“ Rachel Pettingill! ”
As Truman came home from school, he repeated the name in his head. Throughout third grade and the year before, Rachel Pettingill had earned the highest science grade in the class. Truman was used to being second best.
“ But science is my thing, ” he declared.
Truman’s parents were scientists, and he would be a scientist. That was just a fact. Somehow, with only one week and one assignment left before break, they were neck and neck. Dead even.
The subject of the project was beehives (蜂窝). As his teacher had explained, to earn an A+, he needed a “ new angle. ”
Truman pushed open the front door to find his four-year-old brother, Bryan, playing his paper towel tubes on the living room floor, hard at work.
Bryan leaped to his feet. “ Truman, help me build a city! ”
“ I’d like to, but I have to do a report on beehives. Bryan. Sorry. ” Truman stepped carefully between the tubes. He went to his room, dropped onto the bed, and studied the ceiling.
“ Rachel Pettingill! ”
Her report would be extraordinary.
“ Truman? I know where there’s an old beehive. ” Bryan poked his head in. “ Follow me. ”
They marched to the firewood. Bending down, Bryan pointed out the hive deep inside the tree. Truman carefully removed the hive from its hole.
Back in his room, Truman sat at his desk, turning the delicate hive under a lamp. Each cell was a perfect hexagon (六角形). How did the bees fit the cells together so neatly? And how did they make each cell six-sided? Could they count?
“ Boys, dinner’s ready! ” his mother called.
As he walked to have dinner, his foot came down on something strange.
“ Truman! You’re ruining my city! ” Lost in thought, Truman hadn’t seen Bryan settle in behind him with a mess of paper tubes. Bryan began to cry. Loudly. He gathered an armful of his tubes, threw them into a sink and ran sobbing into the living room.
Truman sighed and gathered the rest of the tubes in both hands.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
As he held the tubes over the wastebasket, they suddenly reminded him of something.
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Paragraph 2:
Truman ran to the living room and gave his brother a big hug.
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Be yourself and always follow your heart. Never let anyone change who you are. This is the lesson I have learned from my childhood experience when I figured out I wasn’t invited to the party, Bridget’s party.
One morning, I got off the bus and saw my friends except me hugging under the tree where we used to stand. The circle seemed tighter as I approached；the white invitation cards being hastily stuffed into backpacks gave it away. I knew as well as the entire universe that Bridget’s party was this weekend. Bridget was the most popular girl in our class. She was thin and beautiful, always wearing fabulous clothes and fine makeup.
Why hadn’t she invited me? My feet were too big? No. Maybe. My face was broken out? Why did she invite every person in my group except me? I tried to think of any interactions I’d had with Bridget recently. A few days earlier, we’d been partners during a sixth period project. I was determined to get the project done and she was absorbed in looking at fashion magazines. She barely spoke to me except to say, “You’re so serious. You know, you should smile more."
Soon, I had overheard all the details about the party. They were going swimming. It was a sleepover. They were renting scary movies and were going to stay up all night. Each time someone mentioned the party, I smiled weakly and nodded, with my stomach in knots.
When having my favorite English class, I found myself just unable to concentrate on the short stories we were supposed to be reading in class. Maybe she didn’t invite me because of my coat. It is pretty ugly compared to some of the other girls’ coats. I should have bought another color. Maybe I should smile more but I just can’t get into smiling at people unless I know them really well. But I just couldn’t pretend to be the person I wasn’t. I felt sick.
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 lunch, my friend Kate who had been invited came over to me, trying to show off.
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I was about to let it go when Bridget invited me as a substitute for a girl who couldn’t come.
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Here’s the story of my growth over the past year. It’s a story of how I found the strength to change myself for better and then how I get rid of my fears to be even better. If anyone is inspired by this, that’s wonderful.
I’d been stuck as this incredibly insecure, under-confident and just scared individual for years and years. Since childhood I’d been stuck like this. Kids I met for the first time looked at me rudely and unkindly. Even my friends—actually, I had very few friends because I just felt too ashamed and frightened to make some, though I was eager to and felt extremely lonely in the depth of my heart—laughed at me and gave me bad nicknames. I felt terrible, but I’d just resigned to a life where I’d be afraid of everything and be this “introvert” (内向的人) or whatever. I thought I would never be able to change, never, for my whole life.
But then it all started changing. Something clicked. I suddenly determined to go on a diet, and lost some weight. It was tough. I felt hungry all the time. I was always tempted by the smell of bread and hamburger, even when I didn’t see them. But the toughest thing was that even if I had just had my meals, I felt hunger mentally. However, I held on. In over a period of 6 months I finally managed to stick to one of my diets. I didn’t know how. But I did make it.
The loss of 90 lbs brought me from overweight straight down to underweight. This isn’t the best part. More importantly and inspiringly, I suddenly found strength in me. I realized I could be totally different. And maybe, I could even be whatever I wanted to be. This taught me that I could change myself.
Then I wondered, perhaps, I could also get rid of those of my fears, just like I succeeded in losing my extra pounds. It might not be easy, but it might not be that difficult.
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。
Chance presented itself soon.
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It was from that point on that I started changing rapidly.
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Randy Heiss, 61, has lived in Bisbee, Arizona for more than three decades. Ten years ago, he and his wife lost their only child. They have no grandchildren.
The spot of red was what first caught Heiss’s attention on December 16, 2018. He was hiking the remote land behind his farm in a small town near the U. S.-Mexico border, and there lying on the grass was a balloon. He walked toward it with his dog, thinking he should pick it up and throw it away.
That’s when he noticed the balloon’s string was attached to a piece of paper. “Dayami,”it read on one side, in a child’s writing. Heiss flipped the paper over. On the back he saw a numbered list, all in Spanish. His Spanish wasn’t very good, but he could see it was a Christmas list!
Heiss was charmed. He suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned the letters Heiss had sent, but he wondered whether he could find the girl who had sent this one.
It would be difficult, but Heiss had a few clues. About 20 miles to the southwest, just across the border, was the city of Nogales, Mexico, with a population of about a quarter million. Based on the wind direction, he was almost sure that was where it came from. Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list They determined that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for a doll, a dollhouse.
They determined that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for a doll, a dollhouse, doll clothes and art supplies. Heiss then posted his search about finding Dayami on Facebook, attaching photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl ’s family. A few days passed with no results. Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On December 19, 2018, he decided to send a private Facebook message to Radio Xeny, an AM radio station based in Nogales. To his surprise, someone from the station called him back right away and promised him to post his search on the station’s Facebook page immediately.
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 next morning, Heiss awoke to a message from Radio Xeny.
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Dayami ’s eyes were wide open with wonder.
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In 1992 my father bought a 1968 Pontiac GTO from a local man and began to tear the car down to the frame in order to properly restore (恢复) it. Over the next 2 years and change, he built the car back up from the frame, replacing everything that needed to be replaced. He rebuilt the engine, and cleaned everything up, and put it all back together. In the summer of 1994, the car restoration was finally completed!
In the fall of 1999, after having kid number 5, my father decided to sell the car in order to better support the family. The day that he sold this car is the very first memory that I recalled as a child. I remember the very last ride that we took in the car, on the day that it was sold. I remember the mixed expression on my father’s face. Growing up, every time that my father and I went to a car show, I was always told to keep an eye out for the GTO. It never showed up.
In the spring-summer of 2019, 20 years after it had been sold, I decided to start looking for the car. I dug up a few pictures of the car showing the old license plates, and sent them to a few cop friends to see if anything would turn up, all in vain.
I finally posted to a few more Facebook pages, and after some searching, I was able to find One Facebook page that was titled in English “GTO club Denmark”. The page had 82 members. I shared the story again, hoping that somebody would recognize the car.
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 next morning I woke up to a picture and a video of the car in my email-box from a man named Martin that said he knew the owner.
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In January of 2021, Martin reached out to me and informed me that the owner of the car was willing to sell the car.
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1. 时间、地点;
2. 内容: 校长致辞、学生展示书法绘画才艺、歌舞晩会;
3. 活动意义。
注意:
1. 词数 80 左右, 报道标题与记者姓名已给出, 不计入词数;
2. 可以适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯。
An Impressive Welcoming Ceremony
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by Li Hua, School English Newspaper
7 . I was about 13. My father frequently took me on short outings on Saturdays. Sometimes we went to a park, or to a marina (码头) to look at boats. My favorites were trips to junk stores，where we could admire old electronic stuff. Once in a while we would buy something for 50 cents just to take it apart.
On the way home from these trips, Dad frequently stopped at the Dairy Queen for l0cent ice cream cones. Not every single time: just often enough. I couldn't expect it, but I could hope and pray from the time we started heading home to that critical corner where we would either go straight for the ice cream or turn and go home empty handed. That corner meant either mouthwatering excitement or disappointment.
A few times my father teased me by going home the long way. “I'm just going this wry for variety.” he would say, as we drove by the Dairy Queen without stopping. It was a game, and I was well fed, so we’re not talking torture (折磨) here.
On the best days he would ask, in a tone that made it sound novel and spontaneous, “Would you like an ice cream cone?” and I would say, “That sounds great, Dad!” I’d always have chocolate and he’d have vanilla. He would hand me 20 cents and I would run in to buy the usual. We'd eat them in the car. I loved my dad and I loved ice cream — so that was heaven.
On one fateful day, we were heading home, and I was hoping and praying for the beautiful sound of his offer. It came. “Would you like an ice cream cone today?” “That sounds great, Dad!”
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。
But then he said, “It sounds good to me too, Son. How would you like to treat today?”
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My father just said, “Okay, Son.”
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One of my most memorable trips took place during the summer vacation about three years ago, when my sister, my aunt and I took a trip to Spain because we were moving. On the day of the trip, I lay in bed thinking about my friends whom I was going to leave behind and thoughts were flooding in.
When we arrived at the hire station, we seemed to have some problems with our luggage because it was too much for a taxi, so we had to book a van (厢式送货车) to take our luggage to the airport. We waited for a long period to find a perfect van that would fit our luggage.
Before leaving, I felt very bad because I was going to a different country and was going to miss all my friends and family. I was not comfortable and cried.
The journey was almost perfect at the beginning, but soon it began to rain. Because of the rain, the drivers could not see far away, which caused a huge traffic jam. I was sitting by the window with a can of Coke that I had bought in the store earlier. My aunt and sister fell asleep, and during this time. I felt bored and thought about other things that bothered me. My eyes turned to the mountain in front of us.
A bus suddenly appeared in the picture. It was very close to us. Cars sped past us without any speed limit. Beside me was a very deep lake: I wondered to myself what if something or someone fell inside it. Suddenly, a bus in front of our van stopped, and because it was raining heavily and the van was going fast, no one could see what was going to happen. Then, bang, we bumped into each other. Our van overturned, but luckily, it didn’t fall into the lake. People came to help us get out of the van because we were blocked and the driver was half-dead.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
We struggled to get out of the van and everything we had was gone.
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I was losing a lot of blood and then the emergency aid came.
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A New Addition to the Family
For the initial ten years of his life, Victor was the prince of the household. As he was an only child, his parents petted him and showered all their love and attention on him. Whatever toys his parents bought, they were always meant for him. Whatever food was in the refrigerator, there was no one to compete with him to polish it off first. Victor could leave his toys or books around the house with complete ease of mind, knowing that there was no one who would get their hands on his belongings and cause any damage.
However, all that was to change overnight when Victor’s parents brought back his new baby sister, Lina, from the hospital. With her rosy cheeks, wide open eyes and angelic smile, Lina caught the hearts of her parents, grandparents and relatives. Everyone focused their attention on the cute bunch of joy. Whenever she cried, her mother or father would rush to her bed. She simply cried because she wanted to be carried. There was little time left for Victor.
Now that Victor’s mother had his baby sister to take care of, she expected Victor himself to do most of the chores he can do. Victor was asked to clean his own room, iron his own school uniform and clean his own shoes. Before Lina’s arrival, he had never lifted a finger to help out with these tasks. The whole family also went out less because it was unhealthy to expose Lina to the bacteria(细菌) being in the outside world too often.
Victor felt neglected by his parents. He felt that they loved Lina more than him. As a result, he tried to attract his parents’ attention by becoming resistant. One evening, Victor’s parents were called up by his teacher because Victor had got into a fight at school. His teacher had noticed Victor’s behaviour and work attitude changing downwards in the past two months. Before that, he had been a model student.
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。
Upon hearing the teacher’s feedback, Victor’s parents got lost in thought.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Victor realized that his parents still cared for him.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994 but I can remember my mother’s words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don’t want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him. ”
AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together any more, and my dad lived alone. For a while he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him. We couldn’t afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no school supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost. The teacher’s words muffled (低沉) as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my burden with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die. But after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days.
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。
Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support.
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Now, I am also working at the nonprofit organization.
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