It started with a phone call from my son, Nate. “Mom, there’s a dog here. She needs help. She’s lost, hungry and afraid of people. Nobody can catch her. We tried, but she runs.
I bet you can catch her. Please?” My teenage son’s dramatic plea (恳求) came from a visitor center where he volunteered.
“Not now,” I objected. I love dogs, but at that moment I did not want to take on another project.
“Can you please just take a look at her when you come pick me up?” He had confidence in my abilities.
When I arrived to pick Nate up, I found the dog he described. Her state was bad with all the diseases in a stray dog. She watched us cautiously, her tail giving the occasional hopeful wag before retreating between her legs as she shied away from any approach. Her eyes, however, were warm and pleading. She wanted to connect but she was afraid.
Many years of working with all kinds of distressed animals had hardened my heart. I thought of a thousand reasons why I could not take a dirty dog home. I wanted to get a dog that I could use as a therapy (治疗) dog. I could see that this sad dog was not therapy dog material. Therapy dogs connect to people in ways that can understand human better. I turned and walked away.
I convinced Nate to wait a few days to see if the dog’s owner would magically appear. Secretly, I was expecting the dog would disappear. But she didn’t.
A friend with a small animal rescue shelter took her for quarantine (检疫) and treatment. I knew she was safe but the dog’s eyes haunted me. That longing look kept returning to my mind, pleading for connection. After a couple of weeks, I gave in and brought the dog home with me. She was quickly accepted by other dogs in my home. Cleaned up and fed, she looked like a short and strong Border Collie (博得牧羊犬) with gold and white fur. I named her Leala.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A month or so later, at a routine checkup, what the vet (兽医) said excited me.
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Within another month, Leala and I were in a therapy dog training class.
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After Mason and Rebecca had their baby Oliver, they were quite happy. However, it soon changed.
One night, Rebecca accidentally dropped a glass bowl during Oliver’s second birthday celebration. Although nearby, Oliver didn’t react to the big sound of glass breaking. Panicked, the couple realizing their baby didn’t react to sound.
The next day, the hospital confirmed Oliver was born deaf. The couple were so sad. Later, Oliver got his first hearing aid, after which a strange change appeared on his face. Rebecca burst into tears and called, “Oliver, come here. Come to mama.” He quickly turned and started walking to her, smiling. Thankfully, Oliver could now hear!
I free years passed; it was time to send Oliver to school. The couple often described how lovely to be in a class full of friends with a teacher in the front. Oliver pictured a fun first day at school but returned home that day, crying, “I don’t want to go to school. I have no friends.” The following days, Oliver came back home. still, sad. Rebecca and Mason were anxious.
One Friday, Oliver’s teacher, Sophia, met the couple. “Oliver seems shy He never plays with his classmates. And he doesn’t talk to me although I try talking to him. He’s afraid he’s different and that his classmates will laugh at him because of his deafness.” she said.
Rebecca and Mason were heart-broken and worried. After chatting, Sophia learned Oliver’s sixth birthday was on Monday of the next week. Then, she made a secret plan to help Oliver. She encouraged her students to hold a birthday party for Oliver in the classroom to show Oliver friendliness.
After school that day, Sophia sent a message to the parents of all the children in her class. In the message, she told them about Oliver’s trouble. And she wanted them to encourage and ask their kids to come to school on Sunday to prepare a birthday party for Oliver: to decorate the classroom, prepare a birthday cake, etc. Then, Sophia put down her cell phone, wondering whether any parents would support it.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式作答。
Soon, her phone rang and received a message.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Oliver arrived at school and pushed the classroom’s door open.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Everyone likes the beautiful Cinderella, but I like the ugly stepsister.
The sidewalk was filled with shoppers as my mother and I hurried to the department store. I raised my neck for a look at the holiday window display, but at the age of six I was too small to see around the grown-ups with their winter coats and packages. When at last we reached the store, I stood with my eyes widened. “Look, Mother,” I shouted, pressing my hands against the glass, “Cinderella.” Before my eyes was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen! She wore a fairy princess suit made of shining red silk. I knew if I lifted her skirt I would find her crystal (水晶) shoes. The tiny tiara (冠状头饰) fastened to her silky golden hair shone.
“If only she were mine,” I dreamed. “We’d have tea parties, share secrets and dance with a handsome prince.” But to my disappointment, my mother guided me away from the window, explaining that she and my father could not afford such an expensive doll. “But there will be a very special gift under the tree for you on Christmas morning, Madge,” she said. “I promise.” Later that week I leaned against Mother’s sewing machine, watching the needle flash up and down. “Bet you don’t know what this is!” she joked, holding up the cloth for me to see.
“My Christmas doll!” I yelled. It was still in the early stages but I could make out the head, neck and body. “So much to my surprise!” Mother laughed as I danced around the room, already pretending Cinderella and I were at the ball. It wouldn’t be long now.
My excitement grew with each passing day. Mother continued to work on the doll, and whenever I walked into the room she would hide it under a pillow. I could tell by her smile she was pleased with her progress. On Christmas morning I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall and quickly arrived at the living room where the Christmas tree was placed.
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。
Paragraph 1:
There, underneath the tree, was a beautifully packed gift box.
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In a word, the doll was nothing like Cinderella; she looked more like her ugly stepsister.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One year ago, I joined a club. Every morning, there was a personal trainer who worked out. He did his routine with such a quiet determination that he made it all look very easy When I wanted to quit, I watched him push himself to his own limits, and I found myself motivated to work hard.
Several weeks ago, I was watching him do chin-ups (引体向上) easily. I asked him if I could try it. I had never tried before. He eagerly stepped aside and encouraged me to step up to the bar. I pulled myself up without thinking... Once... then twice. I had no strength left. I told him that was all I had, so he stepped up behind me and pushed me up for a third and a fourth pull. It felt so good and I smiled from ear to ear.
The next day when I was done with my workout, I asked him to spot me again. Again, I did two. Again, on Day three and so on. I thought it was pitiful that I could only do two, but he said he was impressed with my chin-ups, explaining that most people couldn’t do them at all. Then he told me that if I practised every day, I would be doing five or six in no time.
I just jumped in and gave it a try. A few months had passed since that memorable day in the club. I continued to work on my chin-ups, slowly but steadily. With each passing week, I could feel my strength increasing and my determination growing.
One day, as I approached the chin-up bar, my trainer noticed the determination in my eyes. He smiled and said, “You know, you made a big progress in a such short time. I think it’s time to set a new goal for yourself.” I asked, “What do you have in mind?” He replied, “How about aiming for ten consecutive chin-ups? I believe that you can achieve it with your insistence.
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 was both excited and nervous about this new challenge.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, one morning, it happened.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was a little girl, I knew that I had a gift for music. Playing was my love. While most kids were outside in the burning summer sun, playing childish games, I was happy to sit in the cool indoors for hours practising my beloved piano. When I played, I felt like I was in a whole new world where I was free and easy. All I had to worry about was my music. Playing was never boring for me.
I had spent months practising and the big day finally came. It was the day of the Alberta Music Competition. The music hall was packed with excited audience. I sat in the first row with my mother seated beside me. As the fellow competitors were playing. I couldn’t keep my mind on their music. I was just memorizing the notes and practising the fingerings. I had known my music was like the back of my hand. But this time, to my great surprise, I found my fingers completely out of my control. They kept shaking. I nearly burst into tears. Seeing this, Mum held my hands tightly in hers. She even breathed into them as if she wanted to warm them up. Then she whispered to my ear, “Sweetie, take it easy. Just listen and enjoy the music.”
I looked up and turned my attention to the competitor in the centre of the stage for the first time. A thin and tall boy was sitting at the beautiful red piano. He looked calm and confident. His fingertips danced on the keyboard. The soft and gentle sound of the piano flew in the air. For a moment, I totally forgot my nervousness. Then I was announced to play next and I felt anxious again.
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。
It seemed that thousands of butterflies were really flying in my stomach.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I could clearly feel the disappointment from the crowd’s deep sigh (叹息).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Chad was a friend I met at summer camp. And we love telling corny (老套的) food jokes. “You know what kind of fish you put on a sandwich?” Chad said. “A jellyfish (水母，jelly也有果酱的意思)!” “That was bad,” I laughed. “You know why the bread dough (面团) was sad? It just wanted to be kneaded (揉，音同needed)” “Wow, that was even worse.” Chad laughed back.
Joking and laughing with Chad was turning out to be one of my favorite parts of camp. But a couple of days later, his joking around got confusing.
“Hey,” he said, “did you forget your eyeglasses today?” I shook my head. “I don’t wear glasses.”
“I just figured you couldn’t see very well,” he said. “The friendship bracelet (手链) you’re making looks so ugly, you should call it an enemy bracelet. Get it?”
“Oh, ha! Yeah,” I said in a confused, not-exactly-laughing kind of way. But before I had a chance to stop and think about how those words actually made me feel, it was time to move on to the next activity.
That night, when it was lights-out time, I lay awake, feeling not good. Half of my brain was thinking, “Chad was just joking around; don’t take it so hard.” But the other half of my brain was thinking, “Those bracelet comments felt more mean than fun. I knew that truly funny things shouldn’t make my stomach hurt.”
The next day, Chad made another one of his “jokes” on the field. “Amy must think we’re playing golf instead of basketball,” he paused and smiled. Seeing my confusion, Chad said that each time Amy got the ball, it would just roll on the ground.”
“Chad” I said. “I don’t think it’s funny.” “Why? What happened to your sense of humor?” he asked.
I took a deep breath and decided to tell him my true feeling.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After a moment of heavy silence, Chad’s response came.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day a man saw an old lady, standing on the side of the road, but even in the poor light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her car and got out.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He said,“I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is BryanAnderson.”
Well, all she had was a flat tire (爆胎), but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan checked under the car looking for a tool. Soon he was able to change the tire. As he was tightening up the lug nuts (螺帽), she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. The lady asked how much she should pay him. Any amount would have been all right with her. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He told her, “If you really wanted to pay me back, next time you see someone in need, give them a hand.”It had been a cold and cheerless day, but he felt good as he headed for home.
A few miles down the road the lady saw a small café. She went in to grab a bite to eat. It was a dirty-looking restaurant. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant (怀孕的), but she had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase.
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。
The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to dry her wet hair.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then the waitress noticed something written on a tissue.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was a kid, my dad took my brother and me to go shopping for school clothes. It was during the financial crisis (危机) and he had been out of work and was struggling to find a job. My mom managed a fast-food restaurant so we had some income, but not enough. We were living a hard life. Even though I was young, I realized that we weren’t the best off when it came to money. My parents were always struggling to find somewhere cheaper for us to stay.
Going shopping with my dad and brother seemed quite strange while we were already struggling for living and housing, but we needed new clothes for the start of the school year. We each chose two coats and one pair of shoes. My brother also wanted a pair of basketball shorts and Dad agreed. But I could see Dad looked worried and sad.
While we were checking out, I remember Dad watched the price go up and up at the checkout counter and that he seemed to be more and more worried. Once everything was included and the total was $55, Dad realized he didn’t have enough money for everything.
He asked the cashier to take off the extra shorts my brother had asked for, but he still didn’t have enough money to pay. So he apologized to the man behind us while he tried to figure out what clothes to take off from the bill. I told my dad to take off my pair of shoes and one of my coat. I could live with my old clothes so my brother could have new clothes. My dad almost cried when he told the cashier to take them off.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Before Dad could pay, the man behind us stepped forward.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This man’s generous behavior is really a timely help.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A disability only becomes a disability when you allow it to stop you from being genuinely happy and spreading happiness to others.
In a high school in Missouri, there is a remarkable student named Ryheem Lumpkins. At the age of 16, Ryheem displayed a tough spirit that challenged physical limitations. While his arms and hands hadn’t fully developed, he still managed to land a part-time job as a cashier at a local pizza restaurant.
Although he had only been employed for a month, Ryheem’s work ethic shone exceptionally bright. When it’s not so busy at the counter, he would grab a broom to sweep the floors or carefully clean the buffet. Despite his disability, he had such enthusiasm for life that he even got his driver’s license and worked hard to save money to buy his first car.
As a naturally shy individual, this new job unexpectedly revealed his hidden positive character. Interacting with new people, engaging in conversations, and delivering services became a source of excitement for him.
One fateful day, a customer named Robert Samay recognized the exceptional personality of young Ryheem. The young cashier left a lasting impression on Mr. Samay, leading him to commit an act of kindness that would astonish Ryheem and warm the hearts of those who witnessed it.
Impressed by Ryheem’s personality, Mr. Samay decided to express his appreciation. He slipped a five-dollar bill into Ryheem’s hands and spoke words that sympathized deeply within the teenager’s soul. “I appreciate your infectious smile and your exceptional attitude,” Mr. Samay said warmly. “Such qualities are rare these days, especially among young individuals.”
Ryheem’s eyes gleaned with gratitude as he thanked Mr. Samay, his voice earnest and sincere. He carefully folded the five-dollar bill, tucking it into his pocket with a smile that could light up a room. The warmth of the kind gesture infused Ryheem with a sense of validation and empowerment, reminding him that his disabilities did not define him. The sight of joy that lightened Ryheem’s face as he received the modest tip remained impressive in Mr. Samay’s memory.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
It fueled an urge for Mr. Samay to reward the young man’s happiness even more.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After the video was posted online by the shop owner, it swiftly spread across various platforms.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“When I grow up, I’m going to travel on my own,” said my little daughter, Sophia, reading her favorite picture book in the sunshine. Her blue eyes sparkled as she looked at the beautiful pictures. “Well, I think you can!” I said, believing in her ambitions.
Being a hard-working and reliable child, she could help do the housework skillfully. She had the potential to make her dreams come true. However, we were poor farmers, and all profit had to go back into the farm to keep it going.
When Sophia was ten, a tornado (龙卷风) struck Texas, destroying our farm. We were forced to deal with everything that we faced. This disaster completely changed our lives. My husband, Steve, was disabled by the tornado. After trying and failing at several methods of earning income, finally he decided to become a baker (面包师).
We purchased a small bakeshop, fully equipped, and moved it onto our farmland. In fact, our bakeshop business did very well. Regrettably, Steve did not. His disability was so severe that after several months of trying he simply could not continue. The bakeshop closed.
While our family was going through difficult times, the dream and spirit of Sophia was not lost. She was doing well in school, and I smiled the day I read Sophia’s essay entitled, “Things I would like to do.” Topping the list were these words: I want to travel someday. Again I whispered, “Maybe you can someday.”
A few years later, Sophia started high school and enrolled in a foreign language class in her second year. This class occasionally organized a trip abroad. One day, she came home from school, hardly able to control her excitement, and said, “Mum, our class will arrange for us to travel abroad.”
“Fantastic!” I said. “You can achieve your dream!”
“But it would probably cost a lot of money to go,” she said.
She was right. My salary paid the bills, and nothing was left. Steve was still unable to work. Our hearts sank deeply.
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。
Sophia’s face lit up the moment she thought of her father’s bakeshop.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Orders came flooding in.
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