When I started high school, I was fourteen years old and six foot tall. The scary thing about being so tall when you’re so young is that people automatically teat you as if you’re older. Yes, I was the size of an adult (actually, bigger than most! ) , but I was still just a kid. And acting more like an adult wouldn’t win me any fiends. As a card-carrying Good Boy, I wanted to meet adults’ expectations and get their praise, but as a Regular Kid, I wanted to be like my peers and get their friendship.
I walked into school that first day in my bluejacket and trousers, the school uniform. I noticed some of my old classmates from my junior high, the ones who had turned their backs on me, and we continued our policy of actively ignoring one another. I felt the pain of their betrayal (背叛) , but I forced my face to remain expressionless. I was here to study hard at academics and to work hard at basketball under my new coach, Jack Donahue. I was here to be excellent. Nothing else mattered.
Indeed I was excellent. I made the honor roll in the first semester, pleasing my parents and teachers. Leaming came naturally to me. I loved reading, especially about history and adventure stories like The Three Musketeers. Basketball, however, I had to work at to do well in.
As a freshman, my style of play reflected my personality: politely passive. I had some skills, but I didn’t have an aggressive nature: The good player around me knew how to play rough, use their bodies with authority, and power their way to a rebound (抢篮板球) . I knew I had to toughen up, and I was committed to getting better, but it wasn’t happening fast enough.
One morning, our school team was scheduled to play a game against Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, and Coach Donahue surprised me by taking me into his office. I figured he was going to discuss his disappointment in my progress as a player, maybe even say something about it all being a big mistake.
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To my surprise, he handed me a team uniform.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________All day, I allowed myself to imagine the game.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was seven years old, my family moved from Mexico to America. In Mexico, I was a cheerful girl who loved making people laugh with my jokes and inventing fun games to play with my friends. However, when I arrived in America, I found it hard to fit in, and I became quieter.
We lived in a small house with a modest yard where we grew vegetables—my responsibility. While I took pride in watching them grow, there were times when I dreamed of having a beautiful garden like my schoolmate Luella’s, with its delicate tulips (郁金香). Although Luella lived in the same neighborhood as me, we barely knew each other.
It was after a tornado that Luella and I finally became close friends.
The tornado struck on a Sunday afternoon.The gentle breeze transformed into a strong wind, and thick gray clouds filled the sky. Gradually, the tornado took shape, starting as a thin rope and growing into a large black funnel (漏斗). My entire family gathered in the bathroom, seeking shelter from the storm. Terrified, I sat close to my mom, knees in my chest. After the storm had passed, our worries and fears were replaced by relief that we were unharmed and that our house had remained undamaged.
As I stepped outside, I witnessed the extent of the damage the tornado had caused to our neighborhood. Across the street, a tall tree had fallen, crushing Luella’s garden in front of her yellow house. We hurried over to check on it. Fortunately, her family seemed to be away at the time, and no one was injured. However, her once-beautiful garden was in ruins, with the fallen tree destroying the tulips and debris (碎片) spread everywhere. I could only imagine how heartbroken they must feel seeing this.
Then my mom’s usual words rang in my ear, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and my family started to think about how we could help.
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Just at that moment, Luella’s family returned in their car.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Even after the debris was cleared, I could still sense Luella’s sorrow for her lost garden.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day Dana and Jeff’s daughter Melody was born was nothing like they expected. The words the doctor said to them completely shook them, “Your daughter was born with a cleft lip (唇裂).” It was impossible for the couple to hide their sadness. They couldn’t believe it was true until they saw their daughter in person. Seeing her cleft made Dana and Jeff heartbroken more than anything. It broke their heart to imagine the kind of life Melody would lead in the future.
When the doctor told Dana and Jeff that their daughter’s condition was treatable with a cleft lip surgery (外科手术), the couple saw a ray of hope. Rather than feeling stressful like the first few days, they promised themselves they never wanted their daughter to suffer from that. They would support Melody as best they could.
Dana and Jeff were ready to do anything for Melody. After bringing Melody home, they immediately began looking for cleft surgery options. However, no matter where they turned, getting Melody the surgery she needed was expensive, and the various treatments and medications she needed in the following would also be much more costly than the young family could afford.
One day, however, things took a turn for the better. While browsing through a medical forum one evening, Jeff stumbled upon (意外发现) a post about a nonprofit organization that specialized in cleft lip surgeries for children. The organization, named Smileatfuture, is dedicated to providing free surgeries to families who could not afford the procedure. The couple had seen a lot of photos and read a lot of stories about children who had cleft surgeries sponsored by Smileatfuture, and the results were unbelievable. The idea that Melody could grow up with hardly a scar (伤疤) where her cleft was lit a fire under the couple. Without any hesitation, Dana and her husband reached out to Smileatfuture and handed in an application for medical aid.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Everything went more smoothly than Dana and Jeff had expected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The big day for Melody’s surgery finally came.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the classroom of Class 7, Grade 8, students were excited about an upcoming event. The school had organized a speech competition titled “Ways to Become Successful,” and many students were eager to showcase their public speaking skills. Among them was 13-year-old Zora, who, had already won two speech contests and was full of confidence that she could win again.
Zora volunteered to represent her class in the competition, and after a round of voting, she was chosen as the class representative. Although there were only seven days left until the big day, Zora felt a sense of ease about the competition. After all, she had been here before and knew what it took to win.
At home, Zora’s father congratulated her on her achievement, while her mother reminded her to take the competition seriously. Despite her parents’ advice, Zora was convinced that her past successes meant this would be a walk in the park. Her teacher also urged her to prepare diligently, but Zora only sought help once to revise her initial draft.
As the days went by, Zora did not put in the necessary effort to refine her speech. When the day of the competition arrived, she was hit with a sudden wave of panic. She couldn’t remember the content of her speech, and as she stepped onto the stage, her anxiety only grew. After delivering the opening lines, she froze, unable to continue. The supportive applause from the audience only added to her confusion, leaving no room for her to recall her prepared words.
Zora struggled through the rest of her speech, finishing it in a state of embarrassment and shame. As she walked off the stage, she saw the disappointment in her teacher’s eyes and felt the letdown from her classmates. It was a heavy burden to bear.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Back at home, Zora could no longer hold back her tears.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next day, Zora went to school and apologized to her class.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In New England, a few years ago, a party of boys decided to start a grand sleigh (雪橇) ride. The sleigh was a large one, pulled by six gray horses.
The next day, as the teacher entered the schoolroom, he found his students in high spirits, chattering excitedly about their journey. One of the boys recounted their trip and its various incidents. As he reached the end of his story, he exclaimed, “Oh sir, there was one thing I had almost forgotten. As we were coming home, we saw a strange sight on the road. It turned out to be a rust y old sleigh attached to a covered wagon (四轮运货车), moving at a very slow pace and taking up the entire road.”
The boys had grown impatient with the slow-moving vehicle ahead of them and decided to take action. They threw snowballs at the wagon and shouted, making the old horse start to run quickly. The old man in the wagon cried out, asking why they were frightening his horse. A boy replied, “Why don’t you turn out, then?” and gave him three more loud cheers. His horse was frightened again and ran into a loaded wagon, almost making the old man fall over.
The teacher listened carefully to the boy’s story before responding, “Take your seats, boys, and I will tell you a story about a sleigh ride, too.”
Yesterday afternoon, a very elderly man was traveling from Boston to Salem to spend the winter at his son’s house. He had brought his wagon for the journey and his sleigh for the winter. His vision and hearing were not what they used to be due to his age. He was traveling slowly, as his horse was old and weak like himself. Suddenly, he was frightened by loud cheers and rapid snowballs hitting his wagon. In his panic, he dropped the reins and his horse ran wildly. Amidst his troubles, a large group of boys in a sleigh pulled by six horses rushed past him, shouting and demanding that he give them the road.
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The old man begged them not to frighten his horse.
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The boys listened quietly, reflecting on their actions.
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Spreading Joy
This past Christmas season began for me as usual on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. My mom, sister, and I had gotten up early to go shopping. As we were driving out of a store parking lot, we caught sight of a dreadfully thin woman sitting on a walker. She was clearly homeless, with bird feathers stuck into her gray hair, and a dirty yellow raincoat.
That homeless woman got us thinking about what Christmas would be like for some one who has no place to call home. With no family to turn to and certainly no presents to open on Christmas morning, these people have nothing to look forward to but the cold and lonely place where they choose to camp. Even though we live in sunny California, the temperature can still fall below freezing on winter nights. Where would this woman sleep when the sun went down?
Sadly, homeless people are a common sight in our town. On our way home, we passed countless people pushing shopping carts overflowing with their belongings and people standing in the center dividers of roads holding cardboard signs with “Just Hungry” written on them.
The next day, my mom had a great idea. While we were out Christmas shopping, we purchased some blue tins (罐) of sugar cookies and a few boxes of candy canes. When we got home, I helped my mom carefully ti e each tin with a red ribbon and tape a candy cane on top. Next, we wrote “Call 211 for Help” on notes and taped them to the bottoms of the tins. “Not only will we be spreading Christmas cheer, but now the homeless people will have a number to call and get the help they need,” my mom explained as we worked.
We put all the tins in the car and, whenever we went for a drive, we searched the streets for individuals down on their luck. Usually, the streets are crowded with people carrying sleeping bags, but somehow when you are looking for something, it always seems to disappear.
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Eventually, we found a young man sleeping in the Lowe’s parking lot.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day before Christmas, we drove around the streets again with our final tin.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Natasha Steer and her son Zac were about to miss their bus. As she turned the corner, she called back over her shoulder. “Zac, PLEASE. We’re going to miss it!” They were walking from their hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Zac was dragging behind. It was hot and his bag was heavy, but Steer kept up the pace — they’d be left behind otherwise.
“My stomach hurts!” Zac’s voice came from too far behind her. She turned, impatient. “I know, but we really need to keep going, OK?”
“OK …but it really hurts …”
She turned to keep walking, assuming that if she kept up the pace he’d speed it up, too. She felt bad. Her nine-year-old son was rightfully uncomfortable under his backpack and the hot sun during a long walk, and a stomach ache on top of that couldn’t be pleasant. Still, they needed to make this bus to Ho Chi Min City. He’d be able to rest once we sat down.
She sped up as they neared the bus stop, eyes searching the platforms until they landed with relief on their bus. She turned to see Zac dragging himself up the sidewalk, leaving her pack on the ground before walking back toward him. She took his bag off so she could carry it the rest of the way.
“Does it still hurt?” asked Steer.
He nodded. “I don’t feel good.”
Steer handed Zac some water and told him he would feel better if they got on the bus and she carried their backpacks to the bus, leaving them in the pile with the others while she searched her pocket for their bus tickets.
On the bus and in their seats, she handed Zac the water bottle one more time. He leaned his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. Suddenly, Zac doubled over, vomiting onto his feet.
“Oh no — hold on!” she moved quickly to get him a bag to vomit (呕吐) in, saving his feet and the floor from some of the mess. He looked up, apologetic, and Steer felt the eyes of everyone on the bus on them. “Don’t worry about it honey, it doesn’t matter — do you feel better? Here — have some water.”
As she twisted off the cap, Zac began to throw up again — only this time, there was no bag. Moving quickly to help him, Steer knocked over the two-liter water bottle.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She felt flurried (慌乱) as the bus attendant came up to see what was happening.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Learning about Zac’s serious conditions, all other passengers did what Steer unexpected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One sunny afternoon in the small town of Oakville, a young boy named Fern was playing soccer in his backyard. His little dog, Lucks, cheerfully ran around trying to catch the ball whenever Fern kicked it too far. The air was filled with laughter and barks, making it sound like a perfect day.
All of a sudden, the sky changed color, turning dark gray. Fern noticed the wind picking up, and the trees began to shake wildly. He looked towards the horizon and saw a terrifying scene—a tornado (龙卷风) coming towards the town.
Fern fought panic and grabbed Lucky quickly. He remembered what the TV weatherman had said: “If you meet a tornado, head for the storm cellar (地窖) immediately.” Lucky whined and struggled in Fern’s arms. “Steady, boy,” Fern said to Lucky.
As he reached the doorstep of the storm cellar, he thought of Mrs. Smith, the elderly neighbor next door. Mrs. Smith lived alone and moved slowly because of her leg problems. Should he check on her? But what could he do? It seemed unlikely that she could make it to the storm cellar quickly enough. Plus, he wasn’t even sure if she wanted him around. She often scolded (训斥) him because his dog, Lucky, would mess up her flower gardens. But if there was a tornado..., she didn’t have a basement or a storm cellar. Fern knew he couldn’t just leave her there.
“Sorry, Lucky.” He set the shaking dog on the steps in the storm cellar and let the door drop shut. Lucky would be scared there by himself, but he’d be safe.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
He had to make sure Mrs. Smith was OK.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After what felt like hours, the tornado finally stopped.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“No, little girl. You can’t get in without the money.” Jeffrey, the bus driver, told a little girl who wanted to get on the bus but only had a few pennies. She must have been around seven years old, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with unaccompanied children that day.
“Please, sir. I want to visit my grandmother,” the little girl begged. “Then go ask your parents for the money and come back next time,” Jeffrey replied and gestured with his hand for the girl to get out. She finally left the bus with her shoulders lowered. Jeffrey saw her sit down at the bus stop and drove off.
He finished his route and went home for the lunch, greeting his wife, Greta, and sitting down on the couch to rest. When he browsed his Facebook posts, an image caught his attention. A picture was shared of the little girl he had just turned away a few hours earlier. The word “Missing” was written on top of the image. He learned that the girl had disappeared a day ago, and her parents were desperately trying to find her.
“Dear! What have I done?” he asked himself, standing up and going to the front door. When Greta asked where he was going, Jeffrey said, “Greta! Quick! Call 911 and this number,” showing her the picture of the girl. “I saw this girl at a bus stop earlier, and I turned her away because she didn’t have enough money. I’m going to find her, but please make those calls.” Having told her where the bus stop was, he went out.
Jeffrey rushed to his car, speeding to the bus stop. Hopefully, the girl was smart enough to stay in one place. He couldn’t believe how careless he had been earlier. She was a little girl all alone. As he drove to the bus stop, Jeffrey vowed to be more careful in the future, especially when it came to children.
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Finally, Jeffrey saw a tiny figure sitting on the bench at the spot.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A few minutes later, the police and another car approached.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the small town of Riverdale, life was never easy for 17-year-old Emily. Her family had faced financial struggles since her father’s business went down, leaving them in debt. To make matters worse, Emily's mother had fallen ill, adding medical bills to their list of concerns. Despite these challenges, Emily refused to let adversity define her. She worked tirelessly after school to support her family and kept up with her studies, determined to secure a scholarship for college.
One day, as she was browsing the internet for potential scholarship opportunities, Emily came across an article about a local charity event that offered a full scholarship to the winner of a talent competition. Without hesitation, she decided to enter the talent competition. Emily was an accomplished pianist, having practiced piano for hours every day throughout her childhood. She poured her heart into practicing for the competition, hoping it would be her ticket to a better future.
On the day of the competition, Emily felt a mix of nerves and excitement. She watched as other contestants showcased their talents—some sang, others danced, and a few of the contestants played instruments. When it was her turn, Emily took a deep breath and began to play. Her fingers moved gracefully over the keys, and the melody filled the room. She was nearly absorbed in the pieces that she had practiced hundreds of times. As the last note echoed, the audience erupted in applause.
The judges discussed for a while before finally announcing the winner. To Emily’s dismay, she didn’t win the scholarship. The judges praised her performance but said they were looking for something “different” this year. Emily left the event feeling defeated, wondering when she would ever escape her difficult circumstances.
Despite not winning the scholarship, Emily realized that sometimes, when one door closes, another opens. Her perseverance and determination had led her to a path she never could have imagined.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As she walked home, lost in thought, a stranger approached her.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Emily was overjoyed and gratefully accepted the judge’s offer.
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