A little bird landed on the tree branch outside Lisa’s bedroom window. It sang energetically as the first pale yellow rays of sunshine appeared.
“Oh, my god, what is that noise?” Lisa complained to herself, pulling her bed sheets over her head to ignore the sound. It was no use, and she knew it. The loud sound showed the coming of the day. Lisa’s mom knocked twice on her door, and then came in with a smile. “Time to get up, Sleepyhead,” She whispered. “The early bird catches the worm, you know.”
“Ugh,” mumbled (含含糊糊地说) Lisa into her pillow. “What does that even mean?”
“It’s just an expression, Honey”, her mom replied. She gave Lisa a kiss on the cheek and urged her to get out of bed. Lisa rolled over and slept for a few more minutes.
With her mom’s repeated urging, Lisa had no choice but to get herself dressed. She went unwillingly downstairs for breakfast, ate slowly, and missed her bus. When she finally got to school, she failed to get a place in the Chess Club. She also missed the first part of math class, so she didn’t understand the lesson and had to get extra help at lunchtime. Her teacher gave her extra homework to make sure she knew it. As a result, she missed her favourite library time. This day was no fun.
The next morning, Lisa was woken up by the same loud noisy song. Instead of ignoring it, today Lisa walked over to the window and opened the curtains. “Well, hello there, little fellow,” she said when she saw the pretty bird outside, still singing happily. As she watched, the bird stuck its beak (喙) into the wet ground, and pulled out a wiggling (不停摇摆) worm for breakfast.
“Today I am going to be the early bird,” thought Lisa.
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At lunchtime, Lisa finished her lunch early and had time to go to the library.
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In the faraway land, there was a beautiful kingdom with its unique rule. The rule said, everyone may become the king, with all of his rights to govern the country for five years. After that he must be caught, his body will be tied and he will be thrown away to a remote island where the jungle is thick and there are plenty of wild animals and no human.
Then, one by one, people became the king. The first man said, “OK, I’m ready to be the king.” And he became a king for five years. What he did in his five years was enjoying his position. He threw big parties, went to many beautiful places, married many women, collected many luxurious things and did other things that pleased himself. Those were all he did, and he never prepared anything for his future.
Every other king was the same until a young man came and declared his wish. By the constitution (宪法) he was granted his wish. He would be the king for five years before being thrown away to the island. But he thought that even if he had a happy and free life in the five years, his life as a king would come to an end at last. He was always thinking.
注意：
1.续写词数应在150左右;
2.请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
And not very long after that, he made a surprising decision.
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Finally, the time came when the king had to be thrown away to the island.
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I was invited to a cookout on an old friend’s farm in western Washington. I parked my car outside the farm and walked past a milking house which had apparently not been used in many years. A noise at a window caught my attention, so I entered it. It was a hummingbird (蜂鸟), desperately trying to escape. She was covered in spider-webs (蛛网) and was barely able to move her wings. She ceased her struggle the instant I picked her up.
With the bird in my cupped hand, I looked around to see how she had gotten in. The broken window glass was the likely answer. I stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and took her outside, closing the door securely behind me.
When I opened my hand, the bird did not fly away; she sat looking at me with her bright eyes. I removed the sticky spider-webs that covered her head and wings. Still, she made no attempt to fly. Perhaps she had been struggling against the window too long and was too tired? Or too thirsty?
As I carried her up the blackberry-lined path toward my car where I kept a water bottle, she began to move. I stopped, and she soon took wing but did not immediately fly away.
Hovering (悬停), she approached within six inches of my face. For a very long moment, this tiny creature looked into my eyes, turning her head from side to side. Then she flew quickly out of sight.
During the cookout, I told my hosts about the hummingbird incident. They promised to fix the window. As I was departing, my friends walked me to my car. I was standing by the car when a hummingbird flew to the center of our group and began hovering. She turned from person to person until she came to me. She again looked directly into my eyes, then let out a squeaking call and was gone. For a moment, all were speechless. Then someone said, “She must have come to say goodbye.”
注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
A few weeks later, I went to the farm again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was just about to leave when the hummingbird appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My wife, our two kids under 4 and I were in the post office a few weeks ago. We have to go there every month to pay various fees. I was being served when an old man in his eighties, with obvious, significant health issues, was waiting to pay his electricity bill. He was struggling to walk on a walking stick, and his hands and arms were shaking all the time. I knew by feeling that the old man was in trouble. After asking, I figured out that the old man's problem was that he was 20 cents short.
The lady behind the counter had the old man in such a state, looking for a further 20 cents, and he was shaking, obviously looking upset. But instead of letting the man go, she insisted that if his bill wasn't going to be paid in full, the electricity company would probably give a fine on his next bill for unpaid fees.
Hearing this, I got really upset. So I went over and asked the lady behind the counter to give ALL of his money back to the old man and I handed her my debit card and paid the bill for him.
The old man was asking “why are you doing this?” as he began crying. I told him because it was the right thing to do. He thanked me over and over and smiled at my two kids on his way out of the post office.
The best part of this event was that the old man walked out of the post office and straight to Woolies and bought a full basket of food, which he wouldn't have been able to buy had I not done that at the post office.
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。
It happened that we met this old man again in our community.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our family decided to help improve the old man's situation.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________"Why did you do this without asking for my permission first? Don't you know it's a total waste of time and it will have a bad influence on your study?" That's what my mother yelled at the ten-year-old me when she found out that I had signed up for an English story-telling competition.
I bowed my head; yes, she was right. By then I was entering Grade Six, faced with the biggest challenge yet to come — the examination to enter my dream junior high school. For that. I had given up my beloved piano lesson, my favourite cartoon program and even the joyful weekend family reunion with my cousins. I wouldn't be surprised at all if my very strict-university-teacher mother got angry at me when I chose to do anything that had little to do with study at that important moment. In her opinion, if I hadn't spent all my time on my study I would have difficulty in entering my dream junior high school.
But that's not all to it. When I was ten, I was nervous, shy, tongue-tied when facing strangers, and essentially a bookworm. These signs looked fatal (致命的) to my mother, and possibly to you, too; she thought that I could be anything but a good public speaker.
Well, I myself actually said no to my English teacher at first, because I had never done anything like that before and I was afraid. But he told me that — since I liked reading so much, why not try to tell a story I love to everyone? He also promised me that the judges were not frightening at all; just think of them as carrots and cabbages in a vegetable garden.
The ten-year-old me was persuaded by my teacher's words.
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Apparently surprised by my determination, my mother looked as if she was close to another explosion-but she only sighed and agreed.
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The easy way out isn't always easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat my father to a special meal. I glanced through the cookbook and chose a menu which included homemade bread. Knowing the bread would take time, I started on it as soon as he left for work.
As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozen would be better, so I doubled everything. As Dad loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl. Soon there was sticky dough (面团) covered with ugly yellowish marks. Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn't have to face him laughing at my work.
I went on preparing the rest of the meal, and, when Dad got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed. Twice he got up and went outside, saying he thought he heard a noise. The third time he left, I went to the windows to see what he was doing.
Looking out, I saw Dad standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container. When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in the rubbish bin. Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see. I felt cold. But I stepped closer and looked harder.
Without doubt it was my work. The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the. fermenting yeast (酵母) made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing. I had to admit what the "living thing" was and why it was there. I don't know who was more embarrassed by the whole thing, Dad or me.
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 dad tapped me gently on the shoulder, and we went inside.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At a party three months later, everyone wanted to try my bread.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Ruth was sixty-eight years old, she visited her daughter Judy and teenage granddaughter Marcy in California. They headed for their cabin, moving forty miles up and down the mountains in their car,along a narrow one-lane road that wound terrifyingly close to cliffs (悬崖).
After dinner, Marcy announced the water tank was low and that she would drive the car down to the pump and get water. Ruth was nervous about her young granddaughter driving down the narrow road by herself, but Judy reminded her that Marcy had been driving vehicles up there roads for many years
“Just be careful, Marcy”, her mother warned. “They’ve had a drought up here and the road along the cliff is pretty shaky. Be sure to hug the mountain side.”
Ruth and Judy watched Marcy from the big window where they could see the road winding down the mountainside. Fifteen minutes later, Judy was still watching when suddenly she screamed,”Oh no! She went over the cliff, Momma! The car and Marcy--they went over! We have to help her!Come on!”
Judy took off running desperately. Grabbing a three-foot-long walking stick against the cabin door, Ruth ran behind her, but Judy was quickly out of sight after the first turn in the road. Breathing hard, Ruth ran on and on, trying to catch up with her daughter. It was getting harder and harder to see anything at dusk.
Suddenly she stopped, not knowing where she was.”Marcy!Judy!”she shouted.
A faint voice .”Momma!”It was Judy.
Ruth screamed into the darkness “Judy,where are you?” Off to her right and down the cliff she heard, “Down here,Mother!Don’t come near the edge! I slipped on loose rocks and fell over. I’m down about ten feet.”
“Oh dear! Judy, what can I do?”
“Just stay back, Momma!”
Facing the situation, Ruth felt her heart was pounding, and chest pains almost took her breath away. She started to sob, totally at a loss what to do.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右：
2. 请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At that moment, Ruth glimpsed at the walking stick, an idea striking her.
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Ruth held her close and said anxiously. “Judy. We have to get help for Marcy!”
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Early one weekend morning, I was sleeping like a log when the telephone rang. When I answered I heard my Grandma’s voice “Hey, sweetheart. I have missed you so much lately. Why don’t you come to the countryside and enjoy some fine views?” she asked. “Dad, Grandma is inviting us to her home,” I shouted to my father who was busy in the kitchen. “Fine with me,” he responded in a casual tone. After a quick breakfast, we drove to Grandma’s.
Once we arrived, we were both thrilled by the breathtaking landscape. The plum trees in the backyard were ripe with fruit, while millions of wildflowers colored the valley. Grandma prepared delicious lunch including her special homemade apple jam, which was my favorite. Seeing my greedy eyes, grandma said “Take some when you leave, and I’ve got plenty stored in the cellar (地窖) .” Talking and laughing, we didn’t even notice that it was late in the afternoon, though somewhat cooler than it had been that morning. Grandma suggested that we take her homemade wooden boat for a tour along the nearby river.
Seated in the boat, looking up at the sky, I felt like the clouds were greeting us cheerfully from above. In the vast fields, the golden trees were like brides in the sun. The breeze skimmed over the surface of the field, carrying the sweet smell of the flowers. It was like a picture painted by one of the Dutch masters. “It is so nice to spend some quality time with family,” Dad murmured. “It feels like we’re on an adventure,” I added. “It’s been so much fun!”
While we were admiring the splendid setting around us, the weather started getting hot and humid again. At first, we ignored this change, but when dad looked up at the sky, he saw dark, low clouds were approaching us. Then a fierce gale (大风) sprang up. Lightning flashed within the black clouds, followed by a roar of thunder. “Row!” Dad shouted, trembling, “A tornado (龙卷风) is coming!”
There was no time to think. We rowed as fast as we could.
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Grandma opened the door for us.
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“Want to go to the pool tomorrow?” Rosa asked Stephanie during recess. The pool at the YMCA was one of their favorite places, where they learnt and practiced swimming.
Rosa and Stephanie did everything together. They rode the school bus together. They sat together during lunch. They took dance lessons together and they even went to the same summer camp. Their classmates called them “twins”. They were best friends. Most of the time.
Sometimes, though, when Stephanie was with other friends, she ignored Rosa or treated her like a little kid, even though they were the same age. Rosa and Stephanie had played together since they were babies, but sometimes Stephanie didn't act like a friend.
Today was one of those times.
“Sorry. I’m already going to the pool,” Stephanie said. “Toni and Vanessa and I are going.” She gave a broad smile, but in Rosa’s eyes, it wasn’t her nice smile. Saying nothing more, she walked straight away to join Toni and Vanessa, and Rosa was left standing alone, with her face burned and an angry tension coming into her limbs.
After school, at dance class, Stephanie talked and giggled with the other dancers as they stretched in front of the mirror. When Rosa came in, Stephanie didn’t say hello to her, but just another smile. Rosa hesitated for a while about whether she should join them, but she still felt too upset.
Then she noticed Kiara, the new girl. Rosa joined her and began stretching, too. Kiara smiled and Rosa smiled back. The two girls began to talk. Rosa discovered that Kiara was not the quiet girl she had thought she was. Kiara talked a lot — about her little brother, about the tree house her uncle had built and even about swimming. “I love swimming,” Kiara said. “I will hold a pool party at the YMCA. Would you like to come?” “Yes. It’s awesome.” Rosa responded. She tried not to check the mirror to see if Stephanie had noticed. She hoped Stephanie felt left out.
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 the dance class, when Rosa boarded the bus, Stephanie was waiting in their usual seat.
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When Rosa saw Stephanie in low spirits, her heart sank.
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Jenny was a brighteyed，pretty fiveyearold girl. One day when she and her mother were checking out at the grocery store，Jenny saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2. 50. How she wanted that necklace，and when she asked her mother if she would buy it for her，her mother said，“Well，it is a pretty necklace，but it costs an awful lot of money. After all，I’ll buy you the necklace，and when we get home we can make up a list of chores that you can do to pay for the necklace. And don’t forget that for your birthday，Grandma just might give you a whole dollar bill，too. Okay？” Jenny agreed，and her mother bought the pearl necklace for her.
Jenny worked on her chores very hard every day，and sure enough，her grandma gave her a brandnew dollar bill for her birthday. Soon Jenny had paid off the pearls. How Jenny loved those pearls！She wore them everywhere to kindergarten，bed and when she went out with her mother to run errands (差事)．The only time she didn’t wear them was in the shower. Her mother had told her that they would turn her neck green!
Jenny had a very loving Daddy. When Jenny went to bed，he would get up from his favorite chair every night and read Jenny her favorite story.
One night when he finished the story，he said，“Jenny，do you love me？”
“Oh yes，Daddy，you know I love you，” the little girl said.
“Well，then，give me your pearls. ”
“Oh！Daddy，not my pearls！” Jenny refused. “But you can have Rosy，my favorite doll. Remember her? You gave her to me last year for my birthday. And you can have her tea party outfit，too. Okay？”
“Oh no，darling，that’s okay. ” Her father brushed her cheek with a kiss. “Good night，little one. ”
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4．续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
A week later，her father once again asked Jenny after her story.
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Paragraph 2：
Several days later，when Jenny’s father came in to read her a story as usual，he was surprised to find
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