I am a proud mother of three children, my last little one being delivered in the middle of this pandemic (疫情). She was born in August and her name is Aida.
Shortly after having Aida, my mother-in-law Ann showed me something she learned from her friend’s mother in an art class she attended weekly, She had showed me how to knit (编织) a scarf.
I spent a lot of time breastfeeding my sweet little girl, so I had some extra time to do something with my hands throughout the day. I enjoyed making the scarf so I purchased tons of yarn (线) since it was winter. I wanted to make scarves for my three children as Christmas gifts.
There was a new family that moved in down the street. The only daughter of the family was Jane, a shy girl, aged 14, the same age of my oldest son David. It seemed that she came from a financially disadvantaged family, for she always wore old clothes. Worse still, in such cold days, she had no more clothes to wear and trembled with cold.
Due to the pandemic, society was thrown into crisis mode. Schools were closed, food supplies and deliveries were suspended and children were stuck at home. In such discouraging time, however, they became good companions, talking and playing at home or around the houses.
It was dreadfully cold this winter. Every time David came back from outside, with red face, he always cried, “Mum, it is freezing outside!” Then, he came over to see whether I finished the scarf. I could tell how impatient he was to wear my scarf sooner! I had to speed the project to satisfy his expectation. But David comforted me by saying he could wait a few days. What a kind and considerate boy he was! Then my great art project finally was accomplished on the morning ahead of Christmas.
注意：1.续写词数应为150词左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语己为你写好。
Paragraph 1: I wrapped the scarf around David’s neck.
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Paragraph 2: Later that day David came back saying Jane also deserved a scarf.
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When Valentine's Day was around the corner, Grandma came down with a terrible cold when she was travelling from Colorado to my family's house in California. She was too weak to go out at all, which was sad and disappointing. That was because Grandma and Grandpa had been planning to take my little sister Indi and me to the zoo for Valentine's Day. Grandma, as an animal lover, had been especially looking forward to it.
On Valentine's Day Indi begged Grandma to go to the zoo together. But Grandma jokingly explained that if she went there, she might spread her cold to other visitors, or even to the animals, making them all start sneezing.
In my mind, I imagined the sight that an elephant kept sneezing. Meanwhile I made my arm into a trunk and blurted out a funny trumpeting sound that ended in a gigantic sneeze. "Good one, Brother!" Indi laughed. "That elephant would need a huge box of tissues.”
Grandma was amused. But she insisted that she should stay at home and rest up. She wished us a pleasant visit and reminded us to send her regards to the monkeys in the zoo.
Well, we did go and we did have a great time but I kept wishing Grandma could have been there with us. When we reached the monkey mountain, Grandpa told us to hold still and say “cheese" and snapped a good picture of the monkeys and us.
“Cheese!” I said. But Indi said, “Happy Valentine's Day, Grandma!”
"You were supposed to say cheese." said Grandpa.
Indi shrugged, “It just came out.”
"I'm glad it did" I said, because your words just gave me a fantastic idea! What if we take pictures of different animals, and then turn them into a special Valentine gift for Grandma?" Indi and Grandpa agreed and we kept taking pictures with delight for Grandma's surprise.
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:
When we got home, we set about making the gift.
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Paragraph 2:
Then we took the gift upstairs to Grandma’s room.
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About a half-mile behind our Minnesota farm lay a pond. In summer, my brother Harry and I would run through a stand of oak trees to skip stones there. The pond wore a collar of black mud. It was not a place for swimming.
In late summer, the pond would be covered by a green and bubbly scum(起泡的浮渣). Sometimes a strong, unpleasant smell rose from it. We stayed away.
When winter came, the pond was once again an inviting place. One day when ice covered it, Harry said to me, “Try walking across.”
The ice looked solid. No water showed through it, but I hesitated. “Go ahead.” Harry urged. “Try it. You’re lighter than I am. If the ice holds, we can run and slide carefully on it. It’ll be fun.” I wanted to please Harry, and I thought about the fun of a long slide on the ice. I began to slide across the pond.
In the middle of the pond, the ice gave way with a sudden crack(裂缝)! I stretched out(伸展) my arms. The next thing I knew I was hanging on to the edge of a hole in the ice by arms outstretched on the ice. From my shoulders down I hung in icy water. I thought of the bottom of the pond. I knew it would be black and awful down there, full of mud and maybe rotting creatures.
I tried to climb out of the hole, but when I got a knee on the ice, it broke like window glass. Again and again I tried to get out. Again and again the ice broke into pieces. The hole widened. I was wearing a coat of heavy material. As it became completely wet, it dragged me down. I was tired of the struggle and rested with my arms stretched out on the ice.
I looked at Harry on shore. He seemed rooted to the spot. “I can’t get out!” I screamed when I caught some breath.
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。
Paragraph1:
Harry turned and ran from the pond.
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The moment I crashed through the kitchen door, sobbing, mum rushed over.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . Experienced⁃Based Education
Everyone is familiar with traditional education. You sit in a class and a teacher teaches. This is an important part of development. But at some point, every individual has to take charge of their own education. To do this, one must look at the root of learning.
Basically, unfamiliar experiences usually add more value than experiences that are familiar.
High school is a new experience. College is a new experience. However, at some point traditional education becomes repetitive. It is not that you won’t learn anything else, but that the environment is so familiar.
To solve this, an individual needs to introduce new experiences into their life. You may spend a summer in a different part of the country or learn a new language through trial and error. You can also go to a drive⁃in movie（or some other entertainment event that is new to you）.
These types of experiences often result in very little“book knowledge”. Instead, they will often provide you with a better understanding of yourself as you experience your reaction to different situations.
| A．Has education changed so much in the last decade? |
| B．They will also provide you with a better understanding of others. |
| C．Those new experiences may not lead to great personal development. |
| D．These are all things that can stretch and expand your experience in life. |
| E．This is because unfamiliar experiences require much more of our attention. |
| F．As a result, you can easily become less aware of your experience and not learn as much. |
| G．What makes some experiences add great value to our lives while other experiences do not? |
