I had run away from home after finishing high school. My parents had insisted I go to college, but I was tired of school. I hated it. I was determined not to go. And, besides, my father was too strict. I had too many chores to do around the farm. I haled the work!
There had been a quarrel between my father and me. I threw some things into a bag and left angrily, as my father shouted after me, “If you leave, don’t come back!” My mother cried openly, and I had seen those tears during a hundred sleepless nights.
Then it was time to write a letter to my father.
Dear Dad,It’s been more than a year now. I’ve traveled east to west. I’ve had dozens of jobs. None of them amounted to very much. Always the same questions: “How much education have you got?” It seems they always want college men for the good jobs.
Dad, you and Mother were right about everything. I know now that the work on the farm didn’t hurt me, and I’m convinced I need college. I’m also convinced that both of you loved me.
Dad, I’ve learned a lesson. I want to come home. I know you said if I left, I couldn’t come back, but I’m praying you’ll change your mind. I want to come home and be a part of the family again.
Give my love to Mother and the girls.
Love,Your son
As I folded the letter and put it into an envelope, I felt a refreshing relief. It was as if a heavy load had been lifted from my shoulders. And I had to be on my way home.
I started down the desolate road—the long road home. Fortunately, a car picked me up, and it was good to have someone to talk with. The driver was a salesman and very pleasant.
“Where you going, boy?” he asked good-naturedly.
There was a long silence before I said, “Home.”
“Been away from home long?”
I smiled, a little self-conscious, and said, “One year, one month and two days.”
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。
Having heard my story, he expressed his support for my final decision and told me something surprising.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, I arrived home when. it was completely dark.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A little bird landed on the tree branch outside Lisa’s bedroom window. It sang energetically as the first pale yellow rays of sunshine appeared.
“Oh, my god, what is that noise?” Lisa complained to herself, pulling her bed sheets over her head to ignore the sound. It was no use, and she knew it. The loud sound showed the coming of the day. Lisa’s mom knocked twice on her door, and then came in with a smile. “Time to get up, Sleepyhead,” She whispered. “The early bird catches the worm, you know.”
“Ugh,” mumbled (含含糊糊地说) Lisa into her pillow. “What does that even mean?”
“It’s just an expression, Honey”, her mom replied. She gave Lisa a kiss on the cheek and urged her to get out of bed. Lisa rolled over and slept for a few more minutes.
With her mom’s repeated urging, Lisa had no choice but to get herself dressed. She went unwillingly downstairs for breakfast, ate slowly, and missed her bus. When she finally got to school, she failed to get a place in the Chess Club. She also missed the first part of math class, so she didn’t understand the lesson and had to get extra help at lunchtime. Her teacher gave her extra homework to make sure she knew it. As a result, she missed her favourite library time. This day was no fun.
The next morning, Lisa was woken up by the same loud noisy song. Instead of ignoring it, today Lisa walked over to the window and opened the curtains. “Well, hello there, little fellow,” she said when she saw the pretty bird outside, still singing happily. As she watched, the bird stuck its beak (喙) into the wet ground, and pulled out a wiggling (不停摇摆) worm for breakfast.
“Today I am going to be the early bird,” thought Lisa.
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At lunchtime, Lisa finished her lunch early and had time to go to the library.
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No Crown for me
“Will you come with us, Susan?” cried several little girls to a schoolmate. “We are going to the woods; do come, too.”
“I should like to go with you very much,” replied Susan, with a sigh, “but I cannot finish the task grandmother set me to do.”
“How tiresome it must be to stay at home to work on a holiday!” said Rose, one of the girls, shaking her head. “Susan’s grandmother is too strict.”
Susan heard this remark, and, as she bent her head over her task, she wiped away a tear, and thought of the pleasant afternoon the girls would spend gathering wild flowers in the woods.
Soon she said to herself, “What harm can there be in moving the mark grandmother put in the stocking? The woods must be very beautiful today, and how I should like to be in them! ”
“Grandmother,” said she, a few minutes afterwards, “I am ready, now.” “What, so soon, Susan?” Her grandmother took the work, and looked at it very closely.
“True, Susan,” said she, laying great stress on each word. “True, I count twenty turns from the mark, and, as you have never cheated me, you may go and amuse yourself as you like the rest of the day.”
Susan’s cheeks were red, and she did not say, “Thank you.” As she left the cottage, she walked slowly away, not singing as usual.
“Why, here is Susan!” the girls cried, when she joined their company. “But what is the matter? Why have you left your dear, old grandmother? ” they asked.
“There is nothing the matter.” As Susan repeated the words, she felt that she was trying to deceive herself. She had acted a lie. At the same time, she remembered her grandmother’s words, “You have never deceived me.”
“Yes, I have deceived her,” she said to herself. “If she knew all, she would never trust me again.”
Paragraph 1
The little party had reached an open space in the woods.
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Paragraph2
“Now, Susan.” said Rose, “Put on the crown of flowers, for you are to be our queen.”
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We had just taken a holiday of three days: from Saturday to Monday. Now, it was Tuesday morning, but in some way, it was like a Monday-the start of a new week. And after a busy and tiring holiday, it was time to go to work.
After I hurriedly got up, I looked out of my bedroom window. It was raining. I complained, “This weather is terrible. What an awful morning!” As I stepped out of the front door, a big wind turned my umbrella inside out, so I decided to run through the cold rain to my car. But I didn’t see a puddle (小水坑) until I stepped into it. My new shoes were completely wet. I had to rush back to my room for a change. When I was finally seated in my car, it stalled (熄火) twice before I could back out of the driveway. And I was worried that I would be late for work.
The traffic on the road was heavy. A horn (喇叭) honked—someone thought I wasn’t going fast enough. “This day is terrible. Nothing is cheerful,” I said to myself. To drive easily, I decided to listen to the traffic report on the radio. Under the guidance of the announcer, I drove carefully. I was grateful for that.
Finally, after managing to navigate (导航) my route through the traffic, I decided to stop at a little coffee shop near my office to buy a cup of coffee. The line of cars at the drive-through stretched to the parking lot, so I figured it would be faster if I just got out and went inside.
Clearly, the coffee shop had many customers. I sighed impatiently as I waited in line until I reached the counter where I ignored the friendly greeting from the waiter. I ordered my favorite: a cup of coffee, extra cream and no sugar. Then my order was served. That’s when I realized I had left my wallet at home! I was both upset and embarrassed.
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。
Noticing my anxiety, the man waiting in line behind me pulled out his wallet.
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When I got back into my car, I found the man walking in the rain.
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假定你是李华，最近学习了几篇关于体育方面的文章，请你给校英文报上投稿，介绍体育文化。要点如下：
1.奥运会：
2.体育习语，举例说明；
3.号召学生积极参加体育运动。
注意：
1.写作词数应为100左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Sports Culture
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6 . In our information-driven society, shaping our worldview through the media is similar to forming an opinion about someone solely based on a picture of their foot. While the media might not deliberately deceive us, it often fails to provide a comprehensive view of reality.
Consequently, the question arises: Where, then, shall we get our information from if not from the media? Who can we trust? How about experts- people who devote their working lives to understanding their chosen slice of the world? However, even experts can fall prey to the allure of oversimplification, leading to the “single perspective instinct” that hampers (阻碍) our ability to grasp the intricacies (错综复杂) of the world.
Simple ideas can be appealing because they offer a sense of understanding and certainty. And it is easy to take off down a slippery slope, from one attention-grabbing simple idea to a feeling that this idea beautifully explains, or is the beautiful solution for, lots of other things. The world becomes simple that way.
Yet, when we embrace a singular cause or solution for all problems, we risk oversimplifying complex issues. For instance, championing the concept of equality may lead us to view all problems through the lens of inequality and see resource distribution as the sole panacea. However, such rigidity prevents us from seeing the multidimensional nature of challenges and hinders true comprehension of reality. This “single perspective instinct” ultimately clouds our judgment and restricts our capacity to tackle complex issues effectively. Being always in favor of or always against any particular idea makes you blind to information that doesn’t fit your perspective. This is usually a bad approach if you would like to understand reality.
Instead, constantly test your favorite ideas for weaknesses. Be humble about the extent of your expertise. Be curious about new information that doesn’t fit, and information from other fields. And rather than talking only to people who agree with you, or collecting examples that fit your ideas, consult people who contradict you, disagree with you, and put forward different ideas as a great resource for understanding the world. If this means you don’t have time to form so may opinions, so what?
Wouldn’t you rather have few opinions that are right than many that are wrong?
1. What does the underlined word “allure” in Para.2 probably mean?| A．Temptation. | B．Tradition. | C．Convenience. | D．Consequence. |
| A．They meet people’s demand for high efficiency. |
| B．They generate a sense of complete understanding. |
| C．They are raised and supported by multiple experts. |
| D．They reflect the opinions of like-minded individuals. |
| A．Simplifying matters releases energy for human brains. |
| B．Constant tests on our ideas help make up for our weakness. |
| C．A well-founded opinion counts more than many shallow ones. |
| D．People who disagree with us often have comprehensive views. |
| A．Embracing Disagreement: Refusing Overcomplexity |
| B．Simplifying Information: Enhancing Comprehension |
| C．Understanding Differences: Establishing Relationships |
| D．Navigating Complexity: Challenging Oversimplification |
7 . On March 7, 1907, the English statistician Francis Galton published a paper which illustrated what has come to be known as the “wisdom of crowds” effect. The experiment of estimation he conducted showed that in some cases, the average of a large number of independent estimates could be quite accurate.
This effect capitalizes on the fact that when people make errors, those errors aren’t always the same. Some people will tend to overestimate, and some to underestimate. When enough of these errors are averaged together, they cancel each other out, resulting in a more accurate estimate. If people are similar and tend to make the same errors, then their errors won’t cancel each other out. In more technical terms, the wisdom of crowds requires that people’s estimates be independent. If for whatever reasons, people’s errors become correlated or dependent, the accuracy of the estimate will go down.
But a new study led by Joaquin Navajas offered an interesting twist (转折) on this classic phenomenon. The key finding of the study was that when crowds were further divided into smaller groups that were allowed to have a discussion, the averages from these groups were more accurate than those from an equal number of independent individuals. For instance, the average obtained from the estimates of four discussion groups of five was significantly more accurate than the average obtained from 20 independent individuals.
In a follow-up study with 100 university students, the researchers tried to get a better sense of what the group members actually did in their discussion. Did they tend to go with those most confident about their estimates? Did they follow those least willing to change their minds? This happened some of the time, but it wasn’t the dominant response. Most frequently, the groups reported that they “shared arguments and reasoned together”. Somehow, these arguments and reasoning resulted in a global reduction in error. Although the studies led by Navajas have limitations and many questions remain, the potential implications for group discussion and decision-making are enormous.
1. What is paragraph 2 of the text mainly about?| A．The methods of estimation. | B．The underlying logic of the effect. |
| C．The causes of people’s errors. | D．The design of Galton’s experiment. |
| A．the crowds were relatively small | B．there were occasional underestimates |
| C．individuals did not communicate | D．estimates were not fully independent |
| A．The size of the groups. | B．The dominant members. |
| C．The discussion process. | D．The individual estimates. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Dismissive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Approving. |
A Chair for My Mother
My mother works as a waitress in the Blue Tile Diner. After school sometimes I go to meet her there. Then her boss Josephine gives me a job too. When I finish, Josephine says, “Good work, honey,” and pays me. And every time, I put half of my money into the jar (罐子).
It takes a long time to fill a jar this big. Every day when my mother comes home from work, I take down the jar. My mama empties all her change from tips for me to count. Then we push all of the coins into the jar.
Sometimes my mama is laughing when she comes home from work. Sometimes she’s so tired she falls asleep while I count the money. Some days she has lots of tips. Some days she has only a few. Then she looks worried. But each evening every single shiny coin goes into the jar.
We sit in the kitchen to count the tips. Usually Grandma sits with us too. Often she has money in her old wallet for us. Whenever she gets a good bargain (划算的交易) on tomatoes or bananas or something she buys, she puts by the savings and they go into the jar.
When we can’t get a single other coin into the jar, we are going to take out all the money and go and buy a chair. Yes, a chair. A wonderful, beautiful, fat, soft armchair for Mama and Grandma. When Mama comes home, her feet hurt. “There’s no good place for me to rest my feet,” she says. When Grandma wants to sit back and cut up potatoes, she has to get as comfortable as she can on a hard kitchen chair.
So that is how come Mama brought home the biggest jar she could find and all the coins started to go into the jar.
Paragraph 1:
Now the jar is too heavy for me to lift down.
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Paragraph 2:
Finally we find the chair we are all dreaming of.
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My middle child, Jake, was smart and good-looking, but he always sees the cup of life as half empty. Every day when he came home from school, Jake would list everything bad that happened that day!
On his ninth birthday, we saved enough money to take the family to Disneyland for two days. His dad and I didn’t make much then, so it cost a considerable amount, but we felt Jake’s birthday was worth it. After doing Disneyland to death (玩够了), we returned to our hotel room, all exhausted. And I asked the birthday boy, “Did you have fun today, Jake?”
All my fault-finding son could say to me was “Pirates (海盗) of the Caribbean was closed!” “Jake Marshall,” I was clearly unable to contain my anger, “we stood in line for an hour and a half to see The Haunted Mansion. We rode Space Mountain three times. We spent two days playing in the park, and all you can say is, Pirates of the Caribbean was closed?” Clearly, something had to be done about his negative attitude and I was going to be the one to do it!
I was determined to help him. I read every article and bought every book. With the help of great resources, I found my son had the tendency to see the worst in every situation. My research told me that people with negativity have an emotional need for order and sensitivity. That meant I needed to listen to my son’s daily pessimistic reports. My usual reaction was to try to talk Jake out of his negativity, but that wouldn’t satisfy his need for sensitivity, so I had to let him finish his complaints and ask what good things happened. Then I needed to wait until he could tell me. This would help Jake realize that good things really were happening to him.
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
One day Jake came home from school and complained as usual.
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From then on, Jake came to understand the power of seeing good points.
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1. 中国传统节日的重要性；
2. 如何推广中国传统节日。
注意：
1. 词数80左右，开头与结尾已给出，不计入总词数；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Distinguished judges and dear fellow students,
It’s my honor to stand here and talk about “Promoting traditional Chinese festivals”.
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