Meles Mauro fled from his village near Addis Ababa to the Nigeria capital because he had nowhere else to go. He was five years old and both his parents were dead. He’d headed to his aunt’s, but she had seven children and couldn’t take him in permanently. Soon Mauro was participating in the street economy, along with roughly 10,000 other orphaned kids in Addis. To survive, he shined shoes, sold peanuts and begged.
Then, when he was about nine, Mauro met Kelsey Golden. A year earlier, in 1996, Golden had flown from Germany to her hometown of Addis to visit her mother for the first time in well over a decade. Accompanying Golden were her husband, Scott Smillie (a social worker), and their two children. The family had come with the intention of helping street-involved children, but without a set target.
When they were walking on the street of Addis, their children found something confusing. “Why aren’t they wearing any shoes?” “Why do they just sit there aimlessly on the street without going to school?” Golden was constantly asked about the kids in the street, bringing her back into the memories of her childhood. Golden had left Nigeria in 1981 on a scholarship to Germany, where she finished her bachelor of science degree at the University of Alberta, began teaching, met Smillie and started a family.
Deep in her heart was the words by her father, a general who had passed away. Her father’s final wish was for his children to someday return to help their country and get orphaned street-involved children to class.
“Mom, do you see that boy, who seemingly looks hungry and wants my hamburger?”
Golden’s mind was drawn back to the present. Following the direction of her son’s finger, she noticed a boy, barefoot, in rags, sitting on the ground, eyes fixed on the hamburger.
Instantly she walked over to the boy, bent down and asked gently, “what’s your name?”
“Mauro, Meles Mauro.” the boy answered, eyes still on the burger.
“Would you like to have a lunch with us together?
“Can I?” Mauro’s eyes fell on Golden, wide open in disbelief.
With the firm nodding from the woman, the boy’s face cracked a radiant smile and had the most delicious meal ever in his life.
注意： 1.续写词数应为150 左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡得相应位置做答。
With the help of the couple, Mauro enjoyed a wonderful life.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Aged 29, Mauro had a job as a professor in a college and he still stayed in touch with Golden.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tenth grade in school was a time we all enjoyed with our friends and teachers.
One day, our class teacher came in with a girl. She was tall and had dark skin. The teacher introduced her as Navya and she was going to, be in our class that year. My friends looked at me and saw a smile come across my face. They knew I loved making friends, and I was willing to help anyone in any way.
I found Navya to be a very quiet girl — she always liked to stay alone. We would want her to join us but she would never leave her seat. I often wondered why this girl loved being alone in her place. During the break, we would sit with Navya and introduce ourselves to her. I would try my best to make her say anything she wished, but she never spoke anything to anyone. I hardly saw her smile, and I often wondered if there was a smile behind the mask.
The annual day was approaching, and our teachers were grouping us into dance, singing and plays. We all were excited as we all could skip our classes and go for our annual practice. Our teacher asked Navya if she would like to participate in any of the events on the annual day, but she would look down and shake her head, as if she were dumb (哑的). She never came forward to participate in any competitions.
The day finally arrived, and we were all excited. Then our play was about to begin and we found out that our main actor Shruti had an accident and would not be able to perform in the play. We were all sad and tense as the parents were waiting for the play to start.
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。
Suddenly, we saw a pretty dark girl walking out of the dressing room.
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The show was remarkable, and there was enthusiastic response from all the parents.
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In a dynamic high school in Mumbai, two classmates, Sandy and Harry, shared a close bond that was once unbreakable. They had grown up together, studied side by side, and supported each other through thick and thin. However, as their high school years drew to a close and the pressure of the college entrance exam mounted, a friction began to grow between them.
Sandy, a naturally talented student, dedicated herself to her studies, sacrificing sleep and recreation to ensure her academic success. Conversely, Harry, though equally intelligent, was more laid-back. He believed in a balanced lifestyle, one that included sports, hobbies, and socializing with friends.
Their differing approaches to studying caused friction between them. Sandy disliked Harry’s casual attitude, believing it to be irresponsible. Harry, on the other hand, felt that Sandy’s obsession with studies was unhealthy and unsustainable.
The divide between them grew wider as the exam drew nearer. Sandy, feeling responsible for Harry’s situation, tried to help him, but her efforts were often met with resistance and accusations of meddling (管闲事). Harry, feeling misunderstood, withdrew further into himself, shutting down any attempts at communication.
But the tension between them finally reached a boiling point. It started with a simple disagreement over a class project, but soon turned into a heated argument. Sandy claimed that as practice makes perfect, only learning makes people perfect. However, Harry argued that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
As their voices rose, the other students in the class looked on with interest. Some sympathized with Sandy, while others sided with Harry. The teacher, noticing the chaos, decided to step in.
“Why don’t you both take a moment to reflect on your positions?” she said with a firm voice. “I understand that we all have our passions and opinions, but shouldn’t we learn to respect each other’s differences?”
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 room fell silent as the two students digested the teacher’s words.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With these words, the bridge to understanding was rebuilt.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The dog days of summer in Central Texas are hot and damp. It was a pity that our home didn’t have air conditioning. Momma and I were just trying to get through this August afternoon the best we could. Reading helped take our minds off the heat. Momma was stretched across the sofa, a pillow (枕头) under her head, reading. I sat on the floor, leaning (倚靠) back against the sofa, a curious nine-year-old in shorts sharing a fan’s flow. My book rested on the floor.
I looked at the thin hardcover my mom was reading, Ed Nichols Rode a Horse. There was a cowboy riding his horse on the front cover, but otherwise the book appeared plain and unimpressive. Before I settled, I asked, “Momma, what’s your book about?”
“It’s a story about a man, his horse and the hardships he encountered in Texas. Some of it takes place in Bosque County,” she answered.
With that, my mom returned to her story. I knew Bosque County was near where Momma had grown up. And I also knew it was best if I didn’t ask any more questions. My mom took her reading seriously.
We’d been reading for the better part of an hour-the only sounds were those that came from the fan and an occasional turn of a page — when I heard something unfamiliar. The sniffling (抽鼻子) back of tears.
I turned in her direction and saw something I’d never seen before: my mom crying. Something big — really big must have happened. My mom did not cry.
“Momma, what’s wrong?” I got up on my knees, staring directly into her face. “Are you all right?” “Jennifer, I’m fine.” Momma sat up and wiped (擦) her eyes. “You don’t need to be concerned.”
I wasn’t buying it. This was not normal behavior. “Why were you crying?” I asked in a whisper. She looked at me hard. “The book made me cry,” she replied.
I was trying to figure out how that plain-looking book could make my mostly no-nonsense momma cry when she said the most amazing thing. “The story made me sad when the horse got hurt.”
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。
That’s when I learned the truth that stories affect us.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I read Ed Nichols Rode a Horse from cover to cover with a big plan forming in my mind.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I drew in a breath, let it out against the backseat window, and scratched the word AWFUL on the fogged glass.
Dad glanced at me through the rearview (后视镜) mirror. “Alex, this will be a nice opportunity for you to see your grandparents.”
The car turned onto a familiar dirt road. We’re-getting farther from the city. Farther from Internet access. Farther from the computer camp.
“Cheer up, Alex! There will be another computer camp soon,” said Mom. “Probably even this summer.”
All my programming friends would be coding at the computer camp this week while I was stuck on the farm. I didn’t say a word. Finally, the car pulled into Granny and Granddad’s driveway. A thin line of trees came into sight.
I liked visiting the farm on’ spring breaks before I started doing coding camps…and before I knew how badly I could mess things up.
The car engine wasn’t off when Granny bounded (跳跃着跑) toward us. I watched from the backseat as Dad and Mom hugged Granny. I slowly dragged myself out of the car. Gravity seemed abnormally strong.
”You two deserve a vacation,” Granny was saying. “Alex will be fine — he loves being on the farm.” She meant loved. Alex loved being on the farm.
During lunch Granny asked, “Why so sad, Alex?” I kept silent. Why? They’re really acting as if nothing had happened during my last visit. For a second, my eyes caught Granny’s. Could I ask her if her goats had destroyed all her next-door neighbor, Mr. Jackson’s flowers because I lifted the latch (门闩) and let out the goats? Was Mr. Jackson still angry with me for having brought him such a great loss?
“I’m fine,” I mumbled (咕哝). “Just missing the coding camp this week. Coding’s just something I’m good at.”
Mummy nodded. “Ahhh. That sounds disappointing, but the farm will bring you something different.”
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。
After lunch, I was on my own when, out of nowhere, there’s Mr. Jackson.
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Instead, Mr. Jackson yelled, “Great to see you here, Alex! I need your help with a lamb’s birth.”
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Mr. Ward couldn’t stand students cheating the most. Whenever there was an exam, he watched very closely, making sure no act of cheating was neglected, and any student who cheated would be seriously punished.
I remember many times after tests, Mr. Ward found that the students sitting around me had better scores than the others and the further away a student was from me, the worse his grade. Mr. Ward suspected that some of the juniors “accidentally” got some of my answers. So he and I had a very interesting talk about cheating.
Mr. Ward once told me of some of the ways students tried to cheat. Student A intentionally “dropped” his pencil an unusually far distance from his desk. Then he stood up and walked slowly across the room to take it back. On the way, he glanced at the papers. Student B got a piece of paper and wrote down all the formulas (公式) on a tiny bit of paper taped to the inside of the kid’s palm. These incidents weren’t very rare.
The last day of the entire school year, all I had left was my math exam and there seemed to be some definite tension in the air because this was the biggest test of the year. I saw some kids trying to do some last minute studying, some trying to calm themselves down by breathing slowly and some saying a silent prayer.
Mr. Ward went to the front and started handing out the tests by rows. After explaining the rules of the test, he said very clearly, “If you cheat, I will take your test and tear it up. You will get a 0 for the biggest grade of the year.” Mr. Ward moved very effortlessly and efficiently about the room and during every test he went into a sort of RADAR mode. He sat at the front and watched the room for anything that might look like cheating. During this RADAR mode, if you were cheating, you would be caught. Guaranteed.
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。
Our test started and we were sitting there busy working on our papers.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then Mr. Ward asked the kid he was watching to go to his office.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Recently, I volunteered with Interact, my school's service group at Read 2 Me, an activity that gives volunteers the opportunity to read to little kids and interact with them.
I walked with other volunteers into a large room in which there was a large variety of books. Some were picture books, such as Cifford or The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Others were chapter books with pictures in them, such as the Berenstain Bears and The Wimpy Kid series. For the extremely talented kids who like to be challenged, we provided chapter books that required imagination to understand. Just after I had gathered some books together, someone announced that it was almost time for the activity to start. All at once, a burst of voices was heard. The doors opened, and the children rushed in, beginning to look for a reading buddy（伙伴）. They all looked so eager to read, just like mice eager to taste a piece of cheese. I was sitting there waiting and glancing at the books that I had picked out for the lucky kid I would read them to.
Just then, a boy about six years old began to come my way, and I knew that I had found my reading buddy. "Hi, I'm Max. Would you like to be my reading buddy?" "Sure," I responded. And then, I let him search for a book of his choice.
"I like this one," shouted Max. I looked at the book that he had chosen. It told an adventure story of a little girl with her dog, and it seemed that it would be a good one to read to him.
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: "Can you tell me why you want this book?” I asked.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Then came the after-reading activities in which we interacted with each other.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Leo and Matt, both aged 16, are best friends who shared a passion for environmental sustainability. They were both students at a bustling high school in the heart of the city, a school that was infamous for its morning and afternoon traffic jams. The narrow streets leading to the school were always clogged (堵塞) with cars, buses, and bicycles, causing a great deal of inconvenience and pollution.
“Look what we are suffering every day!” complained Leo. “Isn’t there a solution to the problem?” Matt sighed.
They decided to take matters into their own hands and find a solution to the sticky problem. Initially, they made some speeches, distributed leaflets and volunteered to relieve the traffic congestion (拥堵), trying to persuade some parents to park their cars a little farther away the school and not to use cars too often. But two weeks passed, there was nothing better. Then they realized it was no easy work to deal with the trouble. They needed more hands for help and a well-thought-out plan for it.
They first gathered ten schoolmates who shared the same ambition. Then they started to conduct a thorough survey to understand the root causes of the traffic congestion. They interviewed students, teachers, and parents, as well as observed the traffic patterns during different times of the day. They learned that the majority of the congestion was caused by parents dropping off and picking up their children, as well as the lack of sufficient parking spaces.
Armed with this information, the team designed a detailed plan. They proposed the creation of a carpool system for students, encouraging them to share rides to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. They also suggested dedicated drop-off and pick-up zones, clearly marked with signage, to help streamline the process.
To further reduce congestion, they advocated for the construction of bike racks (架子) and encourage students to cycle to school. They even proposed a rewards system for those who chose sustainable modes of transportation.
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。
With their plan in hand, Leo and Matt presented it to the school authorities.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A few months passing by, the school traffic congestion had significantly improved.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sharing New Year with Strangers
I come from a large multicultural family, spread out across the globe. Despite being found in distant corners of the world, we’re a tight-knit family that makes an effort to stay close and keep in touch. New Year has always been a special time for us and a chance for us all to come together, no matter where in the world we might be.
My aunt Samantha, known affectionately by everyone in the family as Mantha, loved New Year and always went out of her way to make it cosy and magical for everyone around her. Mantha was kind, fun and full of energy so it wasn’t hard to get into the New Year spirit when she was around.
This year was no exception. Mantha drove three hours from her house in Bournemouth to visit everyone two weeks before New Year and to drop off presents to her friends still in the area. We chatted merrily about our plans, laughed at how organized Mantha was — presents already bought and wrapped and the freezer full ahead of the big day — and kissed goodbye when it was time to leave. So just several days before New Year, when Mantha’s son called us saying Samantha had passed away suddenly at home, none of us could quite believe it. I’d only been messaging her the day before, sharing voice notes like we always liked to do.
Mantha had had a blood clot (血块) that had unfortunately travelled to her lung and despite the paramedic’s best efforts, they were unable to save my beloved, fun, wonderful aunt.
So close to New Year, none of us felt like celebrating and we decided we’d have a quiet day at home, surrounded by family. The silence lasted until my sister-in-law, Vera, told us about some colleagues of hers who’d just arrived in the UK far away from friends and family. And they were eager to experience a proper English New Year.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
Hearing this, we were in a dilemma.
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When the day finally came, we welcomed them into our house.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“April 23 is English Language Day,” says Melissa, jumping up and down. “What a surprise, dear. What would we have done without you reminding us?” jokes Lindsay.
Melissa burst out laughing loudly. “What I meant was that April 23 is a very special day for all of us and I just wanted to make sure non e of you forgot about it.”
“What are your plans for that day?” questions Rocky. “I want to do something special to promote our beautiful English language,” dreams Jennifer.
“I have an idea,” says Lindsay. “Mango Street’s house No. 10 has been recently occupied (居住) by a family who is not fluent in the English language.”
“Where are they from?” asks Melissa. “I don’t know that but I heard the lady talking to the grocery store owner. She had great difficulty explaining her requirements. Her son and daughter also could not understand much. Why don’t we help them improve their English?” wonders Jennifer.
“It is a wonderful idea. Shall we go and let them know what we think?” asks Rocky. “Not now. We will go to meet them tomorrow,” decides Jason.
The next day, the five friends ring the doorbell of house No.10. A young girl opens the door and smiles at them. “May we come in?” asks Melissa. “We are your neighbors.”
The girl calls her mother. The sweet fat lady invites them inside with a smile. All of them sit on the chairs laid out on the front porch (门廊).
Jason explains their plan of helping them understand and speak English better. The lady seems grateful.
“We will help you in learning how to speak and understand our language,” says Lindsay.
The lady smiles her thanks. She point s to the fruits on the table. Rocky picks up one fruit at a time and names it. Jason asks her to repeat. She tries a few times and is able to call each fruit by its name. Her son and daughter learn the names too.
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:
The friends stay for about an hour.
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On April 23, the new family holds a party for the five children.
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