Mitzvah
Mitzvah is a word my grandmother often said to me since my childhood. It’s a Hebrew word that means “to do a good deed”. But according to my grandmother, it also had another meaning. This was the one she was always pointing out to me because she’d noticed how shy I was about letting people do things for me. “Linda, it’s a blessing to do a mitzvah for someone else, but sometimes it’s a blessing to let another person do something for you.” I never really understood what she meant until recently.
It was three months ago, and I'd just moved into an apartment for college in Brooklyn, New York, Several of my friends had offered to help me settle in after the moving men left, but I'd said I could manage. Letting them help did not fit my image of myself as a capable and independent woman of 21.
As December arrived, getting to school became more difficult. One day, snowflakes had been falling past my window for several hours when it came time to leave for class. I put on two sweaters, a coat, a wool hat and boots making for the bus stop. In this December storm it was a hard journey. As I tied around my neck the blue scarf that Grandma had knitted(编织) for me, I could almost hear her voice: “Why don't you see if you can find a lift?” A thousand reasons came into my mind: I don't know my neighbours; I feel funny asking for favours. Pride(自尊心) would not let me ask even though I came across three neighbours at the door of the apartment building. One of them was the woman living upstairs, and in her hand there was an obvious car key.
Result? An hour of waiting in the bitter cold before the bus finally arrived, followed by another half-hou journey. When I sneaked into the classroom, the class was almost over. If only I had taken the chance and asked for help! It would have been a 10-minute ride by car, Grandma would be shaking her head at my stubbornness(固执).
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。
Paragraph 1:
On the day of my final exam, I again walked to the bus stop through heavy snow.
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As I pushed open the door of my apartment building, I found myself face to face with the woman from upstairs.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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。
We were headed to the nationally famous Blue Owl Restaurant, in historic Kimmswick, Missouri, to celebrate my husband’s birthday. It is said that the restaurant is warm and romantic with smiling waitresses dressed in long blue dresses with white aprons. The food was delicious, and the service was extremely good. This week, the restaurant offers a sweetheart dinner that is well worth the price. So we decided to have a try.
There would be freezing rain today, but it might be around midnight. We would be safely home by then. But then, as we were near the restaurant, it suddenly started raining heavily. We were closer to the restaurant than home so it seemed wise to go to the restaurant.
By the time we arrived, the street in front of the restaurant was a sheet of ice. The parking lot was also a sheet of ice and in front of our car was a pool of water. I couldn’t pull in the parking lot and I knew, even if I parked on the street, we would never be able to get out and walk in the rain.
My husband couldn’t walk steadily (稳步地) and I was not strong enough to help him to cross the street. I was afraid we would fall, so we were planning to give up the meal in the fancy restaurant. But we really wanted to try the special chocolate- covered strawberries that were as large as baseballs. Also, we wanted to take pictures of the two of us.
At that moment, an unknown lady walked toward us.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________To our surprise, the lady, who just helped us, was the owner of the restaurant.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Every day, on the way to and from school I pass by a children’s hospital. One morning, as I was hurrying to school, I noticed a child staring out of a small window on the first floor. The next minute I tripped (绊倒) on the ground. As I slowly pulled myself up and dusted myself off, I looked up again and saw the child laughing. In spite of my situation, I was pleased to have made someone laugh. I bowed as though I were a performer. The child clapped (拍手) and waved at me. As I stepped closer, I saw that the girl’s head was bald (秃顶的), a sign that she was a cancer patient. I quickly waved one last time to her before heading for the school.
The next morning and the next, I looked out for the little girl and waved to her, doing a little jig just to make her laugh. I thought about her and wondered what her life must be like. Was that how the child lived from day to day?
I felt the urge to visit the child. I went to the hospital and looked for the room facing the road. I found the little girl. She was thin and pale. When she saw me, her eyes widened with recognition and she welcomed me with a shy smile. I talked to her a bit and learned her name, Susan. The nurse who saw me talking to her later told me that Susan was a leukemia (白血病) patient. Her mother died two years ago and her father was now on duty outside the country. The nurse encouraged me to visit Susan so that she would not be so lonesome (孤单的). As I was leaving, Susan called to me, “Tomorrow?” I understood and said, “Yes, tomorrow.”
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。
After that, I popped in to visit Susan after school every day.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Two months later, Susan told me the good news.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My dream comes true
The rain had started to fall gently through the evening air as darkness fell over Sydney. The noise was deafening. As I walked towards the track, I glanced around me at the sea of faces in the stands, but mind was focused. The Olympic gold medal was just minutes away, hanging tantalizingly (引诱人地) in the distance.
My heart was beating loudly. I was so close to the realization of my childhood dream and the feeling was fantastic. I knew I would have to push myself beyond my known limits to ensure that my dream came true.
I tried to keep my head, telling myself not to panic, to stick to the plan and run my own race. I knew the Russian girls would set off quickly-and I had to finish this race fewer than ten seconds behind the Russian athlete Yelena Prokhorova. If I could do that, the title would be mine. I looked out along the first stretch of the 400 m track and caught my breath.
My ankle was bandaged against an injury in the long jump just a couple of hours earlier, but I shut out all thoughts of pain.
The starting gun was fired, and the race began. The first lap was good, and I managed to keep up with the group, but I was feeling much more tired than I usually did, and much more than I’d imagined. Both the long, hard weeks of training that had led up to this championship, and the exhaustion from two days of fierce competition were showing in my performance. Mental and physical tiredness were starting to over- come me, and I had to fight back.
Prokhorova had set the pace from the start. It was important that I didn’t let her get too far in front. I had to stay with her. At the bell I was 2.3 seconds behind her. Just one lap to go. One lap. I could do it. I had to keep going. I could see the gap opening between me and the Russian. Thankfully, my foot was holding out, so now it was all down to mental stamina (耐力).
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。
Prokhorova was pulling away.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then, the moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life—my name in lights.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Five years ago, a homeless kitten wandered in a park, its fur matted and eyes wide with fear. Hunger bit its tiny body. Accidentally, a kind-hearted woman Shelley Hall spotted the trembling ball of fur and felt a tug at her heartstrings. Approaching slowly, she extended a gentle hand, offering food and warmth. Feeling Shelley’s kindness, the kitten accepted her food and home offer. At home, Shelley named the kitten Sophie. In the warmth of Shelley’s care, Sophie transformed from a scared wanderer to a beloved companion, seeking out affection and purring contentedly in her arms.
For the past two years, Shelley would go for daily walks in the woods with a cat carrier attached to her back and Sophie would peer out. “I tell her that her job is to bring joy - and she does,” Shelley said, recalling how her cat would greet the people they passed. “She’s very sweet and social.”
Sophie was also very confident, until that day last summer when the cat jumped out of her carrier and an energetic dog chased her away. Shelley searched for Sophie all day, but the cat didn’t come back.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Shelley said. She found herself experiencing the worst weeks of her life. After putting up posters, posting on social media, and searching the 565 acres of forest surrounding Royal Roads University every day from dusk until dawn, there was no sign of Sophie. “It is like she vanished into thin air,” Shelley said. “It does get harder and harder to believe that you are going to find her.” But then a former neighbour, Marilyn Hanner, stepped up to help. “There’s nothing to think about,” Marilyn said after being asked why she joined the daily search for Sophie. “You have an animal in danger, you jump in.” Marilyn and her husband also bought four trail cameras to set up around the forest. “If you have the means, why wouldn’t you?” Marilyn said.
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 weeks turned to months, the cameras captured countless other creatures—from slugs(鼻涕虫)to a cougar(美洲狮).
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sophie and Shelley were reunited after being apart for more than three months.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Shelley was a city girl. Her dad would never take his car off a paved road, and her mom would never stay anywhere except in a luxury hotel. Then her class teacher, Ms. McKay, announced they were going on a hiking trip. When they finally got to their campsite, Ms. McKay called the students together. “When you have set up your tents, I want you to explore the woods near camp. Don’t wander too far away. I want you to look closely at what you see. Let yourselves discover the colors, the shapes, the shades, the tones, and the movements.”
Shelley looked up at the trees. Hey, the leaves weren’t all green. Each one was a different shade of green — light green, dark green, yellow-green, blue-green — and they were different sizes and shapes, and moved differently in the breeze (微风). The tree trunks weren’t brown. They were gray and brown, and black and green. Some had smooth bar k over which you could run your hand, while others were too rough or cracked. One tall tree had a hollow (中空) trunk just big enough for a teenage girl to hide in. So she slipped inside. There was something peaceful about her tree-trunk hideaway and she didn’t want to leave her beetle.
Later, Ms. McKay asked them to be aware of the smells around them. The wood s smelled... damp, fresh, clean, fragrant... and definitely green. She would crush some different leaves between her fingers as she walked, letting the pleasant smell toward her nose.
After supper, Ms. McKay asked everyone to quietly sit around the campfire, close their eyes if they wished, and listen to the sounds of the forest. The crackle (噼噼啪啪声) of the fire sounded friendly and warming. The breeze blew the leaves of the trees. Strange, thought Shelley, how she had not noticed it before. Now it seemed overwhelmingly present. Several sort of birds were calling. Despite all the sounds she still thought of it as silence... and it felt good to listen.
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。
“Let us also be aware of our sense of touch,” said Ms. McKay.
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Being a city girl, Shelley surprised herself when she got back home.
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Javon was the shortest kid in the class. Since the third grade, he had been smaller than every boy and all of the girls. He’d had to ask Ms. Haygood to get his gym locker changed so that he didn’t have to stretch so much to reach it. For most kids, being short would be a problem, but Javon just never let it bother him. Whether he would grow or not, there was nothing he could do. Javon held a similar attitude to most things.
The one exception was school work. Right before the first day of middle school, his dad had a serious talk with him about college. More precisely, his dad told him that college was expensive. College cost more money than a year’s rent on their apartment and the yearly income of either his dad or his mom. Given that, Javon didn’t understand why anyone would want to go to college. His dad explained some people who worked really hard and got good grades paid less or nothing at all for college. It was called a scholarship. Javon nodded, promising his dad that he would work hard and get a scholarship.
And Javon had worked hard. By middle of seventh grade, Javon was one of the top kids in the class. He was still the shortest, but now he also got called one of the smartest. So, he hadn’t been too concerned when Mr. T announced they were starting a new unit in math. The class started normally enough. But then Mr. T threw a letter into his math problem. He smiled at the class like using letters in math was perfectly normal.
For Javon, math used to be easy. But he could not wrap his mind around using these letters. He couldn’t remember the rules Mr. T had given and he didn’t even understood the ones he did remember. Whenever Mr. T tried to explain, Javon seemed to focus so hard on wanting to understand that he didn’t actually hear what Mr. T said. Before he knew it, he was hopelessly lost in math class. Soon the chapter test came.
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 test was cruelly challenging for Javon.
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Following his parents’ advice, Javon knocked on the door of Mr. T’s office.
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In the busy city where doctor Matthew’s clinic stood, his reputation as a skilled healer and compassionate soul spread far and wide. Tall and lean, Matthew was a familiar sight in his neat white coat, always ready to offer comfort and care to his young patients. Behind the scenes of the operating room, Matthew’s professional skills and thoughtful nature brought hope to both patients and their families. His soft-spoken words and reassuring smile were like a soothing balm, easing the fears and worries that often accompanied medical procedures. Besides these, Matthew possessed a hidden talent—a talent to cure little patients physically and mentally. It originated from his observation that after surgery, young patients often found it difficult to be comforted and cooperate with treatment due to pain and discomfort, leading to ineffective treatment outcomes and causing distress to their parents. This realization inspired him to adopt the practice of drawing on bandages for his young patients after surgery.
Each day, after surgeries, he transformed dull bandages into enchanting canvases, decorating them with vivid characters and inspiring landscapes that brought bright smiles to his young patients’ faces. During quiet evenings, he practised his artistic abilities, crafting creative illustrations that ignited joy and hope. Every stroke of his pen served as a lighthouse of comfort in the depressing hospital setting.
Once, timid Alex arrived at Matthew’s clinic, his gaze reflecting uncertainty. But after surgery, Alex was greeted by a magnificent dragon gracing his bandage, a creation of Matthew. The sight of the beautiful dragon lighted up Alex’s face, driving away his fears and replacing them with wonder. Through Matthew’s drawings, he devoted to mending not just bodies but spirits, transforming dull hospital rooms into havens of imagination and bravery. However, fate dealt a harsh blow one rainy night. In a tragic car accident, Matthew sustained injuries that made his hands unable to grasp neither a scalpel(手术刀)nor a pen.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
As news of Matthew’s accident spread, his young patients came around him.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With the inspiration, Matthew’s spirit soared on the wings of the dragon he once drew.
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It was my first year teaching in a special needs classroom, and I wasn’t sure what to expect at our yearly Special Olympics track meet. My students had a range of challenges, from mild learning disabilities to severe palsy (瘫痪).
Mark was one with severe palsy. Restricted (限制) to a wheelchair, he had to fight his spasms (痉挛) just to control his movements. However, he always had a positive attitude and greeted everyone each morning with a huge smile.
His classmates loved him and always took the time to make sure he was included in group activities, especially Mike, Andy and Lucas, three boys who were good at sports. In my heart I knew Mark wanted to be like them, unrestricted by the limitations of his body, and watching the grace with which they moved on the playing field seemed to fill him with wonder. He never missed their competitions and always cheered for them. Seeing Mike, Andy and Lucas passing the finish line, Mark looked extremely excited.
When track and field day came, Mike, Andy and Lucas placed well in their heats (预赛), and gave the normally peaceful crowd something to cheer about. Mark sat on the sidelines, cheering them on, and placing last in his own heat because his wheelchair wouldn’t go fast enough.
The final event of the day was the 400-meter race. Everyone was invited to either walk or run, according to their ability, around the entire length of the track. We watched as the students took off—Mike, Andy and Lucas determined to prove who the best player was.
But when the three exhausted runners reached the finish line, they stopped and turned to look behind them. At the back of the crowd, determined not to be left behind, was Mark. His classmates had passed him by and even the slowest walkers were outdistancing him.
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。
Mark was alone on the track with over half the distance left to finish.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mark was moved to see his three friends come back and run with him.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One night, I stayed up late partying with my friends Jacob, James and Benjamin, even though we were conscious internally that we had an important test the next day. On the way back, when James was driving absent-mindedly, Benjamin was very anxious about the exam; I felt uneasy and worried about being scolded by Mr. Smith when Jacob came up with a plan to get out of having to take our test. “Can we escape punishment? Can it really work?” Benjamin questioned with doubt. However, we didn’t get a better solution and couldn’t bear being a failure. So we followed suit as we had no alternative.
We four rolled around in dirt and then went to Mr. Smith office with anxiety. We told him that we had gotten a flat tire the night before, and unfortunately we spent the entire night pushing our car back to campus. As a consequence, we were exhausted and couldn’t attend the exam. We asked for Mr. Smith’s forgiveness and ensured to make up for it.
With the blank expression, Mr. Smith listened quietly and patted our shoulders. Benjamin gazed at me in discomfort while I secretly looked at the other two. Three seconds appeared to be a lifelong time. To our delight, he offered a retest three days later. We were okay with that because we had been given a chance to catch up.
I relieved and worked day and night to prepare for the exam with a sense of guilt welling up in my chest. So did my three friends in the hope of getting away with punishment.
On the day of the test, we went to Mr. Smith’s office. Unexpectedly, he put all four of us in separate rooms to take the test. I unfolded my paper and stared at the questions which I was requested to accomplish. Completely puzzled, I froze. There were only two questions:
(1)Your Name ______(1 Points)
(2)Which tire was flat? ______(99 Points)
Front Right Front Left Back Right Back Left
Palm wetting, hands trembling and almost out of breath, I was overwhelmed with a mix of fear, terror and guilt.
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。
I was completely lost at these questions, struggling with how to face Mr. Smith.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When receiving the report card, we four flushed with shame.
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