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.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My parents came to the US from India in the 1960s, along with other immigrants from India. Back then, there were few Indians anywhere around the US. My father came to Kansas,where he would get his Ph.D. Six months later, my mother came with the three of us kids — my sister, my brother, and me. We were just six,five and three years old then.
It was the very first winter when we were in Kansas. It was so cold,but we didn’t have heavy coats or warm clothes. We didn’t have a concept of how cold it really could be in the Midwest, and there was a new surprise every day. We didn’t have a car or anything like that, and my dad didn’t have a US driver’s license. But anyway, my father was studying for his Ph.D., and he would walk up and down a big hill to and from the campus on a regular basis.
Since I was three years old, I didn’t go to school, but my sister and brother were in school. My father had to walk down the big hill to take them to school every day and then walk back up the hill to go to university.After about three weeks of living like this, a woman called Valerie,whose son John was in the same class as my brother, started noticing them. On a very cold snowy morning,when they went to school as usual,Valerie passed by. She pulled up and said, “I see you on the way every day. Don’t you feel cold without coats?”My father responded,“We didn’t expect the weather would be so cold in Kansas.”Valerie said,“Maybe I can take your daughter and son to school. Would you like a ride?”
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Hearing that, my dad nodded with great joy.
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Later, Valerie and her family became so dear to my family.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My father asked me to chat with him for a while. Actually, I was unwilling to listen to his talking endlessly as he always did. My father was a lawyer, but I never wanted to go to law school or follow his path through life.
As was expected, he cleared his throat and started to say, “Er … What … What do you really want to do in the beautiful future?”
I was silent for a moment playing with the cell phone. I kept thinking, “Should I tell him my true thoughts? What if he gets angry? What if I let him down?” Later I replied, “Well, I want to be a writer.”
I guessed this may not be the answer he would expect. But surprisingly, “Interesting idea!” he answered. I was shocked, speaking in a low voice with hesitation.
“Are you serious, Dad?”
“Well, you need confidence and good preparations, and you still have plenty of time. You need to find out what you really enjoy now. Look, it’s late. Let’s take the boat out tomorrow morning, just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs (螃蟹) for dinner, and we can talk more.”
Early next morning we packed up the equipment and set off along the coast. We didn’t talk much, but enjoyed the sound of the seabirds and the sight of the coastline.
There were no big waves and blinding sunlight at that time. “Let’s see if we get lucky,” he said, picked up a web basket with a rope tied and threw it into the sea. We waited a while. Then my father stood up and said, “Give me a hand with this,” and we pulled up the crab cage onto the deck.
To our joy, the cage was filled with dozens of soft shell crabs. Squatting (蹲) down, we watched them for a moment. At first they fought against each other to climb out hard, trying to escape. Many were pulled back into the cage. Later, some gave up, but there were still some crabs trying to escape again and again.
Paragraph 1:At that moment, my father pointed to the cage, “Look at that crab, there!” Staring at the crab, I found that every time he wanted to escape, he was pulled back into the cage. However, he didn’t give up his fight. Fortunately, he survived from the struggle eventually. Shocked and amazed, I suddenly understood why my father had suggested catching crabs that morning. I thought the future would be filled with many possibilities. Everyone would need to find out what he enjoys and hold on to it.
Paragraph 2:From that day on, I was determined to make my dream come true. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. 你所推荐的俱乐部； 2. 推荐理由； 3. 你的期待。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使得行文连贯。
Dear Jack,
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Yours,
Li Hua
Deep in the forest, my husband and I had fun climbing over and crawling under the downed trees that blocked the dirt path before us. It was May, yet we walked up a snow-covered hill. When we noticed our jeans were wet up to our knees, it did not dampen our spirits Not once did we say, “Let’s turn around.” This was our vacation, and we were on an adventure. Little did we know this was the beginning of many more surprises.
The trail was marked as an easy one-kilometer like yet we were already walking a long distance. Our light-heartedness stopped when we came out into a clearing and saw a parking lot without our rental car in it. As my eyes scanned the surroundings, nothing looked familiar. My heart raced. I realized we were lost in a national park that did not officially open for another week.
Usually, I am the calm one in the relationship, but my husband surprised me with his calmness. This did not comfort me; in fact, it heightened my fear. As we walked, I asked my husband to call for help, but there was no cell-phone signal in this isolated（偏僻的）area.
It was awfully quiet except for our footsteps hitting the road, and my heavy breathing. My husband suggested we conserve energy and walk slower. With each step on the road, my feet and thighs hurt while my mind raced with thoughts about people who got lost in the Canadian woods for days.
My vision sharpened. I noticed everything around me: the trees, rocks and snow. I thought we could eat the snow on the ground in case we needed water. For the first time in my life, I was ready and willing to get a ride, but we did not meet with a single car on the road. Silently, I prayed multiple times. We focused on each other, made joint decisions and connected through gratitude. We managed to stay on the main road and walked straight on.
Paragraph 1:My husband suddenly spotted a small building on a hill in the distance.
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Just then, a friendly woman appeared, saying, “Hello.”
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