Tripod’s story started one spring morning as I was finishing a morning surgery at the veterinary clinic (兽医诊所) I owned. I was writing up medical records of the surgery patients when my receptionist (接待员) stuck her head into my office. She told me there was a big cat lying outside with a seriously injured front leg. What’s worse, nobody knew whom it belonged to.
Then I sent two of my pre-vet students to pick up the poor cat while I went back to my record-keeping. But it wasn’t long before I heard the students returning with this newest patient who seemed to be in pretty bad condition.
I carefully checked up the injuries which seemed to be caused by the pressing of a heavy object. With the extremely horrible smell, I knew from years of experience this cat didn’t have an owner. “Well, then,” I sighed, “I’m not sure whether we are able to bring this cat back to life, but let’s give him our best shot anyway. Afterwards, let’s see if we can find a home for him. ”
Just then, when one of the students began touching the cat’s head gently, somewhere deep in the cat’s throat, a weak purr (呼噜声) began. As the student continued to pet the cat, I noticed the cat’s breathing became less laboured (缓慢而困难的).
When I performed the complicated operation, I whispered, “You’re a fighter, aren’t you, boy? You deserve a chance to live.” However, after the surgery, he lost one leg, and still struggled with life and death. Over the next few weeks, Tripod, the cat, went through many ups and downs, but I was sure about his resilience (快速恢复的能力). News about Tripod spread. A number of customers stopped by regularly to check on the progress of his recovery, including Mrs Melson, a pet lover.
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The day finally came when I decided Tripod had really recovered.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Though unwilling to part with Tripod, we were happy to see Mrs Melson come for him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________By the time 18-year-old Amy Waldroop returned to her grandmother’s tiny house, it was nearly midnight and she was exhausted. After a full day’s work at a flower shop, she had put in another six hours waiting tables before heading home. This was her typical weekends.
Pushing the key into the lock, she quietly opened the door so as not to wake her younger siblings. She stepped into the front room, and froze. The house was a mess: plates of half-eaten food were scattered in front of the TV; clothes, shoes and exercise books were everyone.
Amy’s eyes welled with tears. “This is just too much for me.” she thought. Terrible memories began to race through her mind. Two years before, her parents lost their lives in an accident, leaving Amy and her siblings for their grandma, Helen, who had spent half of her life in a wheelchair. The life burden fell on Amy’s shoulders, which was too much for a girl.
Life moved on. One day, walking across the school grounds, Amy found a table littered with university brochures. She browsed through pictures of spacious campuses and happy peers, all of it looking unachievable for her, given the current situation and financial conditions. But her teacher gave her unexpected hope, saying“ You could attend university for free. It would take a scholarship, though, and for that you’d need much better grades.”
During her final year of high school, Amy diligently attended classes, then went to work after school, returned to her grandmother’s house, cared for her sisters and brothers and went through homework till the early hours of the morning, struggling for her dream university.
One afternoon, she walked home from school, holding a sheet of paper tightly. It was a letter from the University of California, informing her that she would be offered a scholarship and was admitted to the university. It was what she’d been longing for, a place where she could study to become someone special-a nurse, perhaps, or maybe even a lawyer.
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2．请按如下格式作答。
Yet the letter only made Amy struggle inside.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next afternoon, Amy spotted the wrinkled letter she threw into the dustbin on the table when arriving home.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day Dana and Jeff’s daughter Melody was born was nothing like they expected. The words the doctor said to them completely shook them, “Your daughter was born with a cleft lip (唇裂).” It was impossible for the couple to hide their sadness. They couldn’t believe it was true until they saw their daughter in person. Seeing her cleft made Dana and Jeff heartbroken more than anything. It broke their heart to imagine the kind of life Melody would lead in the future.
When the doctor told Dana and Jeff that their daughter’s condition was treatable with a cleft lip surgery (外科手术), the couple saw a ray of hope. Rather than feeling stressful like the first few days, they promised themselves they never wanted their daughter to suffer from that. They would support Melody as best they could.
Dana and Jeff were ready to do anything for Melody. After bringing Melody home, they immediately began looking for cleft surgery options. However, no matter where they turned, getting Melody the surgery she needed was expensive, and the various treatments and medications she needed in the following would also be much more costly than the young family could afford.
One day, however, things took a turn for the better. While browsing through a medical forum one evening, Jeff stumbled upon (意外发现) a post about a nonprofit organization that specialized in cleft lip surgeries for children. The organization, named Smileatfuture, is dedicated to providing free surgeries to families who could not afford the procedure. The couple had seen a lot of photos and read a lot of stories about children who had cleft surgeries sponsored by Smileatfuture, and the results were unbelievable. The idea that Melody could grow up with hardly a scar (伤疤) where her cleft was lit a fire under the couple. Without any hesitation, Dana and her husband reached out to Smileatfuture and handed in an application for medical aid.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Everything went more smoothly than Dana and Jeff had expected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The big day for Melody’s surgery finally came.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Natasha Steer and her son Zac were about to miss their bus. As she turned the corner, she called back over her shoulder. “Zac, PLEASE. We’re going to miss it!” They were walking from their hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Zac was dragging behind. It was hot and his bag was heavy, but Steer kept up the pace — they’d be left behind otherwise.
“My stomach hurts!” Zac’s voice came from too far behind her. She turned, impatient. “I know, but we really need to keep going, OK?”
“OK …but it really hurts …”
She turned to keep walking, assuming that if she kept up the pace he’d speed it up, too. She felt bad. Her nine-year-old son was rightfully uncomfortable under his backpack and the hot sun during a long walk, and a stomach ache on top of that couldn’t be pleasant. Still, they needed to make this bus to Ho Chi Min City. He’d be able to rest once we sat down.
She sped up as they neared the bus stop, eyes searching the platforms until they landed with relief on their bus. She turned to see Zac dragging himself up the sidewalk, leaving her pack on the ground before walking back toward him. She took his bag off so she could carry it the rest of the way.
“Does it still hurt?” asked Steer.
He nodded. “I don’t feel good.”
Steer handed Zac some water and told him he would feel better if they got on the bus and she carried their backpacks to the bus, leaving them in the pile with the others while she searched her pocket for their bus tickets.
On the bus and in their seats, she handed Zac the water bottle one more time. He leaned his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. Suddenly, Zac doubled over, vomiting onto his feet.
“Oh no — hold on!” she moved quickly to get him a bag to vomit (呕吐) in, saving his feet and the floor from some of the mess. He looked up, apologetic, and Steer felt the eyes of everyone on the bus on them. “Don’t worry about it honey, it doesn’t matter — do you feel better? Here — have some water.”
As she twisted off the cap, Zac began to throw up again — only this time, there was no bag. Moving quickly to help him, Steer knocked over the two-liter water bottle.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She felt flurried (慌乱) as the bus attendant came up to see what was happening.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Learning about Zac’s serious conditions, all other passengers did what Steer unexpected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Beyond the Horizon
Oshima was sitting at the sea side but the beautiful site did not make her feel good. Her face was dull and gloomy. She was staring at the setting sun without an expression on her face.
But she was not an unhappy child like this always. Six months before, Oshima was a happy child who loved playing at the beach with her brother and sister. Her brother Mittsu used to make sandcastle and Oshima and her sister Osheen collected the sea shells. Her father always shouted, “Come home, it's late”, but they would not listen. The seaside was like their second home. At house also, they were a happy family who always laughed and played and had no problems to bother for.
One day all of a sudden something terrible happened. A violent tsunami came and took the entire country in its grip. It was a huge natural disaster. Most of the houses were washed away. The cities and towns were flooded with water. Oshima’s town was near the sea and so the tsunami flooded her town as well. Her house was washed and they lost all their belongings.
Her grandmother Midori cried and cried and was totally shocked. She has not seen such destruction in her whole life. They were homeless. Oshima wept and wept and complained that why a violent tsunami hit her city. She was very angry.
The government shifted them to a refugee (难民) camp where many families shared the living space. Helicopters dropped food packets and they had to stand in long queues even for drinking water. Their life had turned upside down. Oshima could see the sadness visible in her parents' eyes. Now she did not like the sea at all and always felt that the sea had broken her trust and was very disappointed with the waves. For her the sea was very cruel who had taken her beautiful house away.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day Oshima saw two little children playing in the camp without any trace of sadness on their face.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A new ray of hope filled her spirits, making her cheer up.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Little Lola-Rose Raine had dreamed about being a flower girl for her older sister for months. But just two months before their big day, Lola had only hours to live. She suffered from acute liver failure (急性肝衰竭).
Full-time mum Jane recalled how Lola came down with the disease in March. Jane said, “One day, she came in to wake me up and said she didn’t feel well. I looked at her and was shocked to see that her eyes had turned slightly yellow.” She rang 111 straight away and was told to take Lola to hospital.
There, doctors found that the tests showed her liver function was not going well. Lola was kept in hospital for five days, but her condition started to worsen.
Doctors told her worried parents she had adenovirus (腺病毒) — which has symptoms (症状) similar to the common cold — but in Lola, it had led to the serious liver failure.
“The situation was worse than we could ever have imagined,” Jane said. “The doctors told us that her liver was no longer working to clear the toxins (毒素) in her body and the virus was causing her head to swell up. They told us that she didn’t have much time left. We were in complete shock. It didn’t seem real.”
Lola was put into the ICU and added to the urgent transplant (移植) list for a new liver, but Alan, Lola’s father, feared a donor wouldn’t be found in time.
Desperate to help their daughter, the couple asked doctors if they could give part of their own liver, instead of waiting for a match — and tests soon found out that Alan was a match.
Normally, it takes around six weeks for all the necessary health checks to be carried out on living donors. But Alan’s checks were rushed through in just 21 hours.
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2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Soon the transplant operation went ahead.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Six weeks later, Lola was back home and couldn’t stop talking about the upcoming wedding.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Learning motivation only accompanied by interest can last long. My grandfather used to be the director of a local museum. So since I was young, I had the opportunity to visit various museums with him. After entering high school, I became interested in history, and I constantly collected information related to museums.
When I was 17, I read a magazine article about a museum called the McNay, once the home of a watercolourist named Marian McNay. She had requested the community to turn it into a museum upon her death.
Do not miss your chance to see Texas’ first modern art museum—the McNay Art Museum. There are more than 20,000 different and significant works. With beautiful Spanish gardens and the amazing architecture of the building, the art within the walls isn’t the only wonder to see.
On a sunny Saturday, Sally and I drove over to the museum. She asked, “Do you have the address?” “No, but I’ll recognize it, there was a picture in the magazine.”
“Oh, stop. There it is!”
The museum was free. We entered, excited. A group of people sitting in the hall stopped talking and stared at us.
“May I help you?” a man asked. “No,” I said. “We’re fine.” Tour guides got on my nerves. What if they talked a long time about a painting you weren’t that interested in? Sally had gone upstairs. The people in the hall seemed very nosy (爱管闲事的), keeping their eyes on me with curiosity. What was their problem? I saw some nice sculptures in one room. Suddenly I sensed a man standing behind me. “Where do you think you are?” he asked. I turned sharply. “The McNay Art Museum!” He smiled, shaking his head. “Sorry, the McNay is on New Braunfels Street.” “What’s this place?” I asked, still confused. “Well, it’s our home.” My heart jolted (震颤). I raced to the staircase.
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2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I called out, “Sally! Come down immediately!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thirty years later, a woman approached me in a public place.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________During winter, Leo noticed that of all the houses on the block, there was one with a messy, dirty yard that looked unattended. One day, after all the snow had melted and the trees were starting to bloom (开花) just in time for spring, Leo couldn’t help but stare at his neighbor’s messy yard a little longer. The melted snow showed all the buried leaves and other trash.
He went back home and brought the tools he needed. It took Leo the entire afternoon to clear the yard. He moved the melting snow out of the pathway and swept the leaves from the ground. He also trimmed (修剪) the bushes and left them as neat as he could.
The following morning, the old woman, Abigail, opened her door with joy. She had quietly watched the young man clean up the yard the day before, much to her relief.
Abigail had not left her house in months. She relied totally on her caregiver for her basic needs and was eager to get fresh air. After sitting in her wheelchair in her front yard for a couple of minutes, her neighbors started to notice her. They walked toward her to say hi, and soon, the crowd grew.
“It’s so lovely to see you outdoors, Abigail! How have you been?” one of them asked.
“I’m so happy to be breathing some fresh air for a change. I couldn’t leave the house for months because of the snow. It was too deep, and I couldn’t afford to hi re someone to help me with it,” Abigail admitted.
“But yesterday, I saw a kind young man cleaning my yard the entire afternoon. I wanted to thank him, but I had no food to offer him because my caregiver had not arrived yet,” she shared. “He is such a blessing. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him!”
When Abigail praised the “kind young man” who helped her, they immediately knew it was Leo. The neighbors looked at each other, with guilty all over their faces. They realized they had been so blind to Abigail’s problems that no one thought to help her by cleaning her yard.
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。
They decided to thank Leo by visiting his house.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When he opened his front door, Leo was surprised to see his neighbors bearing gifts.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The summer finally came. That afternoon, the hot sun was shining brightly, making the tree leaves almost burn and making people’s bodies seem to be on fire. Having nothing interesting to do at home, I decided to go to the pool to enjoy the coolness instead of going swimming. The reason was simple — I still couldn’t swim. I was impatient, and I always failed to do something and suffered losses. So the swimming lesson was put off again and again.
Upon arriving at the gym’s pool, I was greeted by a lively scene. Some people just jumped into the water, with hands entering first and the body following in a smooth motion. Some were kicking their legs rhythmically below the surface. All were happy. That was infectious, and I couldn’t help but feel deep admiration. Then I made a decision!
Taking a deep breath, I followed their example, closing my eyes and jumping into the “vast water” with a plop (扑通声).
At this moment, my head was pointing to the ground and my feet to the sky. When I “plopped” to the bottom, my whole body was swinging hard and my hands and feet lost their ability to feel. I just felt water rushing towards me, and my nose was filled with water. It was very terrible. Suddenly, I was hit by something. I struggled out of the light blue water bit by bit as if being dragged.
“That’s horrible!” I shouted 1oudly, and while I was complaining, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t swim in the first place, so why should I be shocked? Just when I decided to stay away from water, someone gently patted my shoulder and said, “Don’t be discouraged, little girl. Look, swimming requires...” The lady introduced herself as Allison. She gave me a “1ecture” on how to hold my breath, how to kick gently, and how to start with floating with the help of a swimming ring, being patient while giving me a demonstration.
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。
“Why not try one more time?” said Allison.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As the day drew to a close, I still could not swim very well.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Desire Is Different from Wish
The last ray of sunlight sh one through the window. A small figure sat at the corner of the room surrounded by a cloud of misery (痛苦) as he had been forbidden to go out by his mother for a whole day but he didn’t make a serious mistake.
This young boy studied in the local school and dreamed to be an artist but his mother was against his dream. She thought the profession of artist couldn’t aid a person to meet his daily expenses. The boy didn’t want his mother to worry as he knew about the hard work his mother did in order to survive after his father died in an accident.
As each day passed his dream became more passionate and practiced more. One day the young boy wandered in the hill to gather inspiration from the nature. Then he stopped at a picturesque spot and watched those green grass at the bottom, but after a few seconds he fell asleep. In his dream he was creating a master piece of art that shook down the whole world. After some time he woke up and went back.
The following day he read about a painting competition that was being held in the town. He got the perfect opportunity to fulfill his desire but he didn’t have the courage to ask his mother for money to buy acrylic paints (丙烯颜料) and some brushes for the competition. In the evening when his mother returned from work, he saw that his mother had a few notes and that money would be enough for him to buy those materials.
The next morning before his mom woke up he quietly took the money and headed to the place where the competition was being held. As the competition began, he was quite nervous but he calmed down after a few seconds. He drew the place that he saw in his dream. He was so focused at his own work that he lost the track of time but he submitted his work just a couple of seconds before the end.
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2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
When he went back home, he was frightened to see his mother.
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After a week, there was a call for the child from the competition.
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