When I was a little girl, my father loved to play catch with me. I wasn’t very good at it, but he would encourage (鼓励) _______ telling me “keep your eye on the ball” as I would not be able to catch even the easiest of throws.

As I got older, we didn’t play catch as much. If I had a problem, I would go to my father to ask for his _______. He would try to joke with me and say “keep your eye on the ball”. We would both _______ because usually that suggestion did not apply to (适用于) the problem, but he would _______ to make me smile.

My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. As he suffered from a stroke (中风), he could not _______. There weren’t any more conversations. He could only mouth words, which were sometimes hard to understand. After a while, I seemed to be pretty good at reading his lips (嘴唇), even better than the nurses who were _______ him.

During our last _______, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my work. Once again, I could read his lips: “Keep your eye on the ball.” We both smiled.

That was the _______ time I saw my father before he passed away. Since then, “keep your eye on the ball” has become a way for me to get rid of stress.

My brother and I often fight with each other over small things. One day our father said to us, “Tomorrow we will take part in the Ray Home Sports Day. Both of you must go with me. Perhaps you can learn something from those children.” My brother laughed, “Dad, Ray is a home for physically disabled children. What can we learn from them?”

“You will see, ” our father said.

Our father works as a volunteer at Ray. The children there have problems with their hands, speech, walking or hearing. Every day, he spends hours helping them to move or exercise their legs or arms.

The following day, he took us to Ray Home. When we got there, we found a nice place to sit down. Finally, the sports began. There was a 50-meter race to see who could run fastest. All the runners were physically disabled. As the race started, all the children moved as fast as they could. Just then, one of the girls fell over and hurt her leg. She began to cry at the top of her voice.

All the children stopped to help the poor girl. Then they all held hands and finished the race together. My brother and I were surprised to see this: the children weren’t interested in winning the race—they were more interested in helping each other to finish the race.

Do Encyclopedias Know Everything?

Long before Wikipedia (维基百科) or Encyclopedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》), there was Pliny the Elder. He was a first-century Roman researcher. His assistants read to him while he ate dinner and while he bathed. Pliny took notes. He even thought walking is a waste of time. His assistants carried him around Rome in a chair while he read.

All of this was done in preparation for his Historia Naturalis (《博物志》). The book came out in A. D. 77. It is the oldest surviving (现存的) encyclopedia on Earth. There are 2,500 chapters. They cover everything from mice to Mars.

“No Roman writer has completed such a project,” Pliny proudly declared. Unluckily, two years after having published (出版) the encyclopedia, he died in a natural disaster.

Accidents can hardly be avoided. However, they can be recorded (记录). Editors (编辑), like Pliny, organize the knowledge of our world. Like a valuable gift, the books are passed down through the ages. They begin their lives as a tool and end them as a historical record.

Therefore, in my opinion, an encyclopedia is not just a record of what its editors know, it’s also a record of what they don’t know.

Pliny was wrong when he said there were seven planets, including the Sun and the Moon. He was wrong, too, when he said Africans were black from being burnt by the sun. After all, Historia Naturalis is a book edited by a Roman thousands of years ago. It recorded all of the things he truly knew at the time.

Similarly, I believe both Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica have some inaccurate (不准确的) information. Even the biggest encyclopedias only show what their editors know.

“The task of editing an encyclopedia can never be completed,” said Roger Lewinter, an American researcher. Encyclopedias can’t record all of human knowledge but just some of it. They are always waiting for someone—you, perhaps—to improve them.

A Teenager with Autism Swims toward Victory

Chen Xingrong won five medals, including a gold, at the 11th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 8th National Special Olympics Games.

Born in Hainan Province, Chen Xingrong could not say a word until he was 2 years old. When Chen Xingrong was found autistic (自闭的), his parents were worried. In 2012, his father learned that swimming could help people with autism, so he spent months learning how to swim by watching videos and reading books. When Chen Xingrong was 5 years old, he began to teach him how to swim. At the very beginning, but all his efforts failed (失败). To his surprise, he discovered that his son had developed the ability to control his breath under water. It greatly increased his confidence. Soon swimming became a key activity of the family. His father planned all his exercises for him at first, but then it was all up to him. He decided how many exercises he wanted to do, and his parents respected his choices. It was a process of self-management. With his father’s help as well as his good self-management and perseverance (毅力), he succeeded in winning many medals in the swimming competitions.

As well as swimming, learning basic life skills is also an important part of life for a teenager with autism. His father hopes that his son can live well on his own when he and his wife grow old. To help the public to know more about autistic people so as to reduce misunderstanding, he once organized (组织) 500 people to watch a film about autism.

Thanks to his father’s endless efforts, Chen Xingrong has learned to buy food in the market in their neighborhood. He also does voluntary jobs at supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, such as arranging shelves and cleaning dining tables. “He is good at skillfully arranging things. He is part of the community, ” his father says proudly.

39. 根据所给提示，完成一篇不少于50词的英语文段写作。文中已给出内容不计入总词数。所给提示词语仅供选用。请不要写出你的校名和姓名。

大兴区正在争创全国文明城区（ China’s National Civilized City）。假如你是李华，你的英国朋友Peter对此很感兴趣，以及你的愿望。现在请你写一封信回复他。

My hometown is working hard to win the title of China’s National Civilized City.

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If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Yours,

Li Hua

40. 根据所给提示，完成一篇不少于50词的英语文段写作。文中已给出内容不计入总词数。所给提示词语仅供选用。请不要写出你的校名和姓名。

劳动是一种美德。参与家务劳动是劳动实践的重要方式。某英文网站正在开展以“家务劳动我能行”为主题的征文活动。假如你是李华，请用英文写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你对做家务的看法、你经常做哪些家务，以及你有什么收获。

Doing chores plays an important part in middle school students’ lives. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________