Chris Dykstra hadn’t expected what began as a casual walk around the neighborhood with the family one night led to a journey of friendship.
Chris Dykstra, a traffic manager in Shorewood, Illinois had noticed a few raccoons (浣熊) wandering around his garbage. However, he didn’t think too much of it. One night when his wife Julie was taking their four children for a walk after dinner, they tracked the raccoons back to their neighbor’s roof. A further investigation showed that the raccoons had chewed a hole in the neighbor’s roof and were living in her attic (阁楼).
The couple had lived in their current home for five years. Yet they had very little contact with the neighbor. They knew her first name was Dorene and that she liked to watch their children play in the backyard, and that’s about it.
Concerned for their neighbor’s well-being, Julie decided to knock on the door to make their neighbor aware of the raccoons living in the attic. Julie knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. She decided to ask the local police department to do a wellness check on their neighbor.
Two police officers and an animal control officer visited the neighbor’s home to conduct a wellness check. This time the neighbor — Miss Dorene Shock — opened the door. Miss Shock was surprised to see someone check in on her. The officers made her aware of the raccoons in her attic.
Having been told the whole thing, Miss Shock welcomed Julie into her house. After touring the house, Julie learned that Miss Shock lived a poor life. Her home barely had any furniture, and she even didn’t have a TV set. Besides, her house was in need of additional repairs and updates including new light bulbs.
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。
Chris and his wife knew this was an opportunity to help a neighbor in need.
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Several days later, Chris and his wife came across Miss Shock and had a chat with her.
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After filling out sixty applications, going through three interviews, and winning just one offer, I took what I could get: to teach in a remote area in western New Jersey. I kept reminding myself that I could do what I had always dreamed of doing since I was fourteen: teaching English.
At the school, I worked very hard, only taking time off to eat and sleep. I got along very well with my students who were only seven or eight years younger than me.
But I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher. I wanted to make literature come alive and to promote a love for the written words, while the students preferred to throw paper planes and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.
In college, I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore students’ bad behavior. So I did, feeling confident that, as the textbooks had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention. It sounded reasonable, but the textbooks evidently ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seem reasonable.
By the time the principal, who was always ready to fire bad teachers, came into the classroom to observe my class, the students exhibited very little good behavior. After he settled down in the back of the room, the boys in the class were still making animal noises, hitting each other and the girls filed (修剪) their nails or read magazines.
I just pretended nothing wrong was happening. I went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions. The principal seemed to be growing more and more annoyed. After twenty minutes, he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes. I only felt mildly comforted that I powered through the rest of the class without crying.
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 class, I was asked to see him.
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I made up my mind to make a change.
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Two things changed my life: my mother and a bike basket. It’s true. I would be a different person if my mom hadn’t turned a bike basket into a life lesson I carry with me today—a lesson about the value of efforts.
My mother and father were united in their way of raising children, but it mostly fell to my mother to actually carry it out. Looking back, I honestly don’t know how she did it. Managing the family budget must have been a very hard task, but she made it look effortless. If we complained about not having what other kids owned, we’d hear something like, “I don’t care what so-and-so got for his birthday. You are not getting a TV in your room or a big party.” We had to earn our allowance (零用钱) by doing chores (家庭杂务) around the house. I can still remember how long it took to polish the legs of our coffee table. My brothers can no doubt remember hours spent cleaning the house. We had to keep track of our belongings, and if something was lost, it was not replaced.
It was one summer day. My mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed—and there it was in the window—white, shiny, plastic and decorated with flowers: The basket winked at me and I knew—I had to have it.
“It’s beautiful,” my mother said when I pointed it out to her. “What a neat basket.”
I tried to hold off at first, but then I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Mom, please can I get it? I’ll do anything, please, Mom, please?” I was desperate.
“You know,” she said, gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believed was the coolest thing ever, “if you save up, you could buy this yourself.”
“By the time I have earned enough, it’ll have gone! Someone else will buy it. Please, Mom, please?”
“There might be another way,” she said.
注意:
1.续写词数应为 150 左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
“I’ll buy it now but you only get it after 3 weeks of double chores,” Mom explained.
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Finally, I got my dream basket, but soon I sadly found the same basket on others’ bikes!
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It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The streams were long gone back into the earth. If we didn’t see some rain soon we would lose everything.
I was in the kitchen making lunch for the family when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking towards the woods. I could only see his back. He wasn’t walking in his usual way. He was obviously walking with a great effort, trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, towards the house.
Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow and purposeful step towards the woods. This activity went on for over an hour: walking cautiously to the woods, then running back to the house. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey.
He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he carried. Branches and thorns slapped(拍打) his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much greater purpose. As I leant against a tree to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.
Several large deer appeared threatening in front of him. But Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. And I saw a baby deer laying on the ground, obviously suffering from heavy loss of water and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap(舔着喝) the water cupped in my beautiful boy’s hand.
When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________And later I knew what was going on.
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1.现在许多传统文化正慢慢消失
2. 传统文化消失的原因
3. 我的看法
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6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
“Mom, where do you suppose they are?” my ten-year-old son Danny asked for the twentieth time as he stared out of the window at the range (牧场). “They” were our horses, Ginger, and her three-year-old son, Charcoal, both of whom had been missing for days.
Our range and woods offered plenty of grass for six horses. However, spring thunderstorms during the past ten days had forced the nearby river out of its banks. The other horses had come to the barn (畜棚) during the downpour, but not Ginger or Charcoal.
When the rain stopped, I took Spot, our dog, to do some first-hand searching. We went through trees and brush in wet lowlands near the river. All my calling and Spot’s smelling were in vain.
The next morning, the sun struggled to shine through gray clouds, but dampness filled the air. Suddenly, Danny shouted, “Mom, come quick! There’s Ginger!” The horse stood at the range gate crying impatiently and moving back and forth as if to say “Follow me”.
“Hurry, Danny,” I said, “get the pot with some oats (燕麦). I will bring a rope.” Ginger walked in front and we followed. “I see him! I see him!” Danny shouted. Charcoal was lying on his side, not moving. His right back leg was badly injured.
“Oh, Mom. How long do you think he’s been lying here with no food and nobody to care for him?” Tears formed in Danny’s blue eyes. “Probably several days, but we’ll never know. Ginger took care of him, though, protecting him from attacks from hungry wolves or other wild animals,” I said.
“What can we do now?” Danny asked anxiously. “There’s no way to drive a vehicle down here in all this mud.” “We just have to get him up and lead him out,” I said, keeping my voice confident. “Afterwards, we’ll have to call the vet (兽医) out.”
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。
With our encouragement and the attraction of oats, Charcoal struggled and managed to stand up.
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Upon arriving at the barn, Danny started creating a bed for Charcoal.
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1. 艺术家的授课情况；
2. 同学们在课堂上的表现；
3. 你的体会。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如一下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Last weekend, our school launched an activity called “Beijing Opera into the School”.
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1. 学校的变化；
2. 你的变化；
3. 期望与祝福。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
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My presentation was horrible. I lost the client. My boss wouldn't look me in the eye and the rest of my day was spent in relative silence—I was left alone, in reality. Finally, I left my air-conditioned office and of course, outside it was hot as hell. I was hot literally and figuratively as three buses passed, too full to stop and then the one that did stop should have kept going because the Air Conditioning wasn't working.
I boarded the bus but was unable to stand it, so I squeezed my way off at the next stop. I would just walk the mile and a half to home. I annoyed further, as I continued my journey. I refused to take off my jacket, purposely maximizing my frustrations—when it rains let it pour was my philosophy.
A block from my building, I heard the water splashing and kids screaming so I knew the fire hydrant had been turned on. Without even thinking about taking an alternate route, I turned the corner, sure enough, there was a group of kids playing in the water. They were politely on the lookout to stop the water from spraying on any passers-by, so when they saw me they stopped the water and when they saw my mean look they even got quiet. The younger ones in bathing suits, the girls wearing shower caps and the boys with water guns all stared at me as I started to pass by.
Then I noticed a little one, no older than five, holding a water gun down by his side, eying me a little harder than the others. I eyed him back. Then his brother, who I'd seen around the neighborhood, nodded at him like he was saying, "I dare you." My eyes tightened a little further as I communicated my own "I dare you" to the five-year-old. Then his eyes moved, planning his escape route through the alley, and in that spilt second I knew I was going to get soaked.
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。
Paragraph1
And he got me, behind my ear, before he ran toward his exit.
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Paragraph 2
I couldn't remember my last water fight.
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Back in the early 1980s, the idea of home computers was catching on. I wasn't keen on getting one. Somehow, I evolved and have owned several computers over the years. Some days, I loved my computer, but more often than not, I hated it. I didn't grow up with them, and they were a challenge to my mental health. Dealing with modern technology was my introduction to stress, and I know who to blame: my children.
They weren't satisfied that their dad and I finally bought a computer and learned to send e-mails. We were quite happy with that, but next came a cellphone. Then just talking on the phone was not acceptable; they insisted we learn to text as well. We couldn't get a break.
I remember well the night that Facebook became a household word around here. Those kids of ours were determined to set up a joint account for us. It took some convincing. We felt no guilt for grating on (激怒) their nerves considering the drama they'd sometimes created for us during their teenage years. A little payback wouldn't hurt those two.
More recently, my husband and I were forced into getting rid of our flip phones and getting smartphones. I will admit that I progressed into appreciating mine. I liked speaking to Siri and finding out what I needed to know in an instant. I enjoyed having Internet access everywhere I went. I felt a sense of accomplishment; my husband-not so much. To this day, he would happily take back his flip phone.
Last Christmas, our children surprised us with yet another popular form of technology-Alexa. The girls took our smartphones in hand and got us programmed. Before we fully understood what was happening, we could tell Alexa to turn our lamp on or off, and she would. To be honest, we were a bit annoyed at having to learn how to use yet another device, but we decided to keep it. We mastered turning the lamp on and off, and once again I got the hang of it sooner than my husband did. I became his Alexa coach.
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 night, Alexa did not turn on the lamp when I gave the command.
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We should thank our children and grandchildren.
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