After getting up late on a sleepy Sunday, I saw my dad at the kitchen table reading the Sunday edition of the local newspaper. I made a sandwich and sat down next to him, asking him what was new. He turned sadly to me and said that the municipal council (市政委员会) was planning to introduce a measure to pull down the community garden nearby. He mentioned that he used to work on it with his dad, so the place had some fond childhood memories for him.

He then put down the paper, walked over to the closet and-after a bit of searching-pulled out a thick, black binder (活页夹). Inside, there was a whole bunch of old photographs. After thumbing through a few pages, my dad found the one of him and his dad together at the community garden, just like he’d said. “Wow, your cheeks were super rosy back then!” I said, surprised.

With nothing planned for the afternoon, my dad and I decided to take a trip over to the community garden to see how it was doing these days. Not great, as it turned out. Crumpled (皱巴巴的) soda cans, cigarette butts (烟头) and other trash were everywhere. Pots of soil were still there, but what few plants remained were either dead or dying.

We looked at each other and knew what we had to do. After gathering some tools and garbage bags, we went straight to work cleaning up the place. I phoned up some of my school friends and, soon enough, a half-dozen people were collecting trash bags and sweeping paths. Someone had even brought bags of fresh seeds and soil along with new flowers, so we uprooted the old dead plants and flowers and planted anew.

After only a few hours, the community garden looked totally changed. Despite our hard work, there was still the matter of the upcoming council vote. We created a plan: take photos of the garden and spread the news about the vote. Using the photographs, we would then collect signatures (签名) to show continued local interest and then present these to the council.

After two weeks of photo-taking and signature-collecting, it was time to present at the local council meeting.

In the end, our efforts paid off.

It took a day’s drive, but distance was beside the point. I always enjoyed long journeys in my father’s car with my family. However, things went different that time. We were moving to a new town, not for any tourist destination, but to settle down, for my father had a new job there. My mother, sitting on the passenger seat in the front, was talking with my father. She looked excited for the coming new life. But I was down, feeling nervous about starting a new school life. Entering a new school meant adapting to a completely different environment and meeting new classmates and teachers, which I was not good at.

On my first day at the new school, I felt lost and out of place. The students already knew each other well, and they chatted happily during breaks. I missed my old friends terribly and wished I could go back to my old school. Feeling lonely. I often spent time alone during breaks and after classes, reading books in the library or drawing pictures in the art room. I missed the good days I had with my old friends and longed for that sense of belonging.

As the days went by, I still found it hard to fit in. I was shy and found it difficult to strike up conversations with my classmates. Some of the kids in my class noticed my discomfort and tried to be friendly, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling of being an outsider. I only had words with my desk mate, Alex, when necessary. Things took a turn for the worse when I knocked off Alex’s water bottle by accident, although I picked up the bottle immediately and apologized to him. He got mad at me and seemed not to forgive me. Soon I found we were avoiding each other.

However, I was assigned to pair up with Alex to design a poster.

Alex proudly introduced that the fantastic picture was drawn by me.

She was the prettiest puppy we had ever seen, and the whole family immediately fell in love with her. We named her Onyx because of her black, shiny black coat. She spent her first vacation with us when she was only ten weeks old and had her first bath and swim in the St. Lawrence River. We had no clue that this amazing little ball of fur would end up being our hero.

As she grew older, Onyx became more and more involved in our family activities. On hot summer days, Onyx enjoyed floating on the river with us in her own rubber tube (橡皮圈). Amazingly standing on the top of the tube, she smiled while showing off her perfect balance. Resting her front legs and paws over the edge of the rubber tube, she kept her eyes shut as she floated until she’d had enough of the warm sun on her black coat.

One day, our eighteen-year-old daughter, Margie, announced she was going to swim across the bay. No one in the family was free to go swimming with her. The unwritten rules, regardless of swimming ability, was to have a companion in the water with you, especially when swimming the width of the bay. I was not a good swimmer, so I said to Margie, “Take Onyx with you.” Having heard her name, Onyx woke up from a nap and was ready for action. Margie signed the dog to follow her. Onyx ran to the water next to her. They entered the freezing river together and swam side by side across the bay.

I watched from the bank as they reached the sandbar (沙洲) on the far shore. They rested a few minutes before diving into the water for the return trip. I felt uneasy for some reason and continued to watch the pair swim side by side.

Suddenly I heard Margie calling out, “I have a cram (痉挛) in the leg! ”

Seeing the pair approaching the riverbank, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Logan was a brilliant student. He had committed to doing everything it took to win a scholarship to study at a good university. But nothing was more important to the 17-year-old boy than supporting his mother who was sick. After school hours, he would work as a bagboy at the local grocery store. Together, Logan and his mother managed to make ends meet while still fighting to achieve bigger dreams.

Now right outside the grocery store, Logan spotted a familiar face. “Mr. Peters!” Logan called out to the old man holding crutches (拐杖), whom he recognized as his new neighbor. Mr. Peters waved at Logan.   Logan happily helped the old man find what he needed and helped him bill the items, too.

“That will be $23, Mr. Peters,” Logan said.

Mr. Peters was taken aback by the bill’s amount. He asked, “And how much without the fruits?”

“$19, sir.”

“I see.” Mr. Peters looked in his wallet. He studied the bill and said, “Actually, I’ll just take the greens, thank you.”

“You know what? Here, let me pay for your order. It looks like you may have … left your card at home or something.”

Mr. Peters didn’t see this kind gesture coming, and even though it hurt his pride a little, he accepted the boy’s help.

Logan paid for the order and handed the bags to the old man. But Mr. Peters could only move a few steps forward as he tried to hold all the groceries without the crutches slipping away Logan rushed to Mr. Peters and offered to carry the groceries to his home. It was a short walk, but the two men were engaged in conversation all the way.

“What are you doing working at a grocery store? You look like you should be in college!” Mr.   Peter asked.

On listening to Logan’s story, Mr. Peters was moved and thought he should do something. “It was lovely to meet you, Logan. Maybe you could pop in after your shift at the store today?” he asked.

Logan agreed, suspecting that the man probably needed some help around the house.

After work, Logan knocked on his neighbor’s door and discovered the most astonishing thing about the old man.

“I’ve asked some former workmates to notice a scholarship application from a young man named Logan,” Mr. Peters continued.

More than 20 hours earlier, my friend Emma and I had stood at the entrance to the cave. We laughed and joked as I climbed down the steep mouth and she followed. Six of us had gone on that camping trip, but after a full day of exploring caves, the others had gone back to the campsite to eat. Emma and I decided to explore one more cave.

The mud of the cave floor was soft and sticky as we snaked our way through the tunnel. The air was damp and heavy. As the passage twisted through the earth, it became smaller. Then, suddenly, after a tight squeeze, I came into a larger room.

“Once you make it past this narrow spot you can almost stand,” I told Emma, as I stretched out my arms and legs and enjoyed the big space. “Alright, I’m almost th...” Emma’s sentence was cut short. I turned around. “Are you alright?” I asked. All I could see was her face, and her eyes were full of fear. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m stuck.”

Emma and I tried everything we could to free her. But it became apparent that we needed help. I took out my cell phone to call my other four friends, but there was no signal. I couldn’t go to seek help because Emma was stuck between me and the cave mouth. That was why we were so relieved when we heard voices behind us. A beam of light shot down the tunnel.

“What’s going on here?” rang a young man’s voice. “We need help,” I shouted. “She’s stuck.” “I’ve got two buddies with me,” he said. “They can go to find a park ranger (公园管理员), but I’ll stay here and see if I can help from this side.”

The next several hours were long and arduous (艰难的).

Almost five hours after we had entered the cave, the rescue team arrived.

One day, the school headmaster announced the arrival of a new literature teacher, Mrs Adams. “Class, tomorrow welcome her and behave well, as she previously worked in the army and is tough and strict,” she shared. Upon hearing she worked in the army, the whole class looked at each other in fear, except Ben.

The next day, Mrs. Adams entered the classroom looking friendly and was soft-spoken. “She looks like she couldn’t even hurt a fly,” Ben said.

Not angry with Ben, Mrs. Adams taught her lesson patiently so that everyone could understand what she was talking about. And she asked the class to prepare for their first test that would be given weeks later, which caused everyone to take notes and listen carefully, except Ben.

He wasn’t interested in the lesson. He thought literature was boring, and he refused to listen. Thus, when it was finally time for the test, Ben struggled to get any of the answers right.

During their next literature period, Mrs. Adams returned all the papers. Almost all received As while Ben received an F. “Do better next time, Ben,” Mrs. Adams called out. But Ben couldn’t accept it.

After Ben went home in time for dinner, his dad Patrick asked him about his test. Ben said that the new teacher was unfair, giving him his failing mark on purpose. Patrick doubted it. The next day, he secretly visited his son’s headmaster, and confirmed Ben was lying. Patrick left the school dissatisfied.

That evening, Ben discovered his dad had learned the truth about his test. “You didn’t put any effort into doing well in that test!” Ben was embarrassed (尴尬的). His face turned red and hot. He was angry. He wanted to take revenge (报复) on his new teacher.

The next day, he followed Mrs. Adams to her house after school. Angry with her for giving him a failing mark and embarrassing him before his father, Ben took a brick from the ground and threw it at her window. Hearing the noise of her window breaking, Mrs. Adams was shocked.

Frightened, Ben ran away towards home, trying to escape.

Then, following his dad, Ben left towards Mrs. Adam’s house to apologize.

10 . 近期你校对中秋、国庆双节学生度假情况进行了调查，并且制作成了图表。请你就此写一篇短文。要求如下：

1.描述图表内容。

2.发表你的看法及建议。

注意：1.词数 80 左右；2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

How to make holidays count

As is shown in the graph,

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