Mrs Flippen’s class sat listening to a talk being given by a local author. Tucker sat absent-minded in one of the library chairs. Most of the students wanted to hear about the writer’s work. Tucker did not.
“Why bother?” Tucker thought to himself. He always received low marks on his writing assignments, no matter how hard he worked on them. He could never think of anything interesting to write about.
“Does anyone have any questions?” Mrs Flippen asked her class.
Tucker raised his hand, “How do you know what to write about?”
“Well, sometimes I don’t,” the author replied. “It takes a lot of hard work to come up with ideas.” She reached down and pulled a worn-looking book from a cloth bag on the floor. “I find making a scrapbook (剪贴簿) helps.”
Tucker sat up a little straighter in his seat. “What’s in the book?” he asked.
“I fill it with pictures, stories, and notes about things that interest me.” The writer opened the scrapbook on her knee. “When I need an idea, I look through the book instead of staring at a blank page.”
Tucker thought about the author’s scrapbook as he walked home. He thought about staring at a blank page each time he tried to write a story. Digging in his bookcase, Tucker found an old binder (活页夹). He filled the binder with notepaper from his desk. After supper, Tucker cut some pictures out of the newspaper. Then he drew some pictures of his own. He cut and pasted (粘贴) stories from his old magazines. Then he looked up the words he did not know and wrote down their meanings.
In the days and weeks that followed, Tucker collected more ideas. He found that the more he collected, the easier it became to find things to collect. Tucker’s book of ideas grew fatter and fatter.
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 morning, Mrs Flippen told the class about a story writing competition.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then came the day when the headmaster announced the result.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As a senior editor in a famous press, I always think of days twenty years before when I was 18, I lived with my grandparents, and my parents earned their living in another city, struggling to support our family. I had taken to delivering newspapers to support myself and my education.
I would be up every morning by 5 am and walk five kilometres from where I lived to the newspaper office. By 6 am, I would collect 50 copies which must have weighed over five kilograms. My delivery range spanned (横跨) three kilometres. After distributing the copies, I would rush home—another three kilometres away—cook my breakfast, and be off to my school.
One Friday morning, I got home after my deliveries, finding Afzal, a boy from the neighbourhood, at my doorstep. Afzal said his mother wanted to see me. When I asked him why, Afzal said, “She will tell you.” Tired after walking around for over 11 kilometres, I was looking forward to breakfast and some rest. I assumed his mother wished to subscribe (定期订购) to the newspaper, so I followed him to his home nearby.
A woman in her 40s opened the door. I later learned she was Afzal’s mother, Mrs Kader. She asked me to sit, pulled up her chair next to mine and gently asked, “Tell me about your routine, right from the time you wake up in the morning.” I wasn’t quite sure why she wanted to know, but I told her about my morning job in a few words. She asked me, “How many miles do you walk every day?” I replied, “A little more than 11 kilometres.” My reply shocked her.
Then she patted my back and went inside, reappearing carrying a large plate full of food for breakfast for me. It was a heart y breakfast, one that brought back memories of happy days spent with my parents. Later, as I was about to leave after thanking them, Mrs Kader asked me to wait and she went inside 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。
Then Mrs Kader appeared again, with a new bicycle.
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I bowed to Mrs Kader gratefully and left for school.
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During the summer before Patty entered fifth grade, she decided to try a new sport. Swim training was nearly over and Patty was the fastest swimmer in her age group. She had always been the best. The neighborhood was offering a one-week tennis training course. Patty and her friend Darla got permission from their parents to join.
On Saturday morning, Darla’s mom took the girls to a store and bought them each a good, used tennis racket. “If you girls stick to tennis, then we’ll talk about a new racket. These will do for now.” The girls were excited about their new purchases. On Monday morning, at 7:00 a.m., Patty’s mom woke her up. “It’s time for tennis!” Patty covered her face. “Mom, it’s too early!” She made great effort to get out of bed and down to the breakfast table. Patty finished breakfast and ran to Darla’s house, then they walked to the court.
Mrs. Cane, the tennis coach, lined everyone up and started with the basics. After that, Mrs. Cane tirelessly taught them to practice their forehand and backhand. By the end of the week, Patty had made impressive progress. Mrs. Cane commented that Patty had lots of potential. Darla, on the other hand, was struggling. The other teenagers were having a tough time of it, too. Patty was the only one who seemed to get somewhere.
Since then, Darla had always been out in the August heat, practicing her serves or hitting the ball. Patty wasn’t really interested. She felt she was such a “natural” for tennis that she really didn’t need to practice. By the end of the summer, Darla began to get the hang of it. She joined a neighborhood junior tennis team. There would be matches every Thursday. Patty wanted to join as well, but she didn’t want to miss her favorite TV show. She told herself that she would join it when she got some free time. If Darla had fun, she would join the team in the spring.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The week before school started, Mrs. Cane held another training course.
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Patty couldn’t stop thinking of her poor performance on the way home.
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The air was thick with humidity (潮湿) inside the swimming pool hall as Elisha paced nervously near the starting blocks. The chlorine (氯气) in the air stung (使刺痛) her eyes, but these were mild concerns compared to the matter which seemed largest in her mind: the result of the state semi-finals (半决赛). The young 16-year-old had trained hard and devoted her entire life so far to swimming. Almost as soon as she could walk, Elisha had taken like a fish to the water and gave her whole body, mind, and spirit to the sport.
She always loved being in the water, whether to cool off on a hot summer’s day or to forget about her troubles at school — the waves simply carried it all away. But for Elisha, swimming was not merely for recreation. Her father, a retired athlete-turned-coach, always pushed Elisha to find out the extent of her talents and abilities. Her whole family, in fact, were full of amateur and professional athletes, especially her older brothers and sisters who had gone on to play in the NCSA at university.
There was no way she could let them all down. Not here, and not now. Finally, the time had come: the 400-meter medley (混合泳) relay. In a team of four swimmers, she was the last one to go in the relay. It would be all on her to secure first place for her team. She had done well in the swimming meet so far, but this last relay would determine whether she and her team would move on to the state finals. It all came down to her to bring it home.
At the sound of the buzzer (蜂鸣器), the swimmers all dove into the water. Kayce e with the freestyle stroke, Lizzie with the breaststroke, and finally Susan with the backstroke. Elisha’s heart pounded as she readied herself for take-off.
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。
Just as Susan was coming in close, a small child fell into the deep end of the pool.
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Elisha, out of breath, pulled herself up out of the pool.
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When lightning struck
I was in the tiny bathroom in the back of the plane when I felt a jolt (颠簸). and then the horrible swerve (急转弯) that threw me against the door. Somehow, I managed to unlock the door and climb out awkwardly. The flight attendants, all with their seat belts fastened, waved wildly for me to sit down. As I struggled toward my seat, passengers looked up at me with the panic-stricken expressions of creatures who knew they were about to die.
“I think we got hit by lightning,” the girl in the seat next to mine said, her voice shaking. She was from a small town in east Texas, and this was only her second time on an airplane. She had won a trip to London by competing in a high school geography bee and was supposed to make a connecting flight when we landed in Newark.
Across the aisle sat a charming young woman, who had been working on her laptop. Now she put it away. She looked around and then her eyes met mine. “Are you OK?” she asked me. I forced a smile back, when the pilot’s voice came over the speaker. I heard vaguely through my fear, “Engine number two...emergency landing... New Orleans.” When he was done, the voice of a flight attendant came on, reminding us of the emergency procedures she had reviewed before takeoff. Understandably, I had never paid attention to this drill, always figuring that if we ever got to the point where we needed to use life jackets, I would have already died of terror.
Now we began a roller-coaster ride through the thunderclouds. I was ready to faint, but when I saw the face of the girl next to me, I pulled myself together, reached for her hand and reassured her that we were going to make it, “What a story you’re going to tell when you get home!” I said. “After this, London’s going to seem like small potatoes.”
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。
I wondered where I was getting my strength.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________And then...we landed safely.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pat was the new kid in town. Her dad got a new job, so they had to move from their old home, school, friends and everything in South America to this new city. Now they were total strangers here.
Summer vacation went by while they unpacked, arranged furniture and adjusted to the new city. School was approaching. Pat dreaded it. She was not an outgoing person, so making friends was not easy for this shy and quiet girl. She was filled with fears and worries. She thought, “Would I make friends? Would I fit in? Would I survive at all in this strange new world?” But there she was, preparing for a new school full of strangers.
Here came her first day in the new school. She arrived at school on time, found her classroom and seated herself. Everything was going well until the first class when Pat’s teacher asked her to introduce herself in front of the whole class. She had prepared for it the day before, so she should have done it well. But when she uttered the first sentence, the whole class burst out laughing and began to whisper. It was then that Pat realized she talked with a very strange accent which was different from the locals. Blushing with embarrassment, she finished her introduction quickly and sat there all day long without talking with others.
After school, Pat came home crying, “It’s an awful day. All of them are disagreeable. I hate them.” After knowing what had happened in the school, Pat’s mother gently hugged her and comforted her, “Hatred is a double-edged sword that can hurt both others and yourself. Honey, try to be happy.” In order to cheer her up, Pat’s mother suggested, “How about having a party this Saturday? We haven’t had any party since we arrived here.” Party is such an appealing event for kids like Pat. Right away, she stopped crying and looked at her mother excitedly, “Oh yes! Ice cream! Cake! Red, red balloons!”
“And friends?” mom asked gently.
Hearing this, Pat sobbed again, “I haven’t got any friends here. Nothing but enemies.”
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。
“If so, let’s have an enemy party. I think it would be interesting.” Pat’s mom smiled.
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On Saturday, it was sunny and all of Pat’s classmates came to the party.
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My husband and I enjoy seeing life through the eyes of our children. It’s amazing to watch as they discover their world.
While we were outdoors last summer enjoying the sunshine, our oldest daughter, Kaytlin, called me to the doorway. Beneath the steps was a baby red squirrel.
We watched it from a distance, not wanting to disturb it or scare off its mother. But after a long wait—and looking all around our house for signs of a nest or a mother—we realized the tiny squirrel was lost.
Shaking terribly, he was weak, thin, and hungry. We tried to find an expert to help, but the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website showed that there were no wildlife experts in our area. After some quick research, we concluded that the best way to give the squirrel a fighting chance was to care for him ourselves. So a trip to the local store for milk and supplies was in order. More research taught us how much to feed him, how to estimate his age, how and when to wean (断奶) him, and that we should let him go as soon as he could survive on his own.
Our daughters and I took turns in feeding “Squirt.” Kaytlin took on the most responsibility. She taught him to eat from a bottle, and she woke in the night for his feeds.
To our relief, Squirt soon became healthy and strong. Within a few weeks he became more active. He would chatter (吱吱叫) for his next meal, playfully go around the girls, and lie down on them for sleep. It wasn’t long before he was weaned onto solid food and reintroduced to the wild.
His first few visits to the great outdoors were funny. Just like a child, he would play in the grass some and then run back to Kaytlin for safety. Soon she had him climbing trees and finding nest material.
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 day in the trees, Squirt met up with a family of gray squirrels.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One night, Squirt didn’t come back to our house and it rained hard.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One holiday, my cousins and I decided to play a trick on my grandma. We planned to do it —not because we didn't like her. She was the sweetest grandma a kid could ever have, and we really loved her. We decided to play the trick just wanting to have some fun. And at that time, to our mind, it was just a harmless little kids' trick.
Early in the evening of that holiday, we began our trick. We secretly walked up to her doorstep with a can of red paint. Grandma was hard of hearing. So we didn't have to worry about being very quiet. Every time we thought about how funny it would be to see Grandma try to pick up a gift that was just painted on her doorstep, we couldn't stop laughing. It didn't take long to finish painting the gift two red roses. It wasn't very artistic. But for us little farm kids and an old woman with poor eyesight, it would do.
As soon as we were satisfied with the painting, we knocked on the door and ran to hide behind bushes and trees to watch the fun. There was a lot of giggling going on as we waited for Grandma to open the door. When she finally appeared, she stood in the doorway for a minute. She looked into the darkness, with her gray hair pulled back tightly into her usual style, wiping her hands on her usual white apron. And she said, “Who could be knocking at my door this hour of the night?” Hearing it, my stomach and cheeks ached from trying to hold back the laughter. Then she looked down at her doorstep. Even from fifteen meters away, we could see the joy that shone in her eyes when she spotted the red gift at her feet.
“Oh, how wonderful!” she called out happily. “A holiday gift for Grandma! I thought I was going to be forgotten again this year!”
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。
Grandma bent down to pick up her gift.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that moment, I regretted playing the trick and wanted to do something to make up for it
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Hudson had been looking forward to this trip for weeks. This was more than the usual excitement about end-of-year trips. And now, finally, after weeks of expectation, Hudson, Davion, Tasha, and their friends Trey and Justin were at Six Flags Great America, which was home to more roller coasters and games than any place north of Florida.
They were waiting in line for the Twisted Twister—the scariest roller coaster. In front of them, the coaster rose threateningly out of the ground. From the very beginning, the Twisted Twister lived up to its name. The black coaster tracks corkscrewed 5 almost immediately. Then, the riders in the yellow cars were given a moment to catch their breath as they were cranked (转动) slowly to the top of a hill. But the relief didn’t last long. As soon as the roller coaster cars were over the peak, the track twisted again. And again and again and again.
Glancing at it, Hudson felt his stomach was too tight to say anything at all, The Twisted Twister was the scariest roller coaster he had ever seen. But he wasn’t about to mention his fear to his friends. Because they would tell him that he was acting like a little kid, too scared to go on the park’s best ride. He felt dorky and awkward standing there. The sea of people between them and the Twisted Twister was steadily getting smaller. Hudson smiled weakly as his friends cheered when they counted just three rope barriers to go. Then two. Then one. And then they were at the stairs. Davion, Justin, and Trey were nearly jumping up and down with excitement. But Hudson could only hear people screaming, and he couldn’t even tell if the screams were because of delight or terror. And he knew, suddenly, that he could not make it.
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。
Without a word, Hudson turned, pushed past the crowd and ran out of the line.
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Just then, he saw his other friends coming, big smiles on their faces.
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1. 你被赛场上体育健儿们怎样的精神所鼓舞?
2. 目前你遇到的困难或挑战?
3. 你将如何应对?
要求：
1. 字数要求：120 词左右；
2. 不能出现真实学校和个人名字。
