Spreading Kindness Around the World
“Mom, we want to write a book,” my five-year-old twins, Delilah and Nathenial, told me one day.
I looked at my kids curiously. “What do you mean?”
Are they joking? I thought. I don’t know the first thing about getting a book published. Still, I didn’t want to squash their creativity. “Okay…what do you want it to be about?”
“An envelope that travels all over the world spreading kindness,” Nathenial said, his eyes shining.
Over the next few months,my kids dreamed up more of the story. The main characters were a pair of twins just like them. I wrote down everything, making sure not to miss a detail. The kids even sketched scenes with colored pencils.
The theme of Delilah and Nathenial’s story was being kind to others, no matter how little you might have. I wondered if that was partly because I’d told them what my life had been like when I was their age.
I remember my father died when I was five. My mom, younger sister and I ended up on the streets,sleeping in parks and homeless hotels for more than a year. I found myself standing in any line I could to get donated food.
Despite—or maybe because of—our hardships, I tried to help others. I handed out snacks to people who were homeless, took in stray (走失的) animals and helped give out donations at a church where the woman in charge would send me home with food. After I gave birth to our twins, I not only taught them to be kind but also to make sure they knew that anything was possible.
I guess I did a pretty good job, because here the twins were, at age five, managed to write a book. After we self-published The Magical Envelope last Children’s Day, the kids decided to donate it to the kindergarten in our community.
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 twins, now eight, continue to amaze me.
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My kids understand more about the hardship I endured.
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The prize may go to the fastest, but sometimes, the first one to cross the finish line isn’t the only winner. Nowhere was that more true than at a recent 5K invitational (邀请赛) in Shelbyville, Indiana.
There were two players in the match: Levi LaGrange and Axel Aleman, who hadn’t known each other before. Levi LaGrange, an 18-year-old student from Western Boone High School, has been expecting to be a professional sportsman for many years. Axel Aleman, who is from Sheridan High School, is a friendly and generous person and he is always more concerned about others than himself. Axel once said to his classmates, “When you are standing at a crossroad, you can choose the path of self-interest, or you can go the extra mile for someone in need. As a teen athlete, the choice is extremely clear.”
The game went very well at first. However, with less than half a mile to go, Levi LaGrange slipped, twisting his ankle. He said, “I was running up the little rolling hill and I hurt my ankle. I felt something was wrong with my ankle.”
Levi stopped and signed to Axel to pass him. Generally, winning a match should be the mission for a sportsman, But at that moment, the race became a secondary concern for Axel. “I was able to see he was in a lot of pain,” Axel recalled. “As I got closer to him, he narrowly fell down. I asked if he was all right. He said he felt like something broken in his leg.”
Rather than running ahead, in an extraordinary act of true sportsmen, Axel refused to leave Levi behind. “As soon as I saw him, I knew I had to do something,” Axel said. “It just seemed like the right thing to do. That mattered more than the race. I told him I wasn’t going to leave. I wanted to help him finish the match.”
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。
Minutes later, Axel walked closer to Levi.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Axel gained a lot from the incident.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Wake up, Mom!” I felt a little hand on my face and reluctantly opened my eyes. There was my son, ready to start the day. I also heard my babies awake in the next room. Ready or not, the day had begun!
I loved being home with my little ones, but I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. My husband and I had just bought a house, and some unexpected expenses made our budget tighter than it had ever been. I was weary of spending more pennies. We weren’t foolish with our money. We worked hard. We were doing all the right things, but we had had one financial disappointment after another.
I was going to pick up my kids’ photo portraits from the studio at the local mall. Despite our small budget, it was important to me to have pictures of my children as they were growing up. The previous week, I had found a coupon (优惠券) and used some change from the car to buy a $7.99 portrait package, and today was the day I was to pick up the portraits. Since we were going to the mall, I decided to make it an outing and packed some sandwiches for us to eat at the food court. What’s more, there are many ride-on toy cars in the mall’s food court for fun and for free.
After breakfast, we went off. After we parked, we walked into the portrait studio at the mall, and I approached the counter. The young woman smiled.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I’m here to pick up our photos.”
The woman asked my name and opened her drawer. “Ah, yes, here they are. Aren’t they just so adorable?” She took out the photos, and the smiling faces of my kids warmed my heart.
“Yes, they are great. Thank you,” I said.
She put the photos into an envelope. Then she spread out additional photos of my kids that I hadn’t ordered. I knew what that meant. The upsell pitch (推销) was coming.
“Would you like to purchase these extra portraits? They are only fifteen dollars apiece!” she smiled sweetly.
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。
My heart turned cold. “I don’t have fifteen dollars.”
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As we were having our lunch, the young woman came up and pressed something into my hand.
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There are lots of chances in front of us. Whether you can seize them or not depends on the choices you make. This reminds me of one choice I made during my childhood.
Two tickets. Only two tickets to the final basketball game.
Three pairs of eyes focused on the tickets in Dad’s out-stretched hand. Mike, the oldest, asked the question running through everyone’s mind, “Only one ticket for us three? But, Dad, which of us will go with you?” Avery, the youngest, repeated the question quietly. I asked Dad if there was any chance to get more tickets. I might be the middle sister, but I was just as eager as my basketball-crazy brothers for a night out with Dad. Dad said he’d got the tickets from a friend and there were only two available.
Seeing that none of us would give up the chance, Dad told us he would choose which of the three of us deserved to go by the following morning.
The next morning, we hurried into the kitchen and looked for Dad, only to find that he had gone out. We were told to get started on our Saturday cleanup as soon as we finished breakfast. Mike complained that he couldn’t concentrate on chores with the game a mere eleven hours away. He slurped the last of his milk, grabbed the basketball and headed towards the back door. Avery dashed after his brother. Before I realized it, the door snapped shut. I glanced out the window and saw Mike practicing his shot while Avery cheered him on.
Seeing the mess on the breakfast table—the leftovers on the sticky plates and dirty cups, I felt frustrated. I approached the window and knocked on it. When the boys looked at me, I held up a kitchen sponge and dishtowel. Mike casually nodded to me and held up five fingers. Sure, five more minutes! I didn’t believe they would return to do the cleanup in five minutes, especially in Dad’s absence. Apparently, they had made their choice.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 续写部分分两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
Anyway, I chose to do the Saturday morning chores on my own.
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Dad was happy to know I found the ticket he had hidden in the cupboard.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Charlie was a 9-year-old boy who had to endure the news of a devastating house fire that left his mom Annie in a coma. The young boy was in school, and his father was at work, leaving his mom alone at home when it happened.
Although Annie did not suffer major burns, she had breathed in too much dirty air, which led to the coma. Charlie was sorry to lose their home in the fire, but what scared him most was losing his mom.
“I want to be with Mom all the time, Dad. I need to take care of her and make sure that she wakes up!”he told his dad, Chris.
“I know that, Charlie, but you need to go to school,” Chris replied. “I’ll have the school bus send you to the hospital after school every day so you can be with your mom, alright? I’m sure she can feel your presence.”
Chris was sad to lose their home, too. He feared that he would lose his wife and somehow blamed himself for not being there when she needed him most. But despite all his feelings, he hid them from Charlie because he had to remain strong. If Charlie knew his real feelings the little boy would be more afraid.
“It will be your mom’s birthday soon. Why don’t we make her a card? I’m sure she’ll appreciate it when she wakes up,” Chris suggested, watching Charlie hold his mom’s hand.
Charlie nodded and suddenly remembered the gift he had kept for his mom “Can you take me back to our old house, Dad? I left a gift there for Mom a short time ago. I’d like to see if it’s still there,” he asked.
Chris could feel his heart ache because he knew Charlie wouldn’t find the gift. However, despite this, he said yes, and the two visited their old house before returning to the apartment they were renting.
Paragraph 1:
Charlie did not know where to start looking for the gift.
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A couple of days later, Charlie and Chris celebrated Annie’s birthday at the hospital.
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The frightening day of our diving test was here. Our parents thought we were lucky to have an Olympic-size swimming pool at the school. My mom stressed that the swimming pool was one of the best in our city. But I didn’t feel happy about it at all. Instead, I felt afraid of the swimming pool. It was mainly because I was terribly shy.
I was so shy that I always sat at the back of the room in class so I’d not be called upon to read. As for the present physical education class each Monday morning, I would work my way to the back of the line forming at the diving board so I would not have to practice the dives.
Now, it was another Monday morning - the morning of our diving test. My blood ran cold when the teacher Ms. Robbins announced that we would be graded for our final on the most difficult dive- the jackknife. And she added, “This diving test is important. The one who fails has to spare time in the following Monday mornings to practice diving in this swimming pool and attend this test again.”
My body kept shaking with fear as the line to the scary diving board shortened. As I watched, each student seemed to perform the challenging dive effortlessly. And shortly I would have to attempt something that I had never even practiced before.
Then I remembered someone telling me that when you picture yourself doing a skill over and over, it’s just as effective as physically practicing that skill. So I watched carefully as each classmate jumped at the end of the board once, added a jump for height, folded their body in half to reach for their toes, and finally straightened out like an arrow for going into the water. After carefully watching for a while, I was actually in a state of surprise, because all of a sudden I realized that it was possible for me to perform these four steps of diving.
Eventually all classmates except me finished jumping. The teacher announced that it was my turn.
注意：1. 续与词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With my heart knocking wildly, I walked down the diving board towards its end.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Knowing I failed, I climbed out of the pool, embarrassed.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Marie was upset. The single mom worked late shift but never managed to sleep past 6: 00 am because of the garbage collectors! “Don’t make any noise!” she screamed out of her window. “People are trying to sleep!”
“Sorry, Madam,” Jeff the garbage collector, said. “We’re trying our best to avoid producing noise. And we’re just doing our job!” Marie stared at him and shut her window angrily. Jeff emptied the heavy garbage cans into the back of the truck. “You fool,” Marie said. She never expected that very soon she’d be very grateful to the young man she had just screamed at.
A week later, Marie woke at 5: 55 am because of the stomach pain. She got up and headed for the bathroom, but on her way she started feeling dizzy and sick and broke into a cold sweat. “David!” Marie cried for her six-year-old son. “David, help me!” When David got up and reached her, Marie was lying on the floor. “Get help,” she whispered to him. The little boy saw his mom was lying on the floor unconscious and started crying.
He wondered whom he could turn to for help. They were new in town and had no family there. And at that time, neighbors were all sleeping. Just then, the garbage truck came to collect garbage. David then rushed outside and cried anxiously, “Help! Help!” Hearing it, Jeff and his teammate quickly got to David! After knowing what had happened, Jeff called an ambulance and comforted David.
Soon, the ambulance arrived. The medical workers checked Marie and found the unconsciousness was caused by anaemia(贫血). They gave her first aid and claimed that Marie would recover soon. But she needed to go to hospital and be treated with injections. Then, Marie was taken away.
David cried sadly for his mom. Jeff accompanied him, patting him on the shoulder and saying, “Don’t be afraid, and your mom will be back soon.” The six-year-old boy nodded as if he could understand. Jeff couldn’t bear to leave the little boy alone at home. After asking for a leave of absence, Jeff stayed to take care of David.
注意：1.续写的词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Para 1:
Then, Jeff followed David into his room and tried his best to help him.
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Para 2:
Several hours later, Marie headed home hurriedly after she was allowed to leave hospital.
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As I walked along the sidewalk in front of Surplus Unlimited, a car that was about to change my life had just turned onto Route 82 from the CVS parking lot. I looked up and noticed the elderly couple in the car heading toward me. As the car rolled past, the driver suddenly collapsed against the steering wheel (方向盘) right in front of my eyes. His wife stared blankly out of the passenger side window. She was unaware that her car was now rolling—without a conscious driver—down the center of a busy road.
I began to jog alongside the moving car. My mind assessed the situation. Somebody needed to stop that car!
I reached forward, but there was nothing to grab. I pounded on her window. She looked confused. “Roll down the window!” I yelled, gesturing wildly. With the window down, I was able to grab the doorframe. I pulled hard against the force of the moving vehicle. On the far side of the car, the traffic streamed by in the opposite direction. Cars passed one after another. Nobody slowed down. Nobody seemed to notice.
Thankfully, the driver’s foot must have slipped off the gas pedal (踏板) when he lost consciousness. I kept pulling, and the car began to slow.
Just then, a woman appeared from behind me. She ran alongside the driver side door. She opened the door and as the car was slowing, she managed to shift it out of “Drive”. A joyful “We did it!” feeling swept over me.
But the car was now stopped in the center lane (车道) with traffic still moving in both directions around us and we need to help this man. Quickly! The woman called 911 while I checked his vital signs. He was not breathing. He had no pulse. He had about five minutes until he was dead. CPR was needed in to time.
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。
Thoughts started running through my mind.
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In an instant, the man from the black SUV was standing beside me and said, “I am a doctor.”
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A Songwriter And An Army Dad Share One Touching Story
Two years ago, Connie Harington, a Nashville songwriter, was driving in her car, listening to a story on the public radio program Here & Now. And she heard a father remembering his son—a firefighter who was killed in a rescue mission.
“He mentioned that he drove his son’s truck,” Harrington says. “And he went on to describe the truck.”
Jared Monti was 30 when he was killed in rescue action in 2006. In the radio broadcast, his father, Paul, said his reasons for driving the truck Jared left behind were simple, “What can I tell you? It’s him. It’s got his DNA all over it. I love driving it because it reminds me of him, though I don’t need the truck to remind me of him. I think about him every hour of every day,”
Harrington was moved by what she heard and wrote down everything she could remember, all while fighting tears. A few days later, Harrington started turning those thoughts into a song, with two co-writers. Singer Lee Brice recorded the song, I Drive Your Truck and last month, it vaulted to No.1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
As the song grew in popularity, Paul Monti, the man whose words on the radio inspired it in the first place, got a message. It was from a woman whose son was rescued in the fire by Jared. “She sent me a message and told me that she had heard this song and that I had to listen to it,” Paul says.
Here’s the thing: Songwriter Harrington couldn’t remember the name of the father whom she’d heard on the radio—but she wanted desperately to find him, to let him know he was the inspiration. “You feel like this song was such a gift,” Harrington says. “And it has contributed to healing, I think, in people. And we just wanted him to know that it was his words that touched us.”
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。
After lots of fruitless Internet searches, she finally found his name, Paul Moni.
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At the celebration party, Paul shared a more touching story about his son.
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Little Ashley had just gotten home from the annual fair with her dad and her grandma. Dad and Grandma were sitting in the yard, chatting happily. And Ashley had her helium(氦气)—filled balloon that she had gotten from the fair, running around. It didn’t cost much but they were on a tight budget. They should have spent the money on daily necessities. But the eagerness in Ashley’s eyes reminded Dad of the moment some forty years ago. It was in that same fair market that Dad got his desired toy from Grandma. Ashley’s innocence melted his heart. “Nothing can ever take the place of real love and family togetherness,” Grandma always said so.
The wind blew, and the beautiful balloon seemed like it was trying to escape. It was almost like trying to hold on to a horse that was bent on speeding away. Her dad warned her, “Never let go or else you’ll probably never see it again.” She listened well and held on tight. She kept her balloon until the helium all came out of it, and it slowly floated to the ground.
A couple of months passed, and unfortunately Grandma got sick. She went into the hospital. Ashley kept asking her dad about going to see her. But Dad was always too busy. He’d say, “We’ll go see Grandma next week. I’ve got so much important work that just can’t wait.”
That next week just seemed to keep getting farther and farther away. Ashley kept annoying her dad about it. After a day of the usual bothering about visiting Grandma, Dad finally said impatiently, “All right young lady, you listen here, I want you to stop bothering me about this. We’ll go see your grandma very soon, and she’ll be just fine until then. This work I have to do is very important. I must finish it!”
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:
“I’m sorry for bothering you so much, Dad, but you should never let go, or else you’ll probably never see her again.”
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Paragraph 2:
Ashley and her dad visited Grandma very often from then on.
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