Pip is a cute little squirrel (松鼠) from a loving family, whose mother often tells him that sharing is caring.
On a cold morning in the park, Pip was looking for a tree with enough branches to shelter him from the cold. Suddenly, he found a huge one, with many branches, and to his joy, a big, brown acorn was hanging from one of the lower ones.
Knowing how important acorns were at this time of year, Pip moved as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, and climbed up the side of the tree, heading towards the acorn. As he got close to the acorn, he thought about how hungry he was, as he hadn’t had any food for two days. He reached his paw (爪子) forward eagerly and just as he was about to take his first bite, somebody took the acorn from his paws and climbed down the tree. Angry and still hungry, Pip ran after the acorn thief, and jumped across the branches, from tree to tree. He would save his lunch, no matter what!
“Hey! Come back here! That’s my acorn. I found it, fair and square,” shouted Pip, who was out of breath.
The acorn thief was another squirrel, who Pip recognized as Rascal, a squirrel in the park who always stole food from others.
“You will never catch me, Pip! Everyone knows that you are the slowest squirrel in the park and I haven’t eaten today, so this nut is mine!” said Rascal.
Hearing Rascal make fun of him made Pip angrier and run faster. Finally, Pip caught up with Rascal. After what seemed like the longest fight ever, Pip managed to take the acorn out of Rascal’s paws and he ran as fast as he could to hide away. As Rascal tried to follow Pip, a huge tree branch fell on him and stopped him from running after the acorn. Rascal couldn’t climb over the branch and he was forced to admit defeat.
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。
Pip happily hugged his acorn.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Why did you help me, Pip?” asked Rascal, quite surprised.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I watched my dad scowl (绷着脸) as he listened to the voice coming through the telephone receiver. I heard him say, “Yes, Miss Beisner,” and “I understand what you’re saying, Miss Beisner. I appreciate you sharing this information. We’ll see what we can do about the situation. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.”
Miss Beisner was my first-grade teacher, and I loved her. I thought she felt the same about me, but now I was beginning to wonder. The tone of Dad’s voice, the redness in his cheeks, and his repeated clenching. And unclenching of fists made it pretty clear. This was not a warm and fuzzy good news-from-the-teacher call.
As I was deciding whether I should lock myself in my bedroom for the rest of my life or run away from home, Dad hung up the phone. “Jacquie, come here and sit down. We need to talk.”
Uh-oh. When Dad said, “We need to talk,” it meant he needed to talk, and I needed to listen.
I shuffled (拖着脚走) over to the well-worn brown chair in the corner of the living room, plopped down, and waited to hear the nature of my crime.
Dad told me that Miss Beisner thought I was bright but not working up to my ability. She said I had strong verbal skills but weak study habits. Translation: I never closed my mouth, and I seldom opened a book. Apparently, my failure to memorize the addition facts, or even attempt to, was more than she was willing to put up with. Hence, the telephone call.
Dad ended our one-way conversation with a verbal outline for his plan of attack. Bubbles, our Toy Manchester Terrier, was going to teach me math. Silently, I thought, No way is any dumb dog going to teach me how to add, not even our beloved Bubbles. Out loud, I said, “How?”
Dad summoned Bubbles from her bed near the stove and commanded her to sit. “Bubbles,” Dad said, “how much is five plus three?” Bubbles let out eight loud, crisp barks.
I was incredulous (满腹狐疑的). I couldn’t understand how a dog could add, and I was more than a little embarrassed by the fact that the family dog was smarter than me.
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: After that, I threw myself into math with newfound determination.
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Paragraph 2: One day, I asked Dad whether Bubbles really knew how to add.
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