Mama’s Soup Pot
There are too many treasures in life we take for granted, the worth of which we don’t fully realize until they’re pointed out to us in some unexpected way. So it was with Mama’s soup pot.
Mama’s soup was special because there was no recipe for it. It had been so since her girlhood in Italy, where she learned its secret from her grandma, who had inherited (继承) it from generation to generation. Also, it was a symbol of security. For our large immigrant family, Mama’s soup guaranteed we would never go hungry. And we could judge our economic conditions by its contents.
At one time, however, Mama’s soup pot became a source of embarrassment to me, for I feared it would cost me a new friend I had made at school. Sol was an unusual pal for me because his father was a doctor and they lived in the best part of our town. Often Sol invited me to his home for dinner, where I found the food was good but tasteless, lacking the heartiness of the one served from my mom’s flame-blackened pots. Moreover, the atmosphere matched the food and everything was so formal. Sol’s mother and father were polite, but the conversation around the table was not natural, which made me a little depressed. And no one hugged!
In my family, warm hugs were a constant-men, women, boys and girls-and if you didn’t kiss your mother, she demanded: “What’s the matter? You sick?” But at that time in my life, all this was an embarrassment.
I had known Sol would like to eat dinner at my house, but that was the last thing I wanted. My family was so different. No other kids had such pots on their stoves, nor did they have a mama whose first action upon seeing you enter the house was to sit you down with a spoon and bowl.
One day, Sol pointedly asked if he could come to my house. I had to say yes.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
The day Sol came over I was nervous.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But Sol quickly finished his bowl and asked for one more.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My name is Fauna, but Mom and Dad sometimes call me Magpie, since I talk a lot. They call me “animal magnet,” too; because animals like me. I don’t mind at all because I like them, too. In fact, what I really, really want is a pet of my own. My dad has a pet fish, and I like it a lot — but I would still like a pet that’s all mine.
“Please? I asked my parents.“Pretty please, with cherries and chocolate and whipped cream on top?”
“We’ll see!”
“I’ll walk it and feed it and brush it.... well, unless it has scales or something. Then I’ll polish them real nice.”
“We’ll see.”
Finally, though, “we’ll see” was upgraded to “soon.”
“Let’s do some research,” said Dad, “and see what kind of pet is best for you.”
“And keep your eyes peeled,” said Mom. “You never know when an opportunity will come along.”
One did come along.
I was on my way home from school when I saw a unicorn (独角兽) standing in back of Baker Trembly’s shop. He was nibbling stale biscuits out of the trash can. I thought he might be a wild unicorn come into town, but he trotted (小跑) right up to me when I held out the apple I had in my backpack, left over from lunch.
“It followed me home!” I told my parents, after I managed to lead the unicorn to our front gate. “Can I keep it?”
“I hope you were careful,” said my dad with a frown. “Unicorns can be dangerous.”
“Not this one! He’s very sweet. And he’s just what I want!. I can keep him. in the garden.”
“He does look sweet,” said my mom. “Let’s check his tags (标牌).”
Tags? I hadn’t even noticed his thin silver collar, I’d been so excited.
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 was a little tag on it, with a phone number.
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“I’ve had him since he was little,” Sari said. “We’ve never been apart.”
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Sarah, a high school student, had a great passion for baking. With her parents’ support, Sarah dreamed of opening her own bakery, a place where she could turn her interest into a business. However, she knew the importance of improving her skills and gaining real-world experience.
Therefore, every Saturday, without fail, she would set up a small but charming table at a local park. The park, filled with families and laughter, was the perfect place for Sarah to sell her creations. Her table, neatly laid out with colorful homemade cookies and cakes, attracted passers-by with the desserts’ smell.
On a particularly bright and sunny afternoon, as Sarah was carefully arranging her chocolate cookies and cakes, her attention was drawn to an elderly woman sitting alone on a bench. The woman, with her silver hair and sad eyes, seemed lost in thought. As the hours went by, Sarah noticed that the woman remained where she was, seemingly forgotten by the world. A sense of concern washed over Sarah. So she decided to act. She poured a cup of warm tea carefully and cut a generous slice of her rich chocolate cake, a crowd favorite, and approached the woman.
“I thought you might like some snacks,” Sarah said with a warm, inviting smile. The woman’s face lit up as she accepted the treat. “Thank you, dear. I haven’t had such a delicious treat since my retirement,” she responded, her voice soft yet filled with gratitude. As she enjoyed the cake, tears rolled down her face.
A little shocked, Sarah asked what had happened. The woman introduced herself as Mrs. Wilson, who had been a baker before she retired. Since losing her husband to cancer a week ago, she had been living alone. Her visits to the park were her escape from the loneliness that filled her quiet home. Sarah listened attentively, her heart touched by the woman’s story.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Sarah decided to help Mrs. Wilson out.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Over time, their unlikely friendship became noticed in the park.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.
An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.
“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.
“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”
“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.
Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.
Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.
“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，
“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”
“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”
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。
At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But things began to change as she was doing the chores.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Steve, a twelve-year-old boy with alcoholic parents, was about to be lost forever, by the U. S. education system. Remarkably, he could read. Yet, in spite of his reading skills, Steve was failing. He had been failing since first grade, as he was passed on from grade to grade. Steve was a big boy, looking more like a teenager than a twelve-year-old. Yet, Steve went unnoticed until Miss White.
Miss White was a smiling, young, beautiful redhead, and Steve loved her!For the first time in his young life, he couldn’t take his eyes off his teacher; yet, still he failed. He never did his homework, and he was always in trouble with Miss White. His heart would break under her sharp words, and when he was punished for failing to turn in his homework, he felt just miserable! Still, he did not study.
In the middle of the first semester of school, the entire seventh grade was tested for basic skills. Steve hurried through his tests, and continued to dream of other things, as the day went
on. His heart was not in school, but in the woods, where he often escaped alone, trying to shutout the sights, sounds and smells of his alcoholic home. No one checked on him to see if he was safe. No one knew he was gone, because no one was sober (清醒的) enough to care. Oddly, Steve never missed a day of school.
One day, Miss White’s impatient voice broke into his daydreams.
“Steve!” Startled, he turned to look at her.
“Pay attention!” she began to go over the test results for the seventh grade.
“You all did pretty well,” she told the class, ”except for one boy, and it breaks my heart to tell you this, but. . “She hesitated, pinning Steve to his seat with a sharp stare, her eyes searching his face.
“The smartest boy in the seventh grade is failing my class!”
She just stared at Steve, as the class spun around for a good look. Steve dropped his eyes and carefully examined his fingertips.
After that, Steve still wouldn’t do his homework. Even as the punishments became more severe, he remained stubborn.
“Just try it! ONE WEEK!” He was unmoved.
“You are smart enough! You’ll see a change!” Nothing fazed him.
Give yourself a chance! Don’t give up on your life!” Nothing.
“Steve! Please! I care about you!”
Wow! Suddenly, Steve got it! Someone cared about him? Someone, totally unattainable and perfect, CARED ABOUT HIM?!
续写要求：
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:
Steve went home from school, thoughtful, that afternoon.
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Paragraph 2:
The following Monday, Miss White, gave a quiz on the weekend homework.
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A Little Boy
A little boy selling magazines for school walked up to a house that people rarely visited. The house was very old and shabby and the owner hardly ever came out. When he did come out, he would not say hello to his neighbors or passers-by but simply just glared at them.
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man. The boy’s parents told him to stay away from the house, and a lot of other neighborhood children were told the same thing from their parents.
Dusk found the boy lingering on and hesitating what to do. As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. “What do you want?” the old man said impatiently. The little boy was very afraid but he had a quota (定额) to meet for school with selling the magazines. So he got up the courage and said, “Uh, Sir, I am selling these magazines and, uh, I was wondering if you would like to buy one from me.”
The old man just stared at the boy without a word. The boy could see inside the old man’s house and saw that he had dog figurines (小雕像) on the fireplace mantle. “Do you collect dogs?” The little boy asked. “Yes, I have many collections in my house. They are my family here and they are all I have.” The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul.
“Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors. It is perfect for you. I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much.” The old man was ready to close the door on the boy and said, “No, boy. I don’t need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye.”
The little boy was sad that he was not going to make his quota with the sale. He was also sad for the old man being so alone in the house that he owned. The boy went home and then had an idea. He had a little dog figurine that he got some years ago from an aunt. The figurine did not mean nearly as much to him since he had a real live dog and a large family.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
The little boy headed back down to the old man’s house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________From that day on something changed inside the old man.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tomatoes: The Real Magical Fruit
“Fresh tomato plants! Straight out of the ground! 50 cents each!” I shouted in the school hall. In my hands, I carried a shoebox with little tomato plants. Their homes were plastic bottles, without the top half. Most people ignored my product, but some handed me 50 cents and picked out a 2-week-old baby tomato plant.
About a month before this, I started gardening. I pulled up grass in my little garden for several days in a row. Satisfied with my work, I continued to the second step — begging my dad to take me to the supermarket. He agreed!
When my dad turned off the engine and opened the door, I practically skipped inside the supermarket. We headed straight for the garden center. I picked up planters, seeds and dirt. My dad helped and showed me the best dirt and tomato plant types to get. We got to the register, and my dad, knowing what would happen, helped me pay.
As soon as I got home, I began to plant them in my garden. The following days witnessed my visits to the garden and my parents were amazed by my devotion to my new-found love.
Then was the part where I met my problem — I planted too many tomato seeds. I realized this all too late, about 10 days later when they all started sprouting (发芽) up and I counted 45 tomato plants. A few days went by and then I ended up with 85 tomato plants.
I did what all high schoolers would do when they messed up — I asked people around. I even got a notebook to write down their suggestions. Sadly, I got the same answer from most people, “Just let them die.” WHAT?! Let my beautiful plants die? They had so much potential! They could make 20 — 30 tomatoes per plant! We were talking about the possibility of around 2,550 tomatoes!
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。
So, I decided to solve it in my way.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The result was better than I had thought.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sports Day was getting close in the school. All the children were very excited and were practicing for the big race. John, one of the fast runners of the school, was confident that he would win for he was not doing anything at all. “You have to work hard to come first in the race John. You are not practicing at all,” said John’s mother.
“Mom, you know how fast I am! Why should I waste my time running? Only I will win; no one else will win!”said John. “John, you may be right but talent (天赋) without hard work is not good at all. This laziness of yours will cost you greatly,” his mother warned him. John just laughed. He was so confident that he would win the trophy (奖杯) as no one else in his class was as fast as he was!.
Tim, a classmate of John, was also participating (参加) in the running race. He was not a fast runner. However, he practiced till late at night and had developed great endurance (持久力) to run the race.
There were a few days left for the Sports Day but John did not practice at all. On the other hand, Tim practiced day and night.
The Sports Day was almost around the corner but John was confident that no one could beat him and had not practiced at all. But Tim with his hard work had become a very great runner.
At last, the Sports Day arrived. All the students showed up on the ground to cheer their favorites. The coach blew the whistle (口哨) and everyone began to run toward the finishing line. It was so exciting. John and Tim left all the racers far behind. Both of them were neck to neck.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Suddenly, John went ahead of Tim.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________John’s mother came up to Tim and praised him for his hard work.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I took up flying more or less on a whim (突发奇想). I had a really difficult time at that time. My mother left me and my favorite cat was lost two weeks later. My life was filled with uncertainties and sadness and I was left feeling terribly down. So when I passed our local airfield and saw an advertisement for trial flying lessons, I decided to book one. It was something I’d always imagined trying, and I hoped it would cheer me up.
I enjoyed my trial lessons and decided to book some more. I found that flying an airplane was attractive, and it took my mind off my personal difficulties. By the end of that summer, I had my private pilot’s license, and I started to do some local flights for fun.
Then I decided to have a go at flying helicopters, and I found that I liked that even more. Despite having promised myself and all my friends that I wasn’t going to take it up, I got my private pilot’s license for helicopters, too. Soon, I was hiring small helicopters and taking friends flying. But helicopter flying is very expensive, and I knew I couldn’t keep doing it as a hobby forever. I knew a lot of people at our local airfield, and many were taking commercial (商业的) flying exams — some with a goal of working as commercial pilots, others wanting to be instructors. I had an idea — I could become a helicopter instructor. That way, I could fly for free, and even get paid for it.
Then I told my friends my thought, but I didn’t expect some of the reactions I got. My friends couldn’t believe that I really meant to do that. “Oh, don’t be silly, Helen. You can’t possibly be a helicopter instructor,” one of my friends said. After all, I was well over forty, which is not the usual time to begin a new career. But I chose to stick to my idea.
注意：
1. 续写的词效应为150左右；
2. 请按照如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:
Quickly, I went ahead with my plan.
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Paragraph 2:
Soon I found a job at an airfield, not too far from my home.
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One of my leachers once asked my class what our favorite memory was. My leacher asked for the moment in which “you fell the best; you fell that you had the world in the palms of your hand.” Some described amazing awards; other described winning a tournament. My answer, however, invited giggles and hesitant smiles. Why? Because I felt the best when I first learned how to ride my bike at thirteen. I didn’t mind my classmates’ stares and mockery, because I knew there was more to the story.
My elder sister and I shared a typical sisterly relationship: we couldn’t stand each other. I was an annoyance to her. Any sort of conversation we had usually ended up fighting. Gradually, I started to learn to be totally indifferent; perhaps the silent treatment would get more approval. I was wrong. We soon fell into a sad pattern. I avoided her, and she ignored me. Deep inside, it hurt. So that was how it was between us. She was only a sister in name. I truly believed that we would forever be apart, two housemates without conversation, two strangers without warmth.
I still remember the day I learned to ride a bike. I had received the bike that Christmas, which was great, until I realized that I had no idea how to ride it. My mom had long abandoned any attempt to teach me. I had proven to be a frustrating student. I took it upon myself to learn, a little bit each day. It was no different. I was coming to the end of my daily one-hour torture(折磨). I was so frustrated that I threw my bike aside and began to cry.
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:
I guess that was what caused my sister to come outside.
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Paragraph 2:
“I made it,” I shouted with excitement.
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