A big gathering of friends sat around our living room making music. “Get up there, Roberty Bob!” my mum Mary encouraged me. It was 1996, and aged five, I’d recently started Irish dance lessons with my two older sisters. I showed off some of the steps I’d learned in a shy and nervous way as the friends cheered.
We lived on an apple orchard (苹果园) in the Huon Valley, which had been in my dad’s family for generations. Mum had left her own family’s farm in Ireland after she met my father, Robert, while he was travelling around Europe. She vowed to never forget the culture of her homeland.
On nights like this one, friends and family would gather for a jam session (即兴演奏会). Many would bring instruments—tin whistles, Celtic drums, piano accordions — and produce a noisy Irish symphony (交响乐). Music was as much a part of my childhood as the country air I breathed.
When I turned 14, my parents gave me a guitar, and I began to suspect life would take me far beyond the bush. After school, I got into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) which led to a career in musical theatre. I had a ball performing in shows across Australia, like Disney’s Aladdin and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. During this period, I met a beautiful actress named Chloé Zuel and in 2019 we married. After COVID, I found it hard to get back to the former routine. Then, in April this year, I was sent an audition (试音) notice for a new musical about Elvis Presley set to tour Australia. We grew up with Irish and classical music, I thought. I knew nothing about Elvis. I figured they’d give the role to some Elvis fan and resolved to audition for smaller parts. Chloé disagreed and encouraged me to go for it though she was pregnant and needed company.
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。
Amazingly, a few weeks later I learned that out of 700 applicants, I’d got the lead.
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In the finally show, Elvis sang Can’t Help Falling in Love to his new baby, and so did I.
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Ramon was the school tough guy because his dad was a tough guy. If anyone dared (敢) to disobey him, they received a good beating.
It hadn’t changed until Victor arrived. No one would have said that Victor or his dad looked like tough guys: they were skinny and had no muscles. However, this was what Victor said to Ramon when Ramon went up to him to make him afraid.
“Hey new kid. You should know that I’m the leader, and I’m the toughest guy here.”
“You might be the leader but I am the toughest guy here.”
That was when Victor go this first beating. The second was the day Ramon tried to take a girl’s sandwich from her.
“This girl is a friend of mine and I am the toughest guy in school. So she won’t give you her sandwich”— were Victor’s last words before the blows started raining down on him.
His third beating came when he didn’t want to hand over his own sandwich.
“Tough guys like my dad and me don’t steal from others, and you are supposed to be a tough guy too?” he replied.
Victor got hit regularly, but he never backed down. His bravery in defending those weaker than him began to impress the rest of his classmates, and he soon gained supporters. Lots of other children began to play with him, so Ramon had even fewer chances to hit Victor and his friends, and fewer and fewer children were scared of Ramon. New brave boys and girls appeared who copied Victor’s attitude, and the playground became a better place.
One day, at the school door, Ramon’s giant dad asked him who Victor was.
“That skinny boy is the tough guy who’s the new boss of the playground? You’re useless! I’m going to hit you and show you what a tough guy really is,” his dad said angrily.
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 wasn’t the first time that Ramon got hit, but it was the first time that Victor’s dad was there to stop it happening.
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That was when Ramon’s dad understood why Victor said that his own father was a tough guy.
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Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus (马戏团) . Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter (柜台).
This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns. elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight (骑士) in shining armor (盔甲).”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right” . The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight child tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned (倾斜) a little closer and asked. “How much do you say?”
The ticket lady again quoted (报价) the price. The man didn’t have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Actually we were not wealthy in any sense. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
注意：续写词数应为80左右。Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.
When Sammy moved into her new house, she was excited to have a backyard where she could spend time outside. But when she went out to explore, she found that the yard was in such a mess. Weeds had taken over, and there were piles of trash and worn out toys everywhere.
At first, Sammy was discouraged. She had always dreamed of having a beautiful garden, but now it seemed like an impossible task. But then she remembered something her grandmother had told her: “With a little elbow grease and some determination, anything is possible.”
So Sammy set to work, She started by picking up all the trash and broken items, and then she began pulling weeds. It was hard work, and she got blisters (水疱) on her hands from holding the hoe (锄头) so tightly, but she persevered. As she worked, Sammy started to notice things around her that she hadn’t seen before. A bird’s nest tucked away in a corner, a patch of bright yellow flowers peeking through the grass. She felt a sense of pride as she worked knowing that with each weed she pulled, she was one step closer to her dream garden.
One afternoon, as she was digging in the dirt, Sammy unearthed a small object. It was shiny and smooth, and at first, she thought it was just a rock. But as she cleaned it off, she saw that it was a small statue of a fairy (小精灵).
Sammy was shocked. She had always loved stories about fairies and magical creatures, and finding this statue made her feel like she was part of a fairy tale herself. She put the statue on a rock in the middle of her garden, and suddenly everything looked different. The weeds and ruins weren’t just obstacles to overcome; they were challenges to be conquered on her path to creating a magical building.
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 the days passed, Sammy’s garden began to take shape.
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A group of pretty fairies had gathered around her statue, dancing and singing in the moonlight.
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Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Lily who lived in a small town on the outskirts of a busy city. Ever since she was a little girl, Lily had been interested in the art of public speaking. She would watch famous speeches on television and was amazed at the way the speakers could hold an audience attracted with their words. Even as a young girl, she knew that she wanted to do the same someday.
As Lily grew older, her passion for public speaking only enhanced. She read books and attended workshops to learn everything she could about the subject. She practiced speaking in front of mirrors and even recorded herself to analyze her delivery and improve her technique.
However, despite all of her hard work, Lily found herself struggling to connect with her audience. Her words were great and well-rehearsed (反复排练过的), but she felt that something was missing. It wasn’t until she came across a TED talk on body language that everything clicked into place.
In the talk, the speaker discussed how our body language can convey just as much information as our words, sometimes even more so. A confident posture (姿势) and relaxed facial expression can signal confidence and certainty, while moving your body constantly or avoiding eye contact can reveal nervousness or discomfort. This realization led Lily to study body language and its impact on communication. Armed with this new knowledge, Lily began practicing her own body language skills and studying the techniques of other great speakers. She watched videos of famous speeches and analyzed how the speakers used their bodies to emphasize key points and connect with their audience. She practiced making eye contact and using hand gestures (手势) to emphasize important ideas.
One day, Lily was invited to speak at a conference in front of a large audience. She had prepared her speech thoroughly and felt confident in her content, but she was nervous about how she would behave on stage.
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 she walked up to the podium (讲台), Lily reminded herself of the body language techniques she had learned.
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After the presentation, several people came up to Lily and praised her for her communication shills.
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Many years ago, in one of the Arabian tribes (部落), there was a man named Nabor who owned a beautiful horse. This horse was famous for being both fast and gentle. Now, an Arab named Jehu, who belonged to another tribe wanted this horse. Jehu had offered his camels and many valuable treasures for the horse but the owner would not sell it. Jehu then thought up a trick by which he hoped to get the horse for himself.
He decided to dress in rags, dirty his face and blindfold himself. Thus, he lay by the roadside to wait for the owner of the horse, who he knew would pass by that way. When he saw Nabor coming on his beautiful horse, he cried out in a weak voice, “I am a poor and sick blind man. For three days and nights I have been unable to move from this spot to find food. I am dying; help me please.”
Nabor kindly offered to take him on his horse and carry him home, but Jehu replied, “I cannot stand; I have no strength left.” Nabor felt pity for him and got off his horse. He led his horse to the man and, with great difficulty, helped him onto the horse’s back. But, once Jehu was sitting in the saddle (鞍), he kicked the horse and galloped off, calling out as he did so, “I have the horse, and you will never see it again. Goodbye!” Nabor was, at first, surprised and sad but he soon ran after the thief, shouting to him to stop as he had something to say to him.
注意:1. 所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右;2.每段的开头语已为你写好;
Certainly, Nabor could not catch him on foot, so Jehu turned the horse and stopped a short distance from Nabor.
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Struck with shame at these words, Jehu was silent for a moment.
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There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy and fun-loving son. The businessman wanted his son to be hard-working and responsible. He wanted him to realize the value of hard work and take over his business. One day he said to him, “Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won’t have your meals today.”
The son was not used to any kind of work. This demand by his father scared him and he went crying straight to his mother. Seeing tears in her son’s eyes, his mother grew restless. To help him, she gave him a gold coin. “Go to your father and tell him that you earned it.” In the evening when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son immediately presented him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into a well and the son did as he was told.
The father was a wise man and guessed that the gold coin was given to him by his mother. The next day he sent his wife to her parent’s town and asked his son to go and earn something, telling him he would not have night meal if he failed again. This time he went crying to his sister who sympathized (同情) with him and gave him a gold coin out of her own savings. When his father asked him what he had earned, he showed the coin to him. The father again asked him to throw it into a well. The son did it quite readily.
Again the father’s wisdom told him that the coin was not earned by his son. He then sent his daughter to her husband’s house. He asked his son to go out and earn some money with the threat that he shall not have anything for dinner that night.
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。
This time since no one could help him out, the son was forced to go to the market in search of work.
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At this the businessman smiled.
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When he was a boy, Marco was so shy. He always hid behind his hair, which he wore long around his face and cars. To make it worse, Marco was naturally shorter than the other kids. And because his good marks had allowed him to skip to the higher grade, he was younger than everyone else. This added nothing to his already low self-confidence.
Marco’s father was so busy with his work that Marco felt that his father had little time for him.Except for his demands for excellent performances in school, communication didn’t exist. It seemed to Marco the only time his dad ever spoke to him was to be demanding or critical. Therefore, Marco sank further into his low self-confidence and felt unappreciated, depressed and confused.
One day his father, already tired after a long day, tripped over (被绊倒) Marco’s bike in the garage. He put the blame on Marco’s not placing the bike in the right way. Hearing this, Marco couldn’t bear and shouted to his father: “No matter how hard I tried, I could never do anything right!”Marco ran to his room angrily and sadly, leaving his father standing frozen there for a long time.
Two days later, his aunt called him. She said she had just seen some young teenagers participate in a public speaking contest. She thought he should give it a try. She told him she firmly believed he could perform on stage like the other kids, since she had seen his humorous performance for the family at Christmas.
Marco was extremely shocked. Him? On stage? In a public speaking contest? To agree would be contrary to his entire shy personality. But Aunt Ginette was so confident and seemed really serious. Feeling her strong belief, Marco went against everything he had ever done or felt, and agreed to enter the contest. All that winter, Marco tried his best to practice. He was taken by an energy he never felt before. However, all this seemed to bring no changes to his father. His father just feared it would take away from his homework time and impact his marks.
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。
Four months later, the speaking contest arrived.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Marco saw his father’s face, he found his father’s eyes shining with joy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The house was flooded by the fresh aroma (香味) as Jack’s mom took the cookies out of the oven (烤箱). Jack stood by the kitchen table watching as his mouth watered for the fresh cookies. ‘‘You’ll get some cookies after dinner, Jack. You just have to wait till then,” Mom said before cleaning up the kitchen and leaving the room for the hotel where she worked as a clerk in the front desk.
It had been quite some time before Mom made cookies two months ago. She was always busy working, with little time to accompany her kids. Jack knew that the right thing to do would be listen to his mom, but he felt very attracted by the cookies. So when Mom left the kitchen and walked out of the door, he removed the cover from the cookie box and thought, “Mom won’t know if I just take one.” Then he took a deep breath, picked up a cookie and snacked on it, enjoying every last bit.
“Maybe if I take just one more, Mom won’t find out,” he said to himself as he took another one. “Does it matter if I eat one more? OK, just one more. Just one more,” he repeated to himself and took yet another cookie from the box. Then he simply could not stop eating, and kept taking cookies one after another from the box till only one cookie was left. As he realized what he had done, he gasped in panic. “What shall I tell my mom?” Jack stayed in his room, thinking about how to escape this situation.
Soon it was dark. Mom returned home to have dinner with him and his sister Mabel, who just came back from their neighbour’s home. As everyone finished their food, Mom went to fetch the cookies, but to her surprise, there was only one cookie left in the box! “Oh, my God! Where are the cookies?” she asked.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡上的相应位置作答。
Hearing Mom’s words, Jack was nervous with his face pale.
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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Time to get up. It’s your birthday.” Alex opened his eyes and looked up. His parents were standing next to his bed holding a breakfast muffin. “We can do anything you want today,” said his mom.
He jumped up to get dressed as quickly as he could, already imagining what kind of day he would have at the beach. He had always dreamed about playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. He nearly tripped (绊倒) as he ran down the stairs on his way to the kitchen.
Alex’s dad asked him what he wanted to do today. “The beach,” he shouted with joy.
The expression on his mom’s face changed from joy to sadness. She knew the one place that he would not go was the beach. When her husband had been a young boy of Alex’s age, he had a terrifying experience at the beach. Alex’s dad shook off his initial (最初的) shock of hearing his son’s plan.
“How about we go to the zoo instead?” he suggested. “The beach is over two hours away.”
“But dad, I’ve wanted to go to the beach my WHOLE life,” Alex pleaded.
“Son, I’m sorry, but we are not going to the beach and that’s final.”
They ended up driving to the zoo. It was an exciting day, but Alex could not get the beach out of his mind. He yearned to build a sandcastle, swim in the ocean and chase the incoming and outgoing waves. The beach seemed like the best place on earth.
Over the next few weeks, he dreamed about it almost every night. Any free moment he had was spent filling his room with pictures and drawings of beaches. He repeatedly pleaded with his mom to help him convince his dad to take them to the beach. Each time she explained that they could do other things as a family, just not the beach.
One night, Alex received what he thought was good news. His dad was going on a three-day business trip the next day. “This is an opportunity,” he thought to himself.
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡上的相应位置作答。
The next morning, seeing his dad get into the taxi, Alex ran to his mother.
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Hours later, as Alex looked out of the front window of the car, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
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