December 16, 2009 was the worst day of my mother’s life. It was the day I told her that her thirty-six-year-old daughter had stage Ⅲ breast cancer. I will never forget the look of despair in her tear-filled eyes as I told her. Seeing my mother sob uncontrollably broke my heart. It was one of the few times in my life that I saw my mother weak and vulnerable (脆弱的).
Since I had been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, the doctors had a heavy-duty plan of attack to beat it, which would mean a double mastectomy, five months of chemotherapy, ovary obliteration, and five weeks of radiation. It also meant that a fiercely independent single girl who lived alone was in serious need of some help taking care of herself.
Thankfully. I was blessed with my own personal army of family, friends, and co-workers who had offered to help me out with whatever I might need, including meals and rides to doctors’ appointments. But.as grateful as I was, there really was only one person who I wanted by my side - my mom. My mother lived more than 300 miles away, but didn’t even give it a second thought. She was going to be my primary caregiver, chauffeur, personal chef, nursemaid, communications liaison, counselor, and shoulder to cry on. No one else in the world could fill her shoes. It was a job that only she could do.
The night after my first chemotherapy treatment is forever imprinted in my memory. I was never so sick in my entire life. I couldn’t even keep down a glass of water. And after-hours spent in the bathroom, I weakly lifted myself into bed, weeping, “Please, take this away from me. Please make me feel better.” At that moment, my mother crawled into bed with me, wrapped her entire body around me, and cried with me. Just like when I was a little girl, her arms enveloping me made it better.
注意：l. 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。
Over the next six months, my mom traveled back and forth between two homes and two lives.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I think about what my mother sacrificed while I was going through such a tough time in my life.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was one of those super cold Saturdays in New York. I woke up with my son Bisher, who just turned 13 and was in 6th Grade. He was well organized and had an alarm clock so he woke up on time. When Bisher was taking a bath, I had already made breakfast for my family and we were ready to leave. My pet dogs Milo and Jego were having their mealtime too.
I was going to my parents' farm with my family in my truck, like I always do during winter. It's an hour's drive from New York City to the farm. I was driving a Mitsubishi Triton and the dogs were at the back of the truck.
An hour later, when we all reached the farm, Bisher got so excited that he started to talk to the dogs and imagine what fun they would have during this holiday. When I opened the fence, it was 2:15 pm. In no time I saw my parents' dogs—Jamie and Rocky—rushing into sight, wagging their tails and barking and howling to show their excitement. With all this noisy welcome of dogs, my mom, who was in the kitchen, hurried to open the main door and hugged us tight. After all the meeting and greeting, I went into the room and kept all our luggage.
My father is a farmer, my mom is a housewife, and they live on the farm. That night my family were enjoying my mom's special recipe of fish and chips with vegetable soup and sharing old stories of our childhood memories. At that very moment we heard some strange noise of chickens clucking (咯咯叫) and Jamie's continuous barking. Feeling brave, the three of us—my father, Bisher and I—started to follow the barking.
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。
It was a cold December night and the moon was shining bright.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Upon our return, Bisher told the whole story to my mother.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Though traveling is not a big deal for me today, before my trip to the mountains, I used to be a homebody. I had friends to hang out with, several hobbies, and I felt completely comfortable spending weeks or even months in my hometown — or sometimes even on my block — without going anywhere. All my demands of novelty were satisfied by the Discovery and National Geographic channels, and I seriously thought there was no difference between seeing something on the TV and with one’s own eyes.
The situation changed when one day David, my best friend who always has a couple of colorful bugs in his head (or, in other words, was always carrying out several crazy plans at once), walked into my room and declared his disgust (厌恶) for civilization. I will not describe how he managed to persuade me to join him on his journey to the Rocky Mountains; all I will say is that we departed in five days. This was my first time in the mountains, so I was turning my head in all directions. Unfortunately, the weather was foggy most of the time, and the higher we got into the mountains, the worse the visibility was.
Even despite this fact, I still enjoyed the hike — I felt like I was Bear Grylls, whose show I used to watch with excitement: in the wild, with food and water in my backpack, carrying a flashlight and a knife. On the first day, we were making our way along the foothills; but the next day, we started to climb on one of the peaks. Though it was not that steep and high, I was still excited. I regularly hastened, and because of that, I ran out of energy long before we got to the top; David, on the other hand, was more well-paced.
When we finally got to the top, nothing had changed. The same fog was covering the surroundings, and even though I was filled with positive emotions, I felt disappointed, because I counted on seeing the view from above and perhaps being able to take some photos.
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。
We spent a couple of hours on the top, and decided to turn back.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing all this scenery with my own eyes was truly an eye-opening experience for me.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________About 7 years ago, at the age of 16, I was doing an unpaid job at an aquarium (水族馆). It was amazing because I loved the ocean and still do. I wanted to be a sea scientist, so it was extra special for me.
The other teens working there were nice; we were all there because we wanted to be. I don’t remember having any problems with coworkers at that time and was just enjoying getting to talk about my favorite things for part of the day.
Eventually “Shark Week” rolled around. I was excited because I love sharks. I think they’re wonderful creatures and swimming with sharks is still on my wish list. Obviously, everyone else wanted to work the shark week too as the schedule filled up fast.
I had one shift (轮班) during the shark week. I was dropped off at the aquarium in the morning, ready to talk ha ppily about sharks for the next few hours. I went to my station with a coworker and then I started feeling sick.
I started trembling (颤抖)a bit. I felt warm, then my stomach started shaking and I could not see things clearly. Obviously, my face was very pale and my coworker noticed I was about to fall down. She was able to walk me to one of the worker-only doors before having to go back to her station. I made my way slowly to the office and explained the situation—I needed to go home.
I wanted to cry. That was my only shift during the shark week and I had to miss it. And on top of that, I had to take the bus home. Normally I didn’t mind taking the bus home, but my bus stop was up a very steep (陡峭的) city hill. It’s quite a climb even if you aren’t sick. But I still struggled to do it. But by the time I reached the cupcake shop halfway up the hill, I couldn’t climb any further.
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。
Seeing my bad condition, the owner of the cupcake shop came to my side.
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The next day, Mom and I went to thank the kind owner.
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For the first two years in primary school, I was an extremely shy girl. I had a few friends, but it wasn’t easy for me to be very outgoing, even if I knew them well. If I was with strangers, I was even quieter. So I was not good at meeting new people, I was in constant fear that I would do or say something wrong. As a result, on our school’s annual play day, I usually sat in a remote corner to watch the performance alone, although I hoped to sit in the front rows to see the actors more clearly.
One day in the third grade, my teacher Mrs. Sally called me into her office and said, “Oh, Mary, you’re great at memorizing things, and you have such a sweet voice. You are perfect for Jenny!”
But I bowed my head and dared not speak. The teacher saw this and then said, “Of course, plenty of girls would love the role, and I could find somebody else. But I hope you could try it for me. I had you in mind for Jenny while writing the play! If you really don’t want to, you can turn down the offer.”
My mind was running wild when Mrs. Sally, whom I loved and admired, asked me to play the role.
“She believes in me!” I thought.
Just then I looked up and happened to see on the wall a poster I had never noticed before. It showed a shooting star and read, “If you reach for the stars, you might at least grab a piece of the moon.”
Realizing it was time to throw off my shy mask and show the world who I really was, I said firmly, “Okay, I’ll try my best, Mrs. Sally!”
In the following five months, Mrs. Sally taught me how to put on makeup, memorize lines, create costumes and so on.
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。
The big day arrived at last.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At the moment, Mrs. Sally noticed my nervousness and approached me.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The paper on my desk was yellow, with straight blue lines stretching across it. The lines repeated themselves all the way down the page. I counted them. Twenty-six straight lines ran across the paper. The yellow color reminded me of sunshine. In summer, the sun is bright yellow like that, and sky is blue like those lines. I loved blue-blue is for getting lost in…
“You haven’t written a word yet, have you?” Miss Perry had found me out. I hung my head, as in past years, and gave her the lines I had given to previous teachers.
“I don’t feel like it.”
The truth was that I wanted to write about something different. “Write about Your Best Friend,” demanded the assignment on the board. I didn’t have a best friend. I had a few friends, but I didn’t want to claim any of them as my “best”, because I was afraid they might pick someone else. What if I picked a “best” friend and then someone different, who thought I was their best friend, heard my paragraph read aloud and never spoke to me again? It was a stupid topic. I was disappointed in Miss Perry for choosing it.
I knew Miss Perry must have heard about me from my other teachers. I had already prepared myself for another year of listening to teachers scold me. I was only nine years old, but my ears had been full to the voices of my elders. My teachers, my parents and the school principal had all given me the speech “What are we supposed to do with you?”. That was probably what Miss Perry was about to say, too.
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。
However, there was something different about Miss Perry.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I bet I was touched.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I always think of my mother as a superhero, because she never runs out of room in her heart for anyone or anything.
I could write about all of the wonderful things she has done, but I want to focus on one project she does every year that has shaped my whole family and everyone around us: She saves money, and she puts it in a little jar (罐子) that we refer to as “The Charity Jar”. Every year, she takes this money and puts it toward something—an act of kindness, anything that can help someone. Sometimes, she buys something for an organization that needs it.
If you ask her about this tradition, she will tell you that she is carrying on something that her mother used to do around the holidays. If you ask anyone else who knows her, however, they will tell you that she has a huge heart. She manages to get our whole family involved (参与) in this movement every year. Last year, she helped an organization where I volunteered—Ruth’s Place—a homeless women’s shelter in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
I had been helping a professor run a writing workshop in the shelter when I noticed the wish list on the wall: warm clothes, a coffee maker and supplies. I told my mom, and within a day, she had already asked if our family wanted to help Ruth’s Place. We all agreed and decided that the coffee maker and supplies would be the best things for our family to work on together.
A few days later, Mom found a coffee maker online, and showed it to us. With a few clicks, it was on its way. She also baked(烘焙) fresh chocolate cupcakes for the women in the shelter. We gathered the rest of the supplies and called the shelter to find a day when we could deliver them.
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。
That day I drove my mom to the shelter very slowly. _______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As we left, we were met with heartfelt thanks. _____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Tom lost his father when he was very young, leaving his mother to care for him and his sister, Cathy, alone. Tom knew his sister desired to have a bike, so he had been saving his pocket money.
Tom shook his money box again. Nothing! He carefully counted the coins that lay on the bed. $24.52 was all that he had saved. The bicycle Cathy wanted was $90! How on earth was he going to get the rest of the money? He knew that all of Cathy’s friends had bicycles. It was hard to hang around with her friends when she was the only one without a bicycle. He thought about what he could do. There was no need to ask his mom because he knew she had no spare money.
There was only one way to get money, and that was to make it. He would have to find a job. But who would hire him and what could he do? He decided to ask Mr. Clay for advice, who usually had opinions on most things. “Well, you can start right here,” said Mr. Clay. “My windows need cleaning and my car needs washing.” That was the beginning of Tom’s odd-job business. He worked every day after finishing his homework. He forgot the number of cars he washed and windows he cleaned, but the money increased and he knew that he would have enough money for the bicycle which Cathy was longing for.
The day before Cathy’s eleventh birthday, Tom counted his money and found $94.32. He wasted no time and went down to the shop to pick up the bicycle Cathy wanted. It was red, which was her favorite color.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式作答。
At Cathy’s birthday party, Tom showed her dream bicycle.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Where did you get the money for the bike?” Cathy asked Tom after the party.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was a child, I was very greedy. Whenever I saw something delicious, I would ask my mom to buy it for me. There was one thing that I could never get enough of, and that was cream bread. Due to my constant consumption, my body became increasingly overweight, and my resistance weakened. As a result, my mom stopped buying it for me.
One day, while shopping with my mom, we passed by a bakery, and I started begging for cream bread. To my surprise, this time my mom agreed without hesitation. We entered the bakery, but unfortunately, they had sold out of cream bread. So my mom bought me a kind of regular bread.
Upon returning home, I felt unhappy and kept thinking about the delicious cream bread in my mind. Suddenly, the sound of the phone interrupted my thoughts. My mom answered the call briefly and then quickly changed her clothes. Seeing her anxious expression, I asked curiously, “Mom, what’s wrong? Is there something urgent?” While changing her clothes, she replied, “There’s an emergency at your aunt’s house. I need to go check on it. I’ll be back soon. If you’re hungry, just eat the bread we bought earlier.” With those words, she grabbed her bag and left.
After watching TV, I was hungry. So, following my mom’s instructions, I started eating the bread. However, as soon as I took a bite, I immediately spat it out and complained loudly, “This bread is so tasteless! It’s not even half as good as cream bread!” I threw the bread aside in frustration. Later on, my stomach growled even louder, causing me to think of ways to make the bread more enjoyable. Suddenly, I remembered that there was a bottle of something similar to cream in my mom’s cosmetics (化妆品) — facial cleanser (洗面奶). So, I walked over to her dressing table and picked up the bottle. Excitedly, I opened the bottle and squeezed (挤) the cleanser onto the bread, thinking to myself that this bread would surely taste great now.
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。
I had squeezed a lot of facial cleanser onto the bread when my mom suddenly returned.
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My mom sat down beside me and explained gently.
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Eric was a very honest and hardworking student. He had entered a new school recently, so he had no friends yet. One Monday morning, he was nearly late for school because his family attended a wedding and reached home late the night before. Hurriedly, he even had no time for breakfast.
At school, Eric was starving to death and could not concentrate on anything but wanted the bell to ring so that he could buy something to eat. After a few hours, when the bell rang, Eric quickly opened his schoolbag to find his money, only to find that he had forgotten to take money since he was in such a hurry in the morning. He looked under his books, hoping to find some money but in vain.
Not knowing what to do, he walked out of the classroom and sat on the grassland in front of the canteen. He saw a few of his classmates there, among whom was Henry. He was one of the richest kids in his class, but he was a very rude boy who regarded everyone else as a failure. But Eric was a newcomer, he didn’t know much about Henry.
When he approached Henry and asked whether he could borrow some money for his lunch, Henry laughed at once and said, “I didn’t know you were a loser, maybe a beggar?” Henry laughed out so loud that other kids also made fun of Eric. Embarrassed and angry, Eric said nothing and slowly walked back towards an empty bench.
When he reached the bench, he saw something lying under it. It was a wallet. He picked it up and recognized it belonged to Henry, as he remembered Henry showing it to his friends and telling them that his uncle had bought it for him from the UK. There was quite a lot of money inside for a kid.
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。
An idea appeared in his mind at this moment.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then Henry said, “Why are you giving it back?”
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