Sarah had unspeakable pain because she had to raise her children alone. But over time, she changed too much, looking skinny in the mirror, with dark bags under her eyes. She knew she had to stop burning herself out before it was too late. So she emailed her manager that she was taking an urgent day off.
It had to be the best day ever. Sarah hated instant coffee but didn’t have time for anything else. But not now. Sarah placed her favorite coffee maker on the stove and walked to the kitchen windowsill, enjoying her company when her phone rang loudly from her bedroom. “Yes?” “Hello, Sarah! How are you doing?” “Natalie? Oh, my goodness! Is this really you?” …Natalie was Sarah’s friend, but they’d lost touch after Natalie and her husband moved to Europe. Unfortunately, Sarah got so carried away by the conversation that she completely forgot about her coffee on the stove. The weather turned harsh, and strong winds blew the window curtain toward the stove, causing it to catch fire. Sarah put the phone down immediately when she smelled something burning and the smoke caused her to cough.
Sarah’s house was reduced to a pile of charred wreckage (残骸). Her neighbors looked at her pityingly and offered to shelter her until she could find a place to live. But Sarah couldn’t take their favor. She knew no one wanted to see a swarm of children at home, especially in the current economy. Sarah and her children had been dragged to a shelter in the street.
A few months later, it was Sarah’s birthday. She decided to take her children out for a good lunch and then get back to her work. But they didn’t want to and had a strange request. They blindfolded (蒙住眼睛) her, guiding her out of the house. Sarah had no clue what her children had planned for her. She knew they were heading somewhere far from the homeless shelter since they were on a bus at some point.
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 Sarah did remove the blindfold, her hands went to her mouth in shock.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Her neighbors had actually built her a new home.
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1. 简要描述图表；
2. 你认为教师是否会被人工智能取代；
3. 你的理由。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was never “that girl” — the one who had charming appearance, and who enjoyed a colorful social life. I was another girl entirely, one who was considered “nice girls”, and the top student in class. Not that I didn’t care about friends or fun, I just didn’t think it was worth putting lots of time and effort into changing how I looked, how I acted, even as I started high school.
Marissa was “that girl” — fun to be around, good to know. We are different, but our friendship began the first time we met at an exciting soccer match, on the second day of freshmen year. The excitement of the game and our shared interest in soccer connected us, I was deeply impressed with her enthusiasm, while she admired my calm. Our conversations went smoothly, and our relationship quickly turned into a close bond.
However, as the school year progressed, Marissa’s outgoing personality began to conflict with my reserved nature. She stood out in social situations, constantly asking me to attend parties and social events. While I appreciated her efforts to include me, I felt awkward and uncomfortable to be forced into unfamiliar surroundings. Our once harmonious friendship started to crack, I tried to turn down her invitations, but in vain.
One evening, Marissa persuaded me to attend a large party at a classmate’s house. Surrounded by loud music and strange faces, I felt uneasy and upset. Marissa was the queen of the party, leaving me feeling extremely lonely. Her personality attracted others to her, creating a barrier between us.
注意:1.续写词数应为150个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
At that moment, I realized the growing divide between us.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Since then, we worked together to find a balance of our personalities.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mr. Ward couldn’t stand students cheating the most. Whenever there was an exam, he watched very closely, making sure no act of cheating was neglected, and any student who cheated would be seriously punished.
I remember many times after tests, Mr. Ward found that the students sitting around me had better scores than the others and the further away a student was from me, the worse his grade. Mr. Ward suspected that some of the juniors “accidentally” got some of my answers. So he and I had a very interesting talk about cheating.
Mr. Ward once told me of some of the ways students tried to cheat. Student A intentionally “dropped” his pencil an unusually far distance from his desk. Then he stood up and walked slowly across the room to take it back. On the way, he glanced at the papers. Student B got a piece of paper and wrote down all the formulas (公式) on a tiny bit of paper taped to the inside of the kid’s palm. These incidents weren’t very rare.
The last day of the entire school year, all I had left was my math exam and there seemed to be some definite tension in the air because this was the biggest test of the year. I saw some kids trying to do some last minute studying, some trying to calm themselves down by breathing slowly and some saying a silent prayer.
Mr. Ward went to the front and started handing out the tests by rows. After explaining the rules of the test, he said very clearly, “If you cheat, I will take your test and tear it up. You will get a 0 for the biggest grade of the year.” Mr. Ward moved very effortlessly and efficiently about the room and during every test he went into a sort of RADAR mode. He sat at the front and watched the room for anything that might look like cheating. During this RADAR mode, if you were cheating, you would be caught. Guaranteed.
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。
Our test started and we were sitting there busy working on our papers.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then Mr. Ward asked the kid he was watching to go to his office.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Bill Sumiel was having a tough Friday. It was October 2020, and the 71-year-old, who was dealing with kidney failure (肾衰竭) and had been on dialysis (血液透析) for a few years, found himself at the hospital 30 miles from home for the second time in 24 hours. The day before, his brother had driven him for a routine declotting (去除血块), but it unexpectedly blocked again that night.
Sumiel was no stranger to the struggles of kidney disease. He’d been diagnosed with diabetes (糖尿病) more than 20 years before, which led to his kidney problems. He was on the list of the kidney transplant program, but no matches had yet appeared. So he continued with his treatments, including the periodic declotting that had failed this time. This time, Sumiel took a taxi to and from his appointment.
Timothy Letts, 31, was driving north to visit a friend when his phone received the request for Sumiel’s ride home. The trip was out of Letts’s way. Still, he took the fare, figuring if the passenger was coming from a hospital, he likely needed a ride.
When Sumiel got into the car, Letts could see that the older man was not energetic but in good spirits. And as they set out on the 40-minute drive to Sumiel’s home, the pair started chatting.
Letts shared with Sumiel that he was a proud Army veteran (老兵) and Sumiel mentioned that in the past he’d enjoyed volunteering at his church and in his community, even serving as president of the city council. But he was doing less these days, he explained, because the dialysis treatments left him exhausted and he was searching for a kidney donor.
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。
This hit Timothy Letts deeply.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Weeks later, Letts received a call from the hospital, saying he was a perfect match.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I remember the day as clear as glass. I was in 6th grade and my teacher had just announced it was a class break, a time we were allowed to eat snacks and move around the classroom. But on that day, I reached a breaking point.
My friend sat across from me. Two classmates who were attention seekers were making fun of him again. They did something mean to him every day: stealing his school supplies, calling his sister ugly, or laughing at his big head. On this day, they were singing a song about him, “Chicken, chicken Josh.” They sang endlessly and cruelly. Those words were like a bite of hot pepper to my friend, who turned red with anger and embarrassment, while tears of frustration dropped from his eyes. I could see how hopeless he felt.
Normally, I would just sit and watch it all. I was very shy. I rarely spoke during breaks or raised my hand in class. I was so shy, in fact, that my teacher made me a chart to tick every time I raised my hand. She said I’d receive a prize if I filled it up. But I never did. It didn’t help with my shyness; it just made me more self-conscious. But on this particular day, I took a stand. I’d had enough. I stood up and shouted, “Leave him alone!” Silence broke out, all eyes in the room fell on me. But the silence was short-lived as everyone went back to enjoying their break. For the rest of the day, every time the bullies would laugh at my friend during class, I would scream, “Stop troubling him,” or, “It wouldn’t hurt to be nice.”
But these words didn’t help. In fact, it made the situation worse: I too became a victim. From that afternoon on, the two bullies began to make up songs about me. They chanted, pronouncing my name in a different dialect to show I was different from them. This mocking and disrespect upset me a lot. I felt helpless.
注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；2. 请按所给格式在答题卷的相应位置作答。
A few weeks later, I spoke to my teacher after class.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, my teacher finally said, “David, I think it’s time to get the principal involved.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was about nine the first time I got on a board. Something inside of me connected to surfing unlike any other sport. I had played a bunch of different sports, like baseball, soccer and hockey, but surfing became my true life interest.
By the time I was twelve, I began to compete in surfing. Before long, I was rated number one in the Juniors level of the Pacific Surf Series. I was featured in surfing articles and magazines, and companies began sponsoring me.
Things were really looking up. My lifelong dream of becoming a professional surfer was finally coming to a reality. Then came the day when my life changed forever.
On that day, I watched a little bit of a surf movie to prepare for my surf. I was excited; the waves were going to be so good. When I pulled up to the beach at Zuma, the waves looked great. Then I caught this one perfect south swell peak.
The wave hit me in my back so fast that I didn’t have time to put my hands up. I hit my head on a sandbar beneath the surface of the water. My whole body went numb (麻木), then I was floating face down — unable to move. When the next wave flipped (翻转) me over, I yelled for help. At first nobody came to help me, then finally my best friend, Brad, came over to me. I told him, “You gotta keep my head out of the water or I’m gonna drown!”
Finally, Brad was able to get me out of the water and onto the beach. I knew I was paralyzed (瘫痪). As I lay on my back, my dreams of becoming a pro surfer flashed in front of my eyes. What was going to happen to me? What kind of a life would I have if I was paralyzed forever? This can’t happen to me! Guess what? It did.
注意：1.续写的短文词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
At the medical center, I learnt what a serious injury I had.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I surprised myself by maintaining the will to live.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My best friend had dropped me off in front of the church. I found myself inside a small entrance, facing a locked door. As I turned to leave, I noticed a man, a vagabond (流浪汉), asleep in a corner, his head resting on an old bag.
My meeting with the man brought to mind an interview with a pastor (牧师) who had spent a day walking around downtown Toronto, handing out change to everyone who asked. The lesson he wanted to convey with his story was that we shouldn’t show so much limit about giving to those in need, because none of us will lose our wealth if we part with a couple of dollars now and then.
I could see the wisdom and truth of his words, but I still mistakenly believed that giving them money would only worsen the condition. When faced with a similar question, the pastor pointed out that we must try to offer charity in whatever manner we can to whomever is in need. That last message was now causing me to re-examine my beliefs towards homeless people.
“Miss? You wouldn’t happen to have a bit of money to spare, would you? Enough to buy breakfast?” the man asked. I hesitated a few seconds before offering, “I have a McDonald’s gift card. I could buy you something for breakfast.” “Thank you,” he replied.
We came to the nearest McDonald’s. After ordering breakfast and a coffee for himself, the man asked me to have time for a coffee, as the buildings don’t open for another hour. His comment caught me off guard, and I was unable to find a polite reason to excuse myself, so I ordered a tea and resolved to sit with him for a while. When we left, the man thanked me again for the breakfast and offered to show me around to thank me for my generosity.
注意：1.续写的短文词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
I didn’t want to be impolite despite my hesitation.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When leaving, the man took a delicate stone out of his bag.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Isla and I were studying in the same school. We had been friends since we were six years old. I took Isla as a smart, funny friend, but not all students at our school did, especially the girl students. Girls in our school wore fashionable branded clothes, but Isla sewed hers and her curly hair and thick glasses made her look like a fish, which made her stand out like a sore thumb(招眼).
For me, sometimes I felt embarrassed to be around Isla, particularly when students said rude words about her hair, clothes, glasses—even about the fact that she got really good grades. Isla always seemed to be able to ignore what other students thought, but I couldn’t. I began to distance myself from her.
Our school had a tradition—there was a talent show every spring. Students would sing, dance, play musical instruments, and do whatever they could to show their talents. Being our graduation season in this senior school, this year’s talent show would be obviously different. It would be a huge night.
Ava, who was an outgoing girl, invited me to be on her dance team. “We win the talent show every year, and we expect a satisfactory graduation this year,” Ava said to me excitedly. “We need a new dancer. But only you, not her!” Ava pointed to someone behind me.
I didn’t need to turn around to see who she meant. “Oh, I see,” I said quietly. Ava had hardly headed out when someone tapped on my shoulder. It was Isla. When I saw her confused face, it was like waking up from a dream. Isla asked me eagerly, “Emily, are you going to take part in the talent show?” I hesitated without response. “That’s great, Emily!” Isla told me without waiting for my answer that she was also going to participate this year. I couldn’t believe what I had heard. I started to worry about her when I imagined that she was in front of a huge crowd, and that everybody would laugh at her.
Time passed quickly, and I had barely seen Isla since then. For me, I had to practice hard every day with Ava and the team to keep up since the other dancers had already known the steps.
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。
Ultimately, it was my turn to perform, and I felt extremely nervous.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I stepped off the stage and expressed my thanks to Isla, who was ready to sing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was confident at the audition (试演) for the school play and felt pleased to get a role. It just felt good to be in the play, even if I had only four or five lines. I worked hard at perfecting those lines. I repeated them over and over again. I put in the emphases and intonations (语调) that my drama teacher had suggested and, because I was on stage much longer than for just four or five lines, I had many actions to rehearse (排练) and perform. “Do them in front of a mirror,” my drama teacher had advised me. “Watch how you look; practice and rehearse as often as you can.” I did just that. I worked and worked at it. It was fun and exciting rehearsing.
Then finally the big night came. Suddenly, things felt different. The theater was full of people. As I dressed, I could hear the chatting and noises of the audience. I looked around at the other more experienced actors and saw that their previous confidence seemed to have disappeared. Had they got their makeup right? Was the costume done up correctly? What if they forgot their lines? The more people talked about their anxiety, the more nervous everyone became. The worries spread from person to another—like a baton (接力棒) being passed in a relay race—until the whole of the backstage area seemed to be full of tension and worry.
I was on stage early, at first performing my non-spoken role in the background with several other guys around the same age. When, suddenly, I heard my cue (出场提示), the lights were bright in my eyes, I couldn’t see the audience but knew there were hundreds of people out there all watching me. The words that had flowed so easily when I stood in front of a mirror didn’t want to come, and when they did I found myself hurrying into them. I tried to slow down my thoughts and my words.
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。
But I suddenly realized I had missed a sentence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I bowed to the audience excitedly and went back to my drama teacher.
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