For 8-year-old Perryn Miller and his family from Holly Ridge, North Carolina, Christmas was anything but relaxing. Their troubles were far more depressing than the regular holiday headaches. Earlier last year, the Millers lost their home to Hurricane Florence. They’ve been staying in a small house ever since.
Last December, the family travelled to Utah to visit their relatives, where they were hoping for a brief break. That was when Perryn started experiencing headaches. His parents, Jacob and Jaimee, received shocking news that their little boy had cancer after a trip to the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed Perryn with glioblastoma multiforme, a rare and aggressive form of brain disease. The family has remained in Utah ever since, so Perryn can go through chemotherapy and radiation at Primary Children’s Hospital. He’s already proved what a little fighter he is by making it through surgery.
His parents are obviously heartbroken, but they say they’re also moved by the outpouring of support they’ve received. Just over two weeks after creating a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Perryn’s medical expenses, they’ve already received nearly $50,000.
For Perryn, though, there was one thing missing in his recovery: the comforting presence of his dog, Frank. Perryn has a deep bond with Frank. Every afternoon, Frank would go to the side of the road to wait for Perryn who would come home on the school bus. However, the 8-month-old German dog had been left behind in North Carolina while they were visiting their relatives in Utah, and it was being looked after by their neighbor. It is 2,300 miles from Holly Ridge, North Carolina to the house of Perryn’s relatives. Under normal circumstances, it takes 52 hours to drive to get to the Primary Children’s Hospital. Perryn’s story quickly spread on social media, where it caught the eye of a former truck driver, Bob Reynolds, who was a stranger to the Millers at that time.
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。
Bob Reynolds decided to offer Perryn an amazing gift.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then after thorough preparation, Bob set out.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mrs. Moore was an old artist. Her husband passed away years ago and she lived alone with her cat Taffy. She did three things every day—painting, baking and petting her beloved cat, among which baking was the part my sister Jennifer and I liked best. Whenever the mouth-watering smell got over the fence, we could expect a paper bag containing delicious cookies to be passed over the fence. To return this favor, Dad would cut the grass in her front yard and help repair the water pipes.
One day, Dad eventually put his idea of building a tree house for us in our back yard into action. Dad got everything in place within two weeks. It was a yellow tree house with a beautiful red roof. It was a great place for Jennifer and me to get out of the sight of Mom and Dad to have fun and talk about our girlish matters.
One morning, we went there only to find Taffy messing up everything there. Both of us were unwilling to talk about such a problem to our nice neighbor, but we had no other choice. So we begged Dad to talk about the issue with Mrs. Moore.
After the talk, Mrs. Moore immediately went to the tree house. She was shocked to see the mess. She said she had never expected Taffy could be so fascinated with a tree house and promised to deal with the problem immediately. But to our disappointment, the cat could still find ways to climb over the fence and get into our tree house.
In despair, Mrs. Moore bought a ready-made tree house from an on-line store and had it fixed up in her garden. The tree house was bigger than ours. It was in the shape of a bird nest with bright colors of purple and orange. Mrs. Moore put Taffy’s toys and food in it to make sure the cat would be happy to move in and return our tree house to us.
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。
However, what happened next was totally out of the expectation of all of us.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mrs. Moore thought very hard and finally worked out a plan.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I used to be very shy and often felt lonely. Although I did well in all academic subjects, I was afraid of physical education. Even kids in the neighborhood would laugh at me that my feet couldn’t leave the ground when I ran. Their words embarrassed me. At school, whenever the teacher organized some competitive games, no one in the class would choose me as their partner or teammate. As a result, I often ended up looking at others enjoy their games.
Things would go on like that if it was not for a sports meet in my middle school. By mistake, my name was put on the list of women’s 1,500 meters race. By the time I knew it, it was too late to change.
In despair, I asked Mary, my deskmate who just moved to our neighborhood with her parents and was assigned to our class, whether she could help me. She declined, “Sorry, I couldn’t run that race in your place. I have already signed up for the same event.”
I nearly broke down. 1,500 meters! Running against the best runners in front of the whole school! It would be the worst thing I’d ever dreamed of!
“Don’t worry,” Mary said, patting me on my shoulder. “You still have time to catch up because there is about one month before the sports meet starts. Besides, it is cool to run for our class!”
I knew this was not just for myself, but for my class. But to me, running 1,500 meters was like climbing Mount Everest for an inexperienced climber. I even had no idea how to start my preparation.
“I have an idea,” she said as if she could read my mind. “We can do training together each afternoon after class.”
During the training, whenever I wanted to give up, I would see Mary running right beside me or cheering for me by the tracks. Her kindness never failed to give me the strength to go ahead.
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。
Time flew by and the big day arrived.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Just then, I heard Mary calling my name.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Crane climbed into the last remaining lifeboat. Three men got into the boat with him. They were the ship’s captain, the cook and a sailor named Billie. For three days, the men steered the small boat through high waves along the coast of Florida. At last, they saw land.
A long stretch of coast lay before the eyes of the men. Slowly, the land rose up out of the mountainous sea. The men could see a small house against the sky. To the south, they could see a lighthouse. Tide, wind and waves were pushing the lifeboat northward. The men thought someone on land would have seen the boat by now.
The men waited and waited but nothing happened.
The waves grew stronger. They seemed always just about to break and roll over the little boat. The coast was still far away. The sailor said: “Boys, the boat won’t live three minutes more, and we’re too far out to swim. Shall I take her to sea again, captain?”
“Yes! Go ahead!” said the captain. The sailor turned the boat and took her safely out to sea again.
“It’s funny those life-saving people haven’t seen us,” one of the men said.
“Maybe they think we’re out here for sport! Maybe they think we’re fishing. Maybe they think we’re fools.”
The coast was still far away. The sun began to go down. It got dark and cold. Billie rowed, and then Crane took his turn. They rowed and rowed through the long night. The land had disappeared but they could hear the low sound of the waves hitting the shore. This was surely a quiet night.
A night on the sea in an open boat is a long night. The sailor continued to row until his head fell forward and sleep overpowered him. Then he asked Crane to row for a while. They exchanged places so the sailor could sleep in the bottom of the boat with the cook and the captain.
Crane thought that he was the one man afloat on all the oceans in the world. The wind had a sad voice as it came over the waves.
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。
Para.1:
Suddenly, there was a long, loud swishing(嗖嗖声) sound behind the boat and a shining trail of silvery blue.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Para.2:
When day came, the four men saw land again.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ridoy, a 12-year-old boy, lived a carefree life under good care of his mom and dad. Just like any other boy of his age, he often lost his temper with his parents. Sometimes he obeyed what they said, but sometimes he would completely ignore them. For example, one day, Ridoy’s mom needed to go shopping for some ingredients for cooking and she asked Ridoy to help look after his one-year-old sister. But Ridoy just blurted “no way”, slapped the door and locked himself into his bedroom. There was another time when Ridoy’s dad urgently needed Ridoy to fetch a pair of fliers for him when he was fixing his bike. Ridoy just refused without thinking. But Ridoy’s parents did not worry a lot since this was very common in kids.
It was an unexpected holiday announced by the school of Ridoy and he had a five-day holiday. For the first two days, he spent a good time with his mother. She took him for outings. They went to the beach and amusement parks, and had delicious dining. She cooked his favorite foods and played with him. Three days were left and Ridoy’s mother wanted to clean the house, which she intended to involve Ridoy in. To her surprise, he accepted without hesitation. With the help of Ridoy, the house instantly became very tidy and the floor shone like a mirror. Everything she asked him to do during the three days was done to perfection. Although she was astonished by his behavior, a delicious sweetness well up in Ridoy’s mom’s heart.
While she was cooking the dinner meal on the fifth day, Ridoy gave her a piece of paper written by him. Since his mom was busy cooking, she asked him to place the paper on the dining table. After cooking the meals, she took the paper left by his son. The piece of paper contained the following list:
Cutting grass in the garden -$2
Cleaning the house -$3;
Taking care of my sister -$3;
Removing the garbage -$ 2;
…
In total, you owe me $20
She was literally shocked,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The boy was in tears when reading the paper.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Everything went according to plan, until it didn’t. The night before my first marathon, I ate the classic runner’ s dinner. That morning, I woke up before my alarm, tiptoed downstairs to toast three waffles and slathered them in peanut butter. I had slept eight hours, my unreliable left knee wasn’t bothering me, my stomach was full. I was ready.
Then my girlfriend, Louisa, knocked on the door asking: “Have you checked your email?” The Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis and St. Paul had been canceled. Race officials sent an email at 5: 16 a. m. announcing the race had been called off due to “black flag conditions”-- record-breaking heat.
While I understood why the race organizers didn’t want to put runners at risk, I also knew that I had trained in the baking and humid Washington, D. C. all summer. If I started early and finished around noon, I’d miss the worst heat of the day. Louisa offered to bike alongside me, with water, snacks and salt pills in tow.
I quickly called my friends to figure out what to do. About 40minutes later, we were heading for starting line in downtown Minneapolis, drinking a gallon of water, ready to run our own marathon. There is a psychological difference between running 42. 2 kilometers and running an organized marathon. The distance becomes a shared challenge when you’re running with thousands of others. That gives a runner confidence they can finish the race as well.
“When you’re in that marathon setting, having people on the sidelines, having people running alongside you, maybe running in a new location, there are so many other external things to help keep you focused, “my friend Samson said. The sights and sounds “give you a little of a break from the internal reflection that can happen when you start to struggle.” Indeed, it is a mental race.
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。
On our way to the starting line, we were wondering if anybody else would show up despite the cancellation.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The last 8 kilometers of the Twin Cities Marathon route are largely uphill.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Today was February 5th, a cold rainy morning, the sort of start that made me wish that I could skip school and head back to my warm home, and bed. Though it was my senior year, most days seemed to re-main the same boredom.
Being late for 5 minutes, I dashed up the stairs, swung open the door to my British Literature class, like a sopping wet dog, and plopped down (砰然坐下) in my seat. The eyes around the room glared at me, as my teacher cleared her throat, “Mathew maybe go and see the lost-and-found for a change of clothes.” I felt my face turn red and stormed out quickly.
The lost-and-found bin did not look promising, until I came across an oversized navy coat at the bot-tom. I put it on and zipped up, this would do for the next couple of hours. Freezing up, I dug my hands deeper down into the pockets to keep warm. Then I hit something, and pulled out a somewhat crinkled (皱巴巴的) piece of notebook paper with some words. “To you, yes you.” I read aloud, realizing that this must be a letter from someone. “Dear Person, I don’t know exactly who you are, but I believe that this letter found you for a reason. I am the least likely of people to write something of this sort, but it’s my senior year, and I thought that I would make true friends. If you would like to participate in this experiment, please leave your response in locker 115, second floor.” My eyes brightened.
I finished my letter by the bell, as I made my way through the crowd, Charlie jammed his shoulder into mine from the opposite direction. “Hey! Out of my way!” I shouted. He just ignored me, not looking back. Charlie is popular in our school and people like him (but not me). I know Charlie never likes me, ever since primary school. I finally made it to the second floor, slipped the letter into the locker, and left secretly.
注意：1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1: Soon my unseen pen pal and I wrote letters every day. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: I waited for my pen pal in the stadium after school that day.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jackson Merle was exhausted. He was in need of money because his wife was in hospital. He had been knocking on door after door, looking for work, but no one would even listen to what he had to say. No one wanted to talk to an old man. He stood in front of the biggest house on the block. This was his last chance for the day. Every homeowner on the street had run Jackson off, without even listening to his proposal, and maybe this one would be different? Jackson rang the doorbell. Within minutes a pretty young woman opened the door.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, “What can I do for you?” Jackson was heartened by her sunny smile and friendly attitude. “Good morning, miss,” he said, “I’m a handyman, and I’m here to offer you and your family my services.” “What kind of work do you do?” she asked.
“I do anything you might need, miss,” Jackson said, “I do some woodwork, painting, cabinet making; I fix small appliances, some gardening, anything you need and my rates are very reasonable.” “Come on in,” the woman smiled, “I have a table with a wobbly (摇摆的) leg that needs fixing, and maybe you can paint my guest room?” Jackson couldn’t believe his ears. He walked into the woman’s beautiful house, toolbox in hand.
First, he fixed the table, while the woman—who introduced herself as Ruth—sat watching him work and chatting to him. Then he looked at the guest room. Ruth gave him money to buy paint so he could fix it up the next day. She also paid him twice what he’d asked for the table. “But, miss,” Jackson protested, “You’ve given me too much money!” “No, I haven’t, Jackson.” Ruth told him firmly, “My daddy always told me to pay a fair price for a job well done, and that’s what I’m doing!”
Over the next few weeks, Ruth’s neighbor Jolene was surprised to see the elderly man coming in and out of Ruth’s house with his toolbox in hand. Everything in Ruth’s home looking perfect, Jolene didn’t see why she needed a handyman five days a week.
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。
Ruth smiled and explained she was actually helping Jackson.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jolene was moved by Ruth’s kindness and thoughtfulness and spread her deeds.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Having nice things can make you feel good, but at the end of the day, what truly matters is that we have people we love and care about in our lives.
Still, when someone is asked to sacrifice something in order to be with their loved ones in good health, it can be hard. That was the situation one man was put in two decades ago when his wife was diagnosed with cancer.
Years ago, Wesley Ryan learned his wife, Laura, had been diagnosed with cancer. The medical bills were piling up, and he knew in order to continue making ends meet, he would have to sell his beloved car.
Wesley loved that car and even nicknamed it Christine, based on the 1958 Plymouth Fury from Stephen King’s book, Christine. However, Laura meant more to him, and Wesley wanted her to continue getting the care she needed. So he handed over the keys.
“I know how much it broke him in half seeing that car drive away from him,” his son, Jake, wrote online. “It’s a day that I’ll never forget.” Jake and his sister, Jeni, knew they wanted to help their dad reunite with the car he’d loved so much. And over the years, the siblings had saved up enough money. So they started an online search and surprisingly, they were able to track down the old car online.
Actually, the man who bought the car found out about Wesley’s story and the meaning behind the beloved vehicle by accident. Moved by the sacrifice one man had made for his family and how his family stepped up to repay him in the sweetest way possible, he soon got in touch with Jake, who purchased it as soon as possible. And after careful consideration, Jake and Jeni decided to surprise their dad in a nearby parking lot. Moreover, Laura, cancer-free for 13 years at the time, joined them for the big reveal.
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。
Finally, the day came when Wesley reunited with his beloved car.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Wesley’s hands trembled as he reached out to confirm that it was real.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Samantha and Jake had always been close to nature. Growing up in a small cottage situated deep within a thriving forest, they found comfort and wonder in the beauty of the natural world. Their daily adventures included exploring the woods, listening to the birdsong, and gazing at the starry night sky. However, as the years passed, they couldn’t help but notice the gradual changes in their beloved forest.
By the time Samantha turned sixteen and Jake was thirteen, they began to witness the effects of deforestation on their wonderland. The sound of chainsaws (电锯) and the sight of fallen trees became increasingly common. The siblings were feeling extremely shocked and sad by the loss of the forest they had cherished since childhood.
One day, after a particularly disheartening walk through the decreasing woods, Samantha came across a book about environmental heroes. These individuals had devoted their lives to preserving the natural world, and their stories of resilience (恢复力) and impact lighted a spark within Samantha’s heart. She believed that if they could make a difference , so could she and Jake.
Samantha couldn’t wait to share her new-found inspiration with her brother. She rushed home , her mind filled with ideas of how they could protect their forest. When she explained her thoughts to Jake, he nodded in agreement. “Our forest is like family to us,” he said, ”We can’t just stand by and watch it disappear. “
With firm determination, Samantha and Jake decided to take action. They began by organizing tree-planting events in their community, enlisting (征募) the help of friends and neighbors. Each sapling they planted was a symbol of hope for the future of their forest.
Soon , their efforts gained favor. The local schools joined their cause, incorporating environmental education into the curriculum and the community united behind them. Samantha and Jake’s forest restoration project had become a movement that united people of all ages.
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。
Months passed, and the once-thinning forest began to show signs of recovery.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, a local news station reached out to Samantha and Jake.
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