I was eleven years old. This was my first soccer game. As the tall and skinny kid stuck in the middle of the muddy field, with little knowledge of the rules and regulations of the game, I was nervous, but still excited. With kids running at me from all directions, I observed the skills that many of my teammates possessed. Their motions appeared to be so smooth and effortless, while their faces revealed their attachment to the game. I, on the other hand, lacked the commitment that many of the other kids had.
Little to my knowledge, this game turned out to be an intense one. My team was trailing (落后) behind the entire game, but toward the end, we tied it up. Suddenly, it was my turn to kick the ball. This was my chance to reveal that I was as good as everyone else. I brought my leg back and was ready to kick with all my strength. I gave a good and hard kick, but unfortunately, I kicked the ball in the wrong direction. Seeing the disappointed faces of the members of my team, I felt my face went from pale white to bright red. I wanted to run home. faster than I ever ran in a soccer practice.
Over the next few years, I continued to participate in a variety of sports, trying to find the one where I would be the center of attention for the right reasons. That never happened. I began to feel like an outsider. Whenever I was introduced to a kid in school or a friend of my parents, I was always asked if I played soccer—a natural question to a teenager. When I responded “No”, everyone would tell me that I should. But I did not want to, and I was never able to figure out why it mattered so much. I longed to find something that really interested me.
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。
At senior high, I gave up my attempt to try various sports.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I turned to the other aspects of my life, the ones I enjoyed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My second year in college had started. I hadn’t decided whether to fly home for the new year yet. Although I had missed the holiday the year before, and I didn’t want to miss it two years in a row, I didn’t have the money for the ticket, plus I wasn’t sure I could get enough time off from my job. All that wondering changed when my mom called. She got right to the point: “Your grandmother isn’t doing well. I decided I should fly out there for the new year.” Mom was an only child, so that made sense to me. But I was not ready for what I heard next. “We decided you would want to come along so I covered your ticket.”
We arrived as scheduled. Mom was anxious to see her parents, especially her mother, who was really sick. After saying hello to them, we settled in the living room. Grandpa helped Grandma lie down again and told us we would have a big lunch at noon.
He went into the kitchen. Mom walked up and down in the living room. Finally, I asked her what the matter was. “He can’t cook,” she said, wondering. “How’s he supposed to fix a holiday meal for us?”I tried to reason with her.
“Can’t you smell dinner? It smells good to me. Grandma is upstairs resting. Grandpa is the only one who could be cooking.” But we couldn’t see through the kitchen door. She had an idea. “Let’s go out to the front door and see from outside the window what’s going on inside. Then we will know who is really cooking.” Grandpa was very hard of hearing, so he didn’t hear us leave. It was a crazy plan, but I followed her around the house to the kitchen windows.
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 we watched Grandpa fill water glasses, make coffee and do everything skillfully.
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Looking at the nice food on the table, Mom asked, “When did you learn to cook?”
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Jackson’s parents died, and his neighbor Mrs Herring adopted him. The Herrings was a large, happy family.
One day, Jackson had a big argument with Mrs Herring and he packed up and left the Herrings’ house in anger. With no place to go, Jackson spent the night on the street. The next morning. Jackson was standing outside the Herrings’ home, regretting what he had done the previous night. However, he was still hesitant to enter until he heard a voice behind him say. “Where were you last night?We all were worried about you.”
After they entered the house, Mr Herring told Jackson Mrs Herring suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital the night after Jackson left.
Jackson felt terrible about what he had done. But he felt worse when Mr Herring told him how much Mrs Herring loved him.
“She had helped your mother during her delivery, and she was there for you when you were a baby!After you live with us, she always tries her best to make you feel at home. She really hopes you can call her Mom.”
“I was really horrible, wasn’t I?” asked Jackson. “I need to apologize to Mrs Herring. She’s done a lot for me.”
“Well, then, I have an idea,” Mr Herring said.
A few days after this, Mrs Herring returned home from the hospital to find her house decorated with balloons. And there were also flowers on the living room table, where a beautiful cake awaited her. “Happy birthday, honey, and welcome back home,” Mr Herring, said as he led her inside. On her 60th birthday, all the family members wished Mrs Herring, but her sad eyes were searching for Jackson everywhere.
“He isn’t here?” she asked sadly. “I’m sorry, honey,” said Mr Herring. “How about putting everything aside and just cutting the cake?” Mrs Herring sighed. She sat at the table and was about to blow out the candles when the doorbell rang.
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。
On the doorstep stood Jackson with a huge bouquet (花束) of red roses in his hands.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then Mrs Herring asked Jackson to blow out the candles together.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was young, we lived in a small town. Everyone knew Roy as he was a top student in the town. He was of my age, but he lost his parents in an accident at the age of 8. So he lived alone and delivered newspapers to support himself and his education.
Every time he delivered newspapers to our home, he wore a broad smile on his face and greeted my mom gently. My mom was greatly surprised when she knew his daily routine. He got up every morning by 5 o’clock and walked 5 kilometers from where he lived to the newspaper office to collect the newspapers. By 6:00, he carried 50 pieces of newspapers — more than 5 kilograms and walked 3 kilometers back. After sending the newspapers, he rushed another 3 kilometers home to cook a simple breakfast before hurrying to school.
This morning, seeing he left hurriedly in a strong wind, my mom and I decided to do something for him. After school, I waited for him at the school gate and told him that my mom would like to invite him to our home. When he asked why, I replied, “You will know soon!” Thinking for a short while, he followed me to my home nearby. It was possible that he assumed my mom would continue to subscribe to the newspaper.
注意：1. 续写词数应为100个左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
My mom stood at the door, waiting for us.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing the bike in front of him, he couldn’t hold back his tears.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Positive Action Fuels Hope
“I’m not going back to group therapy (治疗). I refuse to be treated like that.” The voice was so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear.
Alicia Gonzalez suffered from depression. This was her second month at the homeless shelter, where I work as a case manager.
Alicia had been a nurse for 10 years. Her work was intense and demanding, and she loved it. To her, the trauma (精神创伤) she’d suffered was that her son lost his life in a car crash. With her brain overloaded by the trauma, she couldn’t focus on her work. Finally, she had to quit her job. With no income, she couldn’t pay her rent. For almost three years, Alicia lived in her truck. Alicia told me all this at our first meeting.
“I want to help you,” I said. “There are lots of resources here. All I ask is that you tell me what’s going on with you. That way I can make sure you’re getting the services you need.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “It’s just hard. I used to feel as though what I did mattered. Now...” Her voice became quiet. Before I could say something, she stood and walked out of the room.
Two months later, I still felt as if I hadn’t gotten through to Alicia. Sometimes the things sending her into a violent anger were so minor—a piece of rubbish someone had dropped on the floor—it was hard for me to think of coping skills that didn’t sound like I was criticizing her.
Maybe this latest talk in group therapy was the last straw (稻草). “Finding something small you can feel good about can help you cope with anger,” I suggested. “It doesn’t need to be some huge thing.” Even as I said it, I wondered, “Was that really the best advice I could come up with?” Alicia took a long deep breath. “I know,” she said.
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 few weeks later, I saw her in the hallway with a rubbish bag.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In March, Alicia was offered a job doing housekeeping at the shelter.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Tiki!” I yelled crazily. Our little white dog, Tiki, had slipped out of the door earlier that evening while I was carrying groceries into the house. Now I was walking up in the neighborhood trying to find him. My seven- year-old son, Jordan, and my three-year-old daughter, Julia followed me.
The last few months had been difficult. After losing my job, I could no longer afford our house in Indianapolis. The kids and I moved in with my parents in northern Indiana, 150 miles away from the city.
We called out Tiki’s name and knocked on neighbors’ doors until it was too dark to see. We were forced to returm home empty-handed. “Mom, it’s all new here. What if Tiki can’t find Grandma’s house?” asked Jordan. “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s wearing his collar and dog tag, so if someone finds him, they’ll call me, and we’ll get him back.” It was at that moment that I realized with horror that Tiki’s tag listed our address and phone number in Indianapolis. If someone found him, they’d have no way to reach me. I felt sick to my stomach.
The kids were sad, especially Jordan. One afternoon, I found him crying in his room. “At school, we had to write about our wishes,” he said. “I wrote, ‘I wish my dog would come home.’ Mrs Rush hung our papers in the hallway. Every time I see my paper, I feel sad.” My heart broke for him.
So later that week, when he put on a T-shirt with a rat picture from his old school back in Indianapolis, something told me to just let it slide. If it helped him get through the school day. that was more important than looking put-together.
When he got home that afternoon, he told me the school custodian(门卫) had asked him about his shirt. “I told him that we had just moved here from Indianapolis,” said Jordan
The next day, I got a call from Jordan’s teacher. “I’m calling on behalf of our school custodian,” she began. “His grown daughter found a dog recently, and he thinks it might be yours.”
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:
I called the custodian’s daughter immediately.
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Paragraph 2:
She told me she’d mentioned to him that she’d found little dog.
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Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.
One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.
Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city.When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.
The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.
Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Filled with delight, Ali walked home quickly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For as long as I could remember, I had wanted to travel into the Amazon jungle. During the last summer break at university, I decided to travel there. I didn’t have much money. So I found the least expensive flight to Lima, Peru. Once there, I planned on traveling to the town of La Merced. To get there, however, I had to take a taxi for the next fourteen hours.
By the time I reached La Merced, I found a hotel and asked the man at the front desk if there were any travel routes into the jungle. His simple answer was “no”. In fact, there was no way to go farther into the jungle except by hiring a boat to travel down the Amazon. However, I found that an impossible choice.
At that point, I decided to go out and get something to eat. I had walked less than a minute from the hotel when a rainstorm swept across the town. I raced ahead to the closest restaurant to get out of the rain.
I took a table by myself and ordered a meal. I was very tired. I was also feeling sorry for myself. I had flown down to Peru and then taken a fourteen—hour journey in a taxi only to discover there was no way to get into the jungle.
Then, I saw an old man. He headed over to my table. “Hi, my name’s Fritz,” he said in English. With a smile, I introduced myself and we talked for half an hour. I told him my story. He could see I was tired and unhappy, and his eyes softened as he listened.
“Come with me and stay with me and my wife Helga at our home in the jungle. We have a coffee plantation (种植园) there. You can stay as long as you’d like. At six o’clock tomorrow morning, I’ll pick you up at the hotel and take you on a trip into the jungle,” Fritz said.
“Thank you very much,” I said. “Six o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Honestly, I didn’t expect he would appear.
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。
At 6:00 the next morning, I heard a car honking (鸣喇叭) outside my hotel.
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For the next five days, I was treated as a special guest in his home.
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1讲座的目的；
2.讲座的过程；
3.讲座的反响。
注意：1. 词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A Lecture on Beijing Opera
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Derek and Shirley walked out of the airport building and into the bright sunshine. Looking up at the brilliant blue sky and then at the faraway mountains rising above the swaying palm trees, they couldn’t wait to start their holiday.
A taxi pulled up swiftly and silently. Derek dropped their suitcases into the boot and joined Shirley in the back seat. “Palm Trees Hotel, please,” Derek said excitedly. “Certainly, sir,” replied the driver, as he turned around with a flashing white smile. Derek and Shirley gave each other a puzzled look as the taxi eased smoothly into the traffic. “Excuse me, er, your face seems very familiar—in fact, you remind us of that famous film star, Rocky Overton... but of course, you can’t be.”
Derek and Shirley sat in silent disbelief as the driver explained that he was not a real person, but a robot made to look like a famous actor. “Rocky” explained that the taxi company had purchased the latest model of robot drivers since they were programmed to be safer and more reliable than human drivers. “So, here I am,” “Rocky” continued, “your first robot taxi driver!”
Derek and Shirley held each other’s hands more tightly. “Relax,” “Rocky” reassured them, “there is nothing for you to worry about. I can assure you that my driving skills are excellent. I’m equipped with perfect vision and superior reactions, and I know every street in the city. I am instantly updated with the latest traffic information so that I can avoid traffic jams and get you to your destination in the quickest and least stressful manner. Please sit back, relax and enjoy the journey.”
Derek and Shirley, feeling a little better, leaned back in their seats and closed their eyes. “And another thing,” “Rocky” added, “my line of robots represents the ultimate in computer technology. I am beautifully designed, made from only the best materials and subject to the strictest quality checks. Therefore, you are entirely safe with me. Nothing could possibly go wrong ... could possibly go wrong ... go wrong ... go wrong ...”
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。
Derek and Shirley looked at each other with great fear in their eyes.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Don’t worry, sir,” came the calm reply on the phone, “And your taxi is also a driverless car.”
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