“Guys, remember. This competition is extremely difficult. There will only be a few selections to make it to the final round with the judges,” the music teacher, Mr. Brooks, explained. “But I hope all of you put your best foot forward and make our academy stand out!” The teacher was talking about a state-wide competition held by the best musicians in the area.
Shahnaz, the new student who had only come to the class two weeks before, took the teacher’s words to heart and put her heart and soul into a composition. She had learned how to play the piano for a long time and really did well in it. She wanted to prove herself.
All the students were supposed to improve their compositions with the help of their teacher, Mr. Brooks. However, he spent most of his time guiding the few outstanding students in his class.
He never had much to say to Shahnaz unless it was a comment about her mistakes, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to impress him. He was a good piano player and could teach her a lot. She hoped that her composition would be improved under the guidance of Mr. Brooks.
“OK,” Mr. Brooks said during one of his lessons, “it’s time for Shahnaz to play.” Shahnaz sat in front of the piano and began moving her fingers softly. She practiced and practiced once her composition was done and could almost play it by heart.
Finally, the piece was finished. Shahnaz looked at Mr. Brooks nervously and hoped to receive his recognition. But he just sighed “Frankly, you made many mistakes. You shouldn’t take part in the competition.”
注意：
1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Shahnaz left Mr Brooks’ class that day with a heavy heart, but she refused to let his words break her spirit.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The night of the competition finally arrived.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tomato Changed My Life
Doing things-without being planned was never my strength.
As a 14-year-old, I would refuse to go for walks around the block with my friends if I was the least bit behind in my schoolwork.
Unlike most teenagers, I lived not in my room, but in an unused kitchen upstairs where I spread my books and papers on a large round table. I spent considerable time there, working continuously for hours, and my mother worried. She would try to lure (引诱) me away. “Come and watch the parade!” she would call from downstairs. “All neighbors are out there!” She thought of all kinds of tricks-the swimming pool, ice cream, stray cats and turtles-to remove me from my -studies, but nothing ever worked.
Later, in college, the pattern continued. The library and my college dorm replaced the unused kitchen at home. When spring came along friends would stop by my dorm or peer into my library room to persuade me to play Frisbee on the lawn. “No, I would almost always say.” I have too much to do.
My college study days were gone, but not my need and love for schedules. My friends and sisters tried to keep me away from my plans, but they were hardly ever successful.
This summer, though, while house sitting for my parents, I was persuaded to change my plans in the most unexpected way. The sight of tomatoes growing in my mother’s garden lured me out of my tightly scheduled world. They drew me with the power of a lover’s gaze. Hundreds of them were turning ripe and red by the minute, decorating the garden like decorations on a Christmas tree.
“If I have time, I’ll make tomato sauce (番茄酱).” I told myself. But my long week in the house by myself was already filled with things to do: writing, and finishing a project that I brought home from the office.
Then, watching the fascinating tomatoes continuously falling to the ground in ever-greater numbers, again I mentally argued about all the things I had planned and needed to do.
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。
Finally, I gave in.
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A month later, my parents came back.
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9-year-old Igor lived in a huge forest in the north of Russia. His father was a woodcutter and his mother a tailor. The boy liked playing with animals in the forest, and knew the names of different birds and their songs. One freezing winter Igor was seriously ill and the doctor from big cities told his parents that only surprise could save him. Lying all day in bed, Igor only wanted his father to catch a bird and played with it. But in winter there were no birds in the forest. “You could make him a bird out of wood,” suggested the anxious mother.
The first finished birds were fat and too heavy to fly. He threw them into the fire, head in hands.
It was snowing heavily, and he really didn’t know where to find a bird. Then an idea occurred to him, “The bird needs two pieces of wood.” Eventually, he made it and showed it to his wife. “Beautiful!” she said, taking a needle and some thread (细线) and sewing the two ends together, like a real bird. She tied a long thread to the bird’s back. And it could be hung above Igor’s bed. Quietly, the woodcutter hung the bird above the boy’s bed.
At daybreak, his son was watching the bird carefully. There was a light in his eyes for the first time in many weeks. “Beautiful!” said Igor. “I’ve never seen it before in the forest. What’s its name?” “That’s a good question. I’ll find out and tell you.” The next morning, when the father entered Igor’s room, he found the boy sitting up in bed, trying to touch the bird. The last time Igor sat up in bed was many weeks before. “What’s it called?” the boy asked. “Oh, dear, I’m still not sure.”
Late on that night, Igor’s father went into his son’s room quietly and made the thread a little shorter. Then the bird was hanging a little higher above Igor’s head. Three days later, he found Igor kneeling on the bed, trying to touch the bird. His hand was very near it. “Have you decided on the name?” “Not yet. My son.” his father replied.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:
Again, at night the father went into his son’s room.
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Paragraph 2:
Several days later, Igor’s father was cutting wood when he heard a scream from the house.
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Mash Assadollah was the grocer at our corner store. Standing behind his glass display case, he tore out a page from a book. He twisted the page into a cone-shaped envelope and then filled it with tobacco. He then weighed the tobacco. He folded the envelope of tobacco closed and handed it to me. I was also buying sugar cubes and tea. Mash Assadollah calculated the amounts on an abacus (算盘). I paid him and left.
When I got home, Grandmother took the goods I had purchased, emptied the envelopes of their ingredients, handed me the wrappers, and asked me to throw them away.
It was summer vacation, and I didn’t have much to do. To keep myself busy, I sat down in a corner of the room and started to read the wrappers, which had once been eight consecutive (连续的) pages of a book. How well written and attractive the words were! It was a good story. I sat there until I had read all eight pages. Honestly, I had never read a book before, except for my textbooks. But when I read those eight pages, I realized that I now loved reading! The only problem was that the story stopped right at the best part, right at the end of Page 22, which was the most important and exciting point in the story.
It was about a boy who wanted to run away from home and escape his father who was always spanking (打屁股) him, but the boy was afraid. He finally left home but didn’t know where to go. I was excited to find out where he would go and what would happen 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。
I decided to go back and get the rest of the book from Mash Assadollah.
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Mash Assadollah didn’t know what I was talking about.
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Standing in the craft (工艺) store, I looked at the painting supplies in awe (敬畏). There were so many items that I had no idea where to start. I saw various tools for painting and several things I had no idea what to do with.
I held gift cards and coupons (优惠券) in my hand. My friends and family had asked what I wanted, and I was very clear this year. I had thought over the idea for months, but I would need supplies. Instead of replying modestly with“I’ll be happy with whatever you choose”, I said pointedly, “Gift cards for the craft store.”
“Are you sure this is what you want for your birthday?” my husband asked hesitantly.
“I’m very sure. I really want to give it a go,” I replied. I was smiling with anticipation (期盼). “I’ve never painted before, and I think it’s time to expand myself.”
He looked at me doubtfully and shook his head.
Truth must be told—this was a secret I’d kept for a while. Every day, he packed up for work and left. I would take care of my son and get him off to school, clean the house, go to the grocery shop and prepare dinner before they both walked in the door at the same time.
It had been a decade since I took any time to follow my own pursuits. I used to love to read; now my books collected dust from lack of time. I used to love to hike; now my boots sat neglected in the back of my closet. I used to love to sew, but my machine was in a state of disrepair for longer than I owned it.
I missed doing all those things, but somehow I never found my way back to them. I had become a drudge (苦工). I wanted excitement and creative expression, but mostly I wanted color.
I selected the most interesting supplies. “Are you really sure about this? I have a feeling you’re going to store all these in the back of a closet and never touch it again.” I almost listened to him. For a split moment, I doubted my commitment.
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。
Squaring up my shoulders, I marched myself to the checkout.
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My hand rested on the handle of the vacuum (吸尘器), but I’d been staring at my painting tools far longer than I realized.
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It pays to have friends in “high” places!
Last year, Brody Ridder of Westminster, Colorado changed schools because hed was being bullied(霸凌). Sadly, the problem didn’t go away at his new school, The Academy of Charter Schools. When the school yearbook came out at the end of his sixth grade year, no one in his class wanted to sign his book.
Brody says he approached several classmates to ask them to sign, but they refused. The few who did sign only wrote down their names carelessly with no personal notes for Brody. Except for a couple of teachers’ notes, his pages were completely blank.
Greatly disappointed, Brody sat down and wrote in the book himself. ”Hope you make some more friends.—Brody Ridder,“ he wrote.
Mom Cassandra Ridder was sad indeed when she read the note and heard how cruelly he’d been treated. She took a picture of the note and shared it online for parents of students at Brody’s school. She had no idea it would lead to discussions all over town!
Parents were so sad to read Brody’s note to himself that they encouraged their children to reach out to the boy the next day. Rising senior Simone Lightfoot was one of the teenagers who heard the sixth grader’s story, and she understood his embarrassment. She and other high school students spent hours talking about Brody, coming up with a plan to help lift his spirits and make him feel less alone.
”We all just started planning that the next day we were going to go and sign this kid’s yearbook,“ said Logan South, another rising senior.
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 next day, they did just that.
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Not surprisingly, Brody’s classmates also reached out to him.
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the most extraordinary athletes of all time. She achieved particular success in basketball, track and field, and golf. She also competed in baseball, boxing, diving and many other sports. In 1950, the Associated Press declared Babe Zaharias to be the “Woman Athlete of the Half-Century”.
From a young age, her goal was to be “the greatest athlete to ever live”. As a teenager, she acquired the nickname “Babe” in reference to Babe Ruth, a professional baseball player. She never passed up a chance to play ball. One day, when she was a little girl, her mother sent her to the grocery store to buy some beef for dinner. On the way home, Babe spotted some boys playing baseball. She dropped her purchases and joined the game. An hour later, her angry mother showed up, looking for the groceries. Babe pointed to where she’d left it. A dog was happily enjoying the last piece.
Zaharias gained fame at the 1932 Olympic Games. She won gold medals in the javelin (标枪) throw and the 80-metre hurdles (跨栏), but she was deprived of a third gold medal in the high jump because she had used the unorthodox (不正规的) Western roll to achieve the highest jump. Her Olympic success brought her national attention.
In 1932, Zaharias began playing golf and was soon winning important championships in the sport. In 1950, Zaharias helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and she became the LPGA’s star competitor. Not only did she attract interest in the women’s game, she revolutionized the sport and was known for her powerful drives.
Zaharias died of cancer in 1956, at the age of 45.
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1. What is your favorite food?
2. Your experiences of tasting it, especially for the first time.
3. Describe the characteristics of the food.
注意：写作词数不少于80。
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要求：所述内容符合逻辑，要点清楚，条理清晰，行文流畅。
Once upon a time, there was a small town. There lived a man by himself who couldn’t see. He was blind. Yet, he carried a lighted lamp with him whenever he went out at night. One night as he was coming home after having dinner outside, he came across a group of young travelers.
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