I was invited to a cookout on an old friend’s farm in western Washington. I parked my car outside the farm and walked past a milking house which had apparently not been used in many years. A noise at a window caught my attention, so I entered it. It was a hummingbird (蜂鸟), desperately trying to escape. She was covered in spider-webs (蛛网) and was barely able to move her wings. She ceased her struggle the instant I picked her up.
With the bird in my cupped hand, I looked around to see how she had gotten in. The broken window glass was the likely answer. I stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and took her outside, closing the door securely behind me.
When I opened my hand, the bird did not fly away; she sat looking at me with her bright eyes. I removed the sticky spider-webs that covered her head and wings. Still, she made no attempt to fly. Perhaps she had been struggling against the window too long and was too tired? Or too thirsty?
As I carried her up the blackberry-lined path toward my car where I kept a water bottle, she began to move. I stopped, and she soon took wing but did not immediately fly away.
Hovering (悬停), she approached within six inches of my face. For a very long moment, this tiny creature looked into my eyes, turning her head from side to side. Then she flew quickly out of sight.
During the cookout, I told my hosts about the hummingbird incident. They promised to fix the window. As I was departing, my friends walked me to my car. I was standing by the car when a hummingbird flew to the center of our group and began hovering. She turned from person to person until she came to me. She again looked directly into my eyes, then let out a squeaking call and was gone. For a moment, all were speechless. Then someone said, “She must have come to say goodbye.”
注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
A few weeks later, I went to the farm again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was just about to leave when the hummingbird appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE
The twins were filled with excitement as they thought of the surprise they were planning for Mother’s Day. How pleased and proud Mother would be when they brought her breakfast in bed. They planned to make French toast and chicken porridge. They had watched their mother in the kitchen. There was nothing to it. Jenna and Jeff knew exactly what to do.
The big day came at last. The alarm rang at 6 a.m. The pair went down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. They decided to boil the porridge first. They put some rice into a pot of water and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenna found the bread and put two slices into the egg mixture. Next, Jeff turned on the second stove burner to heat up the frying pan. Everything was going smoothly until Jeff started frying the bread. The pan was too hot and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenna threw the burnt piece into the sink and put in the other slice of bread. This time, she turned down the fire so it cooked nicely.
Then Jeff noticed steam shooting out of the pot and the lid starting to shake. The next minute, the porridge boiled over and put out the fire. Jenna panicked. Thankfully, Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. But the stove was a mess now. Jenna told Jeff to clean it up so they could continue to cook the rest of the porridge. But Jeff’s hand touched the hot burner and he gave a cry of pain. Jenna made him put his hand in cold water. Then she caught the smell of burning. Oh dear! The piece of bread in the pan had turned black as well.
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 the twins looked around them in disappointment, their father appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The twins carried the breakfast upstairs and woke their mother up.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Dr. Henderson was assigning（指定） project mates for his psychology class, I secretly hoped he would pair me with my best friend or at least a classmate I could have some fun with. Above all, I hoped he wouldn't assign me to work with the fiercely competitive, extremely serious fellow who always wore dark clothes and apparently had a personality to match. As fate （命运）would have it, Dr. Henderson very deliberately matched everyone in class and announced that I would be working with the one person in class I wanted to avoid.
I went up to my new teammate and introduced myself. He looked at me as though I weren't there. I felt he treated me as though I would hold him back and probably make him fail to get an A in the course. He wasn't mean or abusive; he just gave me the impression he could do whatever project we dreamed up better if he did it alone.
Needless to say, I didn't look forward to an entire term of being brushed off, but I tried to make the best of it and didn't say anything for fear that I would make things worse.
The project required each team to develop a hypothesis （假说）, set up an experiment to test the hypothesis, do the statistical analysis and present the findings. Whatever grade the team received would be shared by both students.
When my teammate and I met to discuss our project, I was uneasy. Here was this challenging student who had a reputation for single-mindedness and good grades—the exact opposite of me. I was outmatched. I actually wanted to drop the class at one point, but stopped short because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of my chickening out. I decided to stick to it no matter what.
After long discussions we somehow agreed to do a study on the psychological well-being of teenagers. I wasn't sure what it meant exactly, but at least we had a topic.
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. 结尾部分分为两段, 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。
Para 1. We started to meet regularly to draw up our plans.
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Para 2. One day I got word that he was admitted to hospital for a serious disease.
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Last summer, Hilda worked as a volunteer with dolphin trainers at a sea life park. Her job was to make sure the tanks were free of any items so that the trainers could train the dolphins to fetch specific items. However, one day after cleaning, one of the dolphins, Maya, presented Hilda with a candy wrapper from the tank. When Katherine, the trainer, saw this, she blamed Hilda for her carelessness. Upset but not discouraged by this event, Hilda decided to do some spying on Maya.
The next morning, Hilda arrived at the park early. She put on her scuba gear (水下呼吸器) and jumped into the tank for her usual, underwater sweep. Finding nothing in the tank, she climbed out of the water just in time to see Katherine jumping in on the other side. After what happened yesterday, Hilda knew what she was doing. She watched as Katherine performed her underwater search, but Hilda wasn’t surprised when she surfaced empty-handed.
During the tank sweeps, Maya had been swimming playfully, but now the dolphin stopped suddenly and swam to the back part of the tank where the filter (过滤) box was located. She stuck her nose down behind the box and then swam away. What was Maya doing back there? Hilda wondered. She jumped back into the water and swam over to take a look behind the box, and her question was answered. Hilda then swam across the tank following Maya’s path and emerged from the water to find Katherine removing her scuba gear. As Katherine turned around, her mouth dropped open. There was Maya at the edge of the tank with a comb (梳子) in her mouth waiting for her treat.
“Maya! Where did you get that?” demanded Katherine, taking the comb and throwing her a fish. “I know where she got it,” declared Hilda climbing out of the tank with a handful of items still wet from their watery, resting place. “What’s all this?” Katherine asked, obviously confused.
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。
“This is Maya’s secret,” Hilda said with a big smile.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Now Katherine realized what had been going on.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Joyce is in the fourth grade and he joined the noisy children of his class as usual. “Children! Silence!” Mangat Madam suddenly entered the class. She announced next week would be math week. “I’d like each of you to work on a project. You could do it individually or in a group.” she instructed. “The topic for the project needs approving tomorrow and it has to be displayed at the math week exhibition. The best project will be awarded and there is also a surprise gift from my side,” she added.
Joyce, who is extremely good at math, sat in the corner seat of the first bench with Karan, an average. Karan asked Joyce if they could work on the math project together. Joyce replied in a prideful tone, “Ha-ha you want to join me. I think I will do the project on my own.” Joyce wanted to get awarded and the surprise gift all for himself from Mangat Madam.
After deep consideration, Joyce decided to work on a math magic quiz on the circuit board. The next day in school, Mangat Madam arrived in the classroom and all the children submitted their topics for math exhibition. They all chose to work in a group except Joyce. In the following days, Joyce gathered all the materials for the project such as wires, bulbs (灯泡), a switch and a thin plywood board (胶合板). He worked out a few mathematical basic operations to be fixed on the board so that when the wire of the circuit touched the right answer, the bulb glowed. Joyce completed the project and was happy with the result.
The evening before the exhibition, while packing his school bags, Joyce again checked the project to see if it was working fine. Alas! All the lights that were to glow did not seem to light at all. Without finding the reason, Joyce was tensed. However, he decided to take the same project to the school as he couldn’t change the topic at the last minute. Then came the next day, and everybody was fascinated in the exhibition.
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。
It was Joyce’s turn to display his project.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, the teacher announced Karan’s team was the winner.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My teenage son, Jordan, always complained about having to be home earlier than all his friends. He would tell me that he was already seventeen, but still had a curfew (宵禁). He believed he was practically an adult. I pointed out that he was not an adult as he was still in high school.
“You don’t trust me!” he yelled. Before I continued, he rolled his eyes, slammed the door and walked away. I sighed. How could I make Jordan see that I only wanted to keep him safe?
I decided to go for a walk, hoping the December air would clear my head. I opened the front door and nearly stepped on her: a small black cat, just like a meatball. “Hi, Meatball,” I said, bringing her into my arms. I walked back in, touching her neck gently. Meatball seemed happy enough to come in the house, but after an hour or two, she sat by the door, meowing to go back outside.
“Why won’t she just stay in with us all the time?” Nathan, my youngest son asked.
I explained to him that she was happy here but she liked being able to come and go as she pleased.
“That must be nice,” Jordan muttered from the other room, complaining why the cat, not him, could come and go. He even asked me to give Meatball a curfew.
Meatball became a regular.
One night, temperatures were unusually low. Meatball stood at the door, meowing to go outside.
I shook my head at her, afraid that she might freeze to death. She stared at me and meowed again. I patted her head, “I know you’re not happy, but it’s for your own good.”
“Mom’s not being mean to you,” Nathan told the cat. “She’s just trying to keep you from turning into a frozen meatball.” We both laughed at his joke.
The next morning, I couldn’t find Meatball. I asked the kids if anyone had seen her.
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。
Jordan nodded, “I let her out last night.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As I drove to the animal hospital, Jordan sat in the back, holding Meatball inside his coat.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I like staying overnight at my Gramma’s house — that is, until Gramma starts telling me how wonderful my cousin Maya is. Then it’s Maya this and Maya that until I don’t ever want to hear another word about her.
That’s why I wasn’t too excited when Gramma called me on the phone to “come on over and bring your pajamas.” When I got there, it was worse than I’d expected. There, in Grandpa’s big leather rocker, sat Maya, all dressed up and formal-looking and wearing fancy shoes as if she’d just been to a party.
“Surprise, Kristen!” Gramma said. “Your cousin Maya and her parents have traveled in from the East Coast on business. Maya gets to stay with us this afternoon.” Gramma chattered away about how excited she’d been for this surprise get-together, and how cousins ought to get to know each other better.
I hung my baseball cap in the closet and set my backpack by the stairway, all the time smiling and nodding as if I’d been waiting forever for this chance to spend an afternoon with Maya. Grandpa’s chair squawked (咯咯叫) as Maya rocked back and forth. It’s the chair I like best in the house, the one I usually sit in. I sat down on the sofa across from her.
Shortly, Gramma went off to the kitchen to “see about some lunch,” she’d said. That left me stuck in the living room with rocking Maya.
She was still small but taller than I’d remembered her from her last visit four years ago. She was good at small talk, though, and was chatting away about how nice it was to see me again. But I could tell that she didn’t really think so. The last time she was here, we’d had hours of fun together building caves out of Gramma’s sofa pillows.
After that, I’d heard about her only through Gramma’s tales. Maya taking piano lessons. Maya learning math. Maya, Maya, Maya. Now Maya was here, looking great with the latest haircut and a fancy dress.
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。
Glancing down at my jeans and my old sneakers, I wished I hadn’t come.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“How do you know all these things about me?” I asked.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I arrived home from school, night was falling. A call came from the public: a bird of unknown species was being attacked by a group of noisy children in his front garden. He scared them off and grabbed their victim. I immediately called for my classmate Jack to the spot.
We were standing in front of a stranger’s house in an unfamiliar street, rescue box in hand. My head full of instructions to follow. “The bird would be our first test as a volunteer wildlife rescuer!” Jack said excitedly. We had completed the two-day intensive training course the previous month and learned the basic skills of rescuing animals in various situations.
But we were anxious, too. After all, it was the first time for us to rescue a bird. Would I be able to transfer the bird neatly into my rescue box? Many worries flashed in my mind. Sensing my unease about the act ahead, Jack said, “These things are pretty easy to deal with!”
I was wondering what kind of bird it was when a kind-looking man appeared and led us inside to see our very first patient. I lifted the edge of the shoe box very slightly to see an angry-looking bird standing to attention on very thin and long legs, together with a slice of banana and a small dish of water. He didn’t know its true name but the folks called the creature Red Fan. “It’s eaten some banana,” said the man proudly. The poor soul seemed rather nervous, so l decided not to grab it by hand but just transfer the whole shoe box into my rescue box.
Back home, we could only see some minor injuries in the left wing, but there was no blood on its feathers. Jack managed to treat the injuries with some iodophor (碘伏药水). We assessed its condition to find out if it was appropriate to release the bird the next day. How could we help it spend the night peacefully? We hadn’t seen this species of bird before, let alone its habits.
注意：1. 续写词数要求应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
“Why not do a search on the Internet?” suggested Jack.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next day, we were glad to see the bird was well enough.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the last customer left KFC, it was already 10:30 pm. Adam, an 18-year-old college student, dragged himself home. He had been working at KFC for over a month that summer vacation.
Entering his room, Adam found his younger brother Bill sitting on the edge of his bed with an uneasy expression on his face.
“Sorry, Adam. I … I did something wrong,” Bill sprang up and said nervously.
“What is it?”
“This afternoon I sneaked (溜) out for a ride on your motorcycle and accidentally hit our neighbor Osman Brook’s car. I was so scared and I … I hurried home in panic.”
“Is the car seriously damaged?”
“The left headlight got broken.”
“It’s truly your fault and it’s really dangerous to ride a motorcycle at your age. Besides, it’s illegal,” Adam raised his voice, obviously annoyed. Hearing this, Bill lowered his head and bit his lips hard.
“Anyway, it’s no use crying over spilt milk. I will deal with it tomorrow. Now you go to bed and have a good sleep.”
The next morning when Adam got up, Bill was still sleeping soundly. Adam was more determined about what he ought to do as an elder brother.
After breakfast, Adam took out all the money he had earned and went out of the house with it. In the yard he saw his motorcycle, on whose side the scratches (划痕) were clearly visible. Adam shook his head and sighed slightly. Then he squared his shoulders and quickened his pace to Osman’s house.
When he arrived, he was welcomed by Osman’s wife Mary, who told him that Osman had gone to the garage to have his car repaired.
“I have something important to tell him. Can I wait until he comes back?” Adam requested eagerly.
“Of course. He should be home soon,” Mary invited Adam in, served him a cup of coffee and began chatting with him.
After half an hour, the door opened and in came Osman. Having said hello to each other, Osman and Adam both sat down on the sofa.
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。
Adam cleared his throat and began to speak.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Just then, there came a knock at the door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mama and Papa were like most parents. They wanted the best for their kids. Jeff and Jenna were like most kids. They wanted the best for themselves－the best place in front of the TV, the biggest piece of cake and the most candies.
One night, when the noisy kids were sound asleep, Mama lay awake worrying. She sighed a big sigh, thinking how to teach Jeff and Jenna to mend their selfish ways. Lecturing didn’t work.
As Mama lay there, she thought about how kids learn. Kids learn by doing. They learn to walk by walking. That’s the answer, thought Mama. The kids will learn to help others by helping others. But questions of who, when, and where went unanswered as she drifted off to sleep.
To her pleasure, those questions were soon answered. The next day, they happened to meet Mrs. Marie, the elderly widow who lived just down the road, at the checkout line at the supermarket.
Mama asked the kids to say hello to Mrs. Marie, about whom the kids were a little nervous. She was really old and kind of bent over. And there was that crooked cane she used when she walked. But the real reason they were nervous about her was that two days ago their ball had gone into her yard and knocked over some flowers in the garden and broke the glasses of the attic. They had never apologized.
When Mama and the kids were loading their groceries into the car, Mrs. Marie came out of the supermarket pushing her little collapsible shopping cart.
“Where are you going?” called Mama.
“To the bus stop,” she said, “The bus goes right by my house.” “So does our car,” said Mama.
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。
Mama asked the kids to help Mrs. Marie into the car and put her things in the trunk(后备箱).
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As the car was approaching Mrs. Marie`s house, Mama made a decision.
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