If you had to choose one word to describe Kevin, it might have been “slow”. He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. He never came in first in the running races. However, Kevin’s smile was brighter than the sun in June; his heart bigger than the sky. Kevin’s enthusiasm for life spread quickly to others? So when he discovered that the teacher, Randy, was putting together a boys’ basketball team, his mother could only answer, “Yes, you may join.”
Basketball became the center of Kevin’s life. At practice, he worked so hard that you’d have thought he was preparing for the NBA. He liked to stand in a certain spot near the free- throw (罚球) line and shoot baskets. Patiently, he stood there throwing ball after ball after ball, until finally it would get into the basket. “Look at me, Coach!” he’d shout to Randy, jumping up and down, his face just glowing with the excitement of it all. His teammates were also moved by Kevin’s perseverance, and they insisted on practicing with him.
Kevin and his whole team truly loved basketball. But just loving the game doesn’t help you win. More balls fell out of the basket than into it, and the boys lost every game that season by very large scores, except one: the night it snowed and the other team couldn’t make it to the game. At the end of the season, the boys had their last competition. As the last-place team, they drew the unfortunate spot of playing against the first-place team—the tall, undefeated first-place team.
The game went pretty much as expected, and near the middle of the fourth quarter Kevin’s team stood nearly 30 points behind. At that point, one of Kevin’s teammates called time-out. As he came to the side, Randy couldn’t imagine why the time-out had been called. “Coach,” said the boy. “I know that Kevin has never made a basket. But this is our last game and I think we should let Kevin make a basket to achieve his dream.” With the game completely out of reach, the idea seemed reasonable, so plans were made.
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。
Every time Kevin’s team had the ball, Kevin was to stand in his special spot near the free- throw line and they would give him the ball.
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Kevin missed every chance with this pattern continuing a few more times, and the spectators (观众) finally figured out what was happening.
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I arrived at the pool hall on Wednesday with a heavy heart. Teams from other schools were already suited and warming up by the pool or in the water. The bleachers (露天看台) were full.
“I don’t think I can do this.” I said, twisting the belt of my bag.
“You’ll be fine, and I will be right here watching.” Mom said, dropping an arm around my shoulder and squeezing.
I bit my lip and looked out over the other swimmers. “You sure?”
Mom leaned forward. “Remember, it’s just you. Don’t worry about any of the other swimmers. Just swim your race.”
“OK.”
The warmups and preparations were over before I knew it, and the first round of swimmers were up on the blocks.
I felt sick. I watched my competitors swim, and they looked so strong and skillful in the water. The events screamed by, one after the other. My knees shook as each event clicked closer to mine. The knots in my stomach twisted and coiled like a bag of ropes.
Then the one-hundred breaststroke (蛙泳) was announced.
Nerves choked my throat.
“Just swim your race. Don’t think about the other swimmers.” I repeated it over and over in my mind.
I bent forward on my block in line with the rest of the swimmers, waiting. My body tensed up like a spring. My heart pounded in my ears.
The buzzer (蜂鸣器) sounded. I sprang forward, diving into the water and kicking like a dolphin. Then my head broke free of the water. Just count strokes. I kept my eyes focused on the black line in front of me, ignoring the splashes of movement on either side. Pull. Breathe. Kick. I hit the end of the pool and then my first turn came. I took a deep a breath and turned over, pushing hard against the wall and bursting back the way I came.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1
Then everything changed.
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Paragraph 2
I was the last one to finish the race.
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It was cool and bright and just right for running. I was in the first few miles of a 10-mile race through some hills. Birds were singing on the trees. The soft wind was brushing my cheeks. I felt rested and springy. Despite the hills, I thought it was going to be a fine run.
Ahead was Blake, a student from Burke High School. He was running easily, too, moving along efficiently. The pace felt comfortable, so I decided to stay where he was; why bother concentrating on pace when Blake was such a nice pacesetter for me? I would overtake Blake later on when he used up energy.
So I ran closely behind him. The course headed north for five miles, wandered west for a mile, and then turned south again. The race was getting tougher. With three miles to go, it was beginning to be real hard work. My lungs were on fire, and legs felt like stone.
Blake overtook the boy in front of him. Apparently he knew the boy, for they exchanged a few words. Their brief communication worried me. Runners don’t chat during a race unless they feel really good, and Blake plainly was. There was still a noticeable bounce in his steps, but the springiness I had once possessed was gone.
Still, I was close enough to overtake Blake if he was tired, so I didn’t give up hope completely. We were approaching a hill, a mile from the finish line, so whatever happened on the hill would almost certainly determine who crossed it first.
As I moved up the hill, my attention wandered for a few minutes. When I looked up, Blake was moving away, first five yards, then ten, then more. There was no hope of catching Blake.
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。
Suddenly Blake slowed and sat onto the ground painfully.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A reporter took a picture of this moving scene and posted it online.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“JAMIE EVANS.”
Oh no. Please tell me that Coach Cafferty did NOT just say my name. Not for the one-hundred-meter breaststroke (蛙泳). Except all eyes were turned to me when she announced it, and her eyes met mine over the clipboard (剪贴板) that held the list of events and swimmers for the Plain Township Aquatic Center meet. The PTAC meet was the first of the season, and I was not ready.
“Remember, the meet is on Wednesday night. Be here at four-thirty for and the race kicks off at six. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.” Coach Cafferty added. The crowd cleared quickly and I headed back home, feeling desperate.
“Did you find out your events for Wednesday?” Mom asked as she slid the pizza box across the table to me.
“Yeah. One-hundred breaststroke,” I finally said, not meeting her eyes. “I don’t know why Coach didn’t give me backstroke (仰泳). She knows it’s my best. I can’t swim breaststroke!”
“Maybe she sees something you don’t.” Mom said.
“Or maybe I should just quit the swim team.”
Mom frowned. “Is that what you want?”
I sighed. “No.” I took a bite of my pizza. “I’m terrible at breaststroke. What happens when I show up on Wednesday and race, and I sink to the bottom of the pool? Or even worse，come in last?”
“Someone has to be last.” Mom pointed out.
“But I don’t even know if I can swim breaststroke for one-hundred meters!” I set my pizza down. “She had submitted the names, but there’s no way I can do this.”
“You could. But how will you know unless you try?” Mom persuaded.
“Yeah, but if I try, I could fail. In front of everyone.” I pictured the entire crowd watching as I finished last, pointing and laughing. My belly squeezed.
Mom set her pizza down and gave me her I’m-saying-something-important-so-listen face. “Don’t worry about other people. Just race against yourself. Forget about anything else except doing your best and swimming your own race. Prove to yourself that you can do it.”
Somehow, there seemed a mysterious power in her words comforting my unsettling heart and I decided to have a try. The next day, I was at practice as required.
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:
The first practice was a disaster.
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Paragraph 2:
Then everything crashed in the last 5 meters of the race.
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Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of vital importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.
“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica “How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”
“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match.” said Mary with a determined look.
“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”
After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin. “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.
A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain. “It may be missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.
注意：1．续写词数应为150词左右；2．续写部分分为两段，请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.
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Linda finished her dancing successfully and then came Mary’s turn.
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Sports Day was getting close in the school. All the children were very excited and were practicing for the big race. John, one of the fast runners of the school, was confident that he would win for he was not doing anything at all. “You have to work hard to come first in the race John. You are not practicing at all,” said John’s mother.
“Mom, you know how fast I am! Why should I waste my time running? Only I will win; no one else will win!”said John. “John, you may be right but talent (天赋) without hard work is not good at all. This laziness of yours will cost you greatly,” his mother warned him. John just laughed. He was so confident that he would win the trophy (奖杯) as no one else in his class was as fast as he was!.
Tim, a classmate of John, was also participating (参加) in the running race. He was not a fast runner. However, he practiced till late at night and had developed great endurance (持久力) to run the race.
There were a few days left for the Sports Day but John did not practice at all. On the other hand, Tim practiced day and night.
The Sports Day was almost around the corner but John was confident that no one could beat him and had not practiced at all. But Tim with his hard work had become a very great runner.
At last, the Sports Day arrived. All the students showed up on the ground to cheer their favorites. The coach blew the whistle (口哨) and everyone began to run toward the finishing line. It was so exciting. John and Tim left all the racers far behind. Both of them were neck to neck.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Suddenly, John went ahead of Tim.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________John’s mother came up to Tim and praised him for his hard work.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was the last game of the season. Cali had been playing soccer all summer. She really enjoyed running around with the other players. As much as she tried, though, Cali still had not scored one single goal.
“Don’t give up, “said her coach. He showed Cali and her team how to pass the ball to each other and take shots at the goal. Cali was pretty good at passing the ball, but even during practices, she couldn’t kick the ball past the goalkeeper. She wondered if she should quit soccer for good.
“Don’t give up, “said Uncle George and Aunt Lisa. But it was half-time, and Cali was feeling upset. She was trying! Every time she got a chance to kick the ball, it would go in the wrong direction or a player from the other team would take control of it. Maybe she would try a different sport next summer.
The break was over and the referee (裁判) blew her whistle to start the game again. The two teams walked back onto the field, both determined to win. Cali heard her aunt whisper in her ear. “Look for an opportunity to get the ball. You can do it. “Cali took a deep breath. Even if she didn’t get one goal all summer, she knew that she had tried her best. That was something to be proud of.
The yellow team was pretty good, but Cali’s blue team was fast. Cali was off to the side when the ball headed her way. She ran over to it and kicked it. She watched it land right in front of a girl on the yellow team who expertly stopped it and sent it back in the other direction. Cali sighed (叹气) .
Cali decided she’d wait until the game was over and then she was going to hang up her soccer shoes for good. Cali started daydreaming about becoming a hip-hop dancer instead. She was woken from her daydream by some music that was definitely not hip-hop. It was the sweet, happy jingle of the ice cream truck.
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。
It was right beside the soccer field, playing its music loudly to attract customers and players as well.
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She ran fast to the ball.
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In order to add variety to our lives, a tug- of-war (拔河) competition was held by our school recently. Before the game, we were quite unsure of ourselves, as we had no significant advantage over our competitors. We even joked, “we’ll be satisfied just as long as we don’t get last place.”
Though we had no great ambitions, everyone looked forward to the game and took it pretty seriously. Right before the games started, our participants gathered together to discuss the right strategy, while the rest of us formed a cheer leading team.
Finally, the first match began. Fortunately, neither of the two competing classes were particularly strong rivals. Despite being tired, our first victory came smoother than expected. After that first success, we all gained some confidence. A day later in the semi-finals, we were determined to make it into the top two—and we did it!
The final game was the toughest. We faced off with the champions from the last game: Class 5. By the time we arrived at the playground, we were excited to discover, unlike the other classes, almost all of our teachers were there to cheer us on!
However, that excitement didn’t last very long. As we went up to compete with the class that had won with a score of 2:0, we were once more full of doubt - how could we possibly beat them?
The cheers of the crowd were deafening. The instant we heard the whistle, we fell back with all of our might and held onto the rope as tightly as we could. At first, it was unclear who had the advantage. It seemed like centuries, and we were suddenly amazed to find that the marker was slowly moving towards our side.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1
Encouraged, we pulled harder and harder.
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Paragraph 2
As the competition was over, the result was announced.
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In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves, and with each race they strive to achieve a new personal best.
For Brandon Schutt running in what would likely be his final cross-country match before graduating high school, his personal best turned out not to be about marking the fastest time but displaying the biggest heart.
Although it was difficult for him to advance to upcoming state meet last Thursday, if his time was good enough that day, he still had the potential to qualify for the match.
After running for one mile, however, Schutt realized he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the fast speed. Rather than risk injury, he slowed to a necessary pace that would allow him to enter the state meet.
Meanwhile, Omaha Burke High School sophomore (二年级学生) Blake Cerveny was running a very different kind of race. Aiming to beat his own personal record, after a fast start, he continued to push himself hard. With less than 400 meters to go, Cerveny’s legs cramped up (抽筋) and failed him. But his will did not. Determined to finish, Cerveny rose from the ground and continued on, only to fall again after another 150 meters… and again, he got up and started running. This time he’d made it only 25 meters more before going down. But he wasn’t done yet.
Concerned, his dad and his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to stop. He didn’t. With a lot of effort, the young runner pulled himself up and with an unsteady gait (步伐), moved forward for one final push. It wasn’t enough. A less 100 meters from the finish line, he lay curled on the ground and his legs had simply given out.
Before Cerveny’s dad could reach his son, another runner—Brandon Schutt—was at his side to offer a helping hand.
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。
However, his first attempt to get Cerveny up failed.
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Deeply touched by the two boys’ story, the local TV station arranged an on-camera (摄像机拍摄的) reunion where the boys were given the chance to know each other.
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Mike licked the last of the mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was almost time to leave. He jumped into the car with his parents and headed off to the Olympic-sized pool for the big swim meet.
When his race came up, Mike was confident. He was strong and swift. Mike climbed out the pool, smiling. He had just won first place, making him the fastest boy in his age group.
“Congratulations, son,” his father said. His mom gave him a hug, even though he was soaking wet.
A week later, it was time for another swim meet. Like before, Mike decided to enjoy his favorite ice cream flavor. Mike remembered that the last time he had won a race, he also ate mint chocolate chip ice cream first. Maybe he’d win again.
He’s taken first place again in his race. Mike was feeling pretty good. As it turned out, Mike decided to have some mint chocolate chip ice cream before every one of the next few swim meets. He began to think of it as his lucky charm. After several months of placing in the top positions of every race he swam, Mike was feeling unbeatable. And he wouldn’t admit it, but all that ice cream was adding a few pounds to his athletic swimmer’s build.
It didn’t take long after that for Mike to start coming in second place – and then third – and then last place in his races. The lucky mint chocolate chip ice cream had lost its magic.
On the day of his next swim meet, his mother sat down at the table with him. “Mike, we all love ice cream, but it’s not healthy for your body to eat so much of it. Maybe it’s time to quit the sweet treats for a while, especially before you go swimming.””
Mike unwillingly agreed. He went to the swim meet, and didn’t perform well. His father offered to go running with him a few days a week to help him feel better and strengthen his muscles. The extra weight soon disappeared, and Mike found himself breathing easier at swim practices.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右。
2.开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
As he dove into the water, he kicked his legs and stretched his arms as far as he could.
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Paragraph 2:
His jaw dropped as he realized he had beaten his own best time, and everyone else too.
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