The wonders of nature, from spiders and butterflies to tiny insects, never cease to amaze me. Sometimes, I feel I’m the only one who notices their beauty. Yet, if it hadn’t been for the crowded dining hall, I wouldn’t have noticed Emily.
Emily was a new student, quiet and unnoticeable. She walked to class with her books against her chest and her head down. She talked only when the teacher asked her a question. At the break time, she just sat on a bench and read. After a month at school, she hadn’t made any friend. If you asked who she was, you’d get a response like this, “She’s in my PE class, but I can’t remember her name.”
During lunch one day, with most tables occupied, I found myself without a place to sit. I was at a loss what to do when I spotted Emily alone, book in hand. I walked over to her and asked. “Can I take this seat?” She glanced up and lightly said “Yes”.
The cafeteria was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming talent show. Merry laughter and lively conversations filled the air, making the place alive with anticipation for the event. But Emily, lost in her book, didn’t seem to mind at all. Silence hung between us and it drove me crazy.
I searched my mind for things to say. “So,” I said, “is that a good book?” Emily gave me a small nod and went back to reading. Curiosity getting the better of me, I continued, “What’s the book about?” She looked at me,eyes shining. Eagerly she shared the story of a musical talent, painting vivid images with her words. “That sounds cool,”I replied, somewhat amazed by the usual quiet girl.
The noisy cafeteria carried on with its hum as students heatedly discussed the talent show. Eager to continue our engaging conversation, I asked, “So, any plans for the show?” Emily paused, setting her book aside, “Oh,” she said, “I don’t know. Maybe nothing.” Her words carried a bit of uncertainty. It seemed as if the idea of showing her talent was still taking shape in her mind.
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。
Time flew by and the day of the talent show finally arrived.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The hall fell into silence as she began to perform.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1.家庭情况介绍；
2.申请理由；
3.希望选上。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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“Hey! Don’t tell me you’re scared!” Sasha smiled at Rosie, then leaned into her horse’s cheek and circled his head with her arms, as if he were nothing but a big stuffed animal.
“I’m not.” The lie didn’t sound as definite as Rosie wished it did. She turned away from Sasha. How could her roommate be so comfortable around these huge animals?
Rosie shook as Nugget blew out a long snort（响鼻）. After begging to come to two weeks of riding camp, Rosie’s cowgirl riding dreams had dried up like the red -brown dirt at her feet.
All winter Rosie had pictured herself galloping（骑马奔驰）on a horse down the country roads and fields in the camp brochure. Since she was little, whenever she and her parents headed out of town to where Chicago turned into country, Rosie would imagine she was outside the car, galloping on the back of a beautiful horse, hair long and windblown.
“You are so, scared,” Sasha said. “I can tell.” A strange smile grew on her face. “It’s in the eyes,” Sasha said in an odd, silly voice.
Rosie forced a smile and took a small step toward Nugget. “Hi,” she said softly, reaching out an arm.
Nugget gave start, and Rosie jumped back. Her throat closed up, and tears burned the corners of her eyes. “You’ll just scare her, doing that,” Sasha said. She walked over to Nugget and stroked her neck. “It’s OK, girl. Calm down, it’s OK.”
“Sasha, get back to your horse, please.” Callie, the riding instructor, came over, planting herself between Rosie and Sasha. “You afraid, Rosie?” she asked quietly.
“A little,” Rosie whispered to Callie.
“Watch out, Rosie!” Sasha said, and then laughed. “Don’t let Nugget get you!”
“Sasha! Mount up and quiet down,” Callie said.
Sasha reached up to her saddle（马鞍）with the reins（缰绳）in her left hand, and in one quick, smooth move, was up and settled.
“Ready to mount up?” Callie’s eyes questioned Rosie silently.
A cry escaped from Rosie’s throat. Her heart pounded wildly.
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: “You can wait till you’re ready, Rosie,” Callie said.
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Paragraph 2: “I want to get down,” Rosie thought.
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Reese Osterberg, a 10-year-old girl, is a big fan of the baseball team San Francisco Giants and Little League. When the girl lost her home in Fresno County, California, to one of the largest wildfires in state history early last fall, she had a very pressing concern: Did anyone grab her cherished baseball cards?
Unfortunately, no one had. Her mom recalled that the roaring fire seemed to devour (吞噬) everything in their yard. Danger was definitely around them. With a houseful of kids and dogs and a farm’s worth of horses to evacuate, if they didn’t hurry up, the consequences would be unimaginable. So at the extremely urgent moment, the whole family totally forgot her cards am id the dangerous situation. Naturally, the enthusiastic fan of San Francisco Giants and Little League was upset. When she watched the Giants on TV, she would lay out each player’s card on the floor in his corresponding field position. “I like baseball cards because they are pictures of people doing happy stuf — doing what they love, and what I love”, says Reese.
Reese’s loss deeply touched the hearts of the warmhearted firefighters from Fresno County Fire Department. They decided to do something to help the upset kid. Before long, they posted her story on its Face-book page with a plea to help Reese regain her baseball card collection. The story, in turn, touched the heart of kind Kevin Ashford, a longtime baseball collector, who was more than willing to seize the opportunity to do good.
Ashford knew exactly where Reese could find replacement cards: in his garage. He had more than 25,000 in his collection, with a ball park value of $35,000 to $50,000. Ashford had been thinking about selling them when he happened to read the fire department’s post. “I wasn’t really doing anything with them,” says Ashford. “I thought I could take care of this problem rather quickly.”
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。
Ashford immediately responded to the post.
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Reese has gotten so many cards from Ashford and she decided to share these cards with other kids.
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I’m smaller than everyone else my age. When I walk in the halls at school, I have to squeeze in between the bigger kids to get by. At the playground, sometimes even little kids try to boss me around. Mia, my best friend, is so tall that when she walks, I have to jog to keep up with her.
I used to try to make myself taller whenever I could. My posture was perfect, straight as an arrow. I hung from the tree in our backyard to stretch out my arms and legs. I even ate all my vegetables. Every day I measured myself, but I was the same height every time. Frustrating!
“Don’t worry,” Mom always said. “Being small has its advantages.” “Really? I could never notice any.”
One day, Mrs. Alvarez announced to the class that we’d be putting on a spring play. I practiced all the lines. But at the audition (试演), when I walked up to the stage, Mrs. Alvarez cried, “You’ll be perfect as the elf (小精灵)! You’re just the right size for the costume.” I even never got a chance to deliver the practiced lines. Back home I grumbled (咕哝) to mum that I was made an elf. But she bet I would be the best elf. To please her, I went to rehearsals (排练), though I only had two lines.
Mia got the lead role-a girl wandering through a magical fairy forest in search of her lost dog. In the last scene, she finds a box under a giant mushroom, and when she opens it, her dog jumps out. Mrs. Alvarez’s dog, Prince, played the dog role. She brought him to all the rehearsals, and when he wasn’t onstage, we got to play with him, but he seemed to like me best.
The night of the show, my first line came early, “Let’s ask the Fairy Queen!” Since my only other line was toward the end, I waited offstage, playing with Prince.
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 grand end came, and Prince was brought onstage inside the box.
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“How can we get Prince out from beneath the stage?” Mrs. Alvarez asked.
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There are lots of chances in front of us. Whether you can seize them or not depends on the choices you make. This reminds me of one choice I made during my childhood.
Two tickets. Only two tickets to the final basketball game.
Three pairs of eyes focused on the tickets in Dad’s out-stretched hand. Mike, the oldest, asked the question running through everyone’s mind, “Only one ticket for us three? But, Dad, which of us will go with you?” Avery, the youngest, repeated the question quietly. I asked Dad if there was any chance to get more tickets. I might be the middle sister, but I was just as eager as my basketball-crazy brothers for a night out with Dad. Dad said he’d got the tickets from a friend and there were only two available.
Seeing that none of us would give up the chance, Dad told us he would choose which of the three of us deserved to go by the following morning.
The next morning, we hurried into the kitchen and looked for Dad, only to find that he had gone out. We were told to get started on our Saturday cleanup as soon as we finished breakfast. Mike complained that he couldn’t concentrate on chores with the game a mere eleven hours away. He slurped the last of his milk, grabbed the basketball and headed towards the back door. Avery dashed after his brother. Before I realized it, the door snapped shut. I glanced out the window and saw Mike practicing his shot while Avery cheered him on.
Seeing the mess on the breakfast table—the leftovers on the sticky plates and dirty cups, I felt frustrated. I approached the window and knocked on it. When the boys looked at me, I held up a kitchen sponge and dishtowel. Mike casually nodded to me and held up five fingers. Sure, five more minutes! I didn’t believe they would return to do the cleanup in five minutes, especially in Dad’s absence. Apparently, they had made their choice.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2. 续写部分分两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
Anyway, I chose to do the Saturday morning chores on my own.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Dad was happy to know I found the ticket he had hidden in the cupboard.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our crushes keep changing after every three to four months or maybe even longer or shorter than that. But guys, I hope each and everyone of us remembers our first crush! I find myself blushing whenever I come up with this phrase ‘First Crush’. I find myself going back to the time when I was six, yes because at that age I had my first crush. I was completely unknown to the word ‘Crush’at that time. I was in my first grade when this boy in my class named Sharvil stole my heart.
Sharvil had the perfect ‘Dream boy’ looks. Brown haired, Pale skinned and with a mesmerizing and an infectious smile that would skip my heartbeat. I would find myself always staring at him in the class and would always find a chance to sit beside him in the class. And whenever I would talk with him, I used to wear that stupid, kiddish smile. You can imagine!
One day, during our lunch break, Sharvil sat beside me and nothing else could make me go all way dreamy! He had come there to show me some magic trick with the fingers. The magic trick which he showed was not quite skilled but there goes my crush-moment, I started clapping like an idiot and acted as if I was overly overwhelmed just because it was HIM coming to ME to show the trick. So you can imagine the amount of control he had on my mood.
Once, Sharvil had come to my house to play with my brother who studied in the same class as we. He went upstairs to my brother’s bedroom and the whole time I had my ears stuck to his bedroom door! I was so whipped.
I left the school after my first grade and got an admission in another school. As time passed, I eventually forgot Sharvil as he was replaced my other ‘fluctuating’ crushes. After a few years I had completed my tenth grade and I decided to become an engineer in future. I even registered for a JEE training center. I came to know that there were many of my friends from first grade who attended that class and even Sharvil was one of them! I was eagerly waiting for my class to start. By the time the day arrived, I had already lost my patience to see ‘my’ boy. OK, so let me describe to you the first day of my JEE class. I was trying to hide my excitement right from the time I woke up on that day. I got ready, packed my stuff and boarded the bus. It took thirty minutes for the bus to reach the class. When I reached the class, I found out that the students were still coming and I was not late.
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(每段开头不需写入答题卡的横线处)。
Paragraph 1: As the class was filling up, my eyes scanned each and every corner of the class but there was no sign of him.
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Paragraph 2: After the class was over, I talked with all my friends.
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It was a cold yet sunny Saturday morning in February. Dad’s New Year’s resolution had been to get fit. Mum pushed him out of bed and told him to go jogging by the river. Later, after a nice lie-in, she went downstairs in her dressing gown and found the kids watching TV. She turned it off and said she was going to do something really special for Dad’s birthday. If they overheard anything, just promised to keep it secret.
Jenny looked at Mum with a puzzled expression on her forehead and promised they wouldn’t say anything whatever happened. But Jenny reminded Dad’s birthday was in June and it might be a little too early to get all steamed up about it.
Silent for a moment, Mum said she was not getting everything ready but just wanted to spare enough time for preparation as this year it’s a bigger deal than usual. Dad was going to be 50.
“50! Gosh, that’s half a century,” spluttered Gerry. “I knew he was old, but I didn’t realize he was ancient!”
Indeed, that was why Mum started planning a special party for him. Mum talked with grandma about the plan because her house was the only one in the family that is spacious enough for all friends and relatives. Grandma quite agreed and also started preparing.
“But you know how Dad feels guilty to bother others. You’ve got to admit,” reminded Jenny. Thinking over the special occasion, Mum was continuing with her secret when one evening, Dad was sitting at the dinner table and he suddenly slapped his forehead, “I just realized that I am going to be 50 in June. Let’s just quietly forget about it. I want to mourn (哀悼) the passing of my youth in private.”
“Oh, come on Dad, don’t be such a spoil-sport!” begged the kids, hoping to give mum a hand.
Realizing no more chance to hide the secret, Mum carefully worded her thought and shared her plan of having a little party at grandma’s house. Dad was stunned (震惊的) to no reply.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Frustrated, Mum made a call to grandma.
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Paragraph 2:
They got everything ready as planned when June finally came.
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9 . On a dark night, 11-year-old Joe was playing hide-and-seek with his friends in the backyard when he thought he saw Magellan—a huge housecat. However, when the cat suddenly jumped on his head, Joe found it turned out a young cougar. He backed away from the animal, then turned and ran inside the house.
Cougar encounters like this one are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Most people assume that’s because cougar populations are growing, or because the big cats are coming into closer contact with the expanding web of human suburbs. But Professor Robert Wielgus at Washington State University argues that poorly designed hunting policies might be causing an increase in cougar-human conflicts.
Wielgus’s research teams have been fitting the big cats with radio collars and monitoring their movements. They find that the cougar population is actually declining rapidly and almost no male cougars are over four years of age. And a study shows that the heavily hunted area has five times as many cougar complaints as the lightly hunted area—even though the density of cougars is about the same in both areas.
Wielgus suspects that hunting policies, which allow older males to be killed to keep cougar populations in check, were the culprit and teenage cougars in the heavily hunted area may be responsible for most of the trouble. To test his theory, he adds two more groups of cougars to the tracking program—one in a heavily hunted area and another in a comparable but lightly hunted area. He concludes that heavy hunting indeed almost wipes out older males and the population structure in the heavily hunted area shifts toward younger animals.
With these findings, Wielgus believes without adults to keep them under control, the disorderly teens are more likely to come into conflict with humans, farm animals and pets.
Wielgus’s ideas don’t sit well with everyone. “Hunting definitely does cause lots of teenage males to flow in, but I don’t yet see solid proof that they are more likely to cause trouble than older cats,” says the University of Montana’s Robinson. “In many cases, the new arrivals have been squeezed out of remote wilderness habitat and forced into areas where they are more likely to encounter humans. I think humans are primarily responsible for all the interaction you see. We’re moving into these areas where cougars and deer are,” according to Alldredge, a researcher at the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
We may not understand what makes 18-year-old males more likely than 48-year-old men to do dangerous things, Wielgus says, but we know that the world would be a different place, if teenagers were in charge.
1. The passage begins with a story to ________.| A．lead into the topic | B．describe an incident |
| C．show the author’s attitude | D．warn of the dangers of cougars |
| A．effect | B．evidence | C．cause | D．target |
| A．Alldredge agrees hunting results in the arrival of lots of teens. |
| B．Robinson doubts whether age is a key factor in human-cougar conflicts. |
| C．Alldredge believes killing older males may cause a bigger threat. |
| D．Robinson holds humans are to blame for the fall of older males. |
| A．Driving teenage cougars back into their natural habitat. |
| B．Getting people to move out of the areas where cougars are. |
| C．Forbidding children to play in the backyard by themselves. |
| D．Changing hunting policies to ensure a healthy cougar population. |
10 . “NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS” (NFTs) leapt from the more obscure corners of the internet into the mainstream in March 2021 when Christies, a British auction house, sold a digital work of art for $69m. What it actually flogged was an NFT, a cryptocurrency chit that proves a buyer owns an intangible marker connected to a unique piece of digital art, music or other item. Much like René Magritte’s painting of a pipe that proclaims “this is not a pipe” an NFT is not the thing it represents. Tweets, videos of basketball dunks and even the source code to the world wide web have been sold as NFTs in recent months. From June to September they generated almost $11bn in sales, an eight-fold increase on the previous four months, according to DappRadar, a market tracker. What exactly is an NFT? And why are people spending tens of millions of dollars on them?
An NFT is a record on a cryptocurrency’s blockchain (an immutable ledger（不可篡改的账本） that can record more than just virtual coins) that represents pieces of digital media. Invented a few years ago, it can link not only to art but also to text, videos or bits of code. Promoters of NFTs claim that they solve a thorny（棘手的） problem with digital art: how to own an original. For creators who freely upload their work or sell it as identical copies, the concept of an original is difficult to pin down（确定）. Exclusivity is impossible to enforce when digital files can be shared freely on the internet. But collectors want the cachet that comes with having an exclusive claim on an artwork. This is where NFTs fit in.
To mint（铸币，造币） an NFT, the creator establishes a unique record of the artwork, generally on a website. Then the creator places the record on a blockchain, usually Ethereum’s, which requires a transaction fee known as gas. Possession of a private encryption key associated with the transaction proves ownership. This gives an artist or collector something to sell. An NFT may link to a version of the work, but rarely includes the rights to reproduce or distribute it. That differentiates it from a commercial licensing arrangement, too.
NFTs have myriad（众多的） problems. They often change hands using cryptocurrencies, many of which currently have sky-high valuations, leading to fears of a bubble. Anyone can mint an NFT, since the systems involved are decentralised（去中心化的）, although doing so with someone else’s work could be infringe their copyright. Some artists have already claimed misappropriation of their work.Most NFTs are simply links to images. Unless they have been issued in a certain way to ensure they are tamper-proof（防更改的） these can in theory be meddled with after the sale. The high electricity usage of blockchains—Bitcoin’s is greater than that of Chile—has prompted arguments over whether artists are contributing to climate change by embracing NFTs. And ownership may be difficult to prove in the long term, as web-based records may not last for ever.
Yet NFTs have some value beyond the cryptocurrency hype （加密货币炒作）: artists struggle to make a living when their works can be easily replicated and pirated. NFTs will create new problems in an attempt to solve old ones, but for now many creators and collectors are too busy cashing in to care.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．What is the core concept of NFTs. | B．Where NFTs can fit in. |
| C．How to make NFTs. | D．What’s the disadvantages of NFTs. |
| A．It seldom change hands using cryptocurrencies. |
| B．The systems involved are centralized. |
| C．The high electricity usage of blockchains possibly contribute to climate change by embracing NFTs. |
| D．It is a record on a cryptocurrency’s blockchain. |
| A．Quote. | B．Analogy. | C．Comparison. | D．Personification |
| A．What is an NFT? |
| B．How to make NFTs? |
| C．NFTs have some value beyond the cryptocurrency hype. |
| D．NFTs have myriad problems. |
