I once work in Indonesia school teaching English on a supporting program. One afternoon, while I was walking across the campus, I noticed a girl sitting on a stone, her head bowed over a notebook, completely absorbed in her studies, her fingers tracing the lines of text as she mouthed the words silently. My footsteps interrupted her, and she stood up to walk towards me. “My name is Andara,” she introduced herself. She asked if I could help her improve her English. I could tell it took immense courage for the young Indonesian girl to approach me and ask for help.
“I want to go to a US university,” she said with confidence. I was surprised. I asked to pay a visit to her family before I made any promises. After a two-hour bus ride, I met her family. I realized they would never be able to afford the expenses of a US university. Andara lived in a two-room house crowded with her parents and two brothers. The walls were dingy patched with years of wear and tear. Moved by her eagerness, I agreed to work with Hani on a volunteer basis to help her pursue her educational dreams.
Andara’s enthusiasm was increasing with her language ability, but I was becoming more and more discouraged. The prospect (前景) of taking part in the Test of English Fluency in Jakarta filled me with worry, as the entire examination was an impossible challenge for someone who had never interacted with a computer before.
One day I received the announcement of a scholarship opportunity for a major US university. After reading the requirements, I knew Andara couldn’t meet the qualifications. I told her that there was only a slim chance and encouraged her to be more “realistic” about her dream. But she remained determined.
“Will you send in my name?” she asked.
I couldn’t turn her down. I completed the application, with the painful truth about her academic life, but also with my praise of her courage and perseverance (坚持不懈).
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
In months that followed, Andara worked even harder.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then, not long after coming back from Jakarta, we received a letter from the scholarship association.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I loved the spelling bee (拼字比赛). I trained every day after school, the dictionary pages rippling softly in the breeze. But I had never thought my arch-enemy in the spelling bee could become my friend.
Opening my eyes on Friday morning, I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. I glanced at my alarm clock — it’s only 6:27. I usually woke up at 7:01, which meant I had an extra thirty-four minutes to study. I was the best spellers in my class. I wanted to win the bee at Meadowbrook Middle School and beat my arch-enemy, Nathan Fortescue.
Nathan just read many science and math books. Really, he wasn’t a speller at heart — he’s a mathematician. Nathan and I had nothing in common except being good spellers, but since he’s a good speller without even trying, it didn’t count.
I walked into the kitchen, finding Dad cooking breakfast. He served me some porridge. I thanked him and told him the spelling test and my anxiety. My father gave me a quiz. Those words “dexterous, sesquipedalian, truncate” didn’t trouble me at all. Finally came the word “judgment”. “Easy, J-U-D-G-E-M-E-N-T.” I answered quickly, without any thought.
Dad shook his head. Not believing in him, I headed for my room, referred to the dictionary and marched back with a frown. Before parting, he told me that I should thank him, because I would probably get the word in the test.
As soon as I shut the classroom door behind me, I heard a voice from the back of the room. “You are looking pale now, and I’m afraid that you may miss the spelling bee.” Nathan smiled as he closed a giant book with dancing numbers on the cover.
“I bet a literature word will make you out on the first round.” I replied.
As Ms. Hawking walked into the room, she explained the rules—one missed, and you were out—and the spelling test began. After four rounds, only Nathan and I were left. “Olivia, your word is ‘algorithm.’” said Ms. Hawking. I hadn’t heard that word before, but I spelt it A-L-G-O-R-H-Y-H-M.
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。
Ms. Hawking frowned and said that’s incorrect.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After class, I sobbed when I felt a hand on my arm.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Jennifer, do you hike?” Karen said to me. “Yes, I hike,” I replied. Karen’s slim figure and sun-kissed cheeks suggested she was a regular hiker.
“Great, do you want to come with us tomorrow? We will meet in front of Bobbie’s house at 6:30 before it is too hot, and we will go over to Thunderbird Mountain. It is about three miles in total. Does that sound OK?”
Three miles. I wasn’t sure how long that was, partly because I didn’t actually hike. I was somewhat familiar with the area where they planned to go, but our family had just moved from Oregon to Arizona. I walked our dog around the neighbourhood all the time before we moved here. But I wasn’t sure if I had gone three miles. Being new to town and excited about an invitation from women I wanted to befriend, I accepted, saying, “Sure. That sounds great. We all benefit from hiking.”
When this hiking conversation among my new friends occurred, I was at a monthly dinner for moms in my new neighborhood. The group was four women in their forties, all with high-school kids, jobs, a fondness for reading and music and tricks for simplifying work-life.
I was honored to be invited since making friends in my forties in a new town wasn’t easy. After this re-location for my husband’s career, making friends wasn’t as simple for me as it was for him. He came to the community for a full-time position at a busy university. Our teenaged son and daughter immediately plugged into school through sports and clubs. I was enormously grateful for the ease of the transition for my family, but nervous for myself. So, while at the monthly ladies’ gathering, when hiking came up, I just played along, wanting to try something new.
The next day, I got up early and carefully selected comfortable hiking clothes. When I arrived at the designated friend’s driveway a little early, Karen was standing there waiting. “Hey, Jennifer, I’m glad that you can come to hike,” she said cheerfully and hugged me. When the others joined us, we started walking. I was sweaty and a little out of breath before we even started going uphill.
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。
“So, where did you hike in Oregon?” one of them asked, offering me a bottle of water.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________By accepting the invitation to hike that day, I received a lot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“And that’s ‘The Ray of Hope’ for you!” Asta said as she ended her book review. She took a deep bow and was given thundering applause. I, too, gave applause. I was happy for my friend. Well, I was pretending to be happy for her. Deep down inside, I was rather feeling envious of Asta. She was always the one who makes speeches, debates and tells stories to others. Me? No! I had stage fright and was always the shy, quiet one who was never courageous to speak in front of others. I had never managed to do a presentation without stammering(结巴). Every time I saw someone making a speech, I would imagine myself in his or her place, receiving the applause and praise.
I was walking to the canteen with Asta. She, as usual, was looking at the script. She had been chosen to be the presenter for the National Day Celebration. I sighed to myself. Why could I not be like her, always loud and brave? If only there was a way to prove myself...
Just then, I caught a glimpse of a poster on the noticeboard.
“Minute to say it?” I read the poster out loud.
It was a competition where one has to prepare a speech about a particular topic and summarize it on the stage within one minute. This could be my big chance to overcome my stage fright! And the best part was, if I won the competition, I would receive a mini-trophy (小奖杯).
Without thinking twice, I grabbed a form and filled in it. I took a seat in the canteen with Asta and told her what I had done, after which she said that she had also signed up for the competition. Suddenly, regret hit me like a 20-pound hammer. I was competing against Asta who was the best speaker in the school! I was bound to lose! Why was I so ill-fated? I just wanted a chance to prove myself that I could overcome my stage fright.
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 big day finally arrived.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Next, it was Asta’s turn.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Harry, from Chesterfield, is going to be 11 years old. He always wants a proper birthday party but it’s always been difficult to arrange because he is an autistic (患有自闭症的) boy. It is hard for him to understand how other playground he might smile. He’s not evil-minded. It’s just his face and feelings do not match up. Unless you know him, you can’t understand the thing he does. He’s a really good kid, just misunderstood. Because of autism, he’s not been invited to a party since kindergarten, which makes him seem to be left out.
In order to make Harry not feel lonely, this year, his mother Hannah, 31, put an appeal for birthday cards for Harry on her social media because she wanted Harry to feel “included” and “less alone”. Much to her surprise, more than 200 cards flooded in her mail box within a week, some from as far as Dubai. With more arriving every day, she felt crazy and overwhelmed.
When Harry said that he wanted to have a party for his 11th birthday, his parents felt surprised but delighted. Because it meant their son was willing to deal with different people, which was a big step for him. The parents took action again. At first, no one but his family had planned on coming, they even couldn’t fill one lane. Struggle d to get more people to come, the mother turned to social media once more and the result never let her down. More and more people sent cards and some of them started offering to come to the party as well. It turned out that people with children Harry had never met responded by helping to fill the venue.
注意：1. 续写词数应为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:
On Harry’s birthday, about 30 children in total attended the party.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
The party means a lot to Harry who was scared and nervous but also excited.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was a child, I was very greedy. Whenever I saw something delicious, I would ask my mom to buy it for me. There was one thing that I could never get enough of, and that was cream bread. Due to my constant consumption, my body became increasingly overweight, and my resistance weakened. As a result, my mom stopped buying it for me.
One day, while shopping with my mom, we passed by a bakery, and I started begging for cream bread. To my surprise, this time my mom agreed without hesitation. We entered the bakery, but unfortunately, they had sold out of cream bread. So my mom bought me a kind of regular bread.
Upon returning home, I felt unhappy and kept thinking about the delicious cream bread in my mind. Suddenly, the sound of the phone interrupted my thoughts. My mom answered the call briefly and then quickly changed her clothes. Seeing her anxious expression, I asked curiously, “Mom, what’s wrong? Is there something urgent?” While changing her clothes, she replied, “There’s an emergency at your aunt’s house. I need to go check on it. I’ll be back soon. If you’re hungry, just eat the bread we bought earlier.” With those words, she grabbed her bag and left.
After watching TV, I was hungry. So, following my mom’s instructions, I started eating the bread. However, as soon as I took a bite, I immediately spat it out and complained loudly, “This bread is so tasteless! It’s not even half as good as cream bread!” I threw the bread aside in frustration. Later on, my stomach growled even louder, causing me to think of ways to make the bread more enjoyable. Suddenly, I remembered that there was a bottle of something similar to cream in my mom’s cosmetics (化妆品) — facial cleanser (洗面奶). So, I walked over to her dressing table and picked up the bottle. Excitedly, I opened the bottle and squeezed (挤) the cleanser onto the bread, thinking to myself that this bread would surely taste great now.
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。
I had squeezed a lot of facial cleanser onto the bread when my mom suddenly returned.
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My mom sat down beside me and explained gently.
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On the walk home from school, my friend, Cherry, happily said, “Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I’ve been saving up for the past month and plan to buy my mother the perfume (香水) she’s been wanting for so long.” Her excitement made me realize that I hadn’t prepared anything special yet. But I only had a little money left. I began to regret spending so much on snacks every day. “See you next week!” Cherry’s voice pulled me back to reality. We waved goodbye as she went into a perfume shop.
I continued walking along the road, carefully thinking about what gift I should choose. I planned to buy something like flowers or chocolate, but now it seemed like those were way too simple. Therefore, I pushed open the door to a mall (商场) and tried to find the perfect gift. The bright lights illuminated (照亮) the collection of various goods. I picked up a lipstick (口红) but immediately (立即) put it back after seeing its price. I could never afford that! Then I walked into another shop and saw a lovely cup. This cup, besides being beautiful, would also remind my mother to drink water. It’d be a wonderful gift. I picked it up and turned it over to see the price listed, hoping it was not too expensive. But once again, I couldn’t afford it even with all the money that I had. Feeling sad, I continued to wander around the shops. Time flew by quickly, and before I knew it, the sky began to darken, so I had to go home.
Since there was no time or money for me to pick out a gift, I decided to make a simple card. When I finished, the clock on my bedroom wall struck 11 p.m. I held up the card, examining its hardcover, handwritten letters, and the tiny pictures I’d drawn of my mom and me. It’s probably never going to compare to the expensive gifts that my friends bought for their mothers, I thought sadly.
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。
Soon, morning came, and it was time to give my mother my handmade card.
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“I love this card!” My mother said excitedly.
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Recently, I volunteered with Interact, my school's service group at Read 2 Me, an activity that gives volunteers the opportunity to read to little kids and interact with them.
I walked with other volunteers into a large room in which there was a large variety of books. Some were picture books, such as Cifford or The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Others were chapter books with pictures in them, such as the Berenstain Bears and The Wimpy Kid series. For the extremely talented kids who like to be challenged, we provided chapter books that required imagination to understand. Just after I had gathered some books together, someone announced that it was almost time for the activity to start. All at once, a burst of voices was heard. The doors opened, and the children rushed in, beginning to look for a reading buddy（伙伴）. They all looked so eager to read, just like mice eager to taste a piece of cheese. I was sitting there waiting and glancing at the books that I had picked out for the lucky kid I would read them to.
Just then, a boy about six years old began to come my way, and I knew that I had found my reading buddy. "Hi, I'm Max. Would you like to be my reading buddy?" "Sure," I responded. And then, I let him search for a book of his choice.
"I like this one," shouted Max. I looked at the book that he had chosen. It told an adventure story of a little girl with her dog, and it seemed that it would be a good one to read to him.
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: "Can you tell me why you want this book?” I asked.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Then came the after-reading activities in which we interacted with each other.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In a distant village surrounded by rolling hills and large fields, there lived a young boy named Lei. At the age of 15, Lei stood out with excellent study performance. His journey to this point, however, was full of challenges and struggles.
Lei was born in a happy family. His parents, hardworking farmers, grew crops from the land to support their family’s life. Lei grew up, surrounded by the love and care of his family, with his days filled with laughter and the simple joys of childhood. However, his life took a sudden turn when his parents decided to move to the city in search of greater opportunities to support their family. Therefore, Lei had to be left behind and taken care of by his grandparents. Although Lei was taken good care of, he felt lonely and sad without his parents around. The house was once filled with his parents’ voices, but now only he and his grandparents were at home. He missed his parents and the happy time he spent with them.
This emotional struggle began to affect Lei’s schoolwork. Once as a curious and eager student, Lei found himself losing interest in his studies. He even didn’t want to go to school from time to time and his grades began to fall greatly. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, his parents made a difficult decision to send Lei to a boarding (寄宿制) school, hoping it would provide him with a fresh start.
However, adjusting to the boarding school life was not easy for Lei. His shy nature made it difficult for him to connect with his classmates and he often felt like an outsider. The pressure and loneliness increased until one day Lei told his teacher about his feeling and thoughts. Concerned about Lei’s health, the teacher immediately reached out to his parents, expecting them to have a heart-to-heart conversation with their son. Taking the teacher’s advice to heart, Lei’s parents took on a long journey, traveling by train and bus for almost a day to reach him.
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 Lei’s parents had a heart-to-heart conversation with Lei.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The conversation was a turning point for Lei.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One sunny Sunday morning, Lily woke up to an unusual silence in the house. Normally, the smell of pancakes would float through the air as her mom busied herself in the kitchen, but today there was nothing. Concerned, Lily decided to check on her mom.
She knocked softly on her bedroom door. “Mom, are you okay?” she called out. A raspy voice responded, “I’m not feeling too well, sweetheart. I’ve caught a bad cold. I don’t want you getting sick too. You can fix yourself some toast for breakfast, and I’ll stay in bed.”
Lily felt sympathy for her mom. She must be feeling really under the weather if she couldn’t even make breakfast. Determined to help, Lily decided to take charge of the morning routine. After enjoying her simple breakfast of toast, Lily noticed the sink (洗涤池) was filled with dishes. Without hesitation, she rolled up her sleeves and began washing them, just as her mom usually did. She washed each plate and glass thoroughly until they were shiny, determined to make the kitchen look as tidy as possible.
But Lily wanted to do more to help her mom feel better. Suddenly, inspiration struck. Lily remembered her mom mentioning that she had planned to plant flowers in the garden today. Maybe if she finished the job for her, it would bring a smile to her face. With newfound purpose, Lily put on her gardening gloves and headed outside. As she worked, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction as she carefully planted each flower, imagining her mom’s delight when she saw them producing flowers.
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。
Entering the garden, she noticed that the leaves of some of the plants were turning yellow.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Later that afternoon, feeling a bit better, Lily’s mom stepped into the garden.
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