ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all she had. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. If she was to buy a nice gift for her husband Jim. she would need more money. But how could she earn some? Della stood in front of the mirror in her apartment, She looked at her reflection, brushed her long, brown hair, and made up her mind: she was going to sell her hair. With the money she received for it, she would buy Jim a perfect gift.
Della had her hair cut off and sold it for twenty dollars. She spent the next two hours hunting for Jim’s gift. She found it at last: a simple but beautiful watch chain for his gold watch, which had been passed down to him from his grandfather. Della paid twenty-one dollars for the watch chain, and hurried home with the remaining eighty-seven cents. She looked at her reflection in the mirror carefully again. She felt nervous.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Did she look like a little schoolboy without her beautiful long hair? Would Jim still think she was pretty? She was about to find out.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________And the next day would be Christmas. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I was in Grade One, most of my classmates didn’t like to play with me because I was always shy and silent. However, I always got high grades in both exams and activities. Gradually, I got the respect of my classmates. And my teachers repeatedly praised me and asked me to assist my classmates in their study. Besides, there were various competitions in my school and I was always chosen as the representative of our class.
However, life is not always happy. There are times when we experience ups and downs. When I was in Grade Three, a student named Amy came to our school, and she was placed in the class next to mine. Months passed and the result of the mid-term examination was released. I was still the No. 1 in my class and I heard that Amy was the No. 1 in her class. However, I just ignored her and in my thought, I was still superior because I was a seasoned pupil.
There were times when I didn’t want to open my books to read and study for our next day’s lesson. When I did my homework, I became careless and I didn’t even mind whether my handwriting looked beautiful or not. What’s worse, I gradually became addicted to computer games. And because of that, my teachers began to criticize (批评) me and what made me angry was that they always mentioned Amy in front of me!
I got annoyed every time my teachers compared me with Amy. I was discouraged and no longer followed their instructions. At the end of the first term, the principal’s assistant announced the final examination result, and I still ranked No.1. Therefore, I became prouder and told myself that I would still be the best student even if I didn’t study hard.
At the beginning of the second term, our school organized an English Spelling Competition.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。I was overconfident and didn’t pay much attention to the competition.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was shocked that Amy won the first place among all the participants.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jenny was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel (吵架) with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand (货摊) for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t have money on me.” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man, “Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. As she was eating, Jenny cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so merciless compared to a stranger!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you remember the times she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock: she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home. Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Nearing the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time, her mother came back and touched her hair gently, which called her mind back.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tomato Changed My Life
Doing things-without being planned was never my strength.
As a 14-year-old, I would refuse to go for walks around the block with my friends if I was the least bit behind in my schoolwork.
Unlike most teenagers, I lived not in my room, but in an unused kitchen upstairs where I spread my books and papers on a large round table. I spent considerable time there, working continuously for hours, and my mother worried. She would try to lure (引诱) me away. “Come and watch the parade!” she would call from downstairs. “All neighbors are out there!” She thought of all kinds of tricks-the swimming pool, ice cream, stray cats and turtles-to remove me from my -studies, but nothing ever worked.
Later, in college, the pattern continued. The library and my college dorm replaced the unused kitchen at home. When spring came along friends would stop by my dorm or peer into my library room to persuade me to play Frisbee on the lawn. “No, I would almost always say.” I have too much to do.
My college study days were gone, but not my need and love for schedules. My friends and sisters tried to keep me away from my plans, but they were hardly ever successful.
This summer, though, while house sitting for my parents, I was persuaded to change my plans in the most unexpected way. The sight of tomatoes growing in my mother’s garden lured me out of my tightly scheduled world. They drew me with the power of a lover’s gaze. Hundreds of them were turning ripe and red by the minute, decorating the garden like decorations on a Christmas tree.
“If I have time, I’ll make tomato sauce (番茄酱).” I told myself. But my long week in the house by myself was already filled with things to do: writing, and finishing a project that I brought home from the office.
Then, watching the fascinating tomatoes continuously falling to the ground in ever-greater numbers, again I mentally argued about all the things I had planned and needed to do.
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。
Finally, I gave in.
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A month later, my parents came back.
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For as long as I can remember. I have spent every Sunday afternoon until I was a teen, around the table at Grandma’s house. As soon as Grandma and I would return from Sunday Morning Mass at St Joseph’s Parish. Grandma got started on the meatball.
Ever since I was just two years old, Grandma would always allow me, her only granddaughter at the time, to sneak a meatball before dinner was served. There was something about that snuck meatball. For some reason, it tasted so much better than the one she placed beside my macaroni, once we all sat down. My Italian Gamma had a way of keeping an eye on all of her meatballs, to make sure no one snuck a meatball but me, who she gave that special VIP sneak. How did she do it? Well, she would make my “before dinner meatball” slightly bigger than the rest.
The meatball stealing games was all fun until Jeanine came along. Allow me to introduce you to my sister Jeanine, my Gramma’s second granddaughter born five years after me, just three years after I fell in love with Gramma’s yummy meatballs.
My younger sister Jeanine was quite the fussy eater. She did not care that her gramma made the world’s best meatballs, or that our mama made almost as yummy meatballs as her mother did. All Jeanine cared about was being done with dinner as fast as possible so she can go back to playing, and so she can get her evening snack, cocoa and popcorn. Jeanine knew the rules. She knew no snack unless you finish your dinner at least 90 percent. Jeanine was not giving up her favourite snack. She knew she had to develop a plan! She did indeed!
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。
So, one day when she was given a meatball on her plate, she stole that meatball.
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One day my mother noticed that something smelt funny in our closet.
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In our weekly staff meeting, our editor Ashley was not pleased with the quality of our reporting. “Our readership is way down. We need better stories for this Thursday’s school newspaper. Does anybody have any ideas?” she said.
I handed her my article about our basketball team beating Deerfield High School the previous night by one point. “Sports stories are fun,” she said, “but not good enough for the front page. We need something to really get people ‘s attention.”
After our meeting, we left the newsroom together and heard someone screaming, “Perry is missing!” Perry was a big red parrot and had been our school mascot (吉祥物) for ten years. He played an important role in students’ lives, both in and out of class. He had also been a constant presence at school events, inspiring a sense of unity among students.
Everyone gathered around Perry’s empty cage, heartbroken. Suddenly, a student from the crowd came over and showed me a photo. “You’re a reporter for the school paper, right? I happened to take this yesterday,” he said. In the photo was a Deerfield High School basketball player with something large hidden under his shirt around the size of a parrot.
“He must have stolen Perry to get back at us for winning the game!” Ashley cried. We hurried back to the newsroom, agreeing to run the photo on the front page with the headline “Deerfeld Stole Perry.” “This is just the story we need. Everyone will read it,” Ashley said confidently.
After she left, I took a closer look at the photo. The clock in the background read 4:15 pm, but our game against Deerfield hadn’t started until 4:30 pm. Why would the boy have taken Perry before we even played? An uneasy feeling came over me that we might have falsely accused someone.
I went to Perry’s usual caretaker to ask if he knew Perry was missing. ”He’s not missing. He’s retired. He’s ready for some quieter days,“ he said. Learning the truth, I immediately told Ashley and suggested writing a story to say goodbye to Perry.
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。
To my surprise, Ashley insisted on reporting the “Deerfield Stole Perry” story.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Thursday, the paper came out with the headline “Bye-Bye, Perry” on the front page.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was in middle school, my family moved to Seattle, where my parents started their new business — a small grocery store downstairs my house. As a girl of shy and reserved nature, I had to take a fresh start to fit into the sophisticated city life.
One sunny day, my school announced an exciting event, a talent show for the local food bank. Students were encouraged to showcase their unique talents in front of the public in the city hall on National Day. A buzz of excitement fed the school as everyone began preparing for the big day. Deep down, I felt a spark of curiosity and a desire to participate. However, my self-doubt held me back, “I don’t have any special skills to share.”
Days turned into weeks, and the talent show drew closer. I couldn’t shake the upsetting feeling until one day, Emma, one of the most popular girls in my class, came to me while I was helping in the grocery store after class. “How about singing together in the talent show?” She grinned, “I heard you singing a tune, along the way back home. I can’t help following you here.” Gosh, I couldn’t believe my ears. Emma, with personality and popularity, acknowledged my little talent. Since Emma had the world’s prettiest voice, I felt like being favoured by fortune.
“You two? The talent show for the food bank?” My mum bent towards us and her face lit up. “A big occasion.” Then a light bulb seemed to go in her head. “Why not practise right now upstairs? I bet you’ll be a perfect match.” Winking at us, she seemed to know we were thinking alike.
Emma and I embarked on rehearsing almost every single day after school. We brainstormed, exchanged ideas and rehearsed the scene. As the days rolled by, I was feeling pretty good about our act. But the day before the performance, Emma called that she had an acute stomachache and was not in any shape to perform.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I was completely knocked out by the news.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Finally came the big moment.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day two years ago, my mother came home from work and announced that she had found a pet for the family. My father, little sister, and I eyed her in doubt.
My sister asked what kind of dog it was. My mother said it was a poodle (贵宾犬) named Pepe. I couldn’t believe she wanted a poodle — especially one with such an ordinary name. But she had made up her mind. “Actually, I’m doing a co-worker a favor,” she said. “The woman who owns Pepe says he hates to be alone and needs children to play with him.”
Pepe arrived the next night. His short tail shook happily. I didn’t get very close to him, thinking he should have stayed with his previous owner. My little sister played with him until bedtime, and he would come to me and begged for more attention. I always ignored him. But no matter how I treated him, he’d always like to be with me. He has always been waiting for me at the front door at the end of the day, smiling happily. He seems to know that I will be coming home from school at that time. Every day, he asks me with his eyes to play with him or take him somewhere. At night, he will wait until I fall asleep, leave his bed by the wall heater, walk down the hall and jump onto the end of my bed.
One night, while everyone was sleeping, I was in a half dream state. My throat hurt, my eyes pained, and some animal was crying in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw fog in my room. I wondered who left the window open. Pepe cried and bit my pajama sleeve (睡衣袖). Then I woke up and realized that it wasn’t fog in my room — it was smoke.
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。
Standing up, I couldn’t breathe.
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I turned off the burner with Pepe around me.
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I have a passion for fishing and animal protection, which can date back to my childhood. When I was young, my father was a fish and wildlife officer, so he traveled all over the province in the spring and fall. He loved his job, especially the part where he protected nature from human.
He’d taught me to fish alone, in silence, lost in my own thoughts.
I still remembered that special day. Midweek, even in late August, no one was around. Police Outpost Lake is as far as you can go and still be in Canada. Songbirds, ducks, and Canada geese glided (滑翔) by on the breeze, touching down briefly on the water’s surface before flapping and quacking their way back up into the sky, passing in front of the sun, temporarily blocking its warming rays.
“How can I get the fish with these birds making noise?” I complained, rod (鱼竿) in my hand.
“Be patient, Jacob. Birds won’t disturb you.”
Out of the corner of my eyes, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a few great northern loons (潜鸟) stayed together not far from the shoreline. Dad once told me loon usually travel alone, but here were five of them in a group. Maybe it was a family? One loon, making odd sounds, swam away from the group, towards me.
This is unusual.
“Dad! Come here! Take a look at this loon!”
Hearing this, dad laid his rod down on the dirty sand, walking quickly towards me.
The loon rested in the shallow water near shore, not ten feet away from us. It was so close, we could see its red eyes.
“Look at that beak (喙)!”I said. “It could easily hurt us to death with that thing! It could tear our faces! Blind our eyes!”
Walking into the water, getting closer to the loon, we both saw thin wire wrapped around its neck. Fishing line maybe? Was there a hook(钩子)on the line, too? Was the loon asking us for help?
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: Reaching down, I touched its feather, my heart racing.
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Paragraph 2: “Hurry, Dad! I can’t hold this bird forever, you know!” I said.
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In a small village called Brightville, there lived three friends: Kimberley, John and Alicia. They were all students at Brightville High School. Kimberley was a hardworking and determined girl; John was a curious and creative boy; and Alicia was a kind and helpful girl. They shared a common dream of achieving their goals through education.
On a sunny day, the three friends gathered at their favorite spot near the village river. They often met there to discuss their dreams and motivate each other. Kimberley always emphasized (强调) the importance of studying and setting goals. John loved exploring new things and finding creative ways to learn. Alicia, with her caring nature, always supported and encouraged her friends.
One day, they came across an old abandoned library in the heart of Brightville. The library was filled with dust-covered books. Kimberley saw this as an opportunity for their dreams to come true. She suggested turning the library into a learning center for the village.
The three friends spent months cleaning, organizing and renewing the library. They reached out to the villagers, and soon, volunteers joined them to set up the learning center. They created a friendly and welcome environment where students could come to study, read books, and seek help.
Word about the learning center spread throughout the village. Students from all ages and backgrounds started attending. Kimberley, John and Alicia devoted their after-school hours to tutoring (指导) the students. They understood that education was not just about memorizing facts but also about nurturing curiosity and passion for learning.
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。
As days turned into months, they saw the effect of their hard work.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The success of the learning center in Brightville caught the attention of the local government.
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