My bike raced through the quiet streets of my hometown as I mentally went through my arrangements for the day. There were a few tasks I needed to finish: borrowing a book, getting a haircut, and most importantly, visiting my beloved former middle school teacher, Mrs. Miles, before the day was over. It happened to be Teachers’ Day, and I wanted to show my appreciation by giving her a meaningful gift. However, I was still unsure about what to present to her.
As I turned onto a busy street lined with houses, it seemed that on the front lawn (草坪) of the gray house in the middle of the block was an old man who appeared to slump (倒下) in a breathtaking garden. Shocked, I stopped my bike, running towards him and shouting, “Sir, are you okay? Is everything all right?” I got close enough to notice his stooping (佝偻的) figure was actually alive and was pushing something into the dirt.
“I’m fine, sweetheart,” he laughed. “Just a lonely old man taking care of his garden.” He looked very weak and already had a stoop. I was concerned about his bending over so much to do gardening. “I’ve been out here for weeks at a time every spring for about the past ten years, and no one has ever stopped,” he said, “Don’t you have anyone to help you?” I asked, immediately regretting the question as a look of sadness passed over his face.
“It’s just me and my flowers,” he said, “My grandchildren used to play here every summer. My wife would bring out lemonade (柠檬水), and we would all sit together, enjoying the beauty of the flowers. But then, within a year, my son moved away with the grandchildren, and my wife passed away.” My heart went out to him as I got a sense of what the garden meant to him. “I can push my to-do list off by an hour,” I thought. With a smile, I asked, “Can you ask your flowers if they wouldn’t mind my joining you guys for a while?”
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。
Amused, he introduced himself as Mr. Jenkins and accepted my offer.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I got up to leave, he added, “Hold on. I’ll give you some flowers”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I have already forgotten the name of an old lady who was a customer on my paper-delivery route when I was a twelve-year-old boy. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in forgiveness that I can only hope to pass on to someone else someday.
On a mindless Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing rocks onto the roof of the old lady’s house. We just wanted to observe how the rocks changed to missiles (导弹) as they rolled to the roof’s edge and shot out into her yard.
I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and sent it for a ride. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped from my hand as I let it go and headed straight for a small window on the old lady’s back door. At the sound of broken glass, we took off from the old lady’s yard faster than any of our missiles flew off her roof.
I was too much scared! However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel guilty. She still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the paper, but I was no longer able to act comfortable in her presence.
I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the ten dollars that I thought would cover the cost of her window.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按照如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I put the money in an envelope with a letter in it.
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The next day, after receiving the paper, she thanked me and said, “I have something for you.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Missy was absolutely my best friend in the whole world. We had known each other since first grade, and we literally did everything together. We frequently visited each other’s homes, we knew each other’s families like they were our own. The interesting thing about our relationship, however the fact was that the older we got, the more our values seemed to differ. We still enjoyed a lot of the same things, but I was a bit more settled while she loved being associated with popular people and things. Although she was basically a good person, she had no problem with forcing things to go her way.
Perhaps this is why it seemed that her family actually trusted me more than they trusted her. So, on the day when Missy showed up at my house with a huge dent (凹痕) in her father’s car, I knew that we were in for a troublesome time.
She had banged the car into a tree while out that day, and she knew her father was going to have an explanation. So she stopped by my house in order to make up a story that would lessen her father’s rage. Missy decided to tell him that while in a parking lot, someone must have backed into the car and dented it. Looking at the dent with some crashed leaves and bark still sticking there, I attempted to perish (打消) her thought. “I don’t think your father will buy it.” “ Don’t worry,” she insisted,“even if my dad doesn’t trust me, he’ll trust you.” My role was to confirm for her. Now keep in mind that I had strong objections to lying and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the situation. I loved her parents just like my own, and I did not want to be a party to this lie that Missy was creating. Nevertheless, after much request and a general questioning of my loyalty to our friendship, I decided that the least I could do was to act as a silent witness. That way, I wasn’t actually lying; I just wasn’t telling the full truth.
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: An hour or so later, we presented Missy’s father with the car and the inquiry began.
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Paragraph 2: Her father looked at me with great disbelief.
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I started my dormitory life this year and met my roommate Kate. In the process of getting along, we found that we both enjoy reading and watching science fictions. With similar hobbies, our relationship immediately became closer. We went to class and canteen together every day in pairs.
Although we considered each other as the best friend, there were frictions in our life style. I was never very neat, while Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled everything. I always looked for everything.
Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other and never stopped trying to change the other person’s life style. Our friendship went ups and downs like a boat on the sea. Dissatisfaction with the other was accumulating.
War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I was rather irritated (激怒). How could she act like that? I could not control my temper either. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder. Neither of us was willing to calm down to be a good listener.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her dear grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled under her covers, burying her face. From where I stood, I saw her back slightly up and down. Obviously, she was sobbing. That was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.
Slowly I began to move.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She was watching in disbelief, her tears dried.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With the start of new school, freshmen of Hendersonville High School in Nashville were excited to meet new classmates and teachers. Among them, however,15-year-old Sergio Peralta was feeling very nervous because his right hand had never fully formed since he was born. Going to a new school and being “different” is always scary. Sergio was particularly concerned with what his classmates would think of him.
Sergio’s parents had trained him to use his left hand from an early age. As he grew up, he was used to not using his right hand. He could write with his left one and do some things with special tricks or techniques. Despite this, in the first days of new school, Sergio always felt like hiding his underdeveloped right hand in his sleeve as if nobody would ever find out if he did so.
It didn’t take long for someone to learn Sergio’s secret. Jeff Wilkins, the teacher of Sergio’s engineering class, figured out that Sergio was missing part of his hand and decided to do something for the new student. Jeff had been leading a robotics project in the school and expert in 3D printing technology. Besides, he hoped to take advantage of this hands-on chance to help his robotics students learn more about engineering and how building a robotic hand worked.
So in his class, Jeff announced with great enthusiasm, “You’re supposed to be engineering, coming up with new ideas and solving issues. Now Sergio needs a new hand, so we’ll work together to build Sergio a robotic hand.” His words fueled everyone’s curiosity and creativity.
For the next four weeks, Jeff and his class including Sergio worked on the project. After some precise measurements and researches, the class put forward a design draft. Jeff made a few adjustments and gave them some practical suggestions. With access to online models and a 3D printer, they eventually created a robotic hand, which was intended to look good and work well, like catching something.
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。
Then came the final testing day.
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The life-changing gift for Sergio drew huge attention.
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Once there was a businessman who was engaged in leather business, but his business failed because of his poor management, which made him lack of confidence to continue to do his business. Even worse, he owed a lot of money to others and could see no way out.
Today, it was just Christmas Day, he should have dinner with his family, but he was walking alone in the park because of business failure in order that he could relieve his sense of failure. He sat on the park bench, wondering if anything could save his company. Suddenly one of his old friends appeared in front of him.
“Oh, dear, long time no see! Merry Christmas! You look so bad, aren’t you? You must be encountering some troubles,” his old friend asked in a worrying tone.
“Merry Christmas! Well, I just encountered a big failure in my business and owed a lot of money to others. I don’t know how to continue to do my business,” the businessman replied in a low voice.
After listening to his problem, to the businessman’s surprise, his old friend took out a check, passed it to him and said, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.” Then he turned and disappeared.
The businessman with a big surprising expression on his face saw the check in his hand for $500? 000! The money was more than enough to save his business. However, he didn’t plan to use it, he decided to put the check in his safe.
With the check, he was full of confidence and planned to continue to do his business again. He worked hard day by day and slowly his business began to breathe. The businessman was making money once again.
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。
One year later, the businessman decided to meet his old friend on Christmas Day.
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He realized it was his newfound confidence that changed his life.
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Charlie was a little boy of ten. He was such a good boy that everyone loved him a lot. Due to his father’s job, his family shifted to a new city, where he was admitted into a new school. As Charlie was a good boy, most of his new classmates became his good friends soon. The teachers also praised Charlie for his intelligence and good behavior.
But there was one boy in the class who did not like Charlie at all! His name was Bill and he was a very naughty boy, so no one liked him at all. He found that Charlie was a quiet boy, so he started making trouble for his new classmate. But Charlie still kept quiet and did not complain to the class teacher. When Charlie’s parents learned about Bill, they wanted to go to school and complain about this naughty boy’s behavior. But Charlie stopped them and said, “Mom, Dad, please do not worry. Everything will be all right.”
Days went by and the time came for the annual sports meeting at the school. Charlie was also good at sports and he was participating in a number of events. Bill was participating in the sack race (套袋跑), though he could not run very fast due to his fat body. When Bill saw that Charlie won first prize in the 100-meter race, he felt very jealous (妒忌的) and decided that he would not let it happen in the sack race.
As planned, Bill tried to push Charlie while jumping on the track during the sack race. But he lost his balance and fell down! His leg was badly injured and he could not even stand up by himself. But as he was unpopular among his friends, no one turned up to help him!
注意：1．续写词数应为 150 左右；
2．请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Charlie noticed what had happened.
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Charlie took Bill to the school doctor.
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I especially like a poem I learned in kindergarten. Although it has been more than 40 years, I still often recite it.
My Teacher Mr. Moore
There’s a teacher Mr. Moore.
Who is lovely and thirty-four.
Always encouraging us to try.
He leads us to a world of “why”.
We all admire him more and more.
The author of this poem is unknown, but it reminds me of the countless teachers who have taught me. Whenever I read this poem, I couldn’t help thinking of my math teacher, Mrs. Davies. I firmly believe that she was such a teacher described in the poem.
In high school, Mrs. Davies was my math. teacher, who took her job seriously and expected her students to put forth the same degree of commitment. Though she was 30, she looked very young for her age. And she was one of the most popular teachers in our school.
Compared with other teachers, Mrs. Davies paid more attention to her way of teaching. She tried various ways to make her classes lively and interesting.
Strict but fair, she held our attention with her time-proven approach. One of her classes was for students who were more advanced academically. I chose to take it and soon realized that the course was a bit over my head. I struggled with the complex problems that others seemed to learn without much effort.
One Friday we were tested on our ability to use a theorem(定理) that no one in the class thoroughly understood. The teacher should grade our papers based on our ability to progress through the problem. I was absolutely lost. Finally, I didn’t use the required theorem. Instead, I decided to use more familiar theorems to arrive at the answer. I knew I had failed because I hadn’t done the required assignment. I became resigned to my fate.
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
Our test papers were handed back the following Monday.
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Though I didn’t use the required theorem, Mrs. Davies seemed genuinely proud of me.
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Poor Jack lost his sight at the age of six after a car accident. He was cornered in his dark world. An already terrible life now looked completely hopeless. His mother tried to encourage him, but nothing she said could help him at all.
Later Jack did nothing but lie in bed, sighing all day. His mother felt miserable, telling him to live with his disability, work hard and change his life on his own. She said, “Son, since you have lost your sight and nothing can change that, you have to accept it. There are things you can’t do. But there are lots of things you can do. You have a creative mind. Find something you enjoy and stick with it, no matter what.”
The future didn’t seem too bright for a blind child from the countryside. But as this young boy thought about his mother’s words, about what he really wanted to do with his life, he dreamed of becoming a star. So as a child, he would practice playing the piano and singing each day from then on.
Once one of his classmates heard him practicing at school and told him, “You can’t play the piano, and you can’t sing either. These things are meaningless for you. You are doomed to be a loser.”
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 classmate’s comment was like a sharp knife, cutting Jack’s heart into pieces.
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In his life, he received countless awards for his music.
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I was sure everyone in my junior-high drama class saw the paper in my hands shaking when I stood up to audition for a lead role in the annual Christmas play. I was there, not by choice, but because teacher Alice wanted each of us to try out for a part.
As a “good” student, I did what I was asked, even if it was scary. I was small for my age, wore secondhand clothes and cried easily. At school, I was often the object of jokes and laughter and had few friends. I wanted desperately to shrink back into my seat and be invisible. But there I was, on stage. Reading was, at least, something I loved. So, I read.
I finished reading and rushed back to my seat. The spell was broken. I wanted to curl up and disappear. When the teacher read the cast list and called my name, I wasn’t paying attention. No one ever chose me for anything.
“Patty,” she repeated, “you are Star. Come and get your script.”
This is impossible! How can it be? With a pounding heart and cold, sweaty hands, I felt nearly dizzy, but incredibly happy. I walked up unsteadily to get the papers. On returning to my desk, I felt regretful. I should have refused. I felt as if everyone else were looking at and laughing at me. I buried my head in my arms. Gently patting my shoulder, teacher Alice said, “Be confident, Patty. You can do this. I know you can. I’ll help you.” With tears in my eyes, I raised my head and nodded firmly.
So, I practiced every day — while walking to school, at lunchtime, before bedtime, even on weekends. At first, I was worried about forgetting parts of a long monologue that took place in one scene, but I managed to memorize it. I felt more confident after that. At last, it was the day for the show.
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。
Everything went smoothly until it was my turn to give the long monologue.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Fighting back tears, I continued my performance.
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