1 . As an artist, I am constantly struck by the profound impact that art can have on people’s lives. Recently, I have had an experience that
One day, as I was
As they explored my artwork, the mother began to tell me the little girl’s story. The child used to be an orphan who had experienced a lot of
Finally she came the next morning and quickly paid for the original and take it home with a huge smile.
As an artist, I drew inspiration from my own experiences, emotions, and observations, creating pieces that are very
| A．denied | B．highlighted | C．decreased | D．transformed |
| A．adjusting to | B．appealing to | C．setting up | D．wiping out |
| A．mildly | B．barely | C．apparently | D．potentially |
| A．represented | B．exposed | C．predicted | D．clarified |
| A．comforting | B．bothering | C．releasing | D．casting |
| A．vivid | B．cheerful | C．exceptional | D．abstract |
| A．growth | B．hardships | C．changes | D．adventures |
| A．organization | B．school | C．team | D．family |
| A．copy | B．part | C．photograph | D．draft |
| A．sleep | B．insist | C．depend | D．thunder |
| A．dramatic | B．logical | C．personal | D．practical |
| A．crafted | B．grasped | C．processed | D．interpreted |
| A．spiritual | B．ideal | C．fundamental | D．conventional |
| A．perception | B．interaction | C．application | D．interruption |
| A．separate | B．devote | C．uplift | D．defend |
2 . Two elderly best friends have finally been reunited in the same care home.
Nora Boardman, 91,
The childhood friends both
Both Eileen and Nora decided to move into the care home. Sadly, both had several falls. But they stuck to their
Two childhood best friends
| A．removed | B．referred | C．moved | D．related |
| A．concerned | B．astonished | C．confused | D．scared |
| A．recognized | B．classified | C．inspired | D．surrounded |
| A．disappointment | B．expectation | C．embarrassment | D．excitement |
| A．wild | B．enthusiastic | C．busy | D．familiar |
| A．broke up | B．grew up | C．set off | D．hurried off |
| A．breath | B．condition | C．favor | D．touch |
| A．incomparable | B．inseparable | C．independent | D．inaccessible |
| A．doors | B．streets | C．blocks | D．churches |
| A．childhood | B．vacation | C．marriage | D．adventure |
| A．narrowly | B．terribly | C．casually | D．slightly |
| A．leather | B．guidance | C．wing | D．direction |
| A．convinced | B．motivated | C．extended | D．committed |
| A．custom | B．argument | C．principle | D．decision |
| A．enjoy | B．establish | C．renew | D．obtain |
I loved the spelling bee (拼字比赛). I trained every day after school, the dictionary pages rippling softly in the breeze. But I had never thought my arch-enemy in the spelling bee could become my friend.
Opening my eyes on Friday morning, I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. I glanced at my alarm clock — it’s only 6:27. I usually woke up at 7:01, which meant I had an extra thirty-four minutes to study. I was the best spellers in my class. I wanted to win the bee at Meadowbrook Middle School and beat my arch-enemy, Nathan Fortescue.
Nathan just read many science and math books. Really, he wasn’t a speller at heart — he’s a mathematician. Nathan and I had nothing in common except being good spellers, but since he’s a good speller without even trying, it didn’t count.
I walked into the kitchen, finding Dad cooking breakfast. He served me some porridge. I thanked him and told him the spelling test and my anxiety. My father gave me a quiz. Those words “dexterous, sesquipedalian, truncate” didn’t trouble me at all. Finally came the word “judgment”. “Easy, J-U-D-G-E-M-E-N-T.” I answered quickly, without any thought.
Dad shook his head. Not believing in him, I headed for my room, referred to the dictionary and marched back with a frown. Before parting, he told me that I should thank him, because I would probably get the word in the test.
As soon as I shut the classroom door behind me, I heard a voice from the back of the room. “You are looking pale now, and I’m afraid that you may miss the spelling bee.” Nathan smiled as he closed a giant book with dancing numbers on the cover.
“I bet a literature word will make you out on the first round.” I replied.
As Ms. Hawking walked into the room, she explained the rules—one missed, and you were out—and the spelling test began. After four rounds, only Nathan and I were left. “Olivia, your word is ‘algorithm.’” said Ms. Hawking. I hadn’t heard that word before, but I spelt it A-L-G-O-R-H-Y-H-M.
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。
Ms. Hawking frowned and said that’s incorrect.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After class, I sobbed when I felt a hand on my arm.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Harry, from Chesterfield, is going to be 11 years old. He always wants a proper birthday party but it’s always been difficult to arrange because he is an autistic (患有自闭症的) boy. It is hard for him to understand how other playground he might smile. He’s not evil-minded. It’s just his face and feelings do not match up. Unless you know him, you can’t understand the thing he does. He’s a really good kid, just misunderstood. Because of autism, he’s not been invited to a party since kindergarten, which makes him seem to be left out.
In order to make Harry not feel lonely, this year, his mother Hannah, 31, put an appeal for birthday cards for Harry on her social media because she wanted Harry to feel “included” and “less alone”. Much to her surprise, more than 200 cards flooded in her mail box within a week, some from as far as Dubai. With more arriving every day, she felt crazy and overwhelmed.
When Harry said that he wanted to have a party for his 11th birthday, his parents felt surprised but delighted. Because it meant their son was willing to deal with different people, which was a big step for him. The parents took action again. At first, no one but his family had planned on coming, they even couldn’t fill one lane. Struggle d to get more people to come, the mother turned to social media once more and the result never let her down. More and more people sent cards and some of them started offering to come to the party as well. It turned out that people with children Harry had never met responded by helping to fill the venue.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
On Harry’s birthday, about 30 children in total attended the party.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
The party means a lot to Harry who was scared and nervous but also excited.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It all began when my younger brother, Chris, and I went over to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Howard’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle live on a farm at the opposite end of town, and Chris and I love going there. The farm is situated in a valley surrounded by rolling hills. The fields are lush and green, with crops growing as far as the eye could see. The sound of chickens clucking and cows mooing fills the air. For my brother and me, it is a wonderland where we have a lot of fun.
We got up early and did the morning chores before we left. As kids, we talked happily about the feast along the way. Roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato, and cranberries were awaiting us. We were curious to know how a turkey could grow so big. When we finally got to my aunt and uncle’s, Chris and I went outside to see if Uncle Howard needed help with anything. He and Dad had decided to clean out the turkey coop (笼子) before dinner. Since Chris was only nine, he got the easier job of scrubbing out the watering cans. I was twelve, old enough to help load the wheelbarrow (手推车). Work was tough, but we still found time to ask Uncle Howard a lot of questions about turkeys. He must have been impressed, because when we were finished, he winked at my dad and handed me a turkey egg. “You kids put it under a setting hen,” he said, “and in twenty-five days, you’ll have a fine turkey!” Chris was so excited that he nearly dropped his egg on the way to the house. We both stuffed ourselves at dinner and then couldn’t wait for the grownups to finish talking so we could go home and tend to our egg.
Dad put the egg under an old hen, and every day Chris and I would check to see if it’d hatched yet. Twenty-five days seemed like forever.
Para. 1. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day, Chris and I walked into the coop after school.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Para. 2. We waited nervously for the coming of the next Thanksgiving Day.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mrs. Johnson was an elderly woman who loved nothing more than sitting by the window and watching the world go by. She had lived in the same house for over 50 years and knew almost everyone in the neighborhood. She especially liked the teenagers who lived next door, a group of kids who always seemed to be up to something.
One day, Mrs. Johnson noticed that the kids seemed to be going through a tough time. They were skipping school, getting into trouble, and seemed lost and directionless. Mrs. Johnson knew that something needed to be done to help these kids, so she decided to take action.
The first thing she did was to invite the kids over for cookies and drinks. They were hesitant at first, but Mrs. Johnson’s warm smile and kind words quickly put them at ease. Over the course of the afternoon, she listened carefully as the kids shared their hopes and dreams, their fears and frustrations. She didn’t judge them or lecture them, but simply offered a listening ea r and a shoulder to lean on.
As the weeks went by, Mrs. Johnson continued to reach out to the kids. She would invite them over for dinner or take them on outings to the park, the library, or the movies. She would encourage them to talk about their interests and talents, and help them find their passions, set goals, and pursue their dreams. Mrs. Johnson became a guiding light for the neighborhood kids.
One of the kids, a boy named David, was particularly talented in music. He had a natural gift for playing the guitar and writing songs, but had never been given the chance to pursue his passion. Mrs. Johnson knew that David’s genius for music was too great to go unnoticed, so she took it upon herself to help David find a way to share his talent with the world.
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。
Mrs. Johnson contacted the community center and arranged for David to perform at a show.
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After the show, David was full of joy and excitement.
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We were driving across the big state of Texas on our way to California. Suddenly, our car coughed and then stopped.
“Are we out of gas?” Mom asked. Dad nodded. Cotton fields lined both sides of the lonely highway as far as the eye could see. We hadn’t seen a car for a very long time, and we had passed the last town an hour before. “Don’t worry,” Dad said. “Someone will be along soon.” But he didn’t sound very sure about that. He got out and put the car’s hood (引擎盖) up, saying, “This will let them know we’re in trouble.”
After an hour, we saw dust in the distance. A car was fast approaching going in the same direction as ours. Pleased, Dad jumped to his feet, waving his arms wildly. He smiled as the car got closer, yet the car just sounded its horn (喇叭) and rushed off. We were so upset and I felt scared. Dusk was approaching and we had been sitting for a couple of hours. Then we heard a small noise in the distance.
It sounded like men singing at the top of their lungs. It got louder, and soon we saw a worn-out old truck driving slowly down the highway toward us. The whole truck seemed to float along surrounded by songs sung in Spanish.
“Get in the car immediately,” Mom instructed me nervously. “Al, you’d better get in here, too. We can’t be too careful out here in the middle of nowhere.” Dad just stood by the car door, full of tension.
The wooden-sided truck came to a stop right beside him. Mom and I held our breath. Would they hold us up? What would happen to us? We could be at their mercy. From their look, we knew they were farmers who often labored in the fields all day under the hot Texas sun.
“Habla Español?” the driver stopped and called out his window at Dad. “What? I know little Spanish,” Dad shouted back, shaking his head. He wondered how to convey the message that we needed a ride to a gas station.
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。
Then Dad gestured and used some easy English words.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The container soon got full, but how could we return to where our car stopped?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Secret
“Your secret is safe with me” was Ming’s promise when I told him that I wanted to learn ballet, which was unusual for boys and must be laughed at by most people in my place. I even dared not tell my parents about it.
Ming was my best friend at school. Wearing the same type of school uniform, Ming looked older and bigger, but we were the same age. We grew up together in the same neighbourhood and our parents knew each other well. Ming was always the first one to hear stories from me. I trusted him on everything and anything. One afternoon after school, we met at the balance bars on the school playground as usual. It was just the two of us. I gathered up courage and told him about my secret.
Ming seemed slightly surprised, but he soon smiled and agreed to keep it a secret for me, as he had done other times. We were best friends after all. After a few push-ups, we headed for our own homes.
The next morning, in the school corridor, just as I was about to wave at him and say hi, I noticed something was different. As soon as he saw me, he dropped his head and continued to walk on, avoiding eye contact with me. In the classroom, I couldn’t help casting frequent glimpses at his side—he wasn’t looking at me. In fact, he remained quiet all day. When the school bell rang, he picked up his schoolbag and left the classroom in a rush. Was it because of my secret? What did he do to my secret?
I ate very little that evening. Mum frowned when she saw the food I’d left in the bowl. Dad threw me a disapproving look and asked me how my day was. “It was OK,” I replied, “lots of homework to do.” I stood up, ready to leave the table.
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。
“Wait!” Dad raised his hand and gestured me to sit down.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Ming will remain your friend,” Dad comforted me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________By the time we reached the airport, my mother was angry. “We’re going to be late,”she said as she pulled into the newly opened parking area.
My husband David and I had come to pick up my oldest son, who had flown to spend theNew Year with the family. As always, Mom had insisted on driving us to the airport.
We picked a lane (车道) that didn’t look too busy. When our turn came, Mom rolled down her window to grab the parking ticket from the machine. We watched and waited for the gate to lift so we could drive through. Instead, we heard a voice,“Please take the ticket.”“Give me a minute,”Mom answered.
It’s a well-known fact that I often talk to myself. So does my mother. So at that time, Ididn’t think anything of my mother’s words.
The machine sounded again. “Please take the ticket.”
“I’m trying. I can’t reach it,”she said.
This time, my husband and I glanced at each other with our eyebrows raised. Certainly,Mom knew the voice was automated (自动化的) and not a real person speaking to her.
“Please take the ticket.”
“I’m trying. I’m trying. It’s too far away. Give me a minute.”
In fairness to my mother, automated machines had recently arrived in the world, and there weren’t many around yet. We had never run into one at the airport before. In the old days, the machine spit out a parking ticket, and if you couldn’t reach the ticket, you simply opened your door and grabbed it. Now, the new metal safety railings (护栏) on either side of the car made it impossible to open the door.
“Please take the ticket.”
“It’s too far. I’m trying. I’m trying.”
The traffic behind us grew impatient. I saw people trying to back their cars so they could find another lane. All the while, the machine continued,“Please take the ticket...”
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。
Mom was frustrated (沮丧的).
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I managed to reach for my mother’s safety belt and tried to unfasten (解开) it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was only a few weeks after my surgery. I went to Dr. Belt’s office for a checkup. It was just after my first chemotherapy (化学疗法) treatment. My scar was still very tender. My arm was numb underneath. This whole set of unique and weird feelings was like having a new roommate to share the two-bedroom apartment formerly known as my breasts — now lovingly known as “the breast and the chest.”
As usual, I was taken to an examination room to have my blood drawn, again — a terrifying process for me, since I’m so frightened of needles. I lay down’ on the examining table. Ramona entered the room. Her warm sparkling smile was familiar, and stood out in contrast to my fears. I’d first seen her in the office a few weeks earlier. She wasn’t my nurse on that day, but I remember her because she was laughing. She laughed in deep, round and rich tones. I remember wondering what could be so funny behind that medical door. What could she possibly find to laugh about at a time like this? So I decided she wasn’t serious enough about the whole thing and that I would try to find a nurse who was caring. But I was wrong.
This day was different. Ramona had taken my blood before. She knew about my fear of needles, and she kindly hid the needle under a magazine with a bright blue picture of a kitchen being remodeled. As we opened the blouse, the catheter (导管) on my breast was exposed and the fresh scar on my chest could be seen. She gently reached over and ran her hand across the scar, examining the smoothness of the healing skin and looking for any irregularities. I began to cry gently and quietly. She looked at me tenderly and said, “You haven’t touched the scar yet, have you?” And I said, “No.”
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。
So this wonderful, warm woman laid the palm of her golden brown hand on my pale chest and she gently held it there.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That night as I lay down to sleep, I gently placed my hand on my chest and I left it there until I fell asleep.
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