I grew up in the south of Arizona in a little community called Estepona. I was 16 when one morning, my father told me I could drive him into a remote village called Mijas, about 18 miles away, on condition that I take the car in to be serviced at a nearby garage. Having just learned to drive, and hardly ever having the opportunity to use the car, I readily accepted.
I drove Dad into Mijas and promised to pick him up at 4 P. M…Then I drove to a nearby garage and dropped off the car. Because I had a few hours to spare, I decided to catch a couple of movies at a theater near the garage. However, I became so immersed in the films that I completely lost track of time. When the last movie had finished, I looked down at my watch. It was six o’clock. I was two hours late!
I knew Dad would be angry if he found out I’d been watching movies. He’d never let me drive again. I decided to tell him that the car needed some repairs and that they had taken longer than had been expected. I drove up to the place where we had planned to meet and saw Dad waiting patiently on the corner. I apologized for being late and told him that I’d come as quickly as I could, but the car had needed some major repairs. I’ll never forget the look he gave me.
“I’m disappointed that you feel you have to lie to me, Jason.”
“What do you mean? I’m telling the truth.”
Dad looked at me again. “When you did not show up, I called the garage to ask if there were any problems, and they told me that you had not yet picked up the car. So you see, I know there were no problems with the car.”
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。
Dad let out a sigh of disappointment.
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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As a child I dreamed of becoming a scientist. I mapped my life out: I’d study neuroscience at a top university and proceed to do a master’s, a Ph. D., and a postdoc, all of which would somehow lead to a prosperous career. But it didn’t go quite as planned.
During the research part of my master’s degree, I found myself putting in 8 hours of work per day with little enthusiasm. I wasn’t ready to let go of my dream, however. I decided to apply to Ph. D. programs. After numerous rejections, I got accepted into a program in Zurich.
I was relieved, but I also doubted whether I was the right person for the job. Within 2 years, it became clear that I was failing to master the skills I needed, and I found the work no more satisfying than during my master’s. My mental health worsened. I would lie in bed wide awake for hours. I struggled with whether to quit: If I gave up, all the years I had devoted to academia would turn out a waste of time. Then a friend noticed my mental and physical exhaustion. “Is this you. George? ” he asked one day. After hearing those words, all of my hesitation about quitting disappeared. I resigned the next day.
It felt liberating to be honest with myself about a path that wasn't meant for me. Still, I needed to decide what to do next. I thought about a lecture I had recently attended. “If only we could get the general public to feel the awe (敬畏) that I’m feeling!” I remember thinking at the time. That got me wondering whether writing and communicating about science might be a good profession.
I looked around and came across exceptional news features in science magazines, written by individuals without a Ph. D. I began to think I could have a career writing about general science and the work of scientists and researchers.
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 signed up for a feature writing course.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I feel as though I’m on the right path now, writing about public health.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
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When she stepped off the stage, Sarah recognized a familiar figure among the crowd.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As long as she could remember, Mary had been fascinated by her grandmother’s notebooks. They were overflowing with stories and recipes from every corner of the globe, gathered during her wanderings in her youth. Those notebooks were like a time machine, taking her back to the days when her grandmother was young and full of life. She felt as if she could almost taste the flavors of the dishes her grandmother had cooked back then.
The notebooks were more than just pages of paper and ink. They were a reflection of her grandmother’s life, a record of her experiences and learning. Each recipe was a memory, each story a lesson learned. And now, those notebooks were about to pass into Mary’s keeping. Her grandmother had promised to pass them down to her when she was old enough to appreciate them.
Mary couldn’t wait to dive into those notebooks and discover more about her grandmother’s world. She was sure that they would be a rich source of knowledge and inspiration, and she was determined to honor her grandmother’s legacy (遗产) by preserving and cherishing those priceless notebooks.
One day, while searching through her grandmother’s attic (阁楼) , Mary came across a pile of unfamiliar notebooks. As she turned the pages of one of them, she realized they were filled with intricate (错综复杂的) details of her grandmother’s life. However, some pages were missing. Mary was puzzled. She wondered what could have happened to those missing pages and what secrets they might have held. She was determined to discover the truth behind the notebooks and fill in the missing pieces of her grandmother’s life.
With her heart pounding in her chest, Mary wildly searched the attic for those missing pages, but still couldn’t find them. Then, suddenly, she recalled her grandmother mentioning something about hiding things in plain sight. A light bulb went off in her head-the missing pages must be somewhere in the house! She knew she had to find them before they were lost forever.
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。
With renewed determination, Mary began her search.
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Mary carefully removed the envelope, trembling with excitement.
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Jacob sat on the grass outside Grandma’s house. He held a piece of paper. He folded the paper this way and made a point. Then he folded it that way and this way and made wings. Jacob threw his paper airplane high into the air. It twisted (盘旋), turned and fell to the ground.
Grandma looked up from her gardening as Jacob folded another piece of paper. He threw the new plane into the air. It went up, came down and bounced off the ground.
“You know,” said Grandma, “there’s a secret airport just through those trees. Want to see?”
“An airport!” Jacob jumped up. “Near your house?” Jacob took Grandma’s hand, and they followed a path through the trees. They stopped when they reached a wide river.
Tik-tik-tik, tik-tik-tik, noises filled the air.
“The airport sounds busy today,” said Grandma. She pointed through the trees. “Watch carefully.”
Jacob looked across the river. He only saw trees, no airplanes. He looked into the sky. He only saw clouds and sunshine.
Raaaawnk!
A large gray-blue bird with wide wings and long legs swooped (猛冲) down. It landed in a tree, on some sticks and branches. A nest!
Jacob looked at the other trees. There were nests all around! Another large bird swooped out from the trees, just as a new arrival flew in and landed.
“It is an airport,” said Jacob. “A bird airport!” “Those are great blue herons (鹭),” said Grandma. “See the baby chicks?” Jacob saw three little chicks stick their heads out of a nest. They stretched out their necks to receive food from their parent.
“They might be having fish for lunch,” said Grandma. After the meal, the heron spread its wings and flew into the air. It flew slightly downward at first, and then flew away with large and slow beats of its wings.
“Those are huge wings,” said Jacob.
“They help the heron travel a long way to find food,” said Grandma.
Jacob watched a heron fly in, with long legs stretched toward a nest and wings open wide, acting as brakes (刹车) for a gentle touchdown.
“They’re good for landing, too,” said Jacob thoughtfully.
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。
Back at home, Jacob asked Grandma for help to find paper plane designs on the computer.
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“Ready?” Jacob held up his plane.
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It took place in a teacher’s family. One day, Ben was playing basketball in the living room after school, when he accidentally threw the ball at a vase sitting on the shelf. The vase dropped to the floor and a large piece broke off. What made Ben more upset was that the vase was not a common decoration but an antique (古董), which was handed down through generations from the 18th century. It was also his mother’s favourite possession. To cover his terrible action, the terrified boy glued the pieces together hurriedly and put the vase back to its place.
As the mother herself dusted the vase every day, she naturally noticed the cracks (裂纹) that evening. To her surprise, the repair work was actually very good. At dinner time, she asked her boy if he broke the vase. Fearing punishment, the suddenly inspired boy said that a neighbour’s cat jumped in from the window and he couldn’t drive it away no matter how hard he tried. It raced around the living room and finally knocked the vase off its shelf. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying, for all the windows were closed before she left for work each morning and opened after she returned. However, in the face of her son’s nervous eyes and the suspicious looks of the other family members, Ben’s mother remained calm. She realized she shouldn’t just simply blame and punish her son for lying. She came up with another idea.
Before going to bed, the boy found a note from his mother in his room, asking him to go to the study at once. The boy thought he would now be punished but, as he had already lied, he was determined to deny everything to the end, no matter how angry his mum became.
In the study, calmly bathed in the light, his mothers face showed no sign of anger. On seeing her son push open the door and cautiously enter, she took a chocolate box out of a drawer and gave him one.
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 mother said, “This chocolate is a reward for your imagination: a window-opening cat!”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Now with some chocolates in hand, the boy’s bad attitude disappeared.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“No. You can’t get on without money. Please get off. I really need to get going,” Jeffrey, the bus driver, impatiently told a girl who wanted to get on the bus but only had a few pennies. She was around seven years old, and Jeffrey wasn’t in the mood to deal with unaccompanied children that day.
“Please, sir. I want to visit my grandma,” the girl begged. “Then go and ask your parents for the money and come back next time,” Jeffrey replied. The girl finally left the bus, upset. Jeffrey saw her sit down at the bus stop and drove off. “My goodness! What have I done?” he asked himself regretfully later.
He finished his route and went home, greeting his wife, Greta, and sitting on the sofa to rest. He got his phone out to surf the Internet mindlessly. One local man had shared a picture that made him surprised. It was a picture of the little girl he had just refused an hour earlier. The word “Missing” was written on top of the picture. Shocked, he read further and learned the girl had left home and disappeared a day before. Her parents were anxious, trying to find her.
Jeffrey’s back went cold. This girl was missing, and he had just kicked her out of the bus. “What have I done?” he said to himself. Immediately, he stood up and went to the front door, putting his shoes on hurriedly. “Where are you going?” Greta asked, coming out of the kitchen.
“Quick! Call 911 and this number,” Jeffrey said, showing her the picture of the girl on his phone. “I saw this girl at a bus stop earlier, but I turned her away because she didn’t have enough money. I’m going to find her.” “OK, which bus stop exactly?” she asked, and he explained. Greta then called the police and the girl’s parents immediately.
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。
Jeffrey anxiously rushed to his car and started the engine.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jeffrey then asked the girl gently, “Did you escape from your home? Where were you going?”.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was 13, I climbed my first mountain — a fairly gentle 3, 900-foot peak near where I live in Surrey, British Columbia. I loved the challenge of conquering something bigger than myself. Soon I’d climbed nearly 100 peaks.
I often go climbing with my friend Mel Olsen. Two years ago, on December 30, when I was 16, she and I drove to Oregon to conquer 11, 240-foot Mount Hood.
It's safer to start winter climbs at night when there's less risk of the sun melting the snowpack. That day, we started at 3 a. m. The temperature was about 14 degrees, and we wore clothes we could easily remove. Along the way, we met two other climbers, and the four of us continued on together.
After about five hours, we reached Devil's Kitchen, a plateau at about 10, 000 feet, just before the final push to the top. By this point, the wind conditions were horrible. My exposed skin felt as though it were burning. The other climbers decided to turn back, but Mel and I went ahead. We had ice axes (斧), helmets, and crampons (钉鞋). We were prepared for the climb.
The trail we followed grew narrower and steeper. At around 9 a. m., we reached a patch of ice called an ice step. It was about three or four feet tall and sloped at a 75-degree angle. I volunteered to go first. I placed my left foot on the ice step.
I gained a sense of the ice when I stuck my ax and crampons into it, and it felt good. Confident that I was safe, I put my full weight on it. Suddenly, I heard a crack, and a whole block of ice broke off the step, right under my foot.
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。
In an instant, I fell backward.
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As Mel made her way down, I yelled for help.
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Nothing Extraordinary
It was a Saturday. The mall was packed with people. I was with my mom.
Mom is short, skinny. It is easy to overlook her in a crowd simply because she is nothing extraordinary to see.
On that day we went for another window shopping in a mall next to our apartment, peeking at window boutiques(时装店)in fleeting glances because we both knew we wouldn’t be buying much, like always.
I remember I was looking up at the people we passed as we walked—at first indifferently, but then more attentively.
Ladies wore bright, delicate clothing and five-inch heels that clicked importantly on the floor. Men stepped by smelling of sharp perfumes. An uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. I tried to push it out, but once it took root, it refused to be rid of and tossed away: I was ashamed of my mother.
We were in a high-class neighborhood, I knew that. We lived in a small, overpriced apartment building that Mom chose to move to because she knew the schools were good.
We were in a high-class neighborhood, but as I examined the passers-by and then turned accusing eyes on Mom, I realized for the first time that we didn’t belong there.
I could see the heavy lines around Mom’s eyes and mouth, carved deep into her skin without luxurious creams to ease them away. She wore cheap, ragged clothes with the seams tom, shoes with the soles(鞋底)worn down. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet and her hair was too gray for her age.
My mom is nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment she stood out because she was just so plain.
I don’t want to be seen with her, so I hurried away to the bathroom. When I finally made my way out with reluctant steps, Mom wasn’t in sight. I had to search door to door, only to find Mom was standing in the middle of a high-end store, holding a sweater that looked much too expensive.
注意: 1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
She said, “This will look good on you. Do you want it?”
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No longer ashamed of her but of myself, I put the sweater back.
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The five children in Larrane Leech’s day care group were outdoors early, painting landscapes under the dizzy sun. By 10 a. m., it was time to find shade, so Larrane decided they would walk down to the river.
“We’re going to pick berries now, ” she announced. A nature lover, Larrane insisted they spend as much time as possible outdoors.
Larrane handed each child an empty jar and called for Pal, her one-year-old German shepherd (德国牧羊犬). The group made its way over the dusty road and then onto a dirt path through the trees. They stopped at the first berry bush and got busy picking berries, cheering and talking excitedly.
A young cougar (美洲狮)cocked an ear toward the birdlike chatter and sniffed the air. Stepping over the thick carpet of pine needles, the cougar moved quietly toward the children.
Larrane sensed the children suddenly go quiet. She looked up to see the back end of a cougar, the size of Pal, standing over one child, Mikey. The sight of the cougar near her kids immediately froze Larrane. Larrane couldn’t tell whether Mikey had been bitten. Her mind racing wildly, she darted toward the cougar. Desperately intending to grab its tail, she shifted aim at the last minute and seized the cougar by the neck. She shook it from side to side. Instantly, the cougar wheeled toward Larrane. Growling and hissing, it stretched up high and brought its paws down upon the head of the woman. Although still in its youth, it had all the teeth and muscle a cougar needs to pull down a victim three times its size. This animal was capable of killing 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。
Now aware of the danger, the other four children screamed and ran behind Larrane.
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Larrane rushed to Mikey, who lay quietly on the ground.
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