Laura Mulvihill felt the ride was probably very unusual when she picked up 89-year-old Ronald Dembner from the Veteran’s Hospital in Henry County, Georgia. It was obvious that he was struggling and in bad shape. But it wasn’t until they arrived at his home that her worst doubts were confirmed. Expecting to be greeted by family members, she was greeted by something out of a nightmare (噩梦) episode of Hoarders instead.
Mr. Ronald’s home was covered with rubbish. The counters, carpets, and walls looked dirty. The room smelt absolutely terrible. Because all of Ronald’s family members had passed away, he had no one to assist him. Even the home care nurses had stopped coming to visit as a result of the extremely awful living conditions. He was completely alone, except for his dog, Homer, who had taken to pooping in the house. Unable to clean up after himself or Homer but terrified of losing his home and his dog, Mr. Ronald was too afraid to reach out for help.
Mulvihill, however, was not. Horrified by what she witnessed, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She spent hours on the phone, contacting the fire department, adult services, the Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity. No one could offer any help. “Everyone said, mentally he’s fine, he’s just older. So nobody will help,” she said.
Finally, with all other resources running out, she posted a call to arms on social media, creating the group. Helping Mr. Ronald. She explained the situation. She wrote in part, “I drove him home and he asked me to help him inside. He lives alone and cannot keep up with his pet. The house is terrible.” She went on to explain that “the main issues are dog poop (1 dog) and general disrepair (no railing on the stairs, soiled carpet and furniture, etc)”. She knew it would take an army to make things right. Luckily, she had found one,2000 strong. The army was formed.
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。
Dozens of volunteers came forward to help, with a desire to make a difference.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mr. Ronald was deeply moved by what Mulvihill and the volunteers had done
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was a week before Christmas. Despite all the encouraging words I had given myself, I was having a really hard time staying positive. In a few days I would be facing the wedding anniversary (纪念日) on December 23rd. I had always looked forward to this time of year.
I was wandering about in the street, looking for a gift for my husband. The clock read 4: 00p. m. I still didn't find anything satisfying. I decided to head to a neighboring town to find the perfect gift for my dear Joey. I made it into town and stopped by a few local shops, festive with holiday music and bright Christmas light. Shoppers hurried from one place to another, eagerly picking out the perfect gift for their loved ones. I left empty-handed but not completely discouraged. I still had two more stops and I was determined to find something before I headed home.
I wondered that the local trading post would have a few good “gifts.” I headed that way and arrived at 6: 04 p. m. The sign on the locked gate showed I had missed it by four minutes. I took a deep breath. The thought of having to go out another day and do this all over again was unbearable. I shook my head. It wouldn't come to that because my next stop was a huge, multi-level store where I knew I would find the perfect gift for my husband.
I arrived at the huge store and was surprised that the parking lot wasn't all that crowded. Great! I started walking toward the front door when I saw a lady coming out of the building. She was wearing the blue uniform, looking at me with that “look”.You know, the “I know something you don't know look.” I recognized it and stopped. “Are they closed?” I asked her. “Yes ma’am. We close at 6: 00,” she pleasantly answered. My head fell forward and my feet were painful. I felt upset. This was a huge store. It was the holidays. How could they be closed? I couldn't help crying in the parking lot.
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 lady walked toward me and asked: “Are you ohey?”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Hearing what I said, the lady thought of a good idea.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the quiet town, Ethan and his parents lived a peaceful life. His father John, a hard-working architect, and his mother Sarah, a great teacher, had always struggled to provide the best for Ethan.
As Ethan entered high school, something began to change their once harmonious home. School grades were the first battleground. While John believed in traditional hard work, Ethan, a creative boy, found himself crazy about art. Every time he painted well, his mother Sarah would praise and encourage him, but John only thought it was a waste of time. So Ethan often argued with his father.
One stormy night, the conflict (矛盾) came to a head. John, reviewing Ethan’s report card, frowned (皱眉) at the grades. “Ethan, you must focus more on your studies. These grades won’t help you become an engineer. Stop painting!”
Ethan couldn’t bear the disappointment in his father’s eyes, and argued back, “Dad, I want to be a painter, not an engineer.” Sarah, trying to stop the argument, quickly said, “John, maybe we should let Ethan have a try. It could be his true calling.” However, John stuck to his belief and replied, “Art won’t put food on the table or pay the bills. He needs a stable job.” Sarah was between her husband and son and tried to settle the argument.
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。
Sarah, who often helped solve problems between John and Ethan, saw their pain.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As the storm outside got calmer, there was new found understanding among them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night, I took a fare (出租车乘客) at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, sanding on the sideway was a small woman in her 80swith a big suitcase.
After I helped her into the taxi, she gave me an address and asked, “Could you drive through downtown?” “It is not the shortest way,” I answered quickly. “I don’t mind,” She said, “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice (临终安养院).” I looked in the rear-view mirror (后视镜). Her eyes were wet. I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (计价器). “What route would you like me to take?” I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newly married. She had me stop in front of a shabby house where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she asked me to slow in front of a particular building and sat staring into the darkness, saying nothing. At last, she said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the destination. It was a grey low building.
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。
“How much do I owe you?”she asked, reaching into her purse.
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I said goodbye to her.
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Lilly was on her way to meet friends when she noticed an older woman struggling to navigate the railroad tracks in a wheelchair. Her efforts were clearly hindered by the uneven surface and the weight of the chair, and she appeared to be making little progress. Without hesitation, Lilly jumped out of her car and rushed over to assist. However, their attempts failed as both Lilly and the elderly woman fell twice, struggling to get out of harm’s way.
As they scrambled (爬) to their feet, a deafening horn (喇叭) blast rent the air, followed by the blinding flash of lights. A train was barreling down the tracks, its approach growing ever more urgent.
“He was honking his horn and the lights started flashing,” Lilly recalled, her voice trembling as she spoke. “I was like, ‘Oh no, we gotta go now!’”
With adrenaline (肾上腺素) pumping through her veins, Lilly summoned all her strength and managed to pull both herself and the elderly woman to safety just second s before the train thundered past. The narrow escape left her shaken to the core, her heart pounding in her chest.
“It’s a near-death experience,” she said, her voice breaking. “And I’ve never really been that close to death before.” The railroad company later informed her that they had been mere inches away from being struck by the train, a revelation that sent shivers down her spine.
Ardmore Police Chief Jereme Robison, who was called to the scene, recounted the incident to WKRN with a mixture of amazement and relief. “She barely gets herself out of the way, and the train actually still clips the lady’s leg and spins her around,” he said. “I mean, it was like a split second. They almost died.”
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 elderly woman, though injured, was quickly transported to the hospital for treatment.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________News of the incident spread quickly through the community, and Lilly’s actions were praised by all.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I flipped through an online bidding (拍卖) site one evening: fun containers for houseplants, old maps original artwork, Santas... “Oh my gosh, Cody! Look!”
My husband looked over my shoulder, “That’s a lot of Santas!” he was surprised,
I found a huge fortune and it was only March! But these Santas came in three plastic bins. “I don’t know where we could store them all,” I said. “You’d have to go with me to pick them up—those bins look heavy.” I tried to talk myself out of bidding, but it wasn’t working. “I really want them,” I admitted.
“You should do what makes you happy,” Cody said.
For years I’d bought at least one Santa figure every year for Christmas. Cody knew that Santa was a special character for me. When I was growing up, my father played the community Santa. He was a fireman, and the department sponsored Santa visits at school. My father would get down from the flashing fire truck with a big “Ho! Ho! Ho!” He’d sit each child on his lap. “What your Christmas wish?” he’d ask, as joyous a she could be. He handed out bags of peanuts, candy and oranges. Nobody knew the man behind the beard was my father. It was magical!
After the school party, mom would carefully wash dad’s costume. The red and white coat, hat, white beard and black belt went back into the box. Santa was gone when Christmas night fell.
My father died when I was 19. Since then, I’d bought Santa figures to feel the joy Santa represented. Maybe that why I kept searching for more of them. By the time our three daughters were born, we had enough Santas to decorate a whole tree.
I typed in my bid on the site as memories of those Santa visits at school rushed in. I then imagined how my daughters would react to those bins of Santas.
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 computer flashed with a message.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Santas? In March?” my daughters appeared confused.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was confident at the tryout for the school play and felt pleased to gel a role. It just felt good to be in the play, even if I had only four or five lines. I worked hard at perfecting those lines. I repeated them over and over again. I put in the emphases and tone that my drama teacher had suggested and, because I was on stage much longer than for just four or five lines, I had many actions to rehearse (排练) and perform. “Do them in front of a mirror,” my drama teacher had advised me. “Watch how you look; practice and rehearse as often as you can.” I did just that. I worked and worked at it. It was fun and exciting to rehearse.
Then finally the big night came. Suddenly, things felt different. The theater was full of people. As I dressed, I could hear the chattering and noises of the audience——something that hadn’t been there during rehearsal. I looked around at the other more experienced actors and saw that the confidence they’d shown at rehearsal seemed to have disappeared. Everyone was nervous, anxious, and worried. Had they got their makeup right? Was the costume done up correctly? What if they forgot their lines? The more people talked about their anxiety, the more nervous everyone became. The worries bounced from one person to another—like a baton being passed in a relay race—until the whole of the backstage area seemed to be buzzing with tension (紧张) and worry.
I was on stage early, performing my non-spoken role in the background with several other guys around the same age. When，suddenly, I heard my cue，the lights were bright in my eyes; I couldn’t see the audience but knew there were hundreds of people out there all watching me. The words that had flowed so easily when I stood in front of a mirror in my bedroom didn’t want to come，and when they did I found myself hurrying into them. I tried to slow down my thoughts and my words.
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。
But I suddenly realized I had missed a sentence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________No one commented on my missed sentence——apart from my drama teacher.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Drew and Tia sat at a picnic table in the park on a beautiful fall afternoon. The air around them was filled with the sounds of children playing, dogs barking, and people laughing or calling to one another. But Drew and Tia ignored the sounds around them and focused on the task they had set out to complete. They planned to start a school garden at Jefferson Middle School.
Initially, it had been Drew’s idea. He had first seen a school garden when he went to visit his cousin PJ. in Washington. He was amazed at the variety of fruits and vegetables the students at P. J. ‘s school grew. “It’s a lot of work,” PJ. had warned. “But it’s also my favorite part of the week. I love putting on my boots, getting outside, and seeing all the new things that have happened.” When Drew returned from his trip to Washington, he told Tia all about what he had seen.
Now, at the table, they were determined to come up with a plan to bring a school garden to Jefferson. Drew opened his notebook and prepared to record any ideas they had for convincing Ms. Milano, the school principal, that the garden was a good idea.
“We’re going to need an adult to guide the whole operation,” said Drew thoughtfully. “I know that Mr. Issac gardens at home. Just last week he brought in a whole basket of tomatoes and zucchini from his garden. He might be willing to help.” Drew wrote down Mr. Issac’s name in his notebook.
“We might need donations to get this project up and running,” added Tia. “We could tell Ms. Milano that we would be willing to organize a yard sale to raise funds.”
“That’s a great idea,” said Drew. “I think we need to be able to present her with a realistic plan. That way, Ms. Milano wouldn’t feel as though she agreed to something unknown.”
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。
Closing the notebook, they took action.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Actually, I was doubtful when you first came to me.” said Ms. Milano.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jenny was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel (吵架) with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand (货摊) for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t have money on me.” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man, “Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. As she was eating, Jenny cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so merciless compared to a stranger!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you remember the times she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock: she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home. Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
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。
Nearing the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time, her mother came back and touched her hair gently, which called her mind back.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She was six years old when I met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sandcastle and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. “Hello,” she said. I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. I was depressed: my life seemed completely out of balance.
“What’s your name?” She wouldn't give up. “Ruth,” I answered. “Mine’s Wendy....I’m six.” She giggled, “Nice to meet you, Miss Ruth. Do you want to play? Maybe we can build something together. You’ll be happy!” She looked at me eagerly, waiting for my answer.
I just couldn’t refuse this lovely creature. I asked her: “Why don’t you go to school?” “I don’t go to school. Mommy says we’re on vacation.” She chattered little girl talk as we built the sandcastle. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. She pointed toward a row of summer cottages and told me she lives there.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy when Wendy caught up with me, “I’d rather be alone today.” She seems unusually pale and out of breath. “Why?” she asked. I turned to her and shouted, “Because my mother died!” “Oh,” she said quietly, “then this is a bad day.” “Yes, go away!” “Did it hurt when she died?” “Of course!” I shouted. She didn’t say anything more, tears rolling down her face.
A month or so after that, when I went to the beach, she wasn’t there. Feeling guilty, ashamed and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage and knocked at the door.
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。
A drawn-looking(憔悴的) young woman with red and swollen eyes opened the door.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“She left something for you,” her mum’s voice trembled and handed me an envelop.
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