Doubts clouded my mind as I into that new world, Parsons School of Design. But fate had a plan, introducing me to Kathleen, who would become my guiding light.
I remember feeling out of place on my first day at Parsons, questioning everything from my outfit to my abilities. As I walked in and scanned the classroom, my vision sharply stopped on one person. Wow. She looked cool. I plopped myself down next to her and introduced myself as Dorri, thrilled when she smiled and said, “Hi. I’m Kathleen.” That was all it took.
What a difference Kathleen made in my school life! Her confidence, discipline, and responsibility were worlds away from my shaky, wild, and lazy nature. We became inseparable, signing up for the same classes, and I was always trying to earn her approval.
One day the homework assignment was to create an exciting illustration based on a pair of shoes. Bursting with ideas, I pulled out my favorite pair of antique thrift shop “old-lady shoes” and poured my heart into the project. Proud of my work, I rushed to Kathleen’s apartment to show her my creation, holding up my paper with glowing confidence. But Kathleen’s reaction was unexpected, crushing my pride with a single question: “Is that the only drawing you did?”
“Well, yes,” I responded sheepishly, “Why?”
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go to Washington Square Park and really do some drawings.” I was puzzled, but when she led, I willingly followed, with my pad tucked under my arm.
As we made our way to the park, Kathleen enthusiastically talked about form, content, and composition and stressed the significance of observing subjects closely. She described the shoes in my drawing as the kind worn by elderly women who frequent the park to feed pigeons. That moment, she taught me to look closely and recreate diligently.
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: At the park, Kathleen pointed to a bench with a napping old woman and said, “Here, draw her shoes repeatedly.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: The next day was the class feedback session.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Short-form videos, which gained popularity on the Chinese platform Douyin, have given rise to a new trend in entertainment: ultra-short (超短) dramas.
Despite the initial success of ultra-short dramas, Chinese authorities
What’s equally concerning is
It’s natural for us to seek entertainment. But it’s also worth pausing to consider the consequences
A Four-legged Guardian Angel
Snow had just melted off the ground that April day at our house in Regina Beach, Saskatchewan. I had just cleaned up the pool in preparation for selling the house. The year before, I had lost my job with the provincial government, and now our financial situation was grim. In despair, I had finally put the home on the market, and a real estate agent was due to show up later that day. Even worse, I would have to give up my beloved Great Dane (大丹犬) Brigitte, because I could no longer afford the cost of feeding it. The thought of losing the dog and our beautiful home was almost more than I could bear.
Deep in despair, I sat typing up resumes and cover letters. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my thirteen-month-old son, Forrest, as he lay on the carpet, playing near our big, gentle nanny-dog, Brigitte. It seemed as if Brigitte was always meant to be in this family and she turned out to be a perfect companion.
Brigitte came to our house on Christmas eve when the doorbell rang and I was sure some of my Christmas packages had arrived. I ran to the door and swung it open, but no one was there. I sensed something and looked down, only to find a beautiful Great Dane sitting there, looking up at me with big, intelligent eyes. There was no way that she could have rung the doorbell by herself, was there? Perhaps, someone had found the puppy somewhere and left her there, and then rang the doorbell and ran away. They accurately guessed I would welcome an additional family member and take care of her.
Thinking of these, I couldn’t help heaving a sigh and went straight back to work. However, I hadn’t typed more than two sentences when Brigitte began barking furiously and running back and forth to the sliding glass door overlooking our pool.
I raced to see what was happening and noticed that the sliding door was slightly open. Suddenly, I realized Forrest was nowhere to be seen. In panic, I opened the door and ran outside.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
There I was surprised to see Brigitte, who was terrified of water, dive into the pool.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, the doctor said Forrest was all right and could be released from hospital.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Two-Man Ironman
On Sept. 17, 2022, Jeff and his son, Johnny, set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Cambridge, where competitors must complete a 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. Johnny was born with cerebral palsy (脑瘫) and could barely walk a few steps with the help of a rolling walker. But his dream of being a runner never stopped.
Determined to show Johnny that he could pursue his dream of being an athlete, Jeff helped him engage in running. They began waking up at 4 am, so Jeff could run while pushing his son in a special wheelchair called a racing chair. Every morning, they drove themselves to run increasingly longer distances. Soon, they were entering 5K races, then on to Ironman competition. At first, Jeff would act as Johnny’s arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son. Gradually, Johnny could even run a few miles using a rolling walker.
The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. Jeff helped Johnny into a kayak (独木舟). With one end of a rope tied to a harness around his back and the other end to the kayak, Jeff eased himself into the water. Swimming while dragging another person was tough enough—Jeff also had to struggle with jellyfish. “I occupied my mind by counting the number of times I got stung (蛰),” he said.
The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and it was on to the next leg: a 112-mile bicycle ride. Their custom-built bike has an extra-strong frame and an additional seat in the back for Johnny that faces backward, the better to cheer on other competitors.
After completing the tough bike section in roughly nine hours, they set their sights on the final leg of the race—a 26.2-mile marathon with Jeff pushing Johnny in the racing chair. They’d been competing for 10.5 hours, leaving another 6.5 hours to make their time.
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: But at Mile 19, Jeff began to panic, convinced they were going too slow.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds, father and son crossed the finish line together.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I should have been content and happy. I was newly married and had a well-paid job at a stock brokerage firm (证券经纪公司). I was surrounded by good friends and lived in one of the most beautiful cities in the country. But I didn’t feel fulfilled. Every day, after coming home from work, I was depressed. The work itself was fine. My co-workers were wonderful. I just didn’t feel like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.
After a few weeks and many discussions with my husband, he asked, “If you could do anything in the world you wanted to do, what would it be?” Without hesitation, I spoke out, “I’d be a hairstylist!”
I was a receptionist at a hair salon when I was a teenager. I loved that job! The majority of my tasks were unskilled. I folded towels, s wept hair, and wrapped the cape (披肩) around the customer. But, most of the time, I listened and talked to people all day long! Some clients talked because they lived alone and had no one else to talk to. We talked about everything. I learned about their families. Their work. Their home life. I loved it. Every bit of it.
But at the job I had, there was none of that. I worked with numbers. And computers. And papers. Lots and lots of papers.
And so it went. Every day, I went to work. Every day, I came home feeling unfulfilled. And each night, I thought more and more about switching careers. At the end of each daydream, I talked myself out of the idea. It was too much work to start a new career. I would be crazy to give up my well-paid job with health insurance. I would have to go to school again. It would take too long to build a clientele (客户群). Its disadvantages outweighed its advantages!
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。
I had nearly forgotten about my wish when I had a dream one night.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On my way to work, the happy “I” in my dream kept shouting, “I am to be a hairstylist.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“I’m going to miss you so much, Poppy,” said the tall, thin teenager. He bent down to hug his old friend goodbye. He stood up, hugged his parents, and smiled, trying not to let his emotions(情绪) get the better of him.
His parents were not quite able to keep theirs under control. They had driven their son several hours out of town to the university where he would soon be living and studying. It was time to say goodbye for now at least. The family hugged and smiled through misty eyes and then laughed.
The boy lifted the last bag onto his shoulder, and flashed a bright smile. “I guess this is it,” he said. “I’ll see you back home in a month, okay?” His parents nodded, and they watched as he walked out of sight into the crowds of hundreds of students and parents. The boy’s mother turned to the dog, “Okay, Poppy, time to go back home.”
The house seemed quiet as a tomb without the boy living there. All that week, Poppy didn’t seem interested in her dinner, her favourite toy, or even in her daily walk. Her owners were sad too, but they knew their son would be back to visit. Poppy didn’t.
They offered the dog some of her favorite peanut butter treats. They even let her sit on the sofa, but the old girl just wasn’t her usual cheerful self. Her owners started to get worried. “What should we do to cheer Poppy up?” asked Dad. “We’ve tried everything.”
“I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy,” smiled Mom. “Without anybody left in the house but us, this place could use a bit of fun. Let’s get a little dog for Poppy.”
It didn’t take long before they walked through the front door carrying a big box. Poppy welcomed them home as usual, but when she saw the box, she stopped. She put her nose on it. Her tail began wagging(摆动)ever so slowly, then faster as she caught the smell.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好;
Paragraph 1
Dad opened the box and a sweet little dog appeared.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2
A few weeks later, the boy arrived home from the university.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I loved the spelling bee (拼字比赛). I trained every day after school, the dictionary pages rippling softly in the breeze. But I had never thought my arch-enemy in the spelling bee could become my friend.
Opening my eyes on Friday morning, I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. I glanced at my alarm clock — it’s only 6:27. I usually woke up at 7:01, which meant I had an extra thirty-four minutes to study. I was the best spellers in my class. I wanted to win the bee at Meadowbrook Middle School and beat my arch-enemy, Nathan Fortescue.
Nathan just read many science and math books. Really, he wasn’t a speller at heart — he’s a mathematician. Nathan and I had nothing in common except being good spellers, but since he’s a good speller without even trying, it didn’t count.
I walked into the kitchen, finding Dad cooking breakfast. He served me some porridge. I thanked him and told him the spelling test and my anxiety. My father gave me a quiz. Those words “dexterous, sesquipedalian, truncate” didn’t trouble me at all. Finally came the word “judgment”. “Easy, J-U-D-G-E-M-E-N-T.” I answered quickly, without any thought.
Dad shook his head. Not believing in him, I headed for my room, referred to the dictionary and marched back with a frown. Before parting, he told me that I should thank him, because I would probably get the word in the test.
As soon as I shut the classroom door behind me, I heard a voice from the back of the room. “You are looking pale now, and I’m afraid that you may miss the spelling bee.” Nathan smiled as he closed a giant book with dancing numbers on the cover.
“I bet a literature word will make you out on the first round.” I replied.
As Ms. Hawking walked into the room, she explained the rules—one missed, and you were out—and the spelling test began. After four rounds, only Nathan and I were left. “Olivia, your word is ‘algorithm.’” said Ms. Hawking. I hadn’t heard that word before, but I spelt it A-L-G-O-R-H-Y-H-M.
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. Hawking frowned and said that’s incorrect.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After class, I sobbed when I felt a hand on my arm.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Christmas Eve, my mom excitedly called to tell me she sold all her handmade towels for $200 at the craft fair, enabling her to buy gifts for her neighbors. After that she happily went shopping for food.
At 9:30 that night, I received a second call from her. She cried, “I lost my wallet and all $200 I had earned. My Christmas is ruined. I searched my car and home. Then, I drove back to the store to see if I left it there. But it wasn’t there either. Then, I walked through the parking lot, looking for it, but it wasn’t anywhere.”
It took me several hours to drive to Mom’s house the following morning. But before I got there, she had already gone back to the store again. With tears in eyes, she shared her story about the money she had earned with the store manager and asked if he could check any other places for her wallet, hoping someone might have found it and turned it in.
The manager felt great pity for my mom. And he secretly thought if the wallet couldn’t be found, he’d give some of his own money to my mom.
With that thought, the manager began searching for my mom’s wallet. He searched for a longtime but couldn’t find it. Wiping tears from her face, Mom thanked him for trying to help. When she left, the manager took $200 from his wallet and handed it to Mom, saying, “My gift. Merry Christmas.” Surprised, Mom said, “No…I can’t.” But the manager insisted. Mom left the store in tears and I met her back at her apartment. We called the police station to see if the wallet had been turned in, but no luck.
注意： 1. 续写词数不少于75词；2. 请按照如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Unexpectedly, the police called us back the next day.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. Who changed the park into a modern style?
| A．Geoffrey Thompson. | B．Amanda Thompson. | C．William George Bean. |
| A．In 2018. | B．In 1896. | C．In the mid-1800s. |
| A．It is run by the same family. |
| B．It is linked to the industrial towns. |
| C．It has old wooden roller coasters. |
| A．The ICON launch coaster. |
| B．The Flying Machine. |
| C．The Steeplechase. |
