A New Addition to the Family
For the initial ten years of his life, Victor was the prince of the household. As he was an only child, his parents petted him and showered all their love and attention on him. Whatever toys his parents bought, they were always meant for him. Whatever food was in the refrigerator, there was no one to compete with him to polish it off first. Victor could leave his toys or books around the house with complete ease of mind, knowing that there was no one who would get their hands on his belongings and cause any damage.
However, all that was to change overnight when Victor’s parents brought back his new baby sister, Lina, from the hospital. With her rosy cheeks, wide open eyes and angelic smile, Lina caught the hearts of her parents, grandparents and relatives. Everyone focused their attention on the cute bunch of joy. Whenever she cried, her mother or father would rush to her bed. She simply cried because she wanted to be carried. There was little time left for Victor.
Now that Victor’s mother had his baby sister to take care of, she expected Victor himself to do most of the chores he can do. Victor was asked to clean his own room, iron his own school uniform and clean his own shoes. Before Lina’s arrival, he had never lifted a finger to help out with these tasks. The whole family also went out less because it was unhealthy to expose Lina to the bacteria(细菌) being in the outside world too often.
Victor felt neglected by his parents. He felt that they loved Lina more than him. As a result, he tried to attract his parents’ attention by becoming resistant. One evening, Victor’s parents were called up by his teacher because Victor had got into a fight at school. His teacher had noticed Victor’s behaviour and work attitude changing downwards in the past two months. Before that, he had been a model student.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Upon hearing the teacher’s feedback, Victor’s parents got lost in thought.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Victor realized that his parents still cared for him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Thanksgiving Day was approaching, my primary school decided to celebrate it by presenting shows like dancing and singing that all students could join in. Parents would also be invited to watch.
One afternoon, the schoolmaster called me into his office. He said with a smile, “Nancie, could you write a poem for the festival and read it during the coming event?” “Sure!” Excitedly, I had loved poetry since my fifth grade. I was fascinated by poems for it is an amazing thing to convey feelings through them. When my first poem was published, I was known to my friends and teachers as the class poet.
I left the schoolmaster’s office that afternoon, feeling quite happy. Then for weeks, I worked or my poem, carefully designing the content, structure and sound. I practiced reciting it aloud every day.
When the evening for the event finally came, I was ready. Well, I was ready until I looked around and realized how many people there were in the school hall. How could I present my poem in front of more than 400 people? I was just a seventh-grader! No one would take my work seriously What was worse, I had never spoken in front of a huge crowd before. I sat in my chair, hoping I could disappear. Maybe they would forget I was supposed to read.
“Hey, Nancie, I saw your name in the program. Good luck!” my little brother's voice rose as he took his seat a few rows down with his class. I nodded, struggling to keep calm. I knew my parents were somewhere in the hall. Before long, the lights faded, the crowd quieted, and the schoolmaster took the stage to introduce the list of the shows. Mine was at the end of the list. So I had to sit through an hour of absolute anxiety.
It wasn’t until the students from the fourth grade were singing that my teacher brought me downstairs next to the stage. My mind was blank. Then suddenly, I was on stage with the bright white lights blinding my view of the audience. When I walked to the microphone in the center of the stage, I somehow tripped over something. And I stupidly fell down. All of the kids burst into laughter.
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 was about to run away when my teacher came up to me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I finished my reading, the hall was silent at first.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE
The twins were filled with excitement as they thought of the surprise they were planning for Mother’s Day. How pleased and proud Mother would be when they brought her breakfast in bed. They planned to make French toast and chicken porridge. They had watched their mother in the kitchen. There was nothing to it. Jenna and Jeff knew exactly what to do.
The big day came at last. The alarm rang at 6 a.m. The pair went down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. They decided to boil the porridge first. They put some rice into a pot of water and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenna found the bread and put two slices into the egg mixture. Next, Jeff turned on the second stove burner to heat up the frying pan. Everything was going smoothly until Jeff started frying the bread. The pan was too hot and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenna threw the burnt piece into the sink and put in the other slice of bread. This time, she turned down the fire so it cooked nicely.
Then Jeff noticed steam shooting out of the pot and the lid starting to shake. The next minute, the porridge boiled over and put out the fire. Jenna panicked. Thankfully, Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. But the stove was a mess now. Jenna told Jeff to clean it up so they could continue to cook the rest of the porridge. But Jeff’s hand touched the hot burner and he gave a cry of pain. Jenna made him put his hand in cold water. Then she caught the smell of burning. Oh dear! The piece of bread in the pan had turned black as well.
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 the twins looked around them in disappointment, their father appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The twins carried the breakfast upstairs and woke their mother up.
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