Looking for Snow in Summer
“Brooke’s life is coming to an end,” the vet told Andy. “Maybe she can only live for two weeks.” Hearing this, Andy was very sad. He took Brooke, the old dog with black fur, home and hoped to make her happy as much as he could.
However, her health was weakened at an alarming rate. After two days, she had no energy to do anything. Realizing that Brooke was dying, Andy began to think about what she liked most in her life.
It was snow. Lying on the snow in winter was Brooke’s favorite thing to do.
But it was hot summer now, and even in winter, it did not snow often in Andy’s city. How could he get Brooke some snow in August? None of his family members, neighbors or his friends could figure out a solution. Therefore, Andy turned to the Internet for help. He made a post on a local forum:
“Our 11-year-old Brooke, a Berner (伯纳犬), has only a couple of days left. She loves snow, but it is not going to make it to winter. Does anyone know of any rinks (溜冰场) or any place with snow where she can go and lie on the snow one last time?”
Several minutes later, Andy got the first reply. “Reach out to the staff at Win Sports Centre. Maybe they can pile some snow for you.” Then seconds later, another person suggested, “Call some of the rinks. As far as I know, they sometimes dump (丢弃) the shaved ice outside after they finish the ice surface. Any community rink should be able to help.” One woman shared her story to Andy and said that as a former Berner parent, her heart went out to Andy.
Dozens of people expressed their sympathy to Andy under his post. Andy felt very grateful for the replies and suggestions he received. It did not take long for his post to spread all over the rinks and sports centers in his city, and it was seen by the staff at Power Sport.
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。
On the same day, a staff member contacted Andy.
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A few hours later, Brooke died.
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The year 2013 marked a turning point in my life. In June, my husband was offered a new Job in Ghana. Feeling that I had hit a career bottleneck as a photographer and copywriter (广告文字撰写人), I, without any hesitation, made the decision to relocate with him.
While my husband engaged in work, my visa didn’t grant me the same privilege. But that’s okay. I didn’t know what to do anyway. I was left isolated, homesick and lacking purpose. Our new home was a bungalow near a river that cut across expansive grasslands. With few people around our home, I turned to nature, which had been a fondness of mine since childhood. Every day, I would take my camera and wander around, photographing aimlessly.
It wasn’t long before September arrived, bringing the full flow of the rainy season. After one particularly bad thunderstorm, I found a finch (雀) — a poor little thing barely a month old with one wing broken — on the ground. Evidently, he had been abandoned by his flock, his nest blown from a tree. The sight was heartbreaking. He was the size of my lite finger. His eyes were tightly shut and he was shuddering, too young to survive alone. I somehow felt a connection with it. Immediately I scooped him up and cautiously placed him in a cardboard box with towels, mimicking a nest, and stayed up all night researching how to care for him.
The next day, he seemed to regain some energy. He woke with his mouth open, though still too weak to let out a call. I fed him some food and chirped (叽喳) at him. To my amusement, he chirped back and even climbed into my hand. I affectionately gazed at this adorable creature, who was now boldly pecking (啄) my fingers now and then. A surge of warmth ran through me. Tenderly stroking his feathers, I chirped a lullaby, singing him to sleep. Gradually, his eyes drooped and he drifted off. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene — as far as he was concerned, I was his mother.
Para 1. “I will take care of you.” I murmured, making my promise to him.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Para 2. At that moment I realized that as I dedicated myself to the finch’s care, something within me changed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, some young people from a local rehabilitation (康复) center visited a wildlife park. Tippi, a guide, stood before a cheetah (猎豹). “Her name is Subira. She’s a three-year-old cheetah,” she tole the audience.
All the visitors sitting in the chairs were amazed by the cheetah’s beauty, except a teenage boy, Cory. He pulled a long face and made noises, showing his boredom.
Tippi continued, “The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth.” “Aren’t you, honey?” She asked in a cheerful tone, looking at the cheetah lying atop a tree. Giving Subira a dirty look, Cory replied, “Oh, just a skinny cat. Next! Bring out the stupid tigers or whatever so we can get this over with!” However, the cheetah gently looked at Cory and make a happy sound. “I think she likes you,” Tippi told Cory. “I don’t care,” the boy just replied.
What had happened to Cory? Why was he so angry? The boy had dreamed of someday playing Major League Baseball and having many fans. He knew he had a promising future. That was before the car accident. In it, he lost his leg and also lost his hope, joy and spirit. He felt useless and hopeless.
Now he sat in a wheelchair, angry at the world. He was here today on another “boring field trip” from the rehabilitation program. Suddenly, the creature jumped down. Seeming to show her skills, she immediately ran fast forward. “Oh, she’s so beautiful,” the crowd said.
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。
“She only has three legs!” someone suddenly said, surprised.
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At last, Cory smiled, with his eyes shining with hope and confidence in his professional future.
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Police Outpost Lake is as far south as you can go in Canada. In fact, next to the lake are the protected wetlands, where songbirds, ducks, and Canada geese glided by on the breeze, touching down briefly on the water’s surface before flapping (振翅) their way back up into the sky.
Standing at the lake’s edge, my cousin, Allan, and I cast our fishing lines separately onto the smooth-as-glass water. Down the shoreline was Allan’s father, my uncle Rick. He liked to fish alone, away from distractions, noise, and other people.
Allan shouted, “Dad, where should I stand?”
Uncle Rick pressed his finger to his lips, pointed to a shady spot by a large rock where he had cast his line and shook his head gently.
“He wants us to be quiet or else we won’t catch any fish.” I whispered.
“Why do I have to be so quiet?” asked Allan. “All those birds are making more noise than I ever could!”
I ignored him, pulling back on my rod gently and squinting into the glare of the sun. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a few great northern loons (潜鸟) gathering together not far from the shoreline. What were they doing there? Loons usually travel alone, but here were five of them in a cluster. Maybe it was a family? Just then one loon, making a loud painful cry, swam away from the group, toward me.
“Allan! Come here. Now!”
Allan laid his fishing rod down on the dirty sand, darting toward me.
“Come here. Take a look at that loon. It’s swimming toward us, not far away from us. It’s trying to get our attention.”
The loon finally stopped in the shallow water near shore, not ten feet away from us. It was so close that we could see its round red eyes. Strangely, the bird’s wings were held tight against its body.
Wading into the water and getting closer to the loon, we both saw a fishing line wrapped tightly around its neck and a shiny red hook (鱼钩) in its body. Left like this, the loon couldn’t fly or fish or survive. It was asking us to help!
注意：
1. 续写词数应为 150 词左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“Go fetch the scissors from the fishing box,” I urged Allan.
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As I set down the loon on the water, it joyfully flapped its wings.
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It had been only two weeks since my family moved to the new house near the woods during my senior 2 holiday. Yesterday I heard a new noise in the woods, not drowned out by bird calls. My first thought, a hopeful one, was a deer. What if I had a deer family living in the woods behind my house? A peaceful animal to symbolize the gentleness of our new life? Or could it be something dangerous, even terrifying? A dangerous animal, a wild man? But no. This was our new home. Our new life. There would be no monsters (怪物).
It could be a groundskeeper. Who was I kidding with monsters? We moved to rural. This wasn’t an absolute wilderness. There were trails in these woods, maintained by the Homeowners’ Association. So, what was it in the woods?
I made a plan. I put on long pants and boots and announced that I would walk into the woods and found the trail. I would look for signs of life — animal droppings, fur, satanic (邪恶的) symbols. My sister, Roger, wanted in. My brother, Ben, was busy showing all his toys to our grandfather, who came to visit us.
Roger and I went to the edge of the property line and kept going. Birds got quiet, sensing strangers. We walked on, not paying particularly good attention to landmarks. Without much trouble, we found the trail and a banyan tree with multiple trunks shooting out from the ground. Roger immediately climbed it and declared, “This is the fairy tree!” She threw her arms in the air, and asked me to take a picture with my smartphone. She was in boots and a dress and looked perfect among the trees.
Walking deeper into the woods, we found a clearing with some downed trees and declared it the “play area.” She climbed the fallen tree trunks and jumped off them, sent up a puff of dust. We continued our adventure until it was getting dark, but found nothing. We decided to go back.
注意：
1. 写作词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Soon, I realized we were lost and couldn’t find the fairy tree.
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We promised to take Ben to adventure the next day.
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I am a volunteer of Story Dogs. Rosie and I began our Story Dogs journey at a local elementary school in Term 2 this year.
Story Dogs is based on the successful American literacy program, Reading Education Assistance Dogs, which was built around the appealing idea of children and young adolescents reading to dogs.
Reading sessions take place in a quiet area of the school grounds, such as the library or outside the classroom. A reading session is about 20 minutes long, where each child is one-on- one with the dog team. Books are chosen to suit the student’s reading level.
Jayon, a Year 2 student, is such a good boy as everyone likes. No one is perfect. Jayon, however, wanted nothing to do with reading! That made Jayon’s teachers and parents feel helpless. His wonderful teacher used all kinds of teaching methods, but none of them improved. At the same time, his parents trembled with his reading performance. Jayon struggled to stay focused, which meant he was disinterested in his school work... until he met Rosie!
When Jayon first came to read with us, I noticed a few things about his reading. For example, he would guess the words and become distracted very easily. He was unable to hold the book still, which would obviously make it difficult for him to read and he would lose interest very quickly, which meant I would have to read to him.
So I came up with a plan. I decided I would hold the book instead and point to each word and helped him to sound the words out instead of guessing. To keep him focused and still, I asked him to pat Rosie’s back, which helped keep his hands busy. Rosie certainly didn’t mind a bit!
Using these methods, Jayon’s reading improved every week! He developed a beautiful bond with Rosie and she would show him so much love and affection! She knew he needed her and it was lovely to watch them together. With weeks passing by, Jayon’s enthusiasm for reading became stronger.
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。
Jayon finally loved reading.
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I was told that Jayon would receive the Growth Award at the end of year.
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“Come on, Ben,” I said, pointing to the floor of my car. “Let’s go for a hike.”
But he refused to jump in. Instead, he kept dancing nervously around my feet, and then sat down on the ground, looking up at me with sad eyes. Having changed the command for several times, I lost my patience eventually. I took him up and threw him into my car. Ben seemed very scared.
“Stay there,” I ordered angrily, raising my voice.
That was my first afternoon with the three-year-old dog I was adopting, and it was the first time for our daily hike.
I’d taken Ben in reluctantly, as a temporary solution for Tommy, my best friend. She was trying to find a new home for the dog, which was rescued from a shelter and had been kept long in a cage there.
Tommy knew why I was unwilling to give Ben a permanent home. Three months earlier, I’d lost my beloved dog, Bantam, who’d been with me for 15 years. I wasn’t ready to let a new dog into my life yet. But I’d agreed to help Tommy out while she continued her search for a permanent home for Ben.
Actually, Ben had a boyish enthusiasm toward anything new. He was also a sweet dog, One morning, he even came to the steps where I sat. He shyly looked at me, then walked over and put one of his feet on my knee. At that very moment, I realized that he did show affection, in his own way.
But he stubbornly refused to get in the car for our hikes, no matter how hard I tried to persuade im to get in the car. Every day, I had to lift him up and placed him in the back seat.
“Why wouldn’t Ben jump into the car?” I kept wondering about Ben’s strange behavior.
主意：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。
One day, I lost my patience again.
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The next afternoon, I called Ben over and let him watch as I removed the cage from the car.
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Caught in a flood
Mary and her parents were downstairs in the living room. Mary was looking through the windows at the endless rain outside. It had been raining non-stop for three days. She had never seen a storm this bad. It was making her nervous. The wind roared and the rain beat on the roof and windows. Dad was listening to a weather report on the radio, while Mum was putting their important documents and disaster supplies into a bag.
“Mum, Dad,” said Mary suddenly, “I think we should leave here right away!”
“No,” said Dad. “It’s too late: The radio says the city has already been flooded.”
“We can drive our car through the floodwater. Let’s us leave! I’m really scared!” cried Mary. “We can’t do that, honey,” explained Mum, “otherwise the moving water could wash the car away!”
Mary walked to the door. She was curious to see how much water there was outside.
“Don’t open the door!” shouted Mum and Dad at the same time. “The water may flood in!”
Dad moved the dinner table against the door, in case the floodwater forced the door open. Mum waved to Mary to sit on the sofa. “Mary, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be OK,” she said softly, trying her best to comfort Mary. Her voice was calm, but Mary could tell she was worried too.
Without saying a single word, Dad walked to the sofa, sat down and hugged his wife and daughter. The sudden silence in the house seemed to make the wind and rain more frightening outside. What could they do?
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
All of a sudden, the floodwater forced the door open.
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Being upstairs, they breathed a sigh of relief.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was Monday. I was standing in the doorway of my room at The Seeing Eye (a guide dog school), anxiously waiting to hear my instructor call my name. All sorts of questions ran through my mind, and on the top was the fear that I was making an awful mistake — To adopt (领养) a guide dog when I had been afraid of dogs all my life? Crazy!
I wanted to bite my nails. I changed from one foot to the other and sighed frequently. Finally, shocking me out of my own thoughts, I heard my instructor say, “Shannon!”
“Shannon,” she said, “This is George.”
Two huge paws touched my knees.
“Down, George,” my instructor said, and the dog obeyed immediately.
We were taken back to my room where the door was closed, being left alone. I petted him. He put up his paw to shake my hand, and he sat so nicely, as if to say, “I’m a good boy, I promise.”
However, several minutes later, George got bored with me and went to the door, crying out for the lady who had trained him. I was at a complete loss as to what to do next.
Sometime later, my instructor took George and me on a walk outside. I took the handle of George’s harness (项圈) and stumbled (跌跌撞撞走) around that path instead of walking, and I kept stepping on poor George’s feet, but he never stopped and neither did I. Still, I was worried. If this stumbling around was what I could expect, maybe this guide dog wasn’t for me.
In the school, we were taught to walk with our dogs. We were also taught to feed, water and care for our dogs without any sighted help. We had to master all things before we left the school. Sometimes, it was easy, and sometimes it was not.
I struggled hard in order to pass the last day exam, where I would walk along an unfamiliar street with George. If we arrived at the destination safely, I could take George home.
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。
Finally the big moment came.
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Then came my instructor’s words, “You did it!”
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In a coastal village named Seaford, lived a courageous young woman named Amelia. Amelia was known throughout Seaford for her adventurous nature. From the moment she could walk, she would eagerly run towards the crashing waves, feeling the sand between her toes and the cool spray of the ocean mist on her face. She was a woman with a strong will and possessed a heart full of kindness. Amelia’s love for the ocean was intense, and she spent most of her days exploring the beautiful beaches and sparkling waters that surrounded her house.
One sunny morning, while Amelia was walking along the shore, she noticed a group of restless seagulls abnormally circling above the crashing waves. Their unusual calls echoed (回) through the air. Concerned for their well-being, she followed their flight pattern, her instincts guiding her toward danger.
As she approached a towering cliff, Amelia gasped in horror. On a narrow ledge (岩架), high above the violent waves, was a young dolphin trapped in a thick fishing net. Its shiny body shone under the golden rays of the sun, but its freedom was cruelly limited by the trap. With each struggle, the net tightened around its delicate body, leaving painful marks on its skin. Its tail flapped helplessly, each movement a request for help, while its desperate cries for assistance echoed through the air.
A sense of urgency filled her, pushing her forward with determination and resolve. Realizing that time was tight, Amelia knew she had to act instantly to free this innocent creature from its difficult position before it submitted to exhaustion or the force of the tides.
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: Without hesitation, Amelia rushed back to the village.
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Paragraph 2: As the dolphin was released into the waters, it hesitated for a moment.
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