Meagan and her close friend Samantha, both school teachers, lived together in an apartment in Denver. On mornings when Samantha had class, Meagan would help to watch her 2-year-old daughter, Hannah. Also part of the household was Meagan’s pet, Willie, a particularly intelligent and chatty parrot.
Willie was indeed funny and a good talker. In addition to some vocabulary learned from Meagan, he became a great mimic (会模仿的动物) of cats, dogs, and chickens. Plus, he could sing along to the radio. The bird was a nice playmate for the little girl, and he always knew how to lift her spirits. The bird was more than just a pet; he was a member of the family.
One day, with Samantha at school, Hannah had comfortably positioned herself in front of morning cartoons while Meagan was busy cooking in the kitchen, preparing the little girl her favorite breakfast treat, an apple pie. When Meagan was done baking the apple pie, she placed it at the center of the kitchen table to cool. She looked at Hannah and, confident the child was fully engaged with the TV, walked out of the kitchen quickly to use the bathroom.
Meagan was gone maybe 30 seconds. And suddenly, she heard the bird going crazy, screaming loudly. She heard two very distinct words from the parrot’s mouth. “Mama! Baby!” Repeated over and over again. “Mama! Baby! Mama! Baby!”
Meagan ran out of the bathroom to find Hannah in the kitchen, holding the partly eaten apple pie, fighting for breath, her face and lips a terrifying shade of blue. And Willie was still screaming loudly.Hannah had climbed up on a chair, gotten the apple pie from the kitchen table and was clearly choking on it.
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。
With a pounding heart, Meagan grabbed Hannah immediately.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Around lunchtime, Samantha came back from school.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Baby Blue Tail was a tiny little yellow fish with a blue tail, and that is why his parents named him Baby Blue Tail. Every day, Baby Blue Tail enjoyed playing with his friends and family in the middle of the blue and deep ocean.
One night, one of his friends disappeared. Baby Blue Tail got so worried and scared. The next day, when Baby Blue Tail was sleeping, nine more friends went missing. At this point, Baby Blue Tail got terrified and told his mom.
Baby Blue Tail and his mom decided to stay up all night to see what had happened to Baby Blue Tail’s friends. Suddenly, Baby Blue Tail saw a big fish taking away his dad while he was sleeping. Baby Blue Tail was very sad to find out that this was the big fish taking everyone away.
“Oh no! He might have eaten everyone,” said Baby Blue Tail, while expressing his upset to his mom. In the morning, Baby Blue Tail and his mom decided to explore the ocean more to stop the big fish from taking his family and friends. Baby Blue Tail laid out a plan, and he told his mom that they could hide and follow the big fish. At night, Baby Blue Tail and his mom hid in a coral(珊瑚), and the big fish appeared, but the big fish did not find anyone in the house. After searching for a while, the big fish left.
Baby Blue Tail and his mom followed the big fish. While they were following the big fish, they saw people, on the shore, throwing plastic waste into the ocean. Baby Blue Tail saw a lot of dead fish and other sea creatures. Finally, the big fish led them to a beautiful part of the ocean, where people used eco-friendly bags and cleaned the ocean every week. There were rainbows, happy sea creatures and corals.
Baby Blue Tail whispered and asked his mom, “Who is the big fish?” A voice from behind them said, “Turn around.” When Baby Blue Tail and his mom turned around... IT WAS THE BIG FISH.
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。
The big fish said, “My name is Baby Shelly.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“You are a good fish,” said Baby Blue Tail excitedly.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“She needs me.” Those were the exact words I spoke to my husband when I spotted Dottie, a little dog we found at a local shelter eight years ago.
Dottie leaned (倾斜) away when I tried to pet her and refused to let me hold her. While the other dogs jumped and barked, Dottie returned to the back of the cage, curled up in a ball, hoping us to leave her alone.
On the entire drive home, Dottie was in fear. So, upon arrival at our house, we got right to work. I held her as much as possible, touching her head and softly singing in her ear. We learned that she loved belly touch, so every time we passed by, we would offer a gentle touch. Eventually, we noticed her presenting her belly as we walked by her. I knew we were making real progress when I found her quietly sleeping on a chair one day, her head resting on one of my shoes. My heart melted (融化) as I realized she had brought it there because it contained my smell, and she wanted it nearby.
Ever so slowly, our little dog came to life. She began to play with toys, enjoy walks, and rest on our laps. There was no special treatment, no fancy food or toys. All we did was love her. And she grew well. She was so broken when we first met her that we had no idea what her true personality would be. But now we found a sweet, playful, loving soul.
One day, a few years after her adoption, I was busy doing housework around the house, doing laundry and climbing the stairs from the basement up to the main floor. When I finished, I sat down and enjoyed a well-deserved break. That’s when I realized I hadn’t seen Dottie for a while. I called to her and began searching. My heart raced and my pace quickened as I began checking under beds and behind sofa.
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。
Suddenly, I remembered the door to the basement.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I held her in my arms tightly, telling her how sorry I was.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: One day, I asked Dad whether Bubbles really knew how to add.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Moment of Kindness
A lioness with her cub (幼崽) was moving around in the jungle searching for their prey(猎物) . While coming out from the den (洞穴), the baby asked her mother, “Mum, why are we going out for prey when a deer is already at home? Let us eat it first, then we can search for the next.”
The mother smiled and licked her child with love and said, “No, my love! We can’t eat that deer because it has no choice but to seek our help. He is wounded and helpless. We must help him.”
The baby cub was surprised and questioned again, “Why so, Mum? That’s our food.”
“Honey, you are absolutely right! It’s our food, but this particular deer is well aware that if we want, we can kill him in a second. Do you think that he deserves to be killed when he has come to us in a hope that we would protect him?”
The baby cub couldn’t understand her mother. It kept quiet and paced with its mother. That was not a lucky day for them. They didn’t get any prey even after a long search. At last, they came back to their den.
The deer on the other hand was terrified of his own decision. He was attacked by a hunter and managed to escape. While running for his life, he saw the den and without a second thought entered it. When he realized that he was in the lion’s den, he gave up the idea of running back again. At that time, the lioness and her cub were present over there. The deer stared at the lioness with a pitiful look. Tears were rolling down.
The lioness understood his hopeless condition. She came closer to the deer, smelled it and slowly moved out of the den with her cub for hunting.
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
When they returned without any food, the cub repeated the same question.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The lioness came close to the deer after the cub fell asleep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When we lived on a farm, a black-and-white Border Collie mix showed up at our gate one day. My young son Alec fell in love with this dog instantly, and within an hour, he had named him Oreo.
Within a day, I could see how he would make a house in a mess. The great outdoors itself barely seemed enough space for him to run. When he was let out of his fence, he became a mass of black-and-white fur rushing all over the place at breakneck speed. He never seemed to be tired of running, of jumping on people, or of barking. His high energy was entertaining, but also wearing (令人疲惫的). So it was usually my husband Gary’ s job to leash (栓链子) him up for walks.
One day in late summer, Gary, Alec, and I walked with Oreo to the edge of the field and loosed the leash. He took off on his normal run across the juicy, green fields and soon disappeared over the top of a hill. My family walked on the path along the fence at a much slower pace, looking for four-leafed clovers (四叶草) when suddenly we heard barking behind us.
We turned to see two unfamiliar dogs speeding toward us, and they did not look friendly. Ears back, teeth bared, they flew toward us over the dirt path. Gary pushed Alec and me toward a tree with some low-hanging branches. “Get Alec in the tree,” he ordered as he picked up a heavy stick. Heart pounding, I lifted Alec onto a branch, and Gary squared off (摆好架势) to face the attacking dogs and give us time to get into the tree.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为80词左右；
2.续写部分为一段，开头语已为你写好。
Suddenly, a black-and-white ball shot over the hill and hit the bigger of the two dogs.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Spenser’s First Web
Spenser was a small black spider (蜘蛛). Like all of his brothers and sisters, he had eight legs to help him walk and run. He was now big enough to know how to move all his legs together and not trip over them. Spenser was getting bigger every day.
Today Spenser felt nervous. It was time for him to learn to spin (织) a web on his own. He had watched his mother build beautiful, soft webs from the silk she made herself. His mother’s webs were lovely. They took a long time to make, and in the morning, they were covered with drops of dew that made them look like castles.
“OK, Spenser,” said Ms. Spinney. “It’s time to spin your first web. Let’s begin by making a big plus sign.” Ms. Spinney was Spenser’s teacher. She was old and small but very strong. She quickly used her silk to make a plus sign between two nearby leaves.
Spenser was able to make silk, but he had trouble attaching it to anything. No matter how hard he tried, the threads (丝) slipped away and fell to the ground. Spenser tried hard, but he was getting tired.
“Take a break, Spenser,” said Ms. Spinney. “You’re trying very hard, but I can see that you’re getting frustrated (沮丧的).”
“I’m not frustrated!” said Spenser. “I’m mad that I’m not good at it, and I’m sad that I can’t do it. ”Spenser felt like he was going to cry.
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. Spinney smiled kindly.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Spenser went back to his web making spot to see if he could do it again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I bought Jude as a tiny puppy after my previous dog died in a horrible incident. My heart was just broken and it was only having Jude that brought me back round from that pain. He was a lovely and happy pet.
For the first time in years, our whole family had gone on holiday together. It was only for four days but it meant my dog Jude was going to be looked after by someone outside the family. I was a bit nervous about it. After struggling for several days, I eventually booked him into a home boarding place in Belfast. I was worried about him the moment he was dropped off, because he had never been in kennels before.
The emotions we have gone through in the last few days have been awful. Jude was used to the comforts of a home and he had never been on his own before. Thus, I was worried about him at the bottom of my heart. Then unfortunately, the accident happened.
We went away on Monday, July 11, and he was missing on the 12th after being left in an exercise area. But it was on Thursday that I was told he had gone though I messaged the kennels every day to see how he was.
The moment we got home, we went looking for him but we didn’t know the area. My daughters Karla and Leanne took a tent and camped out to keep looking for Jude and they con-firmed a number of sightings of him. There were leaflet drops, drones put up and ground searches and posters. Social media was flooded with his photo and we got news of lots of sightings which helped. On Sunday night, my grandson Caidon who is nine, his mum Ashleigh and their dog Bonnie, went with us to the location of a reported sighting by a kind man and there Jude was.
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。
As soon as Jude heard his friend Bonnie? he ran straight to him.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jude suffered an injury to his right paw (爪) and some weight loss.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A spider (蜘蛛) was looking for a suitable place to make its web. He wanted his web to be in such a place where a lot of insects and flies would come and get trapped in his web. In this way he wanted to spend his life eating, drinking and relaxing happily.
Soon, he found a corner (角落) of the room of a house and started preparing to make his web there.
Just when he started weaving (织网) the web, a cat passing by started laughed loudly after seeing him. When the spider saw the cat laughing, he asked, “Why are you laughing?”
The cat replied, “I am laughing because you are foolish. Can’t you see how clean this place is? No flies or insects will come here. Who will fall in your web?”
After listening to the cat, the spider gave up the idea of making a web in that corner and started looking for another place.
Then he saw a window and started weaving his web there. The spider had prepared half of the web. Then a bird came and started making fun of him, saying, “Have you lost your mind? Why weaving your web near this window? A strong wind will blow and your web will fly away.”
The spider understood and stopped weaving the web on the window and started looking for another place. While searching, his eyes fell on an old cupboard (橱柜). The door of that cupboard was slightly open. He went there and started weaving a web. Just then a cockroach (蟑螂) came and said, “It is useless to make a web at this place. This cupboard is very old. It will be sold in few days. All your hard work will go fruitless.”
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。
Para 1: The spider listened to the advice of the cockroach and stopped making the web in the cupboard and started searching for another place.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Para 2: An ant who was watching all this went to the spider and said.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
