My teenage son, Jordan, always complained about having to be home earlier than all his friends. He would tell me that he was already seventeen, but still had a curfew (宵禁). He believed he was practically an adult. I pointed out that he was not an adult as he was still in high school.
“You don’t trust me!” he yelled. Before I continued, he rolled his eyes, slammed the door and walked away. I sighed. How could I make Jordan see that I only wanted to keep him safe?
I decided to go for a walk, hoping the December air would clear my head. I opened the front door and nearly stepped on her: a small black cat, just like a meatball. “Hi, Meatball,” I said, bringing her into my arms. I walked back in, touching her neck gently. Meatball seemed happy enough to come in the house, but after an hour or two, she sat by the door, meowing to go back outside.
“Why won’t she just stay in with us all the time?” Nathan, my youngest son asked.
I explained to him that she was happy here but she liked being able to come and go as she pleased.
“That must be nice,” Jordan muttered from the other room, complaining why the cat, not him, could come and go. He even asked me to give Meatball a curfew.
Meatball became a regular.
One night, temperatures were unusually low. Meatball stood at the door, meowing to go outside.
I shook my head at her, afraid that she might freeze to death. She stared at me and meowed again. I patted her head, “I know you’re not happy, but it’s for your own good.”
“Mom’s not being mean to you,” Nathan told the cat. “She’s just trying to keep you from turning into a frozen meatball.” We both laughed at his joke.
The next morning, I couldn’t find Meatball. I asked the kids if anyone had seen her.
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。
Jordan nodded, “I let her out last night.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As I drove to the animal hospital, Jordan sat in the back, holding Meatball inside his coat.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Growing up, I always dreamed of being a professional skater. After years of hard work, I am living proof that dreams can come true.
When I was born, my parents immediately noticed something wrong and the doctor said I couldn’t skate. I, however, insisted on trying skating in an ice rink (滑冰场)not far from my house where local skaters would often perform ice shows. I remember seeing the shining costumes and their graceful movements.
I determined to take group skating lessons, but I’d cry before class because going into a group scared me. Performing on the ice came naturally, but I have always been shy and afraid to speak in group settings.
One thing I’ve never been afraid of is competition. I get nervous, like everyone else, but never fearful. For me, skating has never been about beating others. It’s been about doing my best. I progressed rapidly and gave my first ice performance at age seven. I soon started to win local and regional competitions. That’s because being on the ice has always been the one place I can truly express my emotions. The ice is like home.
I began training seriously when I was nine years old. Mom and I would wake up at four o’clock in the morning, six days a week and skate for five hours. Then I’d go to school. Since education has always been important in my family, I had no choice but to find creative ways to fit in school studies throughout my amateur career.
After graduating from high school, I moved to Canada and set out to train full time to give my dreams a chance at reality. And several years later I was competing at the Olympic Games. Not my coach or even my family had ever talked to me about winning a gold medal. In fact, I wouldn’t even allow myself to think about it. I went with the attitude that I wanted to enjoy the Olympic spirit.
Finally, the day arrived. I took a deep breath and eased into a solid performance that placed me first going into the finals.
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。
Two days later, I was the first of the final six skaters to perform on the ice.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the medals were awarded, I found myself on the top step beyond expectation.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tom appeared in front of the house with a can of paint and a big brush. He was going to paint Aunt Poly's fence as he was asked to. A deep sadness settled upon his heart. The fence was long and tall. He dipped the brush into the can and moved it along the first plank unwillingly. He did it again and again. The painted part was very small but the whole fence was endless. He felt tired and sleepy and stopped painting.
Just then Tom heard a noise. He recognized it easily. It came from one of his schoolmates, Ben, who would make strange noises as he ate. Ben was walking by and eating an apple. At that moment, a wonderful idea came to Tom and he felt energized. He wanted first to attract Ben's interest and then let Ben work for him. If other boys passed by, he would do the same to them.“Maybe they even need to give me something for getting the chance to show their ability,”he thought.
He quickly took his brush and painted quietly. Ben saw Tom, walked up to him and greeted him with a wide smile.
Continuing with his painting, Tom intentionally did not look at Ben. He wished for his plan to work and therefore, he did not turn from his work. Tom moved his brush gently and slowly, all the while ignoring Ben. Ben went closer and taunted Tom with sarcasm,“Tom, it's unfortunate that you have work to do. I'm going swimming. Don’t you wish you could go too?”
Tom turned suddenly. “Oh, Ben. I didn't see you. What do you mean by‘unfortunate’? It may be work but it may not be.”
“Do you mean that you enjoy it?” Ben asked, feeling puzzled.
“Of course! How often do we get the chance to be in charge of painting a whole fence?”said Tom. Moving his brush and stepping away, Tom looked at the end result proudly.
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。
Tom's idea took effect.
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At last, Ben persuaded Tom into letting him paint the fence.
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On the first day of school, I stared in awe at the huge buildings. This high school was definitely bigger than the one I had previously attended.
This was my second year of high school, but my first year of school in St. Louis. I had decided the night before that I would be much happier in a new school if I made friends that were so-called “popular”. Getting in with the right group of people would make my life a whole lot better. I even bought a new outfit and had my hair styled just so the first day would be perfect.
Scared, yet anxious to begin my new life, I walked up the stairs to the front door. The halls were packed with kids yelling and laughing and telling stories of their summer adventures. My first class was geometry, but where was that?
I was standing in the hall looking confused, when a short, blond girl wearing glasses came up and asked, “Are you new? You look lost. Do you need help? My name is Diane. What’s yours?” Even though she seemed a bit strange, definitely not the kind of person I wanted to be associated with, I decided to answer her anyway. I was, after all, lost.
After exchanging names. I followed her up the stairs and down a hallway on the right, making polite conversation the whole way. When we reached my room she said, “Well, here you are. Welcome to JFK, and I hope your day goes all right.”
I said thanks and waved good-bye. Once inside the classroom, I saw one big group of people huddled around someone who seemed to be telling some sort of story. I walked over and got close enough to overhear. All eyes were glued to the guy in the middle of the circle who was wearing a letter jacket covered with patches. I decided that this guy was popular, so I managed to get a seat right next to him. I said, “Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m new here.” He said, “Johnny.”
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。
At the end of the class, I turned to him and asked, “I’m not sure where my next class is, could you help me?”
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Just at that time, someone came up and tapped me on the shoulder.
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1.说明此项新规定；
2.表明你对该新规定的看法。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：
教育部 Ministry of Education 政策policy 手机 mobile phone
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I’d been restless all morning, feeling uncomfortable and not able to put my finger on why. Everything seemed all right. I had a wonderful breakfast with my mother, but I was sitting on the sofa holding the front page of the newspaper and not really reading it. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.
My mother didn’t seem to notice my distraction (分心). She busied herself making a new quilt (被子). I sat and stared at the backyard through the door, trying to figure out what was bothering me. I needed to be somewhere. I didn’t know where, but I knew it wasn’t here inside the house. I headed for the front door and my hand automatically went to my pocket for my car keys. But then something told me I wasn’t going to be driving anywhere. I needed to go for a walk.
I stepped out onto the porch (门廊), wondering where I was supposed to go. Apparently, my legs had an idea because I found myself starting off on one of my normal morning walks. This time, however, I turned north after going one block and walked up a street that I’d never taken before.
After I’d covered a few blocks, I began to hear two female voices, and one of them was crying sharply. A voice in my head said “Hurry” and I found myself running toward the sound. I ran up to a house. Two women stood in front of the house. One of them was dressed in swimwear. She was the one crying.
“My baby!” she shouted, staring down at a little girl lying still on the green grass. “My baby’s dead!” The other woman stood there next to her, holding her hand. She saw me approaching and said, “They were swimming in the backyard. I think her daughter’s drowned (淹死).”
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Hearing this, I remembered that in college I’d been trained in CPR (心肺复苏).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Time was passing slowly and my heart was waiting in expectation.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One holiday, my cousins and I decided to play a trick on my grandma. We planned to do it —not because we didn't like her. She was the sweetest grandma a kid could ever have, and we really loved her. We decided to play the trick just wanting to have some fun. And at that time, to our mind, it was just a harmless little kids' trick.
Early in the evening of that holiday, we began our trick. We secretly walked up to her doorstep with a can of red paint. Grandma was hard of hearing. So we didn't have to worry about being very quiet. Every time we thought about how funny it would be to see Grandma try to pick up a gift that was just painted on her doorstep, we couldn't stop laughing. It didn't take long to finish painting the gift two red roses. It wasn't very artistic. But for us little farm kids and an old woman with poor eyesight, it would do.
As soon as we were satisfied with the painting, we knocked on the door and ran to hide behind bushes and trees to watch the fun. There was a lot of giggling going on as we waited for Grandma to open the door. When she finally appeared, she stood in the doorway for a minute. She looked into the darkness, with her gray hair pulled back tightly into her usual style, wiping her hands on her usual white apron. And she said, “Who could be knocking at my door this hour of the night?” Hearing it, my stomach and cheeks ached from trying to hold back the laughter. Then she looked down at her doorstep. Even from fifteen meters away, we could see the joy that shone in her eyes when she spotted the red gift at her feet.
“Oh, how wonderful!” she called out happily. “A holiday gift for Grandma! I thought I was going to be forgotten again this year!”
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。
Grandma bent down to pick up her gift.
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At that moment, I regretted playing the trick and wanted to do something to make up for it
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Our Garden and the Salad
“Christine, come and help me in the garden. I want to plant all of the seeds today.” My father was calling to me. “I'm busy...” I said. I didn't understand why working in the dirt excited him so much.
By the end of April, his plants had come up in neat rows. Unfortunately, in early May, my father was seriously injured in an accident. He was in hospital for about two months and during that time he often asked me about his garden. Even after he came home, he had to stay in bed for a while.
My mother had several business trips so I said that I would take care of his garden. I assumed that the little plants would continue to grow as long as they had water, and luckily it rained fairly often so I didn't think much about the garden.
One Saturday morning in July, my father said to me, “Christine, I think that the vegetables should be about ready to be picked. Let's have a salad today!” I took a bowl and went out to the garden. I looked at the leaves and was upset to see that many of the leaves had been half eaten. There were hundreds of bugs (虫子) all over them! I tried to get them off, but there were just too many. I looked at the carrots next, but they didn't look healthy.
I got in panic for a moment, but then thought of a good idea. I quietly went to the nearest store to buy some vegetables. I went back home and cut them up to make a salad for my father. When I gave it to him, he said, “Oh, Christine, what a beautiful salad! You must be taking very good care of my garden.” My father looked happy, but I felt a little bit guilty.
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 went back to the kitchen when my mother came home.
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I carefully made a salad and took it to my father.
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You Will Always Be My Teacher, Grandpa
Chitose was leaving for France to get further study. However, the last lesson was a disaster. Chitose and her grandpa had a huge fight. She arrived at the studio smiling and said, “Look Grandpa, I painted this portrait of you.” The man in the portrait had a lot of hair, stood straight, looked young, and smiled. Chitose might be talented enough to attend an art college in France, but she has a big weakness as an artist. When she paints a person, too often she paints an idealized image rather than the real person. Grandpa had been explaining this point to her for several months, but she just wouldn’t listen.
Grandpa got a little angry and said to her, “This is not me, and you are not a real artist.” She got angry too and said she didn’t care because she didn’t need him as a teacher anymore. Grandpa then showed her the portrait he had painted as her farewell gift and said, “This is the real you!” She took one look at it and said, “No, it isn’t!” and then left.
Grandpa gave the portrait of Chitose to her parents. He had done the portrait a couple of months before Chitose started changing her style, and he thinks it shows the high school student he taught for two years. When Grandpa painted it, she still had her natural curly hair. She was not wearing all the accessories (配饰) she has now, including the ring shaped earrings she loves. She also never wore makeup then. This was a Chitose with a fantastic future who knew she was still an amateur artist. But now she is getting older and wants to act and look more like an adult. However, she will never become a great artist if she stops learning.
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。
Chitose’s mom secretly put the portrait into one of Chitose’s suitcases when she left home for France.
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Chitose painted a portrait of her grandpa and herself.
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Christmas Eve, my husband and our three children gathered in the living room. The presents were wrapped under the tree. Everything was perfect except one thing was missing the star on the top of the Christmas tree.
Lilly and Brandon were born first, and decorating the tree soon became the focus of our Christmas traditions. We would lift one of the kids up high to put the star on top. “The star that shone with promise,” I told the kids. The two kids took turns to do this important job.
Then Finn was born. He was a happy baby, until Matt and I noticed something odd when he was 14 months old. He didn’t interact with us anymore. Then, his autism (自闭症) diagnosis came out. How to be the family Finn needed us to be? In so many situations, I didn’t have an answer.
Finn turned three years old, and I hoped he was ready to take part in adding the final touch to our tree. It would be his first time, a chance to connect with us through this tradition. Matt took the older kids’ hands and stepped back to give us some room. I took the star from its box. “Here, Finn,” I said, putting the star in his little hand. “It’s your turn to put this on the top of the tree!” I went to pick him up. Finn didn’t seem to understand. He threw the star on the floor and twisted in my arms.
“Finn,” I said, “It’s okay, honey.” Still, he fought me. Finally, I put him down. I wanted to try again, but he ran away. “Finn!” I called after him, but he ignored me.
“Give him time,” Matt said. It didn’t feel right to let Lilly or Brandon place the star instead. It was Finn’s turn, and I didn’t want to leave him out. So, the tree remained starless that Christmas. The next Christmas too. And the one after that. waiting for Finn. This Christmas, however, I simply gave up trying and left the star in the box somewhere in the basement.
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。
Matt brought some presents to the living room for the kids besides the starless tree.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“You want to put the star on the top?” I asked, looking where his finger was pointing.
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