Tripod’s story started one spring morning as I was finishing a morning surgery at the veterinary clinic (兽医诊所) I owned. I was writing up medical records of the surgery patients when my receptionist (接待员) stuck her head into my office. She told me there was a big cat lying outside with a seriously injured front leg. What’s worse, nobody knew whom it belonged to.
Then I sent two of my pre-vet students to pick up the poor cat while I went back to my record-keeping. But it wasn’t long before I heard the students returning with this newest patient who seemed to be in pretty bad condition.
I carefully checked up the injuries which seemed to be caused by the pressing of a heavy object. With the extremely horrible smell, I knew from years of experience this cat didn’t have an owner. “Well, then,” I sighed, “I’m not sure whether we are able to bring this cat back to life, but let’s give him our best shot anyway. Afterwards, let’s see if we can find a home for him. ”
Just then, when one of the students began touching the cat’s head gently, somewhere deep in the cat’s throat, a weak purr (呼噜声) began. As the student continued to pet the cat, I noticed the cat’s breathing became less laboured (缓慢而困难的).
When I performed the complicated operation, I whispered, “You’re a fighter, aren’t you, boy? You deserve a chance to live.” However, after the surgery, he lost one leg, and still struggled with life and death. Over the next few weeks, Tripod, the cat, went through many ups and downs, but I was sure about his resilience (快速恢复的能力). News about Tripod spread. A number of customers stopped by regularly to check on the progress of his recovery, including Mrs Melson, a pet lover.
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The day finally came when I decided Tripod had really recovered.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Though unwilling to part with Tripod, we were happy to see Mrs Melson come for him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________正方 | 反方 |
| 安慰、陪伴孤寡老人 | 造成环境污染 |
| 人与动物和谐相处，增添生活乐趣 | 吵闹声，甚至伤人 |
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Jackson Merle was exhausted. He was in need of money because his wife was in hospital. He had been knocking on door after door, looking for work, but no one would even listen to what he had to say. No one wanted to talk to an old man. He stood in front of the biggest house on the block. This was his last chance for the day. Every homeowner on the street had run Jackson off, without even listening to his proposal, and maybe this one would be different? Jackson rang the doorbell. Within minutes a pretty young woman opened the door.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, “What can I do for you?” Jackson was heartened by her sunny smile and friendly attitude. “Good morning, miss,” he said, “I’m a handyman, and I’m here to offer you and your family my services.” “What kind of work do you do?” she asked.
“I do anything you might need, miss,” Jackson said, “I do some woodwork, painting, cabinet making; I fix small appliances, some gardening, anything you need and my rates are very reasonable.” “Come on in,” the woman smiled, “I have a table with a wobbly (摇摆的) leg that needs fixing, and maybe you can paint my guest room?” Jackson couldn’t believe his ears. He walked into the woman’s beautiful house, toolbox in hand.
First, he fixed the table, while the woman—who introduced herself as Ruth—sat watching him work and chatting to him. Then he looked at the guest room. Ruth gave him money to buy paint so he could fix it up the next day. She also paid him twice what he’d asked for the table. “But, miss,” Jackson protested, “You’ve given me too much money!” “No, I haven’t, Jackson.” Ruth told him firmly, “My daddy always told me to pay a fair price for a job well done, and that’s what I’m doing!”
Over the next few weeks, Ruth’s neighbor Jolene was surprised to see the elderly man coming in and out of Ruth’s house with his toolbox in hand. Everything in Ruth’s home looking perfect, Jolene didn’t see why she needed a handyman five days a week.
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Ruth smiled and explained she was actually helping Jackson.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jolene was moved by Ruth’s kindness and thoughtfulness and spread her deeds.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I love to watch my father paint and I love to hear him talk while he paints. The words always come out soft. As a mason (泥瓦匠) , he doesn’t have a studio, and I’ve always felt a little sorry for him, having to paint in our backyard, which is not exactly picturesque. Dad doesn’t seem to see the backyard when he’s painting, though. It’s not just the canvas he sees either. It’s something much bigger. He gets this look in his eye like he’s gone beyond the yard, the neighborhood, the world.
“A painting is more than the sum of its parts,” he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you’ve got magic.
I understood what he was saying, but I never felt what he was saying until one day when I was up in the sycamore tree (梧桐树) . I’d never seen a view like that! I got the feeling that I was flying above the earth. The view from the sycamore was more than rooftops and clouds and wind and colors combined. It was magic. It wasn’t long before I found the spot that became my spot. I could sit there for hours, just looking out at the world. Sunsets were amazing. Some days they’d be purple and pink, some days they’d be a blazing orange, setting fire to clouds across the horizon.
Then came the day. When I was sitting in the branches of my tree, I found two trucks parked right beneath me. Four men came out of the trucks, and started unloading tools, gloves, ropes and saws (锯子) .
Pretty soon they spotted me. One of the men called, “Hey! You’d better come down from there. We gotta take this thing down.”
I managed to choke out, “The tree?”
“Yeah, now come on down.”
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: My heart was crazy with panic.
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Paragraph 2: When I was locked up in my room mourning for the loss of the tree, my father came in with a painting.
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I stared at myself in the mirror: blue tights, yellow vest, a fish tail trailing behind me, and large eyes sitting at op my head. I raised my eyebrows and sighed.
“Mom, I don’t think this costume is right,” I said. “Maybe the makeup will add something,” Mom replied hopefully.
Somehow Mom had convinced me to play the Fish Footman in Alice in Wonderland. I can’t say it’s been the time of my life.
“What if I forget my lines?” I hesitated.
“Oh Riley, is that what you’re afraid of? I know you’ve been rehearsing for two months, you were the first off-book in your scene, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.” Mom said, kneeling down and hugging me.
The next day we pulled into the parking lot, and I stepped out of the car, wearing the questionable costume. I shrank inside myself, but Mom pulled me toward the makeup room. When the makeup was done, I looked at myself in the mirror. My jaw dropped.
“Mom! I can’t go onstage like this!” I cried.
“Why not?”
“I’d be a laughing stock (笑柄)! ”
“Riley, look around you! You’re not the only one in an odd costume.”
“What if we just sneak out? No one will miss me.” I whispered.
Mom’s lips disappeared into a thin line, and I knew I had gone too far. “Riley, I’m going to watch you go out on that stage tonight. And that’s the end of it.” Then mom disappeared into the audience. I sat there, alone and bored, as the play began and the curtain rose on.
The two boys dressed as Two of Clubs (梅花2) near me chatted casually about this and that. Suddenly, they asked, “You’re awfully quiet. Is this your first show?” I tried to respond, but my voice caught in my throat and refused to escape. I coughed and nearly yelled, “YES!”
The Ace of Diamonds (方块A) sitting nearby laughed. “The audience will certainly hear you if you talk that loud. But you might have to clear your throat first, she chuckled. I gave them a weak smile.
“Don’t worry about us,” the Ace said. “We’re only teasing.”
“Yeah,” the Two said. “When you’ve done as many shows as we have, projecting will be second nature to you.”
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:
When my name was called, I stepped onto the stage uneasily.
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Suddenly I was determined to make a lasting impression.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Magic was a four-year-old German Shepherd about to be adopted at the animal shelter along with hundreds of other dogs. The reporter announced that the dogs and cats would be put down if no one came by the end of the day. My friend Rosie felt worried about the animals and asked me to accompany her there. So after school we rushed to the shelter to save whoever we could. Finally, she got a cat and I was touched by the poor animals, asking the shelter worker for the biggest dog they had. His name was Magic.
Actually, I lived alone in an apartment. I had to stay in college during the day. So I always stayed out and taking care of a dog at home seemed a challenge for me. Rosie felt uneasy about the dog and advised me to abandon the thought of keeping the dog and send it to a warm home.
But I liked Magic so much, so I didn’t accept her advice and brought Magic home. After learning I adopted a dog, my neighbor below showed worry for I hadn’t kept an animal before.
As it turned out, there wasn’t a lot of trust. Magic would take the food out of his bowl, bring it in front of me and eat it one bit e at a time. My friend Rosie was pretty sure I was crazy and that keeping it would be a huge mistake. But slowly Magic and I got to know each other. We became best friends. For the first time, my apartment felt like a home. We walked together through Central Park every morning and night. Even when my friends invited me to parties, I just wanted to be home with Magic. Our lives were happy. For the first time, I was content.
Unfortunately, a problem appeared. When I was in, he kept calm, but he barked a lot when I was not in, which disturbed my neighbor below.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, my neighbor below knocked on my door.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After listening to the problem, Rosie figured Magic barked just because he felt lonely.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One morning after a storm, a boy named Lucas took a walk along the beach. He noticed many small fish were trapped in the puddles (小水坑) on the sand, unable to return to the sea. Without help, these fish would surely die. As Lucas continued walking, he spotted a man near the puddles. The man was tirelessly bending down, picking up the fish and gently throwing them back into the ocean. Lucas watched in puzzlement as the man saved the lives of the helpless fish.
Then Lucas couldn’t resist approaching the man and said, “There are hundreds, even thousands of fish in these puddles. You can’t save them all.” “I know,” the man replied without looking back, “but this fish cares.” As he spoke, he picked up another fish and returned it to the sea. He added, “This one cares, and this one, and this one…”
As Lucas stood there, watching the man save the fish, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration mixed with a lot of guilt. Here was a man, who was making a difference in the lives of these creatures, while Lucas had never taken such simple yet meaningful actions.
Minutes later, Lucas had another talk with the man. He learned that the man usually came to the beach before going to work to help the stuck fish. The man explained that he had witnessed the result of a storm a few years back, in which countless fish died on the shore. Since then, he had made it his mission to do whatever he could to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
Lucas was still puzzled by what the man was doing, so he asked the man, “Does it make sense for you to do that? Even if you could save these fish, could you make any great impact?” The man smiled and said, “I know my own efforts are insignificant, but if I don’t even try a little bit, I will feel guilty inside.”
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Moved by the man’s determination, Lucas decided to lend a hand.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, Lucas couldn’t help but reflect on his own life.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Following a multi-car crash, a semi-truck hung over the edge of a bridge for 40 minutes until Louisville firefighter, Bryce Carden, came to the rescue.
The incident occurred on the Clark Memorial Bridge during lunchtime traffic. When four vehicles crashed, it caused the semi-truck to break through the bridge barrier and partially hang over the Ohio River 100 feet below. The frightened woman driver sat in the cab (驾驶室) in the air while waiting for rescue.
The Louisville Fire, EMS and Metro Police departments quickly arrived on the scene by 12:06 pm. The moment they arrived, the EMS team communicated with the driver to help keep her calm. At the same time, the firefighters prepared for the rescue attempt. They planned to use a crane (起重机) and a rope system to get a rescuer to the cab and help the driver. The rescuer should tie the harness (安全带) to the driver in the cab and take her to the ground. They prepared specific equipment including an aerial ladder, harness and a safety rope.
29-year-old Bryce Carden is a nice, brave guy and specializes in high-angle rescues. He was asked to lead the attempt to save the driver and bring her to safety. Though Bryce Carden hadn’t performed such rescue before, he wasn’t afraid in face of danger. Instead, he took the risk of his own life and took immediate action. Considering the driver might be stuck by the safety belt, Bryce put a knife in his pocket in case he would need it to cut the belt.
Bryce knew the success of the rescue depends on trust and calmness. He should first let the frightened driver recover her cool head and do as she was told. Actually, it proved that Bryce is the exact right person to put down there to help that driver.
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。
When Bryce approached the driver, he noticed her pale face and frightened eyes.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing that, Bryce reached for his pocket and took out the knife.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In my childhood, under the influence of my el der brother and my peers in the neighborhood, I tried a number of outdoor activities. Of course, I was not so taken by all of them. whether I was doing them for the first time or continuously. However, fate had its own plans in store. You never know when an outdoor activity will change my life.
The name of this activity is “fishing”. About ten years ago, I didn't really like the idea of sitting on the bank of a lake or river, spending long hours under the sun's ultraviolet rays, which can cause sunburns and skin damage, and anxiously anticipating some fish to be kind to take my bait(诱饵). In fact, I used to think of this outdoor activity as some kind of “hide-and-seek-game” that is popular with most young kids, except that it was much harder because I could see my “prey (猎物)” only after catching it.
However, all that changed when I paid a visit to my aunt in the countryside during a summer holiday. I was finally convinced by one of my cousins to accompany him to a nearby lake in order to do some fishing practice with him. In fact, he even assured me that fish would eat my baits. So I agreed and went to the lake expecting to catch some fish. Before throwing my fishing line into the water, my cousin did some tricks attaching some sort of food to my fishing pole.
Learning to fish in a river or lake can be challenging for the beginners like me. The act of dropping a line is easy, but being a successful fisher is hard. That's why they call it fishing but not catching But with practice and patience, it can become easier over time. Patience is essential in lake fishing. It may take some time to find the right spot or lure (鱼饵) that will attract fish.
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My cousin had to repeatedly remind me to keep patient.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When we finally left the lake, I had caught three fish!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Samantha and Jake had always been close to nature. Growing up in a small cottage situated deep within a thriving forest, they found comfort and wonder in the beauty of the natural world. Their daily adventures included exploring the woods, listening to the birdsong, and gazing at the starry night sky. However, as the years passed, they couldn’t help but notice the gradual changes in their beloved forest.
By the time Samantha turned sixteen and Jake was thirteen, they began to witness the effects of deforestation on their wonderland. The sound of chainsaws (电锯) and the sight of fallen trees became increasingly common. The siblings were feeling extremely shocked and sad by the loss of the forest they had cherished since childhood.
One day, after a particularly disheartening walk through the decreasing woods, Samantha came across a book about environmental heroes. These individuals had devoted their lives to preserving the natural world, and their stories of resilience (恢复力) and impact lighted a spark within Samantha’s heart. She believed that if they could make a difference , so could she and Jake.
Samantha couldn’t wait to share her new-found inspiration with her brother. She rushed home , her mind filled with ideas of how they could protect their forest. When she explained her thoughts to Jake, he nodded in agreement. “Our forest is like family to us,” he said, ”We can’t just stand by and watch it disappear. “
With firm determination, Samantha and Jake decided to take action. They began by organizing tree-planting events in their community, enlisting (征募) the help of friends and neighbors. Each sapling they planted was a symbol of hope for the future of their forest.
Soon , their efforts gained favor. The local schools joined their cause, incorporating environmental education into the curriculum and the community united behind them. Samantha and Jake’s forest restoration project had become a movement that united people of all ages.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Months passed, and the once-thinning forest began to show signs of recovery.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, a local news station reached out to Samantha and Jake.
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