ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all she had. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. If she was to buy a nice gift for her husband Jim. she would need more money. But how could she earn some? Della stood in front of the mirror in her apartment, She looked at her reflection, brushed her long, brown hair, and made up her mind: she was going to sell her hair. With the money she received for it, she would buy Jim a perfect gift.
Della had her hair cut off and sold it for twenty dollars. She spent the next two hours hunting for Jim’s gift. She found it at last: a simple but beautiful watch chain for his gold watch, which had been passed down to him from his grandfather. Della paid twenty-one dollars for the watch chain, and hurried home with the remaining eighty-seven cents. She looked at her reflection in the mirror carefully again. She felt nervous.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Did she look like a little schoolboy without her beautiful long hair? Would Jim still think she was pretty? She was about to find out.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________And the next day would be Christmas. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Brrrring! The bell rang as I tapped out a quick beat on my desk. I’ve figured it out, finally! I couldn’t wait to play it for my neighbor Mia.
Mia and I had been working for weeks on a song for Saturday’s band competition but we had been stuck on the ending.
I waved when I saw a familiar face jogging toward me down the hall.
“Hey, Will!” Liam grinned. “Ready for some training after school? I’ve been working on my jumper.” He turned around and shot an imaginary ball into the air.
Uh-oh. I’d forgotten all about basketball. I didn’t want to fail Liam, but I was dying to try out the new ending. Maybe if I had a reason to skip…
“Hey, Liam. I don’t feel so great.” I gave a small cough for effect. “Another time?”
“Sure, no problem. Feel better soon, OK?” Then Liam left immediately.
Lying was easier than I imagined. I could finish the song and Liam’s feelings weren’t hurt.
After playing the ending, I looked at Mia hopefully, “What do you think?”
“Perfect!” She exclaimed in delight.
”That sounded great, guys.“ Liam stood on my basement steps with his eyebrows raised.
Oh, no. Busted. ”Thanks, “ I said, trying to think quickly. ”It was strange. I came home and suddenly felt fine. I would have met you at the court, but it was too late. And then Mia stopped by, and—“
”But, in fact, you called me,“ Mia said, shaking her head.
”I had intended to call to ask a homework question, and then…” My voice trailed off(逐渐减弱). I coughed, but it sounded fake. “I can’t remember how it went exactly, but I’m feeling better now.”
"Well, that’s good, I guess.” Liam forced a smile.
Before I could think of something to say, Liam tossed(扔)a case of a movie intended to comfort me onto the couch, Captain Crush, Part 2, the sequel to our favorite movie in which an evil villain’s little lie turned into a big mess, and left with eyes filled with disappointment, followed by Mia.
注意:1. 续写词数应为75左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。(注: 第一段的续写已给出, 请根据第二段首句续写成完整的短文)
Para.1: After Liam and Mia left, I grabbed the movie and popped it in. I needed a distraction from how awful I felt. When watching the movie, I couldn’t help but thinking what if I lost two friends because of my lie. In my mind, two voices battled. The angel urged me to be frank and apologize to him while the devil argued that it was a white lie/a good excuse to spare his feelings. The two voices tortured me so much that I couldn’t bury myself in the movie. What’s worse, the hesitation left me tossing and turning restlessly for a whole night.
Para. 2: The next morning, I met Liam at the bus stop.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With a broad smile on her lips, Sirin, a15-year-old girl, ran with joy to show off her new painting to her mom. But the mother spoke in a hushed tone, “Shh.. honey. I am busy with an important talk. I will look at it. Just wait for sometime, OK?”
Sirin frowned (皱眉) and decided to show it to her dad.
“Dad, see what I have done,” Sirin announced aloud in a thrilling voice.
Dad turned around while adjusting his tie and showed the thumbs-up.
Immediately, blowing her two cheeks, Sirin complained (抱怨), “Dad, you haven’t seen it yet.”
He smiled at her, saying, “No time, baby. I’ll look at it later.”
She was not a kid to be pleased with a simple gesture or a smile. Dad was in a hurry, so he just kissed her forehead (额头), and rushed to go to work.
Sirin stood there for a few seconds, and then rushed into her own bedroom. She threw her painting on the floor, closed the door and lay on her bed. Looking up to the ceiling (天花板), she thought to herself, “Why is everybody so busy?” Her eyes were filled with tears. She thought that her mom and dad would admire her painting,but they didn’t pay any attention to it. It seemed that every single person on this earth was busy with their own work and no one had time to share a single moment with her, neither in happiness nor in sorrow! She was fed up with (受够了) everybody having “no time” for her.
When her mom called her for dinner, she came late to join them on purpose. “I made this special noodles for you, honey,” said Mom while passing the bowl towards Sirin. Sirin kept silent and didn’t want to give a look at her mom. Mom was surprised to see the unusual behaviour. She couldn’t guess anything. Suddenly, the morning incident occurred to her. Softly, she asked, “Honey, did I do something wrong? Why are you so sad?”
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 l:
Hearing what Mom said, Sirin couldn’t help crying and ran into her room.
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Paragraph 2:
The next day, when Sirin turned on the light in her bedroom after school, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing!
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When I was a twelve-year-old girl, I was so addicted to chatting online that some people even called me CyberSara. My mom, a lawyer, always complained that I spent too much time chatting with my Internet friends.
One day I got an instant message from a kid I didn’t know. His name was Bradley, who said he was twelve and lived in New York. He asked if he could be my secret friend, and I thought that seemed pretty cool. Within a few days’ chatting, I found that we both loved to play soccer, even though I didn’t play as much as I used to. To my great joy, we both loved playing computer games very much.
Every day, Bradley and I chatted and emailed each other. We became best friends. He was interesting and seemed kind of smart—actually, much smarter than the typical twelve-year-old boys I knew. I really liked chatting with him. He told me he really liked me. Bradley kept telling me New York was a cool place to live and emailed me amazing pictures of extremely tall skyscrapers (摩天大楼). He asked me where I lived. I told him I lived in Tampa. One day, Bradley shared good news with me that he was coming to Tampa with his parents. He invited me to have a secret meeting and go for ice cream with him in the ice-cream shop near my school. Eager to find what my secret Internet friend was like, I promised to keep it a secret, not telling my parents about our plan.
I was excited that I was finally going to meet Bradley after months of chatting. However, he refused to send me a picture of himself, saying he didn’t want to ruin the surprise. It made me quite confused. Was there something wrong with him? Was he a weird (奇怪的) guy who was not confident enough to show a picture of himself? But he said everyone in his school thought he was the cutest boy in his class, so I thought he had to be normal. The next day, I accidentally told Mom that I would meet my Internet friend alone. Upon hearing that, she began annoying me with a ton of questions, with her face full of anxiety. I eventually told her that Bradley was going to take me for ice cream near my school. “No. Never will you meet a stranger all alone. You are just a 12-year-old girl!”, mom was beside herself with rage when I showed my determination to go. So angry was she that I had no choice but to bring her together. We prepared and drove to the ice-cream shop.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卷的相应位置作答。
The moment we entered the ice-cream shop, there was no one but a weird adult (成年人). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The man was kind of small, but to a five-year-old, he was a giant. Cherry-scented smoke from Grandpa’s pipe kept the hungry mosquitoes at bay. Now and again, he blew a smoke ring and laughed as I tried to target the hole with my finger.
We sat side by side on the old wooden stairs that hot summer evening, watching the traffic, counting cars and trying to guess the color of the next one to turn the corner. We watched the sun go down behind the old Texaco service station across the busy street, which I was never allowed to cross unless accompanied by an adult.
My grandfather was baby-sitting while my mother, father and grandmother went out. While my two baby brothers slept inside the house, my three older siblings (兄弟姐妹) played with friends around the corner, where I was not allowed to go. I stayed with Grandpa, and that was okay with me. “Thirsty?” Grandpa asked, never removing the pipe from his mouth. “Yes,” was my reply. “How would you like to run over to the gas station there and get yourself a bottle of Coke?” I couldn’t believe my ears. On my family’s modest income, Coke was not a part of our budget or diet. “Okay,” I replied shyly, already wondering how I would get across the street.
He stretched his long leg out straight and reached his huge hand deep into the pocket. Opening his fist, he exposed several silver coins. He instructed me to pick out one. After he deposited the rest of the change back into his pocket, he stood up. “Okay,” he said, helping me down the stairs and to the curb (马路沿儿).
“I’m going to stay here and keep an ear out for the babies. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to cross. You go over to the Coke machine, get your Coke out and come back. Wait for me to tell you when it’s safe to cross back.” My heart pounded. Excitement took my breath away.
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。
Grandpa held my hand tightly.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My heart pounded wildly as I approached the Coke machine.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One summer vacation, I allowed my husband and our three sons to take me to go horse-riding. I’d never been on a horse in my life. Horses scare me. “It will be fun,” my kids said. “What if I fall off?” I wanted to add more, but I kept my mouth shut. I was trying to be a good sport.
When we arrived, the coach gave me his gentlest horse. “Nothing to worry about. And kick your feet on the horse’s side to make him go,” he said. I hoped the horse had heard that, too. The horse may look gentle, but he was very big and tall. How on earth was I going to get on this horse using only one little stirrup (马镫) on the side? Well, it took my husband and three sons to do it, but they got me on that horse!
Since the coach knew I had the gentlest horse, he placed me at the very end of the road. I was happy. If I looked silly sitting on this horse, everyone else would be in front of me and couldn’t watch me. We started out just fine. As we got into the woods, my horse was still very gentle. By the time all the other horses were out of the woods, my horse and I were still in the woods! I saw our youngest son waving to me in the distance. This seemed to be the longest ride with this boring horse and me.
Slowly, we got out of the woods and were in a bean field. Suddenly, my horse stopped. Then I remembered one important thing the coach had told me. He said, “Don’t let the horse stop to eat the beans, because then the horse won’t want to go back to the barn (畜棚).” I looked down, and the horse was eating the beans.
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 tried to stop him, but he kept on eating.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, the coach must have realized I was in trouble.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My parents would not let me go to school that morning. “Why not?” I argued. “I have exams. I have work in Spanish class that I can’t miss!” My mother gave me a sad look. “You have to get a checkup (身体检查),” she explained. I screamed, “NO!” My father pulled me over to the couch. “Alison,” my father said in a tone that was quiet but powerful. “You’re in the state of malnutrition (营养不良). And you know that. You can have all in the world, but if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” For some reason, I believed him. I hadn’t wanted it to be this way.
I was a girl who didn’t like doing sports but was fond of snack food. I weighed 50kg at my age of 14. Most of the time, I avoided parties with my friends, afraid of how ugly they would think I looked. One day, I found a slim girl on TV was so attractive that I wanted to look like her. I forced myself to do exercise and started going on a diet for a good-looking body shape. During the summer, I did weekly weigh-ins (称重) and kept a strict diet. I memorized the calories of almost everything that I may eat. My only goal was to lose weight. Later, when it became too cold to run outside, I restricted my calories even more to make up for not being able to burn them.
Gradually I lost my weight a lot. But things turned out to be worse. My hands were especially dry, peeling and wrinkled. My sister called them old people’s hands. Once, I went shopping with my mom.While we waited in line to pay for our items, I felt I was going to faint (昏厥). I felt dizzy and standing was getting harder and harder.
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。
As my mom tried to figure out which exit we should go through, she noticed my pale face.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Incidents (发生的事情) like the one in the store were in my thoughts as my parents had a talk with me that morning—the morning when I refused to see the doctor regularly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The school’s hall got very noisy with excitement as students, teachers, and parents filled the seats, eagerly awaiting the start of the annual school talent show. Backstage, the performers paced nervously, their hearts pounding with anticipation and their minds filled with a mixture of excitement and fear.
Among them was Sarah, a shy but talented singer whose passion for music burned brightly within her. Ever since she was a lonely young girl, Sarah had found comfort in music. With nothing but her voice to accompany her, she would sing for hours on end, pouring her heart and soul into each note, each lyric, each breath.
Sarah’s talent did not go unnoticed. One day, while she was singing softly to herself during a lunch break at school, Mrs Caroline, the choir director, happened to overhear her. Immediately, she saw something special in Sarah—a talent that deserved to rise and shine.
Over the following weeks and months, Mrs Caroline took Sarah under her wing, offering guidance, support, and encouragement every step of the way. She encouraged Sarah to step out of her comfort zone, to embrace her gift, and to share it with the world.
Under Mrs Caroline’s instruction, Sarah began to push herself harder than ever before. She spent hours each day practicing her singing, honing her skills, and perfecting her craft. She sought out opportunities to perform in front of others, gradually building up her confidence and overcoming her fears.
When the moment finally came, with a deep breath, Sarah stepped out onto the stage, the spotlight blazing down upon her like a thousand suns. For a moment, Sarah was frozen in place. But then, with a determined smile, she raised the microphone to her lips and began to sing.
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答题。
Paragraph 1:
Then a sudden technical failure caused her background music to cut out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
When she stepped off the stage, Sarah recognized a familiar figure among the crowd.
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