with them in the park or visiting the library together. But I was, once again, going to see the doctor. It had been a year since I was diagnosed with cancer. I knew that I was one of the lucky ones. I was grateful that surgery and chemotherapy (化疗) were over, and this was just a routine blood test. As always, there was the remaining fear that the cancer would come back. To be honest, my family and friends were great during the past year when I was in bad condition, but they were also busy with their lives. Therefore, I did not want to burden them with my feelings of unhappiness. What I just wanted to see were the positive things in life and I really wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude to them.
When we finally arrived, we sat in a crowded waiting room. Nothing special occurred until my youngest daughter, dressed up as an angel, walked up to a woman who was in a wheelchair and accompanied by her caregiver. My daughter looked at the woman and pointed to the vending (售货) machine next to her, saying sweetly, “Tweet.” This was how she said “Trick or Treat”, who had been coached previously by her twin sisters.
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Surprisingly, the woman, a complete stranger to us, knew exactly what my daughter meant.
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My daughters thanked everyone who gave them treats.
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I was four years old in 1993, when my family emigrated .(移民) from the United Arab Emirates to Toronto. Young enough to be changed by my new home, but old enough to know I was different from everyone around me. I was the only Arab and only Muslim in my junior kindergarten class. Beyond those obvious differences, Canadian life proved to be quite distinct in other ways. And I discovered another surprise that December.
Overnight, everything was suddenly covered in red and green. My classmates talked excitedly about cookies and what gifts they’d asked Santa for that Christmas. At some point, I must have asked myself, “What is Christmas?” There’s nothing quite like it in the Muslim world. The closest comparison might be Eidal-Adha, which translates from Arabic to “Festival of sacrifice”. While both holidays show the same spirit of sharing with the less fortunate and spending time with loved ones, Eid meant new clothes and a family dinner. And that was about it. No tree decorated with ornaments (装饰物), and no gifts covered in wrapping paper.
Christmas was completely foreign to me, but then my parents unexpectedly informed me that Santa would be paying us a visit on Christmas Eve. “But aren’t we Muslim?” I asked.
“Yes, but Santa loves all children equally and gets them all gifts,” my mother replied.
So on that first Christmas Eve in Canada, she hung oversized red and white stockings, each one customized with our names, off our bedposts. I have a distinct memory of the restless expectation that kept me awake long after bedtime and my joy when I got up on Christmas morning to find my stocking filled with gifts.
Still in my pyjamas(睡衣), I ran over to the kitchen to tell my parents that Santa had indeed visited us last night. I asked if they’d seen him, and Mom said, “Of course!” Mom offered Santa a cup of coffee, as is the Arab custom when hosting guests. He needed the energy for the long night ahead, she told me.
When I returned to school after the holidays. I had a story to share with my classmates. Santa had visited me too! I could show off gifts while other kids showed off theirs.
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。
My parents kept our Christmas tradition going for years, until I was too old to believe in Santa anymore.
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As an adult. I’ve come to realize creating a sense of belonging is joining in traditions.
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Experiences at a Sports Meeting I used to be very active in sports and games when I was in primary school. 1won the B Division long jump and was a decent sprinter(短跑运动员). As a result, I was chosen to represent the school in the long jump and relay events at the District Sports Meeting, A little too proud, I was so sure I would win a medal that I didn’t make enough preparations.
The Meeting lasted two days. I had no events scheduled for the first day. So I kept myself busy by watching the others compete.
The next day, I was getting ready for my events. The long jump was scheduled for the early afternoon, followed by the 8×50 meters relay later in the afternoon. I thought I was a pretty good jumper, but as the competition began, I realized I was vastly outclassed. My jump was 3. 65 meters which was not bad for me. Then there was a boy nicknamed the typhoon, who jumped over 4 meters!That was quite an accomplishment for a ten-year-old boy. We finished our jumps, and I came in the fourth place, just missing out on a medal, which I was eagerly longing for.
That was disappointing, but I reminded myself that we still had a chance in the8×50 meters relay, for which I was assigned to run the fifth leg. The race time arrived. We filed into our assigned spots and prepared for the race. After a nervous minute or so, I heard the starter’s gun go off. When the first runners took off, I watched holding my breath as my team runners kept up with the others. I saw the baton(接力棒)passed from one runner to another. As they got closer, I realized we were at least in the second place. My turn arrived. I took the baton cleanly and began my run. The air rushed past me as I moved closer to the next runner.
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: Then disaster struck!
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Paragraph 2: I sat there, wounds on my knees, lowering my head.
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I’m not much of a hugger, but I have Grandma a hug when we walked into her house. I tried not to look at Grandpa’s chair but saw it anyway. It still looked the same: worn-out white leather, pointed at the television. Even the green afghan (针织毛毯) was there, as if Grandpa were going to sit down and pull it over his legs.
“Let’s go look for crawdads (淡水螯虾)!” Scott, one of my twin cousins yelled and Matt, Scott’s brother ran to the hall closet to pull out the long skinny crawdad trap—Grandpa’s trap. They acted as if Grandpa hadn’t died during the winter.
I was holding that trap in my hands last summer when Grandpa asked me if I wanted to stay and help him teach Jonathan, my little brother, how to play dominoes (多米诺骨牌). I said no-I wanted to catch crawdads with my cousins.
Grandpa had been the one who’d taught us all how to catch crawdads, but he was sick then, so he stayed behind.
When Grandpa died, all I could think about was the dominoes. I’d said no, and now there wouldn’t be any more dominoes with Grandpa.
“Hey, Nick, are you coming?” Scott asked from the doorway, I was leaving with them when my Mom asked me to take Jonathan with me. The four of us ran down the narrow trail that led from Grandma’s house to the creek (小溪), then followed the creek until it spilled into a deep pool.
We lowered the crawdad trap into one end of the pool, the way Grandpa had shown us. Then we took off our shirts and shoes and jumped in. The ice-cold water was a shock. We all sprang out almost as quickly as we’d gone in. After that we took turns daring each other to jump into the water. Just as we were all happily enjoying ourselves, Scott found that Jonathon was shaking from his teeth to his toes. Not knowing how to deal with it, I took Jonathan back to Grandma’s house.
Mom and Grandma wrapped Jonathan in Grandpa’s green afghan, put him in Grandpa’s chair and make him some hot cocoa to warm him up. Grandma also asked me to stay for cocoa, but I wanted to join my cousins in the creek.
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。
As I headed back to the creek, I saw Jonathan sitting in front of the blank TV screen.
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I walked over to Jonathon and asked “Did Grandpa ever teach you to play dominoes?”
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We sat on the bus waiting while other passengers piled on. A blond-haired girl, about nineteen years old, took the seat in front of us. The bus driver followed behind her. He demanded her fare.
“You pay $40 or get off the bus!” the driver said.
“I paid already. Yesterday, online,” the girl insisted.
“No, no record of it!” the bus driver pointed to the paper in his hand and waved it in her face. “See. No pay! You pay, or you must get off.” He angrily pointed to the exit door.
“But I don’t have money. And I paid already. Please.”
The bus driver picked up his mobile phone and made a call to find out if there had been an error with the paperwork. After failing to get through, he was getting angrier with the girl. So he cut the call and didn’t try.
“No, you have not paid. You must pay.”
“But please, I don’t have any money on me. I must get to LA today. Please.”
Tears streamed down her face.
I had boarded a bus headed to Los Angeles. I was very excited about experiencing LA. My dream of visiting Disney Land was about to come true. But while I sat there comfortably in my seat, thinking about my next adventure, this young girl was in tears, with a man standing over her, demanding money.
I wasn’t sure what I should do. Was she telling the truth? It wouldn’t be the first time someone had extracted money by telling a sad story that turned out untrue. Did she really not have any money? Maybe the bus driver would show some sympathy and allow her to sort the payment out later?
But no, the bus driver continued to demand she pay $40 or get off the bus. The young girl insisted that she didn’t have enough money for the fare and had no one she could contact for help. It seemed the driver would throw her off the bus.
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。
Suddenly, a messy grey-haired woman with a weathered face stood up.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At the next rest stop, I noticed that woman had no money for food.
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