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.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“The package is from Uncle Aaron in Scotland,” Rylee told her father. Her uncle travelled a lot on business, so Rylee seldom got to see him. Her father’s only response was to raise an eyebrow (眉毛).
Rylee opened the box. She pulled out a large necklace (项链). One side of the necklace had a symbol of circles. It looked like writing on the other side, but Rylee did not understand what the words meant.
The box also had a letter from her uncle. He explained how he had found the necklace at a curious little shop. He described how the elderly storekeeper had told him that the necklace had special powers and warned him to be careful with it.
Her uncle ended the letter with “BE CAREFUL!!!” in big letters and a “laughing” emoji (表情符号). He did not seem to take the storekeeper’s warnings seriously. “Let me wear it to school today, Dad,” Rylee said. “Maybe it will bring me luck on my history test.” “Good grades come from studying, not from luck,” Dad said. “I did study, but everyone thinks this will be a hard test.” Rylee put her fingers around the necklace she still held, “I wish you’d let me wear it.” “Yes, you can wear it today.” That made Rylee stop to wonder, because her dad had never given in that fast before.
At school, Rylee heard a group of kids talking. Some said her necklace looked ugly, while others thought it silly to believe in good luck necklaces. She wished her classmates thought the necklace was as cool as she did. Without warning, all eyes turned to Rylee and her necklace. Students began to push to get a closer look. Everyone seemed to talk at once, telling her how cool it looked. All Rylee’s friends wanted to borrow her lucky necklace. That made Rylee stop to wonder why everyone changed their minds so fast.
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。
Sitting at her desk, Rylee watched the teacher pass out their tests.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rylee looked down at her test and found that her score was one hundred percent.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The wonders of nature, from spiders and butterflies to tiny insects, never cease to amaze me. Sometimes, I feel I’m the only one who notices their beauty. Yet, if it hadn’t been for the crowded dining hall, I wouldn’t have noticed Emily.
Emily was a new student, quiet and unnoticeable. She walked to class with her books against her chest and her head down. She talked only when the teacher asked her a question. At the break time, she just sat on a bench and read. After a month at school, she hadn’t made any friend. If you asked who she was, you’d get a response like this, “She’s in my PE class, but I can’t remember her name.”
During lunch one day, with most tables occupied, I found myself without a place to sit. I was at a loss what to do when I spotted Emily alone, book in hand. I walked over to her and asked. “Can I take this seat?” She glanced up and lightly said “Yes”.
The cafeteria was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming talent show. Merry laughter and lively conversations filled the air, making the place alive with anticipation for the event. But Emily, lost in her book, didn’t seem to mind at all. Silence hung between us and it drove me crazy.
I searched my mind for things to say. “So,” I said, “is that a good book?” Emily gave me a small nod and went back to reading. Curiosity getting the better of me, I continued, “What’s the book about?” She looked at me,eyes shining. Eagerly she shared the story of a musical talent, painting vivid images with her words. “That sounds cool,”I replied, somewhat amazed by the usual quiet girl.
The noisy cafeteria carried on with its hum as students heatedly discussed the talent show. Eager to continue our engaging conversation, I asked, “So, any plans for the show?” Emily paused, setting her book aside, “Oh,” she said, “I don’t know. Maybe nothing.” Her words carried a bit of uncertainty. It seemed as if the idea of showing her talent was still taking shape in her mind.
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。
Time flew by and the day of the talent show finally arrived.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The hall fell into silence as she began to perform.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I wanted to go to a party. Especially it was a beach party. It had been almost the only thing my friends had been talking about for the last couple of weeks. But My mom had said no. The more desperately I pleaded her case, the more forcefully my mother said no. “I don’t care who’s going,” said coldly my mother, “you are not going.” I was heartbroken. This was my best friend’s party.
Sunday dinner came around and my grandmother joined the family for the meal. Gran noticed my depression but didn’t say a word. It was my turn to wash up and Gran said, “Let me help you.” “What’s up?” asked Gran as I dumped the dishes into the foaming water. Gran wiped a plate with a tea towel. “Mom won’t let me go to my best friend’s party.” I said sadly. “Has mom explained why she doesn’t want you to go?” asked Gran. “No.” I replied. “Then for a moment, put yourself in her position.” said Gran. “If you were mom, what would your objections be?”
I hadn’t stopped to think about my mom’s side. “Well,” I answered, “it’s a beach party. Maybe she doesn’t trust us or thinks we’ll get into trouble.”
“Are there going to be any adults there?” asked Gran. “No,” I said, “who wants their parents hanging around when you’re trying to have fun?” “Might it just be,” said Gran, “your mother doesn’t want anything unfortunate to happen to you.”“Nothing will happen.” I objected. “Maybe you’re right,” said Gran, “but maybe mom’s worried in case it could.”
Gran looked at me gently, seeming to expect my agreement. For a minute or so, I kept silent, pondering for a while about my eagerness for the party. “Maybe, you are right, however, is there no hope?” I inquired. “Not necessarily.” answered Gran, lost in thought.
Paragraph 1: “Then maybe think of a compromise.” suggested Gran.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: The long-awaited beach party finally came.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Emily was a shy and quiet student in Greenfield High School. Emily was known for her quiet behavior and her love for literature, often found lost in the pages of a book during lunch breaks.
One day, as Emily walked through the hallway, she noticed a colorful poster announcing an upcoming English poetry competition. Her heart raced with excitement at the prospect of showcasing her talent, but her mind was immediately flooded with doubts. “What if my poem is not good enough? What if everyone laughs at me?”she thought to herself, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
As the days went by, Emily found herself caught between her desire to participate and her fear of failure. She talked with her best friend, Sarah, who had been by her side since they were little. She was known for her outgoing personality and her ability to make everyone feel included.
“You have a gift, Emily, ”Sarah said reassuringly, her blue eyes filled with encouragement. “Don’t let your fears hold you back. You never know what might happen unless you try. ”
With Sarah’s support, Emily decided to take a leap of faith and submit her poem for the competition. As the day of the event drew near, she felt a mix of nervousness and expectation. She spent hours perfecting her poem, carefully choosing each word and line to convey her emotions. She practiced her poem in front of the miror, trying to perfect her delivery and expression.
But despite her newfound confidence, Emily couldn’t shake off the feeling of doubt in her mind. These thoughts consumed her, making it difficult for her to focus on anything else.
It was during one of these moments of self-doubt that Sarah came to her rescue once again. “You’re an amazing writer, Emily, ”she said, her voice filled with warmth and sincerity. “Your poem is going to be incredible. Just believe in yourself. ”With Sarah’s words in her mind, Emily felt a renewed sense of determination.
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:
On the day of the competition, Emily took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
In the end, Emily’s poem won first place.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I had run away from home after finishing high school. My parents had insisted I go to college, but I was tired of school. I hated it. I was determined not to go. And, besides, my father was too strict. I had too many chores to do around the farm. I haled the work!
There had been a quarrel between my father and me. I threw some things into a bag and left angrily, as my father shouted after me, “If you leave, don’t come back!” My mother cried openly, and I had seen those tears during a hundred sleepless nights.
Then it was time to write a letter to my father.
Dear Dad,It’s been more than a year now. I’ve traveled east to west. I’ve had dozens of jobs. None of them amounted to very much. Always the same questions: “How much education have you got?” It seems they always want college men for the good jobs.
Dad, you and Mother were right about everything. I know now that the work on the farm didn’t hurt me, and I’m convinced I need college. I’m also convinced that both of you loved me.
Dad, I’ve learned a lesson. I want to come home. I know you said if I left, I couldn’t come back, but I’m praying you’ll change your mind. I want to come home and be a part of the family again.
Give my love to Mother and the girls.
Love,Your son
As I folded the letter and put it into an envelope, I felt a refreshing relief. It was as if a heavy load had been lifted from my shoulders. And I had to be on my way home.
I started down the desolate road—the long road home. Fortunately, a car picked me up, and it was good to have someone to talk with. The driver was a salesman and very pleasant.
“Where you going, boy?” he asked good-naturedly.
There was a long silence before I said, “Home.”
“Been away from home long?”
I smiled, a little self-conscious, and said, “One year, one month and two days.”
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。
Having heard my story, he expressed his support for my final decision and told me something surprising.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, I arrived home when. it was completely dark.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I’d been waitressing for months, earning extra money for college. “Since it’s not too busy, go and see if Ray wants any more coffee,” my boss said to me as he pointed to an older man sitting in the corner.
Ray was holding the cup in his hand as he stared out of the window. He was a re gular lunch customer on Mondays and Fridays.
“Can I refill the cup for you, Ray?” I asked. He looked up with a peaceful smile and held his cup out toward me. “You know, I’ve been coming here for several years, and I have to say you have the nicest smile,” he whispered. “Can you sit for minutes... please?”
I sat down and he smiled, “Your smile reminds me of my granddaughter, Sharon.” He took out a picture of her from his wall et and handed it to me. “She graduated from college last year.”
“What a nice-looking girl!” I said. “Does she live near you?”
Ray shook his head as he put the picture back in his wallet. “She moved to California last year. I miss her a lot. She and I used to have lunch together on Monday s and Fridays,” he said. “She now wants me to move out there to be closer to her.”
“So, why don’t you?”
“I don’t know if I really want to move. I’ve been here all my life,” he answered.
I heard my boss calling me. “I guess that’s meant for me,” I said as I stood up.
We smiled at each other. “Ray……if my grandfather had been like you, I’d have asked him day and night to move closer to me, too.” I patted his shoulder. “Don’t wait too long. Nice talking with you...”
For the next couple of weeks, Ray continued to come on Mondays and Fridays. But on that Monday of Thanksgiving week, he didn’t show up. Then one Wednesday afternoon, walking out to my car after work, I heard a voice call my name from across the parking lot.
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。
It was Ray, hurrying to catch up to me.
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“Have you made up your mind to move?” I asked.
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Reese Osterberg, a 10-year-old girl, is a big fan of the baseball team San Francisco Giants and Little League. When the girl lost her home in Fresno County, California, to one of the largest wildfires in state history early last fall, she had a very pressing concern: Did anyone grab her cherished baseball cards?
Unfortunately, no one had. Her mom recalled that the roaring fire seemed to devour (吞噬) everything in their yard. Danger was definitely around them. With a houseful of kids and dogs and a farm’s worth of horses to evacuate, if they didn’t hurry up, the consequences would be unimaginable. So at the extremely urgent moment, the whole family totally forgot her cards am id the dangerous situation. Naturally, the enthusiastic fan of San Francisco Giants and Little League was upset. When she watched the Giants on TV, she would lay out each player’s card on the floor in his corresponding field position. “I like baseball cards because they are pictures of people doing happy stuf — doing what they love, and what I love”, says Reese.
Reese’s loss deeply touched the hearts of the warmhearted firefighters from Fresno County Fire Department. They decided to do something to help the upset kid. Before long, they posted her story on its Face-book page with a plea to help Reese regain her baseball card collection. The story, in turn, touched the heart of kind Kevin Ashford, a longtime baseball collector, who was more than willing to seize the opportunity to do good.
Ashford knew exactly where Reese could find replacement cards: in his garage. He had more than 25,000 in his collection, with a ball park value of $35,000 to $50,000. Ashford had been thinking about selling them when he happened to read the fire department’s post. “I wasn’t really doing anything with them,” says Ashford. “I thought I could take care of this problem rather quickly.”
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。
Ashford immediately responded to the post.
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Reese has gotten so many cards from Ashford and she decided to share these cards with other kids.
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9 . It started with a bit of casual discomfort on the head, but after a week it had spread to the back of my neck, enough to lead me to my laptop. Annoying as it was, I was
As soon as I’d tapped in ‘online self-diagnosis’, the search engine provided me with over 11.5 million results. And during the time normally spent in the clinic’s waiting room reading the Women’s Weekly, I was able to find a site that would provide a free
I answered all the questions until I eventually reached a description exactly matching my
I headed off to the doctor for what I thought would be a blood test but which turned out to be a valuable lesson in not
I learnt my lesson, but for some the worry caused by
Once upon a time, hypochondria required time and effort: you had to go to the library to research your diseases and
| A．reluctant | B．surprised | C．able | D．sure |
| A．knowledge | B．association | C．evidence | D．medication |
| A．sample | B．assessment | C．subscription | D．upgrade |
| A．standards | B．arguments | C．definitions | D．symptoms |
| A．fortunate | B．touched | C．alarmed | D．different |
| A．believing | B．explaining | C．questioning | D．covering |
| A．keeping | B．losing | C．drying | D．washing |
| A．taking off | B．putting on | C．breaking away | D．looking up |
| A．dropped | B．differed | C．increased | D．helped |
| A．safety | B．health | C．access | D．money |
| A．available | B．accurate | C．misleading | D．complex |
| A．occasionally | B．automatically | C．painstakingly | D．literally |
| A．bringing to light | B．taking into consideration | C．putting into practice | D．setting on top |
| A．rare | B．hard | C．large | D．simple |
| A．state | B．change | C．freedom | D．peace |
As a senior editor in a famous press, I always think of days twenty years before when I was 18, I lived with my grandparents, and my parents earned their living in another city, struggling to support our family. I had taken to delivering newspapers to support myself and my education.
I would be up every morning by 5 am and walk five kilometres from where I lived to the newspaper office. By 6 am, I would collect 50 copies which must have weighed over five kilograms. My delivery range spanned (横跨) three kilometres. After distributing the copies, I would rush home—another three kilometres away—cook my breakfast, and be off to my school.
One Friday morning, I got home after my deliveries, finding Afzal, a boy from the neighbourhood, at my doorstep. Afzal said his mother wanted to see me. When I asked him why, Afzal said, “She will tell you.” Tired after walking around for over 11 kilometres, I was looking forward to breakfast and some rest. I assumed his mother wished to subscribe (定期订购) to the newspaper, so I followed him to his home nearby.
A woman in her 40s opened the door. I later learned she was Afzal’s mother, Mrs Kader. She asked me to sit, pulled up her chair next to mine and gently asked, “Tell me about your routine, right from the time you wake up in the morning.” I wasn’t quite sure why she wanted to know, but I told her about my morning job in a few words. She asked me, “How many miles do you walk every day?” I replied, “A little more than 11 kilometres.” My reply shocked her.
Then she patted my back and went inside, reappearing carrying a large plate full of food for breakfast for me. It was a heart y breakfast, one that brought back memories of happy days spent with my parents. Later, as I was about to leave after thanking them, Mrs Kader asked me to wait and she went inside again.
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 Mrs Kader appeared again, with a new bicycle.
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I bowed to Mrs Kader gratefully and left for school.
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