There’s a lot that goes into moving to a new city. You’re house hunting in areas you aren’t familiar with, dragging all of your belongings around, trying to figure out which grocery store keeps your favourite noodles in stock, and wondering when you’ll ever find a new dentist. This was exactly what I went through when I settled in Chicago.
Every day, I was fully occupied, exhausted. I found my new city so big and unfriendly.
After graduating from college in May, I moved from the town of Oxford, Mississippi, to Chicago to start my full-time job. Typically, when I went through lots of change in my life, I had consistent faces around me: my family or my friends. This time, however, it was just me. And for someone who’s an introvert (内向的人), this was anything but easy.
Besides, the job itself was also something beyond my expectation. What I learnt in college was totally different from what I needed to do in the company. I worked longer hours to sort things out and couldn’t sleep well at night. It was a lot of change at once. It was too much. I was helpless.
What’s worse, my poor health added to the helplessness. Due to days of pressure, I had a physical problem. It seemed that I had to go to hospital for a thorough examination. It seemed a small challenge compared to the one I was about to face, but things started to go wrong right from the beginning.
Not having a car or knowing the city, I was depending on a couple of buses to get around. Although I’d left myself plenty of time, soon it was obvious that I was going to be late, as I had mistakenly got on a bus that was taking me in the opposite direction.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I had no choice but to get off the bus.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Suddenly, a car stopped in front of me and it was the same woman.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After retiring from a long career teaching English at Huntington East High School, my brother, Bob, planned to travel the world. Instead, I was visiting him in the hospital where he had undergone a heart operation. He had a long road to recovery ahead.
Bob didn’t have much experience with being a patient. Certainly not as much as I did. He had always been healthy and kept in good shape, working part-time as a volunteer since retirement. I had grown up with chronic (慢性的) illness, had dozens of surgeries. Even now I was facing a puzzling condition my doctors hadn’t yet identified. A condition that gave me symptoms similar to the ones Bob’s heart illness gave him. I didn’t want to burden him with my own fears right now. I touched his arm, wondering if I would soon face the same questions. “I sure wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Bob said. “A failing heart. I can’t believe it.”
“I know it’s a shock. But we’re all here for you. You’re so blessed and loved. Your wonderful wife. Kids. Grandkids. More friends than you can count. I never go anywhere that someone isn’t saying something wonderful about your teaching days.”
“Thanks. You always say the sweetest things.” But I heard an “If you say so” in his voice. I tried to reassure Bob about how valuable his life was, but I was trying to convince myself about my own life as well. I’d spent so much of my time trying to help others, both before my retirement as a nurse and now as a storyteller. But the world was full of those. Would anything I’d done really last after I was gone?
One day, a housekeeper entered the room with her mop and nodded to Bob in his bed. “Hey, Coach!” she said. “Huh?” Bob said. I could tell he didn’t know who she was. The housekeeper smiled. “I knew it was you. My daughter played on your soccer team. I still remember her reciting all those lines of poetry. She loves poems to this day. What a great effect you have had on her! I should thank you very much.” I was very surprised when hearing these.
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 shouted excitedly, “You once coached soccer? How great you are!”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Both Bob and I got good news from doctors.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was a jam-packed day for 24-year-old Justin. While his hot dog stand at the local park in his hometown did well every day, that day was different. The stall was full of customers, and he was struggling to keep up.
“3 hot dogs, please!” someone ordered as Justin handed the recent orders, and he quickly got about his work.
“Coming right up!” he replied with a smile.
“Thank you! Have a nice day!” the customer replied upon receiving the orders, and Justin quickly got busy with the next one. Then he noticed an old woman pushing her way through the crowd to get to his counter (柜台).
“Excuse me, son. How much would a hot dog be?” she asked, looking at him.
“Depends on what you want, ma’ am. They range from $3 to $7. You can check out the menu and let me know what you want,” he replied.
“But that’s expensive for me,” she mumbled (咕哝), looking at the prices. “It’s alright. I was just curious how much they cost. I don’t want any,” she added before walking away.
Justin noticed she went away and sat alone on a bench across from his stand. She kept looking in his direction, meanwhile touching her stomach occasionally. Justin couldn’t help watching her because of strong curiosity. She was fully dressed with an information card worn around her neck. She might get lost because of something unexpected. Her face wasn’t as rosy as others and her lips were dry. Justin wondered whether she would need any help. However, once they made eye contact, she always looked away quickly.
Eventually, Justin realized she wanted a hot dog but couldn’t afford one, so he stopped what he was doing and walked over to her with food and drink. “I apologize, ma’am. I was in such a rush that I forgot to tell you you’re our 50th customer of the day, so you get a free hot dog,” he said upon approaching her. “Let me know how you like it!”
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。
Justin gave her the food, noticing some nervousness on her face.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Before Justine waited long, her family arrived in a hurry.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of vital importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, she hurt her left arm in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.
“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica. “How is your arm? Is it going to affect your performance?”
“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match,” said Mary with a determined look.
“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”
After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice the most difficult spin (高速旋转). “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance,” she thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.
Then a slim girl hurried in and put down a bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said, “Hi, I’m Linda. I am a participant in the competition, too.” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “She is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda screamed, “Oh, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain. “It might have been missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
Paragraph 1:
Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag. ______
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Hearing her name called, Mary walked on stage with her heart beating fast. ________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When school was over, the students were informed that there was no school on Monday-the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off,” said the teacher. An extra day of fun suited Flora just fine. She loved breaks and expected to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Flora off, she ran into the house happily.
“How was school, Flora?” asked her mom.
“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”
“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Flora’s mom with a laugh.
Flora slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. It rained most of the day, so Flora enjoyed playing video games inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketbal1 for several hours. Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Flora was so looking forward to. But Flora was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Flora that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Flora couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday, a day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Flora rubbed her eyes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.
“Flora, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Flora’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Flora asked her parents, “Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”
“Yes, Flora. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”
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．
Flora felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Things began to change as she was doing the chores.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My husband and I enjoy seeing life through the eyes of our children. It’s amazing to watch as they discover their world.
While we were outdoors last summer enjoying the sunshine, our oldest daughter, Kaytlin, called me to the doorway. Beneath the steps was a baby red squirrel.
We watched it from a distance, not wanting to disturb it or scare off its mother. But after a long wait—and looking all around our house for signs of a nest or a mother—we realized the tiny squirrel was lost.
Shaking terribly, he was weak, thin, and hungry. We tried to find an expert to help, but the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website showed that there were no wildlife experts in our area. After some quick research, we concluded that the best way to give the squirrel a fighting chance was to care for him ourselves. So a trip to the local store for milk and supplies was in order. More research taught us how much to feed him, how to estimate his age, how and when to wean (断奶) him, and that we should let him go as soon as he could survive on his own.
Our daughters and I took turns in feeding “Squirt.” Kaytlin took on the most responsibility. She taught him to eat from a bottle, and she woke in the night for his feeds.
To our relief, Squirt soon became healthy and strong. Within a few weeks he became more active. He would chatter (吱吱叫) for his next meal, playfully go around the girls, and lie down on them for sleep. It wasn’t long before he was weaned onto solid food and reintroduced to the wild.
His first few visits to the great outdoors were funny. Just like a child, he would play in the grass some and then run back to Kaytlin for safety. Soon she had him climbing trees and finding nest material.
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。
One day in the trees, Squirt met up with a family of gray squirrels.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One night, Squirt didn’t come back to our house and it rained hard.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At the age of 12, Lily earned a scholarship to study at a boarding school in Australia. Her father told her to study hard and practice running every day in Australia. She nodded be- cause that was much easier than staying happy in a completely new country. Several days later, she kissed her family and boarded the plane for Australia. As the plane took off, she looked out of the window at the goats and brown rivers of Kenya. She stared down at the green fields where she used to run barefoot(赤脚的), like the wind.
At school, Lily had lots of math problems to solve, essays to write, and books to read. She also joined the school running team. They were preparing for an important running race, in which runners from different schools took part. In order to practice running, her coach gave her a striped shirt, white shorts, shoes with cleats (防滑钉)and another pair with spongy soles(吸水鞋底)for cross-country. Honestly speaking, she had always run barefoot at home, so the shoes felt tight. But all the other runners wore shoes and Lily didn’t want to be different.
The team practiced every weekday afternoon. On Saturdays, everyone watched football— everyone but Lily. She would run alone on the country roads barefoot and run over fields thick with mud just as in her hometown. Each day at lunch, she would sit alone in the large dining hall, eating dishes totally strange to her and missing her family.
One Saturday, Lily ran up a hill and found herself in a yard. To her surprise, one of her classmates, Thomas, stood just inside the barn (谷仓) door. After he greeted her, Lily asked, “Why aren’t you watching football?” “I have to help my father,” said Thomas, “but why aren’t you wearing your shoes?”
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。
On hearing this question, Lily felt embarrassed
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the day of the race, all the runners were wearing professional suits and shoes except Lily.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sam worked as a gardener and was trying to raise money for his sick mother. One day, his mother called him and he just assured her on the phone that he was going to get the money for her medicine, and that everything would be all right. Then as he returned his phone to his pocket, he discovered that Mr. Smith’s daughter, Jane, was standing right behind him. She was 12 years old and surprisingly kind.
“Hey, Sam, do you need money for something?” Jane asked him. Sam nodded.“Yes, my mom is sick. But this job in your garden is totally going to help us and your garden is going to be the prettiest in the neighborhood.” Jane nodded with pursed lips (噘嘴) and started to talk about gardening.
The following day, Sam arrived at the garden and was met by a red-faced Mr. Smith, whose expression was full of anger. “You! You tricked my daughter into asking me for money! How dare you, you worthless man!” he yelled at Sam.
Sam raised his hands to defend himself. “No, sir. I never did that. I swear! I would never do that!” But Mr. Smith didn’t want to hear it. He shook his head, pointed his finger at Sam, and said, “I want you to finish today’s work because you left a horrible messy patch (小块) of dirt on the side of the house. It is so dirty. But it’s your last day here! Do you understand?”
Sam could only nod in shock, and Mr. Smith walked away, still angry at him. Sam felt so sad that he had just lost one of the best-paying jobs he had ever got. He hadn’t completed half of the project, and now he wouldn’t get enough for his mother’s treatment.
He wished Jane had never said anything, but she was a sweet young girl who only wanted to help. It wasn’t her fault. He walked to the house and inspected that patch of dirt, which looked new as if someone had worked on it the night before.
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。
“Who put the dirt here? Is there anything special under the dirt?” he wondered.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jane said, “These things are worth a lot of money and they are all for you, Sam.”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9 . Sue and Johnsy had their art studio in Greenwich Village.In November,an unknown disease struck this village and Johnsy was seriously sick with it. The doctor took Sue aside and claimed, “She has one chance in ten. And that chance is for her to want to live.”
Sue came into Johnsy’s room, only to find Johnsy’s eyes were open, but they weren’t watching her.Instead,she stared out the window and counted backwards: “Ten, nine, eight, seven... ”
“What are you counting, dear?” asked Sue. “They’re falling faster now,” replied Johnsy. “Three days ago there were almost a hundred. But now there are only five left. When the last one falls, I must go, too. Didn’t the doctor tell you? ”
“Oh, I never heard of such nonsense. Now, try to take some broth(肉汤)，and let yourself relax,” quickly replied Sue. But Johnsy’s mind was made up. “I don’t want any broth. I just want to see the last leaf fall.”
“Try to sleep,” said Sue. Then she went to fetch her neighbour Mr Behrman, a failed painter, to be a model for her drawing. In 40 years he had never produced the masterpiece he longed to paint. Sue told him about Johnsy’s longing to slip away like the leaves. Behrman cried with disbelief, “Such a foolish idea! This is not a place in which Miss Johnsy shall lie sick. Someday I will create a masterpiece, and we shall all go away.”
Behrman and Sue looked out of the window at the vine(藤蔓)and noticed that there was just one remaining leaf. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking as if thinking of something artistic. What’s more, a cold rain was falling, mixed with snow.
The next morning, Johnsy woke and asked for the curtains to be opened. One leaf remained on the vine, bravely holding on in the wind and rain. ‘‘It will fall today, for sure. And I will die with it.
That day in the afternoon, the doctor came, not for Johnsy, but for Mr Behrman, who was found lying in bed helplessly with pain, his shoes and clothing wet through and icy cold, and some brushes, paints, a lantern and a ladder on the ground.
The following day, Johnsy commanded that the curtain be raised again.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After Behrman’s funeral, Sue came to Johnsy who was sipping her soup, and said,“I have something to tell you.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
要点如下：
1.该人物的基本信息。
2.该人物在运动生涯中所取得的成就。
3.你喜欢她的理由。
（注意词数100字左右，可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。）
提示：1. 她的母亲是中国人，父亲是美国人，她从父母那里发现了对运动的热爱；
2. 她的坚持、热爱和专业技巧让她获得了世界冠军（champion）；
3. 她的座右铭（motto）:如果一切都简单，我们也就不会有梦想。
提示词：对...热爱show strong passion in
滑雪 ski
致力于 devote oneself to sth.
为祖国而竞赛 compete for our nation
面对挑战和压力 face challenge and pressure
追求 v. pursue
实现某人的梦想 achieve one’s goal
为梦想而努力 struggle for on
