In the spring sun, my aunt and I headed for her flower shop. Normally I would be delighted to help in her shop, but not recently because of Rosa. Rosa was my sister, just one month old, who was settled in my old bedroom. For ten years, the small room was full of my toys and books. But now it was transformed into her baby room, decorated like a garden with pinks and yellows. My space, my old life, was gone.
“Here we are!” We arrived at the shop, a wave of colour and sweet smell washing over me. My aunt said I could pick some flowers for Mum and Dad. I used to love this, but today I was so overcome with tiredness and envy. Why bother to bring them flowers when they were enjoying Rosa at home without me?
Silently I helped my aunt arrange flowers. “Your mum told me there hasn’t been much shut eye recently for any of you.” “Not much, since Rosa the alarm clock was installed (安装).” I complained with a huge yawn (哈欠).
“I remember having to creep (蹑手蹑脚地走) around like a worn-out mouse when your mum was a baby. I spent the first months hating her so much.” “But you and Mum seem so close,” I said, guiltily hiding away my envy of Rosa.
“Now we are. But it took me years to grow into the role of big sister. Few flowers blossom (绽放) overnight, you know.” She pulled me in for aside hug, glancing up at the clock, and suggested I take a walk outside.
Behind her shop was a field dotted with spring flowers. Stepping into the field, I began to pick little flowers. It was like gathering my childhood memories. I remembered how I’d sit with Dad, making flower chains, crowning (授予) each other with the silliest titles: Queen of Junk Food and King of Mess. My smile grew wider. The shining yellow flowers reminded me of the color in Rosa’s baby room. Was she awake? I wondered.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卷的相应位置作答。
Suddenly I saw two familiar figures walking towards me.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rosa was wide awake in her baby basket beside the picnic blanket.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________John and Nancy were left with their grandmother Linda after their mom was hospitalized for illness. They were curious about when they could finally see their mom.
“The hospital won’t allow her to leave until all of her medical bills are settled. I have given your mom all I could, but there’s still a large amount that we need to pay off,” Linda explained. John and Nancy missed their mom a lot and wanted her to come back home as soon as possible.
“What if we put up a lemonade stand (摊位), John?” Nancy asked her older brother.
“We can pick the lemons from the garden and make fresh juice out of them,” she suggested. Her brother smiled, “That’s a great idea, Nancy!” From then on, John and Nancy stayed outside the entire afternoon after school selling lemonade. A week went by, they only managed to earn ten dollars.
On Saturday morning, they sat on the side of the yard, looking worried. After a couple of seconds, their silent pondering (沉思) was interrupted by loud police sirens. “Hey, fellas!” one of the policemen greeted. “My colleague Jacob said that his neighbor had a lemonade stand in front of their yard.” The two children nodded. “I’m sorry, officer. But I didn’t think there would be anything wrong with that. Besides, we didn’t earn a lot,” John tried to explain.
“Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble. I bought a cup of it from you two the other day, remember? I asked why you were selling lemonade, and you told me it was to raise funds to get your mom out of the hospital,” Jacob interrupted upon seeing John and Nancy looked nervous.
“I told my friends over here, and we decided we wanted to help. Come to the back of the police car, and we have something to show you,” Jacob told the kids. They slowly made their way to the back of one of the police cars and saw a nicely-painted wooden lemonade stand. “That’s beautiful!” Nancy said in surprise.
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。
“There’s a big food festival downtown today, and we got you a stand.” Jacob said. “Why not go there and give it a shot?”
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There was a large crowd eager to buy lemonade.
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3 . I once met a young woman who had dreams of swimming for the U.S Olympic team. She had to get up every morning at 4 a.m. to swim for 3 hours before going to school. She did not party with her friends on Saturday night. She had to study and keep her grades up, just like everyone else.
When I asked her what compelled her with such super-human ambition and sacrifice (牺牲). She simply said, “I do it for myself and the people I love. It’s love that gets me over the hurdles and sacrifices.”
A reason or a purpose is a combination of “wants” and “don’t wants”. When people ask me what my reason for wanting to be rich is, it is a combination of deep emotional “wants” and “don’t wants”.
I will list a few. First the “don’t wants”, for they create the “wants”. I don’t want to work all my life. I don’t want what my parents aspired for, which was job security and a big house. I don’t like being an employee. I hated it that my dad always missed my football games because he was so busy working on his career. I hated it when my dad worked hard all his life and the government took most of what he worked for at his death.
Now the “wants”. I want to be free to travel the world and live in the lifestyle I love. I want to be young when I do this. I want control over my time and my life. I want money to work for me.
Those are my deep-seated, emotional reasons. What are yours? If they are not strong enough, the reality of the road ahead may be greater than your reasons. I have lost money and been set back many times, but it was the deep emotional reasons that kept me standing up and going forward. I wanted to be free by age 40, but it took me until I was 47 with many learning experiences along the way.
I wish I could say it was easy. It wasn’t, but it wasn’t hard either. But without a strong reason or purpose anything in life is hard.
1. The passage is started by __________.| A．giving an example | B．explaining the causes |
| C．pointing out similarities | D．describing the differences |
| A．committed | B．inspired | C．forced | D．combined |
| A．the “wants” lead to the “don’t wants” |
| B．the “wants” come from the “don’t wants” |
| C．the “don’t wants” have little to do with the “wants” |
| D．the “don’t wants” are more important than the “wants” |
| A．The reality is greater than the deep emotional reasons. |
| B．With stronger emotional reasons, life must be much easier. |
| C．With deeper emotional reasons, the road ahead is likely to be harder. |
| D．In reality, we may meet many more obstacles without deeper emotional reasons. |
4 . The first attempt to mix visual arts and technology together dates back to the 60s’ when New York-based artists teamed up with scientists and engineers to deliver remarkable performances. Speaking of influential artists mixing tech and arts, Andy Warhol immediately comes to mind. He was among the first to create digital drawings on an Amiga computer in 1985.
When Covid-19 hit, the art industry struggled. About 95% of art-related events were canceled while 24% of organizations were forced to reduce staff. And yet, 65% of them are still managing to deliver content. Let’s see how technology impacts the art industry and helps it overcome the pandemic-induced challenges.
The artists try to use all kinds of technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots, sensors and IoT, AR and VR to create. For example, artists Julian Adenauer and Michael Haas created a robot that moves around on a canvas (画布) leaving a colorful trail. This art piece is fixed on the wall of the Berlin Gallery. It is changing every day as the robot keeps moving around, adding color in response to Haas’s idea of creation, “the process of creation is ideally endless.”
There are issues that we need to address when using technology in the arts. For example, in online streaming, paying the intellectual property taxes became a complicated matter. Another concern is who owns the copyrights of AI-generated art. Despite these obstacles, technology widens our horizons whether we produce or simply enjoy arts. If you have an idea of bettering your studio, museum, or art research with technology, don’t hesitate to reach out.
1. What is Andy Warhol’s influence?| A．He gave perfect performance in the 60s’. |
| B．He could draw pictures without computer. |
| C．He was the first man to combine tech with arts. |
| D．He was a leading artist using digital technology. |
| A．The painting skills are developing rapidly. |
| B．The employment rate is far below average. |
| C．The art industry undergoes great depression. |
| D．The work efficiency has been greatly improved. |
| A．How artists develop technologies. | B．How high-tech assists art creation. |
| C．How to draw pictures on the wall. | D．How to control AI robot. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. | C．Uncertain. | D．Objective. |
