My family had only recently moved into a new neighborhood. All of my neighbors have been very friendly and helpful since we moved in.
However, Mrs Davis, an elderly lady living in the last house on the other side of the road, escaped associating with us, or anyone else. When I asked around the neighborhood why, they warned me not to go after her because they thought she was insane (精神失常的) and preferred staying alone after losing her husband and only daughter in an aircraft crash. After that, she stayed isolated (孤立的) from all the neighbors, refusing all the care and help.
I often saw her on the streets during the evening, but she was always by herself. She appeared weak and I always wanted to help her, but after hearing what my neighbors had said about her, I wasn’t sure whether I should.
One day, when I was on my way to the supermarket, our paths crossed. I was walking past her and overheard her singing a tune. It immediately drew my attention because my parents used to sing the same song with me. I began to sing along with her, and she smiled at me for the first time. But when I smiled back, she quickly hurried her pace and went home.
She seemed very different to me that day. I refused to trust my neighbors’ claims that she had cut herself off from the rest of society because she was insane, so the next day, I knocked on her door. Mrs Davis was home, and instead of letting me in, she just looked at me silently through the window. I noticed her staring at me and was about to walk to the window when she quickly closed the curtains.
The next day, I revisited her house. “Hello, I brought you something,” I called out to her. “It’s the record of the music you were singing yesterday.”
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 door opened and Mrs Davis’ eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me standing there.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Several days later in the morning, the doorbell rang at my house.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With cold winter setting in, sometimes people need a small act of kindness to stay warm. That’s where Sharie Monsam and her niece come in. The pair are leaving scarves and hats on statues in downtown Mesa, Arizona for people who need them to keep warm.
Helping people who are homeless or down on their luck comes naturally for Monsam. “If you’re cold, take one,” she said. “This is the fourth winter that we have collected hats and scarves from family, friends, and neighbors. And also, we bought them at second-hand stores. And then we put them on the statues downtown, probably 15 to 18 statues.”
The hats and scarves are quickly taken from the statues, showing that there is a need for the winter equipment. Monsam hopes that other people will follow her lead and help the unhoused.
“I hope more people do it. They can donate food to the food kitchens as well,” Monsam added. “Every single person would make a difference. Find something that you can do to help other people. I personally think that’s what we're here on earth for.”
Happily, there are people doing the same thing. In Morristown, New Jersey, the fiber fairies are spreading warmth by decorating statues with gloves, hats, and scarves.
The founders who want to remain nameless established the group in 2014 to help the homeless stay warm. They began by asking for donations of winter hats and scarves on Facebook. The group placed the winter items on statues in the city’s green spaces.
One day, a boy named Peter went to the city center with his mother. Peter wore few clothes and felt very cold. The clothes on the statues became timely rain. The incident left a deep impression on the boy.
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。
Peter went home and began to look for clothes.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Peter wasn’t about to stop the good behavior.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Maya led a quiet life in Utah. She spent her days volunteering at a local shelter, helping the homeless, offering food and comfort to those in need. Maya lived by herself in a rented apartment, but she found peace and comfort in what she did.
One winter evening, as Maya was returning from her usual rounds at the shelter, she noticed a figure in a dark alley (巷). It was a slender (瘦小的) man. “Alex,” the man said, shivering. “My name is Alex.” Maya gazed him up and down, his weary eyes telling tales of hardship and despair. Without hesitation, Maya offered Alex a meal and a place to rest for the night. Despite his initial unwillingness, Alex soon found comfort in Maya’s kindness. Day by day, Maya welcomed Alex into her home, offering him food, shelter, and most importantly, a sense of belonging.
Then one day, Alex didn’t appear. Two days, three days passed. Alex still didn’t appear. Maya asked around, but in vain. She decided Alex didn’t need her help anymore or that he found better comfort. Three months later when the town was celebrating its founding, it was like everyone came. Maya put up her stand in the marketplace, selling self-made bakery. When she was traveling between stands, she came across a ring, actually the ring her mother gave her before passing away. She was so sure not only because of its distinctive design, but the ring also had her mother’s name carved into it on the inner side. Tears of sorrow flowed down her cheeks, as she realized what had happened. James, the stand owner, said a slender man sold it to him. Upon knowing the truth, James offered to give the ring back to Maya. As Maya wiped away her tears, her heart raced with a mix of emotions -disbelief, disappointment, and distress. A happy day turned a sad one for her.
Maya continued her life, her determination to help the need didn’t shift because of this incident. Actually, she worked even harder.
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, when she arrived at the shelter, she saw Alex!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Alex showed Maya the new shelter he helped fund with the money.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Eric raised his daughter Riley alone. One day, Eric noticed a young teenage boy standing in front of a drugstore. He approached him, and found out that the boy, Jack, wanted to buy medicine for his sick mother, but had no money. Jack cried out, “If I don’t bring home medicine, my mom will die. But I won’t be able to handle it.”
Upon hearing this, Eric didn’t hesitate to pay for the medicine. “I’ll pay for the medicine on his behalf,” he said, handing the pharmacist (药剂师) a couple of bills from his pocket. The boy looked at Eric with grateful eyes, and cried, “Thank you so much. You are heaven-sent.”
“There will always be people willing to help you, son,” Eric told him before handing him two portions of food. “Here, take this to your mom and have a hot meal with her,” he said before letting the boy go.
His daughter Riley saw the whole scene and said, “Dad, we have barely enough money. Why did you pay for the medicine?” Riley, the good you put out into the world will eventually find its way back to you. Just keep doing good,” Eric told his daughter.
When Riley turned thirty, she needed an operation urgently after being told there was something wrong with her heart. With difficulty breathing, Eric rushed Riley to the hospital in an ambulance. “You’ll be alright, Riley.” he cried. “Don’t worry, Daddy is here. We’ll get through this together,” he promised her.
Eric did try his best to find the money for his daughter’s operation. He asked all of his friends, but it was still not enough. Therefore, Eric decided to sell their house. It was enough to pay for her operation, but they would be left with nothing, “It’s okay,” he told himself. I will be able to earn money again, but if I lose my daughter, nothing will ever bring her back.”
By the time Eric made it back to the hospital, Riley was in her hospital room, weak and pale. He sat beside her bed and held her hand. “You’ll be okay, my sweet daughter. We’ll soon have the money for the operation,” he promised her.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
Eric suddenly noticed an envelope on the bed.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the nurse’s station, he was told doctor Jack had entered the hospital room just now.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My husband Ralph and I were living in a house in Staten Island in a lovely country-lane area where we enjoyed taking walks. One evening, as we were passing the gardens of an ancient church, I saw a gray cat being followed by a tiny black-and-white kitten (小猫). As I looked at them, the kitten stopped and stared at me with large golden eyes.
About a month later, I ‘saw the kitten again. As I was passing a neighbor’s doorway, it sleepily lifted its head out of a large flowerpot. Clearly, this was where it slept every night, and I told Ralph about it when I got home.
From then on, whenever Ralph and I passed that house, we saw the tiny creature sitting in the flowerpot or sunbathing happily on the front steps.
One morning, I met Jim, the owner of the house, and asked about the kitten and why it seemed to be living in the flowerpot. He told me, “His name is Oreo, and he’s the only one not adopted from a local feral (流浪的) cats’ litter that I rescued.”
“But why does he have to sleep in a flowerpot?” I asked.
“We tried taking him into the house, but my wife and I already have three very large older cats, and they were not nice to him.”
That was the moment when I decided that perhaps Oreo would be a happy addition to our lives. So, the next time Ralph and I were walking by Oreo’s home, I called to him. “Oreo! Hey, Oreo!” His head popped up from the flowerpot. Ralph was charmed, and he joined my chorus and called, “Oreo! Hey, Oreo!” To our delight, the little cat hurried down from the doorway to greet us. However, as he limped (跛行) down the steps, I noticed for the first time that he had a missing back leg.
Jim explained, “He was born that way. That’s why nobody would adopt him. All the other kittens were taken right away. I kept the little guy because I didn’t care about his missing leg.”
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。
Paragraph l: The next day, I found Jim, saying to him firmly, “Well, I want him!”
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Paragraph2: Upon arriving home, I placed the carrier at the entrance of our house and called Ralph out.
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Mother’s Day was around the corner. Everyone in the class was discussing what gift they should give to their beloved moms. Their teacher, Ms. Jenkins, was instructing them to make pretty postcards with a soulful message.
On Monday morning, Ms. Jenkins entered the classroom. Before she could say something to greet the kids as usual, 8-year-old Simon raised his hand as quickly as possible.
“Yes, Simon?” asked the teacher with a questioning look and the big smile often hanging on her face.
“Excuse me, Ms. Jenkins. What did you get for Mother’s Day?” he inquired.
All his classmates looked at their teacher and Ms. Jenkins smiled again, struggling to hide her sadness, which flashed across her face. “Sadly, nothing. Simon, I don’t have kids.”
Simon felt sorry for his teacher. He could not figure why. It seemed unfair that she didn’t receive anything for Mother’s Day when she was surrounded by kids all the time. She should have received something. Suddenly a good idea hit him.
That afternoon, school over, Simon flew home like a rabbit. After having finished counting the few dollars in his piggy bank, he asked his mother to take him to the flower shop nearby.
When they got in the car, Simon explained to his mother what he would do. Having understood the whole story, his mother looked at him with a loving expression.
The following day, Simon arrived at his classroom with a bunch of flowers and presented it to Ms. Jenkins with a bright smile. “I know you’re not a mother, but you treat us with kindness, affection and patience. You surely deserve a Mother’s Day gift, too,” he said to his teacher, whose jaw dropped in shock. The other kids applauded as Simon hugged Ms. Jenkins.
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。
Astonished and joyful, Ms. Jenkins stood there still.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The other kids came up one by one.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Nancy is used to getting up early every day. She is a young mother. By seven, she has already eaten breakfast, had a cup of coffee, washed the dishes, taken her shower, and put on her make-up. Then, it’s time to do the housework.
One early Saturday morning, when she was washing her son’s vacuum bottle (保温瓶), she felt upset. After having been used for long, the bottle was in poor condition. It was high time that she should buy a new one for her kid Bill, but her budget was limited. She had to decide that she would buy a new one only months later. Complaining wasn’t how she would normally choose to start the day, especially with the sun shining.
To cheer up and continue the day a bit more optimistically, she left the housework for later and set out with her little kid Bill for their morning walk on the beach a little earlier than usual. The local shops hadn’t opened yet. It was quiet outside; there were few people around.
Walking through the down town area, something on the pavement caught her attention. From a distance, it appeared to be a package of some sort. They walked over and Nancy picked it up. Upon examination, it turned out to be a brown paper bag. The downtown had nine blocks with stores. Grocery stores, furniture shops, cake shops, banks, bookstores, home-goods stores, clothing shops, and other businesses lined the street. Looking around, Nancy found none of them had been open for business. It was too early.
Nancy knew all this indicated that the object had most likely been purchased by someone the evening or day before. Since it was near the road, Nancy guessed someone must have dropped it, probably while loading other bags into a car.
Nancy looked inside the bag for more information. After opening it, she found there was a small handbag. In the bag, there were many cards. Among them, there was the owner’s ID card, which showed the owner’s address and name. Besides, there was a box in the brown bag. “What may be in the box?” Nancy thought to herself.
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。
She checked it, surprised to find there was a new vacuum bottle for kids in it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Nancy looked at the owner’s address again and made sure where the owner lived.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I first moved to the new community, I found it difficult to adapt. Everything was unfamiliar, and I felt like an outsider in a place where everyone seemed to know each other.
One day, I returned from a morning walk with my dog. At the front door, I dug around in my pockets for the keys, only to realize that I had lost them. As all of them are tied together including my car key, I decided to return to the paths we’d taken. I spent an hour looking, brushing aside tall grasses, but the keys remained lost. I was beginning to get upset as I thought of the consequences of losing them, so I continued to retrace our steps, but in vain.
Back home again, I pulled the backup key from its hiding place, let myself in the house, and fell on the chair in exhaustion. The house key wasn’t that important as I had an extra. I had a spare car key, but there was often something wrong with it, and the key would be expensive to replace. The iron heart made by my grandson was precious beyond measure. Thinking of it being gone forever made tears come to my eyes.
That night, it turned colder and we had a snow. Suddenly I heard the noise of my car alarm from the garage. I rushed to the car, put the extra key into the door and finally opened it, and then I hurriedly tried my best to stop the alarm. I felt red-faced as I imagined my next-door neighbors being disturbed and annoyed.
I went back in the house but the alarm started again. I turned it off, went back inside, and the alarm sounded again. I repeated the process. Back in the house, I waited, but the next sound was the front doorbell. Thinking it was a neighbor ready to complain at me, I opened the door cautiously.
Paragraph 1: To my surprise, in the light snow stood three neighbors from several streets away.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Feeling grateful and relieved, I invited them inside for a cup of hot tea.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In a small Chinese village, a young girl named Mei lived with a deep love for painting. Her artworks, filled with lively colors, caught the beauty of her surroundings. Despite her talent, Mei often battled with self-doubt. She wondered if her skills were truly excellent or if she was just fortunate.
One day, Mei heard about a painting contest in the town called the “Sunlit Art Challenge”. Determined to prove herself and remove the doubts, Mei quickly signed up for it. The contest stirred a mix of excitement and nervousness in her. Mei spent countless hours perfecting her painting technique, pouring her heart and soul into her works.
For the contest, Mei painted a beautiful sunrise over the sea. The sun just started to rise above the horizon (地平线), its bright light beginning to shine over the ocean. The sun’s rays looked like golden light, spreading across the water and making it shine like a giant mirror. As the sun rose higher, it looked like a bright ball of fire, warming the sea and making the waves shine brightly. The sky changed colors too, from a soft blue to bright oranges, pinks and reds. It was like watching the day begin right there on her canvas (画布). Mei s painting captured the peaceful yet lively scene of the sun’s first rays touching the vast ocean, symbolizing hope.
On the day of the contest, the village square was filled with excitement. Artists from near and far displayed their works. Mei set up her painting, feeling both proud and anxious. As the judges evaluated (评估) Mei’s painting, her heart raced with nervousness. Since their expressions were hard to read, Mei felt like her doubts were right, that she wasn’t as good as she hoped.
When the host started to announce the winners, Mei listened with hope and curiosity. But sadly her name wasn’t called. Disappointment washed over her, and she forced a smile, applauding (鼓掌) the winners. After the contest, Mei felt disheartened. She thought her painting had failed to impress anyone, and she lost her motivation to lift her brush. At that time, Mr. Zhang, a villager, approached Mei.
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。
Mr. Zhang told Mei that Mei’s painting was excellent and moved him.
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Mr. Zhang’s recognition of Mei’s works renewed Mei’s interest in painting.
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Harry’s reward
Harry didn’t want to learn to swim. He couldn’t figure out what the use of learning to swim was. But Harry’s parents believed it was a great pity for a healthy boy to be afraid of the wind and the sea.
“Everybody, especially every Englishman and boy, should know how to swim,” Papa had said. “There is never any knowing the use it may be of.”
“Isn’t it very hard to learn?” Harry asked.
“It takes some patience,” his father said. “But in three weeks or so, you should be able to swim fairly well, if you have a lesson every day.”
There was no escaping it, however. Papa, though very kind, was very firm, and once he said a thing, it had to be done. So with a rather white face, poor Harry set off every day for his swimming lesson. He was a quick and clever boy, and a strong boy, and his father knew this. After the initial fear was overcome, it went on better and faster than could have been expected. Two weeks later, Harry had the pleasure of hearing his father say to his mother, “He swims already very nearly as well as I do myself.”
Seacliff, the place at which the family was spending the summer, was not a fashionable watering place but a little village. There were a few gentlemen’s houses in the neighborhood, so that in fine weather merry groups met at the little sheltered bay among the rocks.
One day, Harry, having finished his own morning swim, set off to walk home at his ease. Suddenly a sound disturbed his pleasant thoughts. A carriage was rushing wildly along, coming nearer and nearer. The driver, Ann, stood upright in the carriage (马车), hitting the poor horse as if she were mad, while from time to time she screamed, “Help, help!”
“What is it?” screamed Harry too, as Ann passed. She would not stop, but she threw back some words through the wind. “My sister—Alice—is drowning (淹溺). Go to the village to fetch someone who can swim.”
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Harry ran back to the bathing place at once.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________There were plenty of hands to help carry them to land once they were within a safe distance; however, it was Harry who was the true hero.
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