Unbreakable
My brother and I were playing a game of tag in the house. “Tag! You’re it!”, shouted Alim and ran as fast as his 5-year-old legs could carry him. I chased closely behind. I watched him jump over the sofa and landed, falling sideways to hit our Mom’s favourite vase, the one late Grandpa gave her on her wedding day, off the side table. SMASH!! Alim burst into tears almost at the same time the vase broke. I was equally alarmed said “Ha! Alim, you are in trouble.” This made Alim cry more, “Mummy is going to beat me!”
He was crying so much that I felt sorry for him. Just then Mom came into the house. I rushed over to Alim’s side. “What is this? Who broke my vase?” My Mom shouted. Her eyes were wide open and bright with terrible anger. Alim tried to say something through his tears but I started to clean his wet face with my hand and I said, “I am so sorry, Mom. I broke the vase and told Alim that I would say it was him.” My Mom pulled me by my left ear and dragged me to our room. Alim followed quietly behind. My Mom said, “That’s it. You are grounded for the rest of the holiday.” As she closed the room door on me, I saw Alim’s face in the corner, his eyes very big, looking straight at me.
The door was shut and I felt very alone in the room as I nursed my painful ear. Why did I do that? I thought. Alim should be the one taking the punishment, not me. Humph. He owes me big time. I fell asleep thinking of the ways I could get back at Alim. I woke up suddenly with the realization that Alim was not in the room with me. He had not come to bed. I tiptoed out of the room to look for him. The house was quiet and dark and I was beginning to worry when I noticed the light through the kitchen door.
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。
When I got there, Alim was picking out the pieces of the vase from the garbage bag.
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The next morning Mum walked into our room and stopped as she saw the “new” vase.
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In class, I am sitting next to Mareena. We both have a good laugh. And when we laugh, it’s not small laughs. It’s more like big hair, we twist (扭曲) in laughter on our chairs and we end up under the table so much we are folded (折叠) in two. Sometimes, too, she annoys me a bit, especially when she uses my eraser or my pink pen that writes magic words. But best friends always fight a bit, that’s normal, Mum often tells me.
One morning, I found myself alone at my table. Mareena was ill. I found the day long, but I still laughed a bit. Because when Baptiste meant to say Madagascar (马达加斯加岛), he mistakenly said Madame Gaskal.
The next day, when I saw that Mareena was still away, I asked Mum if I could go to see her at her place. I wanted to bring her homework, but also make her laugh a little, so that she would feel better. Mum made a funny face and told me it was better to wait a few days. I thought maybe Mareena had a contagious (传染性的) disease. But still, it bothered me not to see my best friend. So I asked again. This time mum sat down with me on my bed and held my hands very tight. I realized that something was wrong.
Mum explained to me that Mareena was going to have to stay in the hospital for a while, because of an illness that I didn’t understand. Well, yes, what I understood was that my best friend wasn’t going to be back to school for a long time, and that we wouldn’t be laughing like whales anytime soon because of stupid things.
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 still asked to go to see Mareena once at the hospital.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mareena eventually recovered.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Look!” I said to my husband, Roger, pointing to the branches. “The doves (鸽子) have built a nest.
On a chilly April day, we watched with horror as a hawk dived down and took one of the doves. By the next morning the other parent was gone too. Roger climbed up a ladder to take a look into the nest. Was it possible the hawk had spared the young? Yes, there sat a newly hatched baby dove! We brought him inside and set up the nesting box with the heat lamps we had used for raising chickens. Then we rushed to the pet shop to buy the formula (配方奶) which needed to look like the mother’s milk. But even with our care and prayers, we knew that the dove’s chances were slim. We were especially worried that our little bird, whom we’d named Hawkeye, hardly cooed (咕咕地叫) at all. That had to be a bad sign.
But to our surprise, Hawkeye not only survived but also thrived. Within a month, he was able to stand on the edge of a bowl and eat out of a baby spoon. And before we knew it, he was eating the seeds we gave him. Having the opportunity to nurture this new life brought me a greater measure of peace with each passing day.
As Hawkeye grew, we noticed that unlike all the other doves in our yard, he had a double breast with a line dividing it. When I did some research on the doves, I found out that females don’t often coo.
“We got it all wrong,” I told Roger. “Hawkeye is a girl!”
We realized that we’d have to teach her to fly. First, we urged her to fly from a finger to the bottom rung (梯子的横档) of a six-foot ladder, and in no time she was moving quickly to the top. She lit out (逃走，溜掉) for the kitchen whenever she heard the click of the spoon on her bowl. By mid-June she’d gained full confidence in her wings.
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: At that time, we knew it was time to set our Hawkeye free.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: But one May morning, Hawkeye and the other dove landed on the rooftop.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Wilson’s dog, Jack, was an energetic, six-year-old collie that would meet him every day at the trolley (电车) station when Wilson returned from work. This was a routine that had begun when Jack was a pup (小狗). The dog knew the route to and from the station like the back of his paw-and following that route was the highlight of his day. So when Wilson changed jobs and had to move to California, he thought it best to leave Jack at his home in Philadelphia with a relative. He explained all this to the dog upon leaving and told him that they both would have to adjust to new homes.
But Jack didn’t want a new home. He would not stay with the family he’d been left with. He returned to Wilson’s old house, even though it was boarded up, and there he passed his lonely days beside an abandoned chair in the porch (门廊). But every evening, tail wagging, he trotted (小跑) off to the trolley station. For as long as Jack had been in the world, Wilson had always taken the same trolley home from work, and Jack had been there to greet him. But evening after evening, there was no sign of the dog’s master, Confused and sad, he would return alone to the deserted house.
The dog’s depression grew. He refused the food left for him, and as the days passed, he became thinner and thinner and his ribs (骨) could be seen even through his thick blond coat. But every evening, ever hopeful, he’d go to the station to meet the trolley. And every evening, he’d return to the porch more depressed than before. No one knows why Jack’s new family didn’t contact Wilson.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Jack’s worsening condition did not go unnoticed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The trolley soon took Wilson to the station.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My sixth-grade students were seated in a large circle on the floor of our classroom. Each student held a different tool in his or her hand, such as a hammer, a flashlight, and even an awl. The lesson had gone perfectly. The students discussed how words are like tools—they have the ability to build or to destroy, and they discovered how the right tool used at the right time for the right job can cause great results. The sixth graders freely shared personal stories of how they had experienced someone’s words used as a tool, , to wound or to heal. I watched and listened with a sense of satisfaction—they got it!
A few days later, one of my students, Laura, had an unexpected and uncharacteristic outburst of destructive behaviors in class. She refused to work with her group. I was aware from reading Laura’s file that she had struggled with disobedient (叛逆的) behavior in previous years, but we had developed a good relationship and she was always a respectful, thoughtful, and positive contributor to our class. Her behavior caught me off guard. I asked her to excuse herself and told her I would visit with her in our next door team center in just a minute, She refused to leave and sat silently glaring at me from the back of the room. I rather firmly told her she needed to excuse herself—this was NOT optional. She knew I meant it. She marched from the back of the room to our classroom door, shooting me an angry look, and slammed the door as she left for the team meeting room.
I continued our lesson and when the students were working together in their groups, I gently closed our classroom door behind me, then marched the five steps next door to cur meeting room where Laura was seated. In an unexpected and uncharacteristic gesture of frustration, I slammed the meeting room door behind me. As I stood over her, I began to express how disrespectful her behavior had been to our class. Her behavior angered me and I was sharp in my tone and my words. Without looking at me, she absorbed my anger.
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。
When I paused for her response, she slowly turned and proudly stated, “You’re using your tool against me!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For the rest of the day and the rest of the year; Laura never had another outburst.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
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 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.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Katie was jumping rope on the lawn in front of her home. It was a nice day, the sun was shining warmly, and she had all the time in the world to enjoy her jumping. She felt happy. Her thoughts were focused on her jumping: how to match the spinning of the rope in her hands and the jumping of her feet so they didn’t get tangled(缠结), causing her to fall. When her mind and muscles were working together, when everything flowed smoothly, it felt pretty good.
As she jumped, she remembered that her grandmother had given her the rope for Christmas. She knew that her grandmother didn’t have a lot of money and had to save up to buy the jump rope. Before Christmas, her grandmother had taken her to some toy shops to look at different things, hoping to subtly find out what Katie wanted. When Katie got not just a jump rope but the very jump rope she really wanted, she felt especially loved by her grandmother.
As she skipped, a boy rushed across the road. He ripped her special jump rope from her hands, shouting, “Give me that” and raced back across the road toward the park. “What a horrible boy,” thought Katie. At first she was shocked and upset; but when she thought, “He has stolen the jump rope my grandma gave me for Christmas”, she became very angry. Then, thinking she had lost her jump rope forever, she felt sad and found tears welling up in her eyes.
Driven by a mix of emotions, Katie chased after the boy and her heart was heavy with the loss of her treasured gift. However, as she pursued the boy, a scene unfolded (打开) before her eyes—a younger child had fallen into a nearby pond, struggling and in need of help. In that moment, Katie’s focus shifted from her stolen jump rope to the urgent need to assist the distressed child. Then she saw the boy ran to this kid hurriedly.
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：
The boy had thrown an end of her jump rope out for the child to grab.
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Thinking that it was nice of him to apologize and return the rope, Katie felt grateful.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was a quiet and peaceful afternoon. Connie, already home from school, was sitting comfortably in a chair at the kitchen table, doing her homework. Baby Sister was in the living room, building a castle with her bricks and singing softly to herself.
Suddenly they heard a familiar and unwelcome sound: “La-la-la-la-la-la.”
Connie remarked that trouble was coming, and she was right. A moment later the back door flew open and banged against the kitchen wall. As 8-year-old Benjy ran into the dining room, he inquired about everyone’s whereabouts, accidentally crashing the door against the wall with such force that a small vase dropped to the floor and broke into-pieces.
“Benjy, you naughty boy!” cried Connie. “Whatever will Mom say?”
“Hi, Con. What are you doing here? You don’t want to read anymore, do you?” said Benjy excitedly. “Let’s play something. Look what I found today.”
As Benjy emptied his pockets, sticks, rocks, and candies dropped on the floor and rolled in every direction. However, Connie refused to play. She mentioned that she needed to learn the poetry for a test. To Connie’s shock, Benjy suddenly knocked her book out of her hand and ordered her to play with him first.
Connie was annoyed and jumped out of her chair. “Why did you do that?” she cried. “Why can’t you leave people alone?”
“Oh, stuck-up (趾高气扬的), are you?” teased Benjy, pulling Connie’s hair and kicking her book across the room. Unfortunately it hit Baby Sister’s castle and brought it crashing down in ruins.
“Boo-hoo-hoo!” cried Baby Sister. “You’ve broken my castle, and I wanted Mamma to see it. Boo-hoo-hoo!” She picked up a block and cast it as hard as she could at Benjy’s head. He ducked (躲避), and it missed him, striking a picture and breaking the glass.
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。
At this moment the back door opened again and their mother walked in.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Benjy thought a lot about Mom’s advice and decided to make a change.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lani Williams and her mother, Sincerity, have lived in the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui for most of their lives.
Last week, as wildfires began to destroy their beloved town, both the mother and daughter jumped in their car to escape.
Embers (灰烬) were already falling down on them. So Lani got her mom into the car. But then the traffic already stood still. Then she saw another fire beside them on a whole house. Lani thought they were going to die in the car.
Lani and her mom determined the only way out of the fire’s path was to get out of their car and climb over a nearby seawall, into the ocean water.
That escape route, though, proved too difficult as Sincerity has trouble walking and uses a walker for assistance.
As Lani and Sincerity was thinking what to do, a man, a complete stranger, came to their aid.
The man, later identified as Benny Reinicke, told Sincerity to lean on his back so that he could carry her over the seawall and into the water.
He said, “Auntie, put your weight on me. I got you there.”
Reinicke carried Sincerity on his back over the seawall, and then stayed with Sincerity and her daughter in the ocean water for over eight hours as they waited for the fires to die out.
“I just kept thinking to myself, like, this is a young guy that could have just left. He could have swum around to safety, leaving us behind,” Lani said. “But he didn’t. He stayed with us the whole entire time and made sure that all of us were safe.”
After they made it out of the ocean to safety, Lani and Sincerity lost touch with Reinicke.
When everything came to normal, Sincerity told her daughter that they should find Reinicke and say thank you to him. Lani tried her neighborhood for some information about Reinicke but she found nothing.
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 Lani decided to turn to the social media.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Lani told Reinicke that she and her mother would arrange a face-to-face meeting with him.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The art competition at school was always a highly anticipated event. This year was no exception, with students from all grades eager to showcase their creative talents. Among them were two friends, Jane and Sally.
Jane had a deep passion for art, but she often struggled with expressing her ideas on paper. She would spend hours in front of a blank canvas (画布), trying to capture the perfect image in her mind, but her efforts often fell short. Sally, on the other hand, was naturally talented and her artworks were always praised by teachers and classmates.
As the competition drew nearer, Jane worked harder than ever, staying up late into the night to perfect her piece. Sally, however, seemed to take it all in stride (大步走), casually sketching and painting without much effort. She often teased Jane about her lack of talent, making jokes that were meant to be light-hearted but stung Jane deeply.
On the day of the competition, Jane’s heart was filled with both excitement and fear. She had worked so hard on her piece, but she knew that it still paled in comparison to Sally’s effortless creations. As she set up her canvas and began to paint, she could feel Sally’s eyes on her, mocking (嘲笑) her every move.
Halfway through the competition, Jane encountered a difficult obstacle. She couldn’t seem to capture the essence of her subject the way she wanted to, and her frustration mounted. She looked around at the other students, seeing their confident strokes and vibrant colors, and she felt a pang of defeat. She wanted to give up, to throw away her brush and walk away.
But just as she was about to do so, she caught sight of Sally. Sally wasn’t laughing or mocking her now; instead, she looked at Jane with a mixture of surprise and concern. It was as if she realized that her words had hurt Jane more than she had intended. And in that moment, Jane found a new resolve. She wasn’t going to let Sally’s words or her own doubts defeat her. She was going to finish her piece, no matter what.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With renewed determination, Jane returned to her canvas.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She heard her name announced as the winner of a special recognition award for perseverance and dedication.
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