A third-grade class knows exactly what will brighten an older neighbor's holiday meal — and it isn't a roast turkey. In October, I told the eight-year-olds I taught in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, about my Thanksgiving plan. "I'd like all of you to do extra jobs around the house to earn some money," I said. "Then we'll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner otherwise."
I wanted the children to experience that it's more blessed to give than to receive. I wanted them to understand that love of society and love of life is not just lip service; that people somehow have to make it come alive.
Early in Thanksgiving week, the boys and the girls arrived in class with their hard-earned pocket money and couldn't wait to go shopping. After pacing up and down in the supermarket, we put a turkey and decorations in the shopping cart (购物车). At last we headed toward the checkout, and then someone found a "necessity" — flowers. It was more reasonable to use any extra money to buy food. I pronounced, "You can't eat flowers." "But Mrs. Sherlock," the group replied, "we want flowers." I was defeated, and the children put a bunch of pink roses into the cart.
An organization had given us the name and address of Maria, a needy grandmother who had lived alone for many years. Soon we were driving along a rough road to her house. We finally pulled up in front of a small house in the woods. A thin woman with a tired face came to the door to welcome us.
My little group hurried to get the food. As each box was carried in, the old woman kept saying "Thanks" — much to the visitors' pleasure. When kids put the pink roses on the table, the woman seemed surprised. "She was wishing it was a bag of flour (面粉)", I thought. Having talked for a while, we returned to the car.
注意：1.续写词数应为150字左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As we fastened (系上) our seat belts, we could see the kitchen window.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Upon seeing the moving scene, the children became quiet.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jenny was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel (吵架) with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand (货摊) for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t have money on me.” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man, “Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. As she was eating, Jenny cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so merciless compared to a stranger!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you remember the times she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock: she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home. Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
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。
Nearing the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time, her mother came back and touched her hair gently, which called her mind back.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On the weekend, I went shopping and after walking around for a while, I felt tired so I decided to get a cup of coffee. As I was making my way to the coffee shop, I noticed an older gentleman rather poorly dressed sitting on a bench nearby. I knew from first sight that he was in need of some kind of help. He had a little lunch put in front of him and was wholeheartedly enjoying it. It was also rather clear that he had a problem with his right eye and probably couldn’t see out of it. I wasn’t thinking about it any more, and then joined the line, waiting to be served.
Then it happened---one of the most beautiful gestures I have ever seen in my life.
There was a young man in front of me in the line who was also waiting to be served. As the young man approached the counter to place his order, he noticed the older gentleman sitting on the bench nearby. Without hesitation, he turned back to the cashier and asked if they could provide a free cup of tea for the elderly man. The cashier was surprised by his sudden request, hesitating for a moment and nodding in agreement.
The young man then went on to pay for not only his own drink but also another one, which he handed to the older gentleman with a warm smile. The older man looked up, surprised and grateful, as the young man sat down beside him on the bench. They began to chat, and I couldn’t help but feel touched by this simple act of kindness.
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 I received my tea, I decided to join them.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As we continued to talk, more people heard about it.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pimple on the Nose
“Nooo!” screamed Asha as she saw a huge pimple(痘) on her nose. She didn’t have time to cover the pimple as she was running late to school. She gobbled her breakfast, grabbed her bag and got into her school bus just in time. As soon as she entered, kids started laughing. Nobody was willing to make her sit beside them. Even Anita, her bus mate acted a bit differently with her.
Asha was lost in thoughts. A new thought popped in her mind every second. Once she thought “Great! As if homework and exams were not enough, I have to worry about my pimple as well.” The next minute another thought popped in her mind. “I am tired of using that face wash. I still wonder how I agreed to use that horrible thing! How can…” Mr. Shetty, the bus driver said “Asha, do you want to miss the class?” Asha was so lost in her thoughts that she did not even notice that everybody had got down the bus except her.
She did not want to step into the campus. She thought, “What will my teachers think? What will my friends think?” After some time, she gathered courage and entered her class expecting that she would be laughed at.
It was a very hard day at school for her. As soon as she got home, she hugged her mother tightly. As she did so she felt all her worries were not even a dot in front of the warm and loving hug.
Later that day, she went to the supermarket with her mother. While coming back she heard people commenting on her pimple. A small child cried, “Daddy! My cherry is on her nose! Get it for me.” She heard some boys murmuring, “If she would have been in our school, she would definitely be chosen as the joker in the dance.”
Asha wondered why people cared so much about her appearance.
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 it was time for bed story, and mom asked her to choose a book.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Her mother asked her never to judge a book by its old cover but to pay attention to the details.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We met Max five years ago in the pick-up area of Alaska Airlines. He was a standard poodle (鬈毛狗) born on Valentine’s day in 2017, and came to us in a small blue box. We adopted him from a fundraiser, and he posted the news on social networks. Our only request was that he behave calmly and be able to bear the pushing and hugging of our eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.
We were a sweet family: me, my husband, our children, Sophie and Jack. But for years, I’d felt that we wouldn’t be truly whole if we didn’t have a dog. Also, my husband worked for a commercial company and traveled around 200 days a year, and I knew that having a large animal sleeping by the door made us feel safer.
We got a surprise when we opened the box. With his dark hair and smart eyes, Max was beautiful. He was so small that he could fit in the palm of my hand, his big paws resting at his sides. He was a little scared, too. As I pulled him close, I felt his heart racing, and I wondered if we had done the right thing by taking him away from his mother. But it was too late. Sophie and Jack were already arguing about who would carry him and who had the right to bathe him.
Over the following months, we spent countless hours watching Max play with his toys or roll around on the living room floor. Like most poodles, he was smart. He quickly mastered house-training and never chewed on our furniture or shoes. He considered himself one of us.
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。
One night we were sleeping in the bedroom when I heard some strange noise.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At that time, Max ran towards me, firmly grabbed my trousers, and led me to the kichen.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was so heartbreaking for Devan Bonagura to see 81-year-old Nola Carpenter sitting in the break room of a supermarket where she works. In the short video he shared, the woman appears tired and stares at the floor as if thinking of something. The video finally went popular, earning over 30 million views and causing a movement that would change Carpenter’s life.
It is widely known that retail (零售) workers are heroes. They put up with long hours and angry customers, among a lot of other things. This work is challenging for young people and able-bodied people, so it can really be more difficult to the old. That’s why Bonagura posted the video.
He posted the short video of her with the message “Life shouldn’t be this hard. . . ”and the caption(字幕)“I feel bad”. At last, his followers asked him to find a way to support this woman, and it inspired him to open a GoFundMe campaign titled“Let’s help Carpenter retire (退休)”. The idea was to support Carpenter so that she could retire early.
Although the goal was just $10, 000, 24 hours later over $100, 000 had been collected. Two days later, Bonagura met up with Carpenter and told her how he had posted a video of her and how people had come together to help her. “They see that you’re a very hard worker,” the social media platform told the woman. “We are all super proud of you, and we want to offer you the $110, 000 that has been raised for you.” “T’d accept it, but I’d still have to work until I get the other $60, 000 to pay off the house,” she explained. “The house is what’s holding me at work. ”She then talked about her daily life and how she struggled to help those in need.
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。
Knowing why Carpenter worked so hard at this age, every one was moved
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reaching her goal, Carpenter won’t retire until the New Year.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . The Fields Medal is awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievements for existing work and for the promise of future achievements. Out of a total of about 60 people, only one woman ever managed to receive these highest honors for impressive new mathematical discoveries.
Now a second woman has received this highest mathematical award: the 37-year-old Ukrainian Maryna Viazovska, holder of the Chair for Number Theory at the Swiss EPFL.
She was rewarded for solving a problem that can be explained quite clearly at first sight: It is the so-called sphere-packing(球堆积) problem that had appealed to mathematicians for more than four centuries: how to pack spheres like oranges as tightly as possible (using the smallest volume)?
Viazovska was born on Dec. 2, 1984, in Kyiv, Ukraine. “I’ve liked mathematics since my schooldays,” she says. “It always seemed like the most uncomplicated subject. And since I liked it, I spent more time on it, and eventually became better at math than other subjects. So then I liked it even more, and so on.”
After earning her Bachelor’s degree at the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Viazovska went to Germany to earn a Master’s degree at the Technical University of Kaiserslautem (2007) before moving to the University of Bonn, where she completed her doctor degree on modular forms(模式研究) in 2013.
During her postdoctoral research at the Berlin Mathematical School and the Humboldt University of Berlin, Viazovska solved the sphere packing problem in 8 and 24 dimensions. Then, in December 2016, she accepted an offer from EPFL to become a lifelong assistant professor. Just one year later, at the age of 33, she was promoted to full professor.
What drives Viazovska is solving problems, which she describes as “doing a jigsaw puzzle” , and understanding abstract(抽象的) concepts “so I can link them to other problems and find practical applications.”
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Viazovska has received the Fields Medal twice for her great mathematical achievements. |
| B．The same number of outstanding male and female mathematicians won the Fields Medal. |
| C．The sphere-packing problem has attracted mathematicians’ attention at the present time. |
| D．Viazovska’s mathematical achievements are largely out of her enthusiasm and devotion. |
| A．Experience is knowledge. | B．Strike while the iron is hot. |
| C．All roads lead to Rome. | D．Interest is the seed. |
a. She received this highest mathematical award.
b. She became a lifelong assistant professor.
c. She moved to the University of Bonn and completed her doctorate on modular forms.
d. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at the National Taras Shevchenko University.
e. She solved the sphere packing problem in specific dimensions.
| A．dbcea | B．cdeba | C．dceba | D．cbdea |
| A．By comparison. | B．By listing. |
| C．By example. | D．By questioning. |
I first started playing soccer on a Wednesday three years ago. My cousin played soccer every Wednesday at the park and he dragged me into playing with him that day. My cousin played soccer really well, which made me want to learn how to play soccer so that I could fit in with him.
Growing up without my father, I wasn’t so interested in sports. But that day as soon as I started playing soccer, I realized I had a new interest. So for almost a year I was playing soccer at the park every Wednesday with adults. However, I didn’t make much progress. I started thinking, “If I keep playing with adults, I might not get better because I could never get the ball.”
However, one day when I felt depressed for what had happened to me, I came across a special soccer payer, a lame man(跛脚的人)who was about 45 years old. Unexpectedly, his disability didn’t affect his skills, desire and courage to play although many people frequently laughed at him. No matter when it was windy or rainy, he always played soccer alone on the court next to our building, without a smile on his face forever. Maybe he and I couldn’t be accepted by a team.
Having no choice but to practice more, I played soccer on his court for ten days. And we almost had no communication. Day after day, my skills were still bad, so I was absent for playing for a long time. Then, I returned to the court without any aim and thought. Amazingly, it was he who asked me actively why I had been absent. We talked a lot. And I realized that a large number of factors affected my playing, such as skills, mood, teamwork, will and courage, etc. At the moment, I knew I was sick in mind and my unfitness seriously impeded(阻碍) the development of my sports.
Pragraph1:
To be honest, sometimes I had an idea to give up soccer, but I couldn’t when I met the special person.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph2:
No pains, no gains. At last, my skills on playing soccer allowed me to join a professional soccer team and I attended a soccer competition.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Last weekend, I went to Mark’s new house near a forest for a little get-together. After lunch when I was chatting with him and his wife Cody, he asked me, “Hey, Thora, have you ever been to a secret spot?” Before I could even finish saying no, Cody and Mark were already at the door with their jackets on. And the next moment we were heading out into the forest with a camera, a fishing net and a plastic bucket (桶).
We walked through the forest along a path by a small river. Breathing the fresh air, we three talked and laughed all the way.
“Hey! What are you guys doing ?” someone suddenly shouted from behind. Mark and Cody’s eyes immediately widened, and without a word they started running. I had no choice but to follow them, getting my shoes wet and dirty with mud. We probably ran for about 10 minutes before Mark and Cody slowed down. I stopped to catch my breath and asked, “Who was that?”
Mark replied, “The most annoying neighbor ever. There’s no telling what could happen if he caught up with us. He is always making fun of us. I dislike him.” We kept walking on for a few more minutes. Then a beautiful lake appeared before our eyes. “Wow! Amazing!” I shouted and could hardly hold back my excitement. The lake was large and the water was deep and blue, looking so peaceful with tall trees around it.
注意：（1）所续写短文的词数应为l50左右；（2）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
Paragraph1:
Looking around, we saw a boat floating by the shore.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
“Help! Help! Help!” I was so frightened and cried for help.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a cold winter evening, I, together with my 6-year-olds on Bob, was on our way home, heading towards a bridge, when I heard some strange noise ahead.
As we approached the bridge, dusk was starting to fall and I could see a figure lying on the bridge floor, uncomfortably close to the railing (栏杆) of the bridge. It was a young man, clearly in great pain, crying and shouting, and his whole body was shaking. I was shocked, and suddenly realized the serious situation. The bridge ran over a high-speed train track and was a well-known death trap. A local family had lost their teenager in that exact place a few weeks earlier.
I quickly looked around but there was no one else nearby. I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if his death was reported the next day and I'd done nothing about that.
Without any hesitation, I inched towards the figure, and little Bob followed quietly on my side. I asked the young man if I could sit down, and then lowered myself on to the bridge floor opposite him. I tried a few gentle questions, asking, “What's your name? How old are you? What do you do?” His answers were rather simple, which were “Tom. 21. Computers.”
“Are you OK?” I asked. “No, I'm not!” He shouted back. He said something about a betrayal (背叛), and not knowing what to do. His emotions were changing wildly. I tried to make a connection, so It old him my name, where I lived, and how I was a mother of two children. After asking him where he went to college, I pretended to be amazed that my niece (侄女) had studied there, too. I told him that his life was very valuable and the betrayal was just one tiny part of it. I even found myself telling the story of Neil Lay bourn, who had persuaded a man to be down from Waterloo Bridge in London, “They're great friends now and have even run a marathon together for charity,” I said. “Who knows? That could be us.” I kept talking gently and eagerly.”
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
I thought a train could come at any time.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Then I broke the silence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
