When I was a child growing up in the Netherlands, I often begged my mother to tell me this story about an experience her family had at the end of World War II.
During the terrible last winter of the German occupation, food was scarce in the Netherlands. People were so hungry that they began to eat small animals and many things not normally considered edible (可食用的), including tulip bulbs (郁金香球茎), which could be cooked like potatoes.
For centuries, my mother’s family had owned a highly successful tulip business, which provided jobs for many in our village. But the war shut their business down, and during the winter of hunger, my grandfather, Albert, donated all his tulip bulbs to feed the hungriest villagers. For years, Albert had been trying to grow a black tulip. By careful selection, he was very close. So he guarded these few bulbs carefully to prevent people from stealing them for food.
One day, it was announced that the war was over. But there was much destruction and the Dutch people still faced dangers. My grandfather looked at his pale, thin children and realized that the hunger could continue for a long time, so he made his decision. He seized a shovel (铁铲) and went into the garden. There he found my mother, Vivian, who was just seven years old, looking nervous. Over her shoulder, Albert saw a band of Germans coming toward them down the street. He whispered to Vivian to run inside the house and began digging for his bulbs. But it was too late. Someone had already stolen them. Angry and desperate, Albert ran toward the street screaming, “They have stolen my tulip bulbs!” Vivian, watching from the doorway, cried out and ran to stop her father. Before she could reach him, Albert stumbled and fell, badly hurting his leg.
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。
Fortunately, Albert recovered slowly.
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It took some time for Albert to rebuild his business, starting with those few bulbs that were spared by the thieves.
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I was twenty then, teaching a class of thirty students in Toronto including Mike, a 10-year-old street kid. Having lost his father and mother, he lived with a mentally-disturbed grandmother.
He was always hungry, so each day I’d take him for breakfast before class. Each noon after I shared my lunch with him, I taught him new skills—using a microscope, constructing a camera etc.
One day Mike told me of his dream. Most kids in the class wanted to be doctors, teachers or some such thing, but not Mike! His desire was to be a gangster (强盗)! And he was serious about it.
I believed all children had a gift for what he wanted to be. If he wanted to be a gangster, I’d do all I could to help him become the very best “gangster”.
I had a plan. Every Saturday after we had breakfast, I took him to the Law Library of the city. I explained to him a good gangster had to know something about criminal law, and reading up on law was the only way to learn. His young mind was interested, and he dove in.
That was how we spent each Saturday morning that year. I’d drop him off at the law library. Three hours later, I’d return, pick him up for lunch and after a review of his morning’s work, take him home.
The following year I taught in another school far away, which prevented me continuing to participate physically with him on Saturday mornings. But I provided him with public transportation tickets so he could keep up his regular study at the library.
Later I got married and moved to London. Sadly, and to my great regret, I lost contact with Mike.
Years passed. I often thought of him, wondering what had become of him. Then, one day, I was back in Toronto on business, looking up the number of a former colleague in the telephone directory, and there, Mike’s name as part of a title of “JUDGES and LAWYERS” danced off the page into my eyes.
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 wondered, “Could it be him?”
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When we were able to get together, he told me his road to the law.
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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.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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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My best friend Lisa and I carefully wrote our words with a No. 2 pencil. We took turns writing down the sentences. "Dear Miss Hanley, "we wrote, "you like Kathleen better than you like us. That isn't fair. "Miss Hanley was our second-grade teacher. She was in her 20s, with short, dark, curly hair and lovely grey eyes.
You're a very talented writer, "Miss Hanley often told me. "If you want to be an author when you grow up, you will e. "This excited me. A few weeks into this school year, Lisa and I had co-authored a play based on our favorite novel, Little Women. And we performed the play in front of the class. When the curtain came down, the applause from the other students was light. But Miss Hanley clapped strongly, saying, "Great! Great!" Lisa and I ignored the other kids, and were high on her praise for days.
I didn't envy Lisa's relationship with Miss Hanley. Sharing Miss Hanley was a bond between us. Lisa felt more like a sister to me than my real sister. In Miss Hanley's class we behaved ourselves, although we couldn't help comparing ourselves with Kathleen, whose demeanor (风度) and dress were perfect. Kathleen lived in he family's big house with a beautiful garden. Lisa and I lived in small apartments. Her hair was clean and tidy. My hair was loose and wild. Kathleen did very well in her studies and of course Miss Hanley liked her.
Lisa and I continued writing our note to Miss Hanley, "You call n Kathleen more than you call on us. You like her because she is a goody-goody (善于讨好卖乖的人). That's not fair! Just because we are not goody-goodies does not mean you should like us less. "My heart was pounding as we left the note before class on Miss Hanley's desk.
注意∶
1. 续写词数应为150词左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I was sure Miss Hanley was going to be very angry with us.
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Miss Hanley said gently, "I have no favorites in my classroom, and you two are very different from Kathleen. "
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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 best friend Lily and I met in high school. Ever since then, we had spent New Year’s Eve together. We’d watch together on TV the New Year celebration in Times Square, a the world-renowned tradition for millions to welcome the new year. Every year, thousands of people will gather in Times Square New York in person on New Year’s Eve counting down to the new year, with celebrations and performances after midnight. And we’d always say that one day we should go there ourselves.
Then we both went to college. Struggling through exams and schoolwork, we had little time to meet up. We missed each other terribly and decided it was time: to finally go to New York ourselves, to be present at the New Year’s celebration, and to do something fun together.
We worked out our schedule, bought tickets for everything and, most importantly, planned how to survive the long hours of waiting in the biting cold before the celebration — we wanted the best spot possible, and there’s only so much space, so we had no choice but to get to the Time Square early.
When the big day finally arrived, it became snowy and colder than any cold we had ever experienced. Actually it was one of the coldest New Year’s Eves on record. Everyone thought we were going to back out.
But we didn’t. We didn’t make it that far to back out.
We woke up and set off early. And, of course, we did freeze along the way, but we kept cheering each other up. Once we got there, we found our way to the line pretty quickly, considering everyone else was pushing their way in the same direction. We got in line and waited to finally get into our area in the Time Square, which thankfully was pretty spacious and close to the stage.
Halfway through the day, my friend and I couldn’t feel our toes.
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“Three, two, one. Happy New Year!” we screamed the words as loud as possible.
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There were only two tickets to the big basketball game. All three of us paid our attention to the tickets in Dad’s hand. Marcus, the oldest, asked the question running through everyone’s mind. “Only two tickets? But Dad, which of us gets to go with you?”
“Yeah, Daddy, who gets to go?” repeated Caleb, the youngest. “Dad, can’t you get any more tickets?” I asked. I was the in -between sister, but I also wanted to go out with Dad. “I’m Afraid not,” Dad answered. “Mr. Williams only had two tickets. He was thoughtful enough to offer the tickets to me when he found out he’d be out of town this weekend.”
Dad was lost in thought. “Caleb, don’t you think you ‘re too young to enjoy a professional basketball game?” “No!” Caleb shouted “I know all the best players! I know the team’s record! I know…” “All right, all right,” Dad finally had to agree. He turned to me and tried again. “Jill, since you’re a girl…” Before I could reply, Mom said, “Jill’s out there practicing with Marcus and all of his friends, and she’s better than quite a few of them!”
“Okay, okay,” Dad held up his hands. “I guess I’ll have to find out a fair way of choosing among the three of you by tomorrow morning. I’ll have to decide who deserves it most.”
The next morning, Marcus hurried into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast table. “Where’s Dad?” he asked as he reached for a box of biscuits. “He and Mom went to pick up some books from the library,” Caleb answered, reaching his hand out for a biscuit. “And he said we should all get started on our Saturday chores (家务) as soon as we finish the breakfast,” I added, enjoying my apple juice. “Chores? He must be kidding,” Marcus said. “How can we do the chores when the big game is only eleven hours away? I’m going to play basketball.” “Wait for me!” Caleb added, drinking the last of his milk and running after his brother.
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。
Paragraph 1:
I looked at the messy breakfast table in front of me.
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Suddenly, a white envelope on the left side of the breakfast table caught my attention.
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My parents love the saying “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" so much that they even bought a pillow with those words on it. But I was recently in a situation where I was SO ready to give up.
It started last week when my friend Ollie and I were helping his grandmother Mary to carry boxes from her garage to her car for the homeless shelter rummage sale (义卖).
At the sight of a big old trunk (行李箱)，we asked Mary what was inside. But she told us that as she had lost the key, she had to find a master locksmith to figure it out. "Let me have a try!" said Ollie. “I bet I can open that lock in two minutes flat! Maybe there's a treasure inside, like gold or diamonds or an ancient map!"
Mary smiled. "I'll tell you what. If you two treasure hunters can open this trunk, you can have it, along with whatever is inside."
Ollie got a tool kit and we set out to open the lock. But he definitely lost that bet. Those two minutes turned into two hours, with no luck at all. We had tried every tool in the kit, but the lock wouldn't move slightly.
“It's no use." Ollie sighed. "I guess we have to give up."
“But we can't give up!" I said. "What about 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"?"
Ollie shook his head. "Unless you know a magical key fairy, we're never getting this unlocked."
Just then, my little brother Tex showed up. He showed great interest in the trunk. "It looks like an upside-down boat! Can I turn it over and pretend I'm sailing in the ocean?"
"Sure," Ollie replied. "It's no good for anything else."
“Ahoy!" Tex said, climbing on top after Ollie and I turned it over. “I’m the captain!” He giggled as he jumped up and down. And right then, a screw (螺丝) from a hinge (铰链) came loose and rolled to the floor.
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。
“That's it! I know how to open it!" said Ollie.
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Oh! There were only lots of shoes in the trunk!
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The story between Mr. Jordan and me was the most amazing story I wanted to share. Mr. Jordan was one of the teachers who I would never forget.
When I was young at school, I loved talking, a characteristic not always appreciated by Mr. Jordan, my 10-grade English teacher.
Mr. Jordan was a teacher whom no one liked because he was too strict. He stood about 5-foot-five, was very thin and wore his hair pulled back in a way that gave him a horsy look. He wore those half-circular reading glasses. Whenever he got upset, he would lower his head and look at you over the top of his glasses.
One day in his class I was busy talking. I didn’t realize he had stopped teaching and staring straight at me. “Sam, I would like to see you after school.”
Later Mr. Jordan explained in a low, but very firm voice that showed he expected me to listen when he was talking. For punishment he told me to write a thousand-word essay on education and its effect on the society. He wanted it in by the following Wednesday.
Well, I met my deadline. I was confident. It was a good paper. And I expected a sign of approval from him. The next day in class, however, he was looking at me over his glasses. He called me forward and returned my paper. “Go back and rewrite，” he said. “Remember, each paragraph is supported to begin with a topic sentence.” When he gave my paper back a second time, he corrected the grammar. The third time, the spelling. The fourth time, it was punctuation. The fifth, it wasn’t neat enough. I was sick!
The sixth time, I rewrote the whole paper slowly in ink, leaving generous space. When he saw it, he removed his glasses and smiled. He firmly accepted the paper. After that, I put the whole thing out of my mind.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
Paragraph 1:
One day after two weeks, Mr. Jordan came into the class and said，
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Paragraph 2:
I was amazed, thrilled and grateful.
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One day I got stuck in the Tube on my way to work.
The Tube—that’s what most people call it—is London’s underground railway system.
It was about nine o'clock in the morning, the middle of the rush-hour. Nobody had expected something unusual would happen later and everyone was doing their usual: a pretty girl gave her boyfriend sweet kisses one after another. Sitting next to me, a young woman with a suitcase and a baby took a scarf out of her suitcase and made her baby a nest, so that it could lie more comfortably. In fact, the train had just left Green Park Station when, instead of speeding up, it started to slow down and then came to a stand-still.
Ten minutes passed, though it seemed like half a day. the train didn’t move. Had the railwaymen forgotten all about our existence? Had there been a crash on the line in front? How serious was the breakdown? We had no means of knowing. However, to anxious people who are stuck in the Tube, I suppose it doesn’t really matter what it is that has broken down. What they care is when they can get out of the trouble.
Twenty minutes passed. All hope of getting to work on time had long since gone. Had the train really broken down? Several people thought so, but they were wrong. A railwayman at last came down the length of the train to tell us that the power supply had failed, and that we were not to worry as they were working to put it right.
We could not leave the train, as it had stopped in the tunnel (隧道), not at a station. There was nothing else to do. The weak signal disabled cellphones. Besides, the train was getting hot and stuffy (闷). I even began to wonder if we were going to stay there for the rest of the day.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左石：
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The hopeless waiting in the darkness drove us crazy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As a commuter (上班族) who traveled to work on the train every day, I thought it my duty to do something.
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