Amy loved to draw, and her hands, always dirty from the pencil lead, moved on the paper, showing the pictures in her mind. She would sit for hours, lost in art. Trees on her pages seemed to swing in an unseen wind, and the faces she drew wore lifelike expressions. But Amy didn’t look like the art she made. Her clothes were old and had many patches (补丁) that her mother made with care. Amy’s family did not have much money, but they loved each other very much. Her mother worked hard at many jobs to take care of them after Amy’s father got sick and died.
Amy had her good times and hard times in school. She loved different corners of the school which were sources of her inspiration and expected the art lesson. Yet other kids’ laughing at her dress made her sad. She wanted to change the situation, but didn’t know how to go about it. Despite this, she would quietly help someone with a hard math problem or pick up garbage on her way home. She always found comfort in her drawing. In the middle of the term, an art contest on the theme of “My Dream” was to be held, which would select the top three winners, and the head teacher would award them prizes. This news thrilled the children, Amy in particular. They enthusiastically registered for the contest and, after thoughtful consideration, finished their own art pieces. The contest organizers gathered all submissions one week later and set up an exhibit showcasing every participant’s work in the school gym.
The school gym was filled with viewers as the walls displayed the efforts of the young artists. There were paintings of colorful landscapes where the sun burst through thick clouds. Some students had created portraits (肖像) of their heroes. In this sea of creativity, one painting stood out. In the painting, a community garden was drawn, a place where people from all walks of life were planting seeds together. The heartfelt work drew the viewers into a world where every detail had meaning. The exhibition would last a week and all the students and teachers could vote their favorite work.
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。
Finally came the day when the winners were announced.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The children who had laughed at Amy started to see her in a new way.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I’ve always thought of my mother Lee-Ann as a superhero. Not that she can fly or shoot lasers (激光) out of her eyes, but because she never runs out of room in her heart for anyone or anything.
I could write about all of the wonderful things she has done, but I want to focus on the one project she does every year that has shaped my whole family and everyone around us: She collects the money she finds in the washer and dryer, and she puts it in a little jar that we refer to as “The Charity Jar”. Every year, she takes this money and puts it toward something — a cause, an act of kindness, anything that can help someone. Sometimes, she buys coffee for the next people in line at a coffee shop. Other times, she buys something for an organization that needs it.
If you ask her about this tradition, she will tell you that she is carrying on something that her mother used to do around the holidays. If you ask anyone else who knows her, however, they will tell you that she has a huge heart. She manages to get our whole family involved in this movement every year.
Last year, for example, my younger brother Bob and I volunteered in a shelter for the homeless. Once, when we helped with delivering daily supplies there, he noticed the wish list on the wall: comforters, a DVD player, a coffee maker and supplies. We told Mum, and she quickly organized a family meeting to discuss how to help the shelter. We all agreed that the coffee maker would be the best thing for our family to work on together. We found a coffee maker online and decided to buy one.
Bob opened “The Charity Jar” and we counted the money Mum collected. Unfortunately, it was 50 dollars short. “Any way to make it up?” Mum asked me and Bob.
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’ve learned that Mr. Smith needs someone to tidy his big garden,” I told Bob.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next weekend, we went to the shelter with the new coffee maker excitedly.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . Since my childhood my grandmother had noticed how shy I was about letting people do things for me. She was always pointing out to me, “Linda, it’s a blessing to do a good deed for someone else, but sometimes it’s a blessing to let another person do something for you.” I never really understood what she meant until recently.
It was three months ago, and I’d just moved into an apartment for college in Brooklyn, New York. Several of my friends had offered to help me settle in after the moving men left, but I’d said I could manage. Letting them help did not ft my image of myself as a capable and independent woman of 21.
As December arrived, getting to school became more difficult. One day, snowflakes had been falling past my window for several hours when it came time to leave for class. I put on two sweaters, a coat, a wool hat and boots, making for the bus stop near apartment. In this December storm it was a hard journey. As I tied around my neck the blue scarf that Grandma had knitted (编织) for me, I could almost hear her voice: “Why don’t you see if you can find a lift?” A thousand reasons came into my mind: I don’t know my neighbors; I feel funny asking for favors. Pride would not let me ask even though I came across three neighbors at the door of the apartment building. One of them was the woman living upstairs, and in her hand there was an obvious car key.
Result? An hour of waiting in the bitter cold before the bus finally arrived, followed by another half-hour journey. When I slid into the classroom, the class was almost over. If only I had taken the chance and asked for help! It would have been a 10-minute ride by car. Grandma would be shaking her head at my stubbornness (固执).
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为80左右； 2.续写部分为两段，开头语已为你写好。
On the day of my final exam, I again walked to the bus stop through heavy snow.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As I pushed open the door of my apartment building, I found myself face to face with the woman form upstairs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Last weekend, I was standing at the finish line of the St. Francis Franny Flyer 5-kilometer (5K) race, waiting for my nine-year-old son Kade to cross it.
Kade, though a fourth-grader, was already a skilled runner. He had been a part of a cross-country club since he was six years old. He had been working hard to improve his endurance and running skills ‘as he was determined to be a professional runner and compete in national and international races when he was older.
There were two St. Francis Franny Flyer races happening at the same time that day. The 5K race weaved (穿行) through neighborhoods, from the church to Pinecone Road and back while the 10K followed the same route but extended north on Pinecone Road. Race volunteers were available on Pinecone Road to show runners the way, and there were also signs directing the two different courses.
I signed Kade up for the 5K race as a way to train him for the Junior Olympics. He had never run a 10K race, not even in training, so the 10K race was never an option.
Kade was pretty fast and he set a 5K record for his age group at last year’s race, so I was surprised to see slower runners crossing the finish line before him. “This is odd. He should be ahead of them. He might just be having a bad race,” I thought to myself. But as the minutes passed, my worry intensified. My heart raced at the thought that Kade might be lost or injured.
Anxious and worried, I drove along the 5K race route in search of Kade, but he was nowhere to be found. A surge of fear and despair overwhelmed me, causing a flood of tears to pour down my face. I turned to race officials and volunteers for help, and people started looking for him.
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。
Later, a volunteer told me he had spotted Kade on the 10K course.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After what seemed like a long time, Kade finally appeared.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the community of Belfast, Maine lived an old lady, Marina Delune, 67, who had a cute dog named Ruth. The bright-eyed West Highland White Terrier (梗犬) jumped out of her owner’s car on Tuesday and ran off from her Belfast home.
As a person with multiple disabilities, Marina couldn’t do much searching herself. So she posted a piece of information on a Belfast Facebook page that she needed help looking for her lost dog. She expected only a few people would respond. However, the response that she got was beyond her expectation. “It was extraordinary. I couldn’t even keep up with all the responses. I’m not very good at using Facebook, so I couldn’t respond to all the comments,” said Marina. What actually happened was that half of Belfast were out looking for her dog in the woods.
The people in the community knew what Ruth meant to Marina. Ruth was her best companion. Always, they saw Marina walking and shopping with Ruth following behind.
For two days, the people in the community of Belfast together searched yards and woods for the lost dog, put up posters around the town and monitored social media for tips and sightings. As the hours and then days went by with no sight of Ruth, Marina grew more and more fearful that her dog would never come home. But the searchers didn’t give up, not even during Thursday’s icy rain.
Kimberly Mitchell, 53, is an animal lover, who also has disabilities. She walks with a cane (拐杖) and has her own challenges. Such a situation made her acutely aware of how Marina could be feeling. She got in touch with Marina and headed to her home late Thursday afternoon to help. When she pulled into the drive, she had a strong feeling that the dog was nearby.
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。
Despite the cold rain, Kimberly checked the yard.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The dog was looking at Kimberly.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Far from their home in Boucherville, Quebec, looking to remember as many once-in-a-lifetime memories as they could collect, Mia with her parents Edith and Smith rode horses across the bright green grassland of Mongolia, boated on the blue sea off Cambodia, camped under the soaring brick-red peaks of Namibia and flew in a hot air balloon over the brown, lunar-like landscape in Turkiye.
Back in 2013, when Mia was 3, the family began a frustrating series of visits to doctors, none of whom had an answer for her lack of night vision. In 2015, as a last resort, an eye doctor enrolled the family in a research project. After two years, their entire genome (基因组) was mapped out.
“Right now,” the doctor continued, “there is no cure.”
Full of emotion, Edith stood up, excused herself and walked to the nearest bathroom, where she locked herself in it. Unwilling to lose it in front of Mia, who wouldn’t understand, she sat there alone and cried.
While it was tempting to seek a second opinion, Edith and Smith knew that genetic mapping did not lie: The results were definitive and life-changing.
They hesitated about explaining to 7-year-old Mia what her condition meant. Should they let her be a kid, innocent and unaware, for as long as possible? A few weeks later, it just came out, part of a coversation about disabilities in general while having lunch at their kitchen table.
“You know the problem with your eyes?” Edith asked Mia. “You’re probably going to be blind when you’re an adult.” The truth was more abrupt (意外的) than Edith had hoped, but at least it was done. Edith held her breath as she waited for Mia to respond.
“Oh, that’s not fun.” the girl said before changing the subject.
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。
Later that week, Mia started to keep everything in its place in the house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After two years’ work, they set out for the yearlong trip while Mia could still see.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The real pain for Emma always started when all the students were gathered on the track, ready to run. It wasn’t the fatigue (疲惫) that she minded but the looks others gave her. Emma was bigger for her age. On the outside, she looked big, but on the inside, she felt as small as a pea. And PE class was when she felt at her smallest.
Not all her classmates made her feel uncomfortable, though. It was mainly a group of girls and boys, bursting out in laughter every now and then, commenting on how Emma jogged.
Just one more year, Emma kept telling herself, “One more year and I’ll have graduated and won’t have to take this stupid PE class anymore.” She just wanted to survive it.
But everything changed when a new girl called Kit joined the class. You couldn’t mistake Kit. She had short, jet-black hair, bright eyes, and a long scar (伤疤) across the left side of her face. Her entrance into the classroom that day was met by dozens of curious eyes.
Although their teacher, Ms. Hardy, didn’t ask Kit for a personal introduction, upon putting her bag down on her desk, Kit rose, saying, “Hi, everyone, nice to meet you, I’m Kit. I love boxing, cartooning and fashion. You might be wondering about the scar on my face. I got it when I was young when I fell off my bike. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt more seriously. It’s now like a cool trademark of all the adventures I had as a kid.”
After Kit’s introduction, Emma simply sat there, her heart pounding and mouth wide open. How could someone who looked so different from the others be so confident? Even the popular kids were sitting there in shock.
注意：1. 续写词数应为120左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At lunchtime, Emma sat at her usual table when Kit walked over to her.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Friday, Emma’s feared PE class came.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Shrieking Toad (尖叫的蛤蟆) and Dancing Ant
Kids got nicknames at a summer camp, and mine is Shrieking Toad. I guess it was my fault that I couldn’t get a cool one.
A bunch of us campers were on our first nature walk. When we broke for lunch, we sat down on logs. I was on my third handful of trail mix (混合干果) when a tree frog dropped onto my shirt from the branches above. I shrieked. It was totally unconscious and I didn’t even know I could make a sound like that. Most kids forgot about it except Stan. Whenever I walked by, he’d shout, “Shrieking Toad, show us how you can hop (跳)!” I corrected him that it had been an eastern gray tree frog, not a toad, but that just made things worse.
Three days later, Counselor Matt announced we would be paired for a treasure hunt. Excited whispers spread through the camp. But when he read “Jay and Stan” as a team, my nerves got completely fried. Stan shouted, “Great! Shrieking Toad!” Then he called to the group, and I went red at what came out of his mouth. “Guys, if mosquitoes are bothering you, ask Shrieking Toad to eat them. Toads love bugs (虫子)!” Kids roared with laughter.
After all the teams wandered off, Stan and I were alone. Then I had a great idea, surprising myself that I hadn’t thought of it earlier. I suggested we split up so as to have a better chance of finding treasures. ”Yeah, I’d better do what I’m toad (told),“ Stan laughed and set off.
Ten minutes later, I heard something that reminded me of myself a few days ago. I ran toward the sound. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Stan was jumping around near a mud pool like a monkey, shrieking and yelling something that sounded like ”Dance! Dance!“ Seeing him scratching (抓挠) at his body and hitting at his clothes made me realize what he was really saying: ”Ants! Ants!“
I rushed towards Stan and tried to help him. I dragged him into the nearby mud pool. He was surprised at first, but then he realized why I was doing it. The sting was going away and so were the ants. Both covered in mud, we decided to head back. Obviously, Stan felt embarrassed and ashamed. ”I guess you’re going to have a good story for everyone,“ he said quietly. ”You’ll probably be known as Dancing Ant,“ joked I.
That night, we all routinely sat around the campfire and I saw Stan’s worry as clear as daylight.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________People always say that with exercise, putting on your shoes is the hardest part. But for Emma, this was a lie. The real pain always started when all the students were gathered on the track, ready to run. It wasn’t the fatigue she minded, it was the looks others gave her. Emma was bigger than others of her age. Back in primary school, she remembers her classmates asking her why her thighs (大腿) were so big and her chest so wide. On the outside, she looked big, but on the inside, she felt as small as a pea. And PE class was when she felt at her smallest.
Not all her classmates made her feel uncomfortable, though. It was mainly a group of girls and boys—the loud, outspoken, popular kids. Although they could run faster than Emma, they preferred to jog a bit behind her, bursting out in laughter every now and then, commenting on how Emma jogged.
Just one more year, Emma kept telling herself. One more year and I’ll have graduated and won’t have to take this stupid PE class anymore. She just wanted to survive it.
But everything changed when a new girl called Kit joined the class. She had short, jet-black hair, bright eyes, and a long scar across the left side of her face. Her entrance into the classroom that day was met by dozens of curious eyes.
Although their teacher, Ms Hardy, didn’t ask Kit for a personal introduction, upon putting her bag down on her desk, Kit rose, saying, “Hi, everyone, nice to meet you, I’m Kit. I love boxing, animation and fashion. You might be wondering about my scar. I got it when I was young when I fell off my bike. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt more seriously. It’s now like a cool trademark of all the adventures I had as a kid.”
After Kit’s introduction, Emma simply sat there, her heart pounding and mouth wide open. How could someone be so confident? Even the popular kids were sitting there in shock.
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。
At lunchtime, Emma was sitting at her usual table with a few other classmates when Kit walked over to them.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Friday, it was time for the fearful PE class, but this time, Kit was with her.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________American football can be pretty competitive. From old opponents to fan drama, it’s just another part of the game. There have even been all-out violent fights in the name of defending your team. However, one high school football player Mario Hoefer showed that his love for the sport didn’t take priority over helping a person in need.
One afternoon in September, Charles City High School football team Mario was on faced nearby New Hampton in a Friday football game. Mario was captain of his team and Carter the quarterback of the opposing team.
It was really foggy and awfully hot. Filled with excited audience in the stands, the stadium felt like a heated steamer. Every player was we win sweat even during the warm-ups. All this meant the game would be a tough one and a test or the mind and body of both teams.
Soon the game began and for the first three quarters, each team seemed to have a chance to win and they took the lead by turns. So exhausted was Mario running back and forth that he cramped (抽筋) up twice. Each time he got a cramp near the New Hampton sideline, his teammates came to his assistance and stretched his leg to ease the cramp. Though feeling uncomfortable and worn out, Mario soldiered on as Charles City protected a slim lead and New Hampton attempted a late comeback.
In the fourth quarter, Mario saw his teammates across the field break up a crucial pass intended for Carter. Mario was about to cross over to the other side of the field to high five his teammates when he noticed that beside him, Carter fell onto the ground, screaming in pain, his eyes wide open and a look of panic on his face. Carter grabbed his left calf (小腿肚), trying to move his leg in different positions. Judging from Carter’s desperate expression, Mario realized Carter was possibly experiencing an unbearable cramp just as he himself had gone through minutes before. But the New Hampton players were farther away from the quarterback.
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。
Mario knew what to do next.
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The photo was posted on social media.
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