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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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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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.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Nick was a 10-year-old boy. He was the only son to his parents. Nick’s father was a very busy businessman who could not spend time with his son. He came home after Nick slept, and was off to the office before Nick woke up in the morning. Nick longed for his father’s attention. He wanted to go outdoors and play with his father just like his friends did.
One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.
“Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home,” Nick said.
“Yes, son, my meeting was cancelled. So I’m at home. But after two hours I have to catch a flight,” his father replied.
“When will you be back?”
“Tomorrow noon.”
Nick was in deep thought for a while. Then he asked, “Dad, how much do you earn in a year?”
Nick’s father was taken aback (震惊). He said, “My dear son, it’s a very big amount and you won’t be able to understand it.”
“OK, Dad, are you happy with the amount you earn? ”
“Yes, my dear. I’m very happy, and in fact I’m planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn’t that great?”
“Yes, Dad. I’m happy to hear that. Can I ask you one more question?”
“Yes, dear.”
“Dad, can you tell me how much you earn in a day or even half a day?”
“Nick, why are you asking this question? ”Nick’s father was perplexed.
But Nick was persistent. “Please answer me. Could you please tell me how much you earn in an hour?”
Nick’s father gave in and replied, “It will be around $25 per hour.”
Nick ran to his room upstairs, and came down with his piggy bank that contained his savings.
“Dad, I have $50 in my piggy bank. Could you spare two hours for me? I want to go to the beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Could you please mark this in your schedule?”
注意：1．续写词数应为150词左右。2．请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1：
Nick’s father was speechless!
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Paragraph 2：
The appointed time with Dad was near.
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注意：词数100左右。
提示词：国画traditional Chinese painting；荷花lotus
The Summer I Learned to Really See
It was a muggy(闷热)end-of-summer dog day in Missouri. I was preparing to go after the mail—about a mile's distance, through fields and forests, across a river, from our farmhouse, in which three generations of my family lived.
“Take the bucket with you,” my grandmother said, handing me the very familiar bucket.
“What for?” I asked, petulantly(使小性子). The berries had been picked, and it was too early for wild grapes, too late for roasting ears(穗).
“You'll find something to fill it with,” she said, her blue eyes sparkling with anticipation.
I didn't want to take the bucket. It would be a burden to me. Twice a day I'd carried a bucket for milking. With it I'd carried feed to the chickens, salt to the cows, sugar to the neighbors. I'd had enough with carrying with the bucket!
Nevertheless, I took the bucket. Halfway to the mailbox, I set it down beneath a pokeberry bush(胡桃树). I needn't carry it the whole way, I reasoned. There was no mail. When I got back to the bucket, I saw that a few ripe pokeberries had fallen into it. With childish ill humor, I picked off enough clusters(花串) to fill the bucket, even though I thought they were good for nothing.
“Aren't they just lovely!” Grandma exclaimed admiringly when I set them on the kitchen table. She squeezed out the juice of the berries and we used the lovely red ink to paint rings on our fingers and pen letters to distant cousins.
When I went to mail the letters the next day, Grandma again told me to take the bucket along. This time I carried the bucket a little farther than the previous day before setting it down. There was only a sale catalogue in the mail. When I got back to the bucket, I dropped it in. But I felt vaguely uncomfortable, remembering the pokeberries. I caught sight of a bunch of peppermint(薄荷) growing close to the path. Funny, I had passed it every day and never noticed it before. Peppermint just doesn't spring up overnight. I picked a bucketful, its fragrance seeming to cool the day. Grandma was pleased with the peppermint. She liked to chew it and make tea with it.
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。
The daily routine to take the bucket along was repeated for weeks, and I began to see more.
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One day when I went home, I didn't have anything in the bucket.
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It was my first job, working as a temporary sales girl during the Christmas rush at Richardson’s, the finest jewelry store in our city.
The job was very important to me. Dad had passed away and Mother and I did not have enough to live on in those hard Depression years. I worked in the diamond department. My duties were to arrange the goods, keep them clean, and run errands (跑腿). It was interesting work that I enjoyed thoroughly.
As Christmas drew near, the days became more rushed, but also more exciting. One afternoon, Miss Allan, the head of the department, asked me to get her the diamond ring from the end showcase. I hurried back, with the ring in my hand when I noticed a man on the other side of the row of showcases. He was tall and in his early thirties. But it was the expression on his face that stopped me. He looked bitter, angry and confused. From his well-cut but worn-out suit, I could tell he was one of thousands trained for jobs they could no longer find. He gazed at the beautiful stones with the despair of a man whose right to earn them had been taken away. I had a sudden feeling of sympathy. But I had other things on my mind and soon forgot about him.
A few minutes later Miss Allan called for me again. This time for the clip (夹子) that went with the ring. The clip was at the very front of the window. I got it. But just as I was backing out, my sleeve caught on the corner of a tray (盘子) of diamonds. The tray started to fall, and six magnificent diamond rings rolled across the floor.
Down on my knees, I collected five rings with the greatest speed and put them in the tray. But I couldn’t find the sixth! I thought it must have slipped through the tiny opening between the showcase and the window. I ran around the counter and looked down. It wasn’t there. Just then, out of the corner of my eyes I saw the tall man moving quietly toward the door of the shop, a few yards away. At that moment I knew that he had the ring. He had been standing at the only spot to which it could have rolled. I reached him just as he got to the door.
注意: 1. 所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右；
2. 应使用 5 个以上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:
“Excuse me, please,” I said.
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Paragraph 2:
“What do you want?” he repeated.
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New Testing Method in Era of Online Learning
In research published today in Science of Learning, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrate how a testing strategy they call “distanced online testing” can effectively reduce students’ ability to receive help from one another in order to score higher on a test taken at individual homes during social distancing.
“Often in remote online exams, students can talk over the phone or internet to discuss answers,” said Ge Wang, a chair professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer and the corresponding author on this paper. “The key idea of our method is to minimize this chance via discrete optimization(离散优化)aided by knowledge of a student’s competencies.”
When a distanced online test is performed, students receive the same questions, but at varying times depending on their skill level. For instance, students of highest mastery levels receive each question after other groups of students have already answered those questions. This approach, Wang said, reduces the motivator for students to receive help from those who have more mastery of the material. In order to determine the order of each student’s questions, their competence levels are estimated using their grade point averages, SAT scores, or midterm scores, depending on what is available at a specific point in the semester.
According to statistical tests and post-exam surveys, this method reduced the points gained through cheating by orders of magnitude (数量级) when compared to conventional exam methods. As an added benefit, Wang said, when students knew collusion would not be possible, they were more motivated to study class material. Wang and his colleagues hope to share this innovation of teaching methods and theory beyond the Rensselaer campus.
“We plan to develop a good platform so that others can easily use this method,” said Wang, a member of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer.
Every Thanksgiving Day for nine years, Peter, a poor man, sat down in the New York City park, waiting for an old gentleman who would invite him to eat a big meal. But this Thanksgiving Day Peter wasn't hungry. He was lucky. A lady often helped the poor on this day and she had served too much food to him. He had eaten so big a meal that he had almost no power to move. So he sat there, very full and his breath almost stopped.
At the time, an old gentleman was coming toward Peter's seat. Every Thanksgiving Day the old gentleman came there and then led Peter to a restaurant and watched him eating. Feeding Peter once a year was a tradition.
"I can give thanks on this day. I'll give you a meal that will surely make your body feel as strong as your mind." said the old gentleman. Always before those words had been music in Peter's ear. But now he looked up at the old gentleman's face with tears of suffering in his eyes. But the old gentleman didn't see Peter's eyes. Peter wondered why the old gentleman seemed sad as he spoke.
The old gentleman was thin and tall. His hair was whiter and thinner than last year. He had no family and he just thought Peter was his relative. He lived alone in an old house near the park. His eyes were bright with pleasure. Peter finally nodded and accepted the invitation. Peter was too full to eat but he understood that he was a part of the tradition.
The old gentleman led Peter to the same restaurant. He sat at the table silently. Today, it was strange that he kept staring at Peter's food as if he were very hungry. Peter began to eat. The turkey and all the other food were gone almost as quickly as they appeared. Peter saw the look of happiness on the old gentleman's face. After an hour, the big meal was finished.
"Thank you!" Peter said weakly. He stood up heavily and started to go. They said goodbye as they did each year. The old gentleman went away first.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
Peter suddenly fell and then was picked up and taken to a hospital.
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Paragraph 2:
After finishing examining the two patients, the two doctors met and they talked about the causes of their sickness.
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