I remember wondering if we should even be friends when I found out that my new friend Karina did not share my opinions about some stuff. It was hard to imagine disagreeing with her about anything, because when we first met, we got along so great.
It was as if we’d known each other forever. Whenever we got to pick a partner at camp, we picked each other. Whenever we had a break, we hung out together. And the more time we spent together, the more we realized how amazingly alike we were. We both had two lovely cats. We both liked baking extra-creative cookies.
But then something happened. The tent camp was next to a piece of beautiful land that had a bunch of giant old trees on it. Whenever it was nice out, we’d get to eat our lunch at picnic tables that were right by some of those trees. “Whoa!” said Karina one day. “Look at the millions of holes all the way up and down this trunk.”
“That’s amazing,” I said. “A special kind of woodpecker (啄木鸟)makes those holes to store acorns (橡子).”
“Pretty cool! ”said our counselor, Miguel. “Now, let’s all be sure to keep this magical forest as clean and perfect. Don’t forget to put your trash and recyclables in the bins.”
And that’s when things got complicated. “Hey,” said our friend LeVar. “Have you guys heard that shopping-mall rumor (传闻)? They want to cut down a bunch of those trees to make room for a shopping center.”
“That’s terrible!” I said. “We have to stop that.”
“I disagree,” said Karina. “My parents said the shopping center would make new jobs for people.”
“But think of all the birds and squirrels that would lose their homes!” I said. “I want people to have jobs, but not if it means cutting down trees.”
“Don’t you think people’s jobs are more important than trees?” Karina asked.
“Can’t we figure out how to make jobs without destroying nature?” I answered.
“You know,” Karina said, super seriously, “maybe we’re not quite as alike as we thought.”
I sighed sadly.
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。
Maybe two people with opposite points of view just aren’t meant to be friends, I was thinking. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We ended up having much more fun at the tent camp. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When you find someone made a mistake, which would you choose, being right or being nice?
At ages five and eight, Bobby and I would spend our usual Saturday with Grandpa, cleaning his house.
Grandpa was only in his late fifties. His own dad had died early, so he didn’t go to school but ran the family farm to raise his family. Because of that, his skills consisted of being able to sign his name, read his grandchildren’s names, and do simple sums in his head.
Then I didn’t understand the poverty and limited opportunities Grandpa lived with. A little food was the only items in his small refrigerator. He worked as a night guard for several companies, and the highlight of his week was the reward he gave my brother and me for cleaning.
After we were done, Grandpa would put on his only suit, and we’d head to town. As we walked, Grandpa would greet every person he met along the way. Everyone had a story to share, and Grandpa would stand quietly, always smiling, and listen with great appreciation.
When we’d finally arrive at Grandpa’s favorite diner, the waitresses would all greet him as a long-lost elder. Bobby and I split an adult plate, and Grandpa either had a cup of soup or a cup of coffee, talking about how well we cleaned his place, telling anyone who would listen every step of every task we accomplished. Every waitress would make sure they came up to say “hi” to Grandpa and congratulate his grandkids on their work. It may have been a diner, but it was our another home.
When dinner was over, the waitress would bring the check and slide it over to Grandpa. One day it was Gloria, and like always she bent close to him and told him the amount of the check (knowing that he couldn’t read the paper).
Grandpa carefully dug into the pocket and brought out a broken coin purse. He carefully laid out the bills and coins. Then he gave Gloria a very very small tip. I was ashamed that he had got it wrong and that he—we—would be embarrassed.
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 was about to say something to Grandpa when Gloria grabbed my hand.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The words “being nice” played over and over in my mind.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One morning in December 2023, my co-worker Al’s email caught my attention: “Found: $20 bill on the floor in the lab at the end of the hall from the main building. See Alan W. to claim.”
Al’s email reminded me of an incident that occurred on Christmas 40 years ago. Before heading out for Christmas shopping that evening, I had withdrawn $400 from the bank, foolishly stuffing eight fifty dollar bills in my front trousers pocket. On my way to Oakbrook Shopping Center, I stopped at SportMart to look at skiing equipment for my son.
Returning to the car, I discovered the bills were gone. This was $400 in 1983—a huge sum of money! Feeling terrible, I turned my pockets inside out, thinking how I could have been so careless! I turned on my car headlights and desperately looked for the bills in the snow covering the parking area, but found nothing. This was the Chicago area. It was said that people in neighborhoods were not in the habit of turning in cash they found. At the thought of this, I was so sad. With low expectations, I returned to SportMart and started telling my awful tale to the store manager.
Hearing I’d lost cash, he interrupted, stating he needed to page(呼叫 ) the store quickly. Someone had earlier reported finding money. The customer wouldn’t say how much or leave the money with the manager, but left his name. The manager was concerned he may have left.
I stopped breathing as the page broadcast. Minutes passed, and I was about to give up hope when a man and a boy approached the manager. The manager pointed them in my direction. He was in his mid-thirties, with dark hair, a winter jacket, and a son about 10 or 12 He smiled, “The manager tells me you lost some money. Can you describe the amount and denominations(面额)?”
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。
I told him I’d lost $400, eight fifties.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________They left before I could ask them their names.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a cold, stormy winter day, an old friend invited me out for a cup of coffee. We met by his house, and as we walked down the street, we passed by a small cafe with a sign hanging on the door that read, “You’re welcome in. We have suspended(待用) coffee.”
“Suspended coffee?” I asked my friend. “What does that mean?” “You’ve never heard of it?” my friend asked, and I shook my head. “Follow me,” he told me, and we joined the line of people standing in front of the cash register.
“What can I offer you today?” The cashier asked a couple of young lawyers who were looking at the menu. “I think we’ll take three cups of coffee,” one of them said. “2 now, and 1 suspended.” The cashier nodded, as if it were an ordinary order, took payment and placed two cups of hot coffee on the counter. The two thanked him, took the two cups and left without waiting for the third. The next in line was an older couple. “Same order as always?” The cashier smiled at them. “Yes, thank you,” replied the woman. “But please add two suspended coffees, we haven’t purchased any of those for quite a while.”
Our turn to order arrived. “Good morning!” said the cashier. “How can I help you?” “I think we’d like two cups of coffee,” my friend said. When our order was ready, we took our cups and sat down to drink them together. “But what does ‘suspended coffee’ mean?” I asked my friend. He said, “It’s for someone else who needs it, please wait and see.”
Nearly two hours passed. The cafe was almost empty of people when the door suddenly opened and a man in old shabby (破旧的) clothes and a tired look came in and stood quietly in front of the cash register.
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。
He thought for a moment and then asked quietly, “Do you have a suspended coffee?”
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It was then that I knew what “suspended coffee” meant completely.
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5 . 上周末，你和奶奶一起到菜地摘蔬菜，请你用英语写一篇短文，分享到班级“英语学习园地”，内容包括：
1. 采摘过程：
2. 你的心得。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
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6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Ellie was busy tuning(为……调音)her guitar when her older brother, Chris, knocked on her door. “You ready to go?” he asked.
“Just a minute,” Ellie answered. She picked up her guitar, placed it in her case, and walked out.
Even though she was on her way to performing at her first concert in New York City, she could hardly feel any excitement. All that was on her mind was her best friend, Alice. Just 24 hours ago, she went to Santiago, Chile, as her mother wanted to do research at the university there. Ellie said goodbye to Alice and was very sad. They promised to stay in touch.
So as Ellie stepped on stage and arranged her fingers on the guitar strings, she didn’t notice the bright red lights that lit her and her bandmates. She hardly heard the cheers coming from her friends and family in the crowd. She also paid little attention to the flash of Chris’s camera as he took pictures of her band, Alphabet Soup. But as soon as Jordan, the drummer(鼓手), signaled the beginning of the first song with the clicks of his drumsticks, Elli e was pulled back to the present.
The first number was a piece that Alice taught her a year ago, when she finally mastered the basic jazz chords(和弦). The “F” chord took her a while to learn, as it required tricky finger placement. However, once she was able to add the chord to her repertoire(全部曲目), a new world of music opened to her. She chose to specialize in jazz under the influence of Chris’s love of it. That was what she often heard in the hallway while growing up.
Soon, it was time for the band to take a ten-minute break. As her bandmates left the stage. they are all satisfied with their performance. Jackson, the lead singer, approached Ellie. He’d noticed something was off about her. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m fine,” she assured him.
His eyes expressed his concern, but he didn’t have much time to talk to her. He figured it could wait until after the concert. Ellie was left alone.
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。
Sitting on the seat, Ellie pulled her phone out of her pocket.
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Ellie stepped back on stage with renewed energy.
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注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
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For as long as I can remember. I have spent every Sunday afternoon until I was a teen, around the table at Grandma’s house. As soon as Grandma and I would return from Sunday Morning Mass at St Joseph’s Parish. Grandma got started on the meatball.
Ever since I was just two years old, Grandma would always allow me, her only granddaughter at the time, to sneak a meatball before dinner was served. There was something about that snuck meatball. For some reason, it tasted so much better than the one she placed beside my macaroni, once we all sat down. My Italian Gamma had a way of keeping an eye on all of her meatballs, to make sure no one snuck a meatball but me, who she gave that special VIP sneak. How did she do it? Well, she would make my “before dinner meatball” slightly bigger than the rest.
The meatball stealing games was all fun until Jeanine came along. Allow me to introduce you to my sister Jeanine, my Gramma’s second granddaughter born five years after me, just three years after I fell in love with Gramma’s yummy meatballs.
My younger sister Jeanine was quite the fussy eater. She did not care that her gramma made the world’s best meatballs, or that our mama made almost as yummy meatballs as her mother did. All Jeanine cared about was being done with dinner as fast as possible so she can go back to playing, and so she can get her evening snack, cocoa and popcorn. Jeanine knew the rules. She knew no snack unless you finish your dinner at least 90 percent. Jeanine was not giving up her favourite snack. She knew she had to develop a plan! She did indeed!
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。
So, one day when she was given a meatball on her plate, she stole that meatball.
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One day my mother noticed that something smelt funny in our closet.
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I grew up in southeastern Michigan. I was a fan of Detroit Tigers, a famous baseball team, as a young boy.
My childhood dream was to be like my hero, Al Kaline, and someday play for the Tigers. My Dad would take me to Tiger Stadium several times a year and my hero Al Kaline would never let me down. We never attended a game that he didn’t get at least one hit.
I was crazy about baseball. If there was a game in my high school, I was never absent. I kept practising so that I could achieve my dream of playing for the Tigers, and I was doing well at each level of play. Later, I got a chance to sign up for a strong American Legion baseball program. There I met our coach, Bob Ohm, who knew a lot of baseball and taught each of us the basics as well as more advanced baseball skills. With Bob Ohm’s help and my hard work, I had set new records in many baseball championships.
My dream to be like my hero seemed to draw near. One summer, I went up to play the final season in Marinette. There were scouts who came to find the best players. This was it! My big chance!
Well, as the game progressed I hit the ball very well getting five hits in the game. Unfortunately, I also made four mistakes. The final mistake actually drew laughter from the crowd.
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。
After the game, I knew my dream of playing professional baseball was lost.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Today, I teach baseball in a high school.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Steve, 21, was leading a small team into an abandoned(废弃的)mine near Paradise Pines, California. With him were his 19-year-old brother Allen, and a fishing friend, 32-year-old Bobby Erler.
After a couple of hours of exploring, Steve suddenly felt the earth give way under him. The drainage shaft(排水井)! His fingers clawed helplessly at the wet soil as he fell. He was falling into darkness, his body struggling against the walls of the shaft.
20 feet away, Allen heard a loud cry. “I’m climbing down,” he told Bobby.
With his torch(手电筒)under his arm, Allen slid rapidly down the pipe. “I’m coming, Steve!” he yelled several times. No answer.
As Allen slid towards the bottom of the mine shaft, he saw Steve floating face down in the water. He slipped his arms round Steve and patted him on the back. Water came out of Steve’s mouth continuously.
“I’m going to die, right?” Steve said in a weak voice.
“No way,” Allen said. “Bobby’s going for help.”
At 3: 20 pm, Bobby stepped through the door of the local fire station, a mile and a half from the top of the canyon(峡谷).“My friends. Trapped,” he said, out of breath. “Last Chance Mine. You have to hurry!”
One hundred miles away, Bob Trussell’s phone rang at 5 pm. Leader of the Lassen County Search and Rescue Team, Trussell, 44, had the only team in northern California trained to lead mine rescues. “I’ll pull together my team,” he said, “but it’ll take some time to get there.” An hour later, he was leading a line of six trucks towards Paradise Pines.
Suddenly, Steve fell unconscious(不省人事的). Allen wondered how long they could hold 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。
Suddenly Allen saw something shining above them.
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Steve was rushed to hospital at once.
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