Becky, a 12-year-old girl, was deep in her maths homework. Her father Bill asked her to help fix the gate of the stall (牛栏). “I couldn’t come out and help, Daddy,” she responded, without even looking up. “I’ll get extra marks if I do these equations (方程式).”
Frowning, Bill was concerned about Becky. She only loved numbers, showing little interest in other things. Bill hoped his daughter could enjoy animals and help on their farm.
“Wouldn’t you like to win the blue ribbon competition with your very own calf next year?” Bill refused to give up. In the competition, children show the calves they raise and the best calf (小牛) with a large build, well-developed muscles and strong legs would get the blue ribbon.
Becky listened without a word. “You know, raising a calf also requires mathmatics, like calculating the expenses to maintain health and muscle development during growth.” Bill continued.
It seemed that something clicked with Becky, “It might be a perfect opportunity to show my math talents.” She then followed her dad into the stall. Bill pointed to a new born calf. “Here she is! Tag 333. She will be the best calf!” Becky looked, and a smile brightened her face. “OK. I’ll give it a try.”
In the following weeks, she started a journal of projected expenses —vaccinations, registration fees, vet bills, grain and hay. “She’s finally getting interested in cattle,” Bill thought. But for Becky, the calf seemed more like a mathematical challenge than a living animal that would require care and love.
Winter came —the tough time for the calves. One morning, an extreme snowstorm hit. Calves! Bill and Becky hurried to the stall to check. All the calves were inside except Tag 333! Where was she? They searched everywhere and finally found her a mile away from the stall. The little calf was lying still, covered in ice and snow. Her eyelids were sealed shut by glittering frost. “Is she dead?” Becky cried. Bill pressed his fingers against the calf’s chest. “No. But we need to do something —fast,” he urged.
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.
They rushed the calf into the stall.
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Time flying by, the judging day finally arrived.
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The automobile industry is spending billions on self-driving cars, just so we can sit in the back seat like some high-powered corporate executive. But what if we quite like driving?
On holiday a few years ago, I spent hours being transported on trains, buses and planes. Then, finally, came the section of the holiday during which I hired a set of wheels.
After decades of marriage, it was not often that you received real praise from your partner, but on the highways of Crete compliments came with every successful action. “Oh, well done!” said Jocasta, her voice full of admiration, as I navigated a roundabout without killing us both.
Into the roundabout (环岛) I went, slowing down as we entered, then speeding up as we returned to the straight. Really, it was like driving in a Fl race.
We turned right, then right again, following the GPS navigation system, and found ourselves in a small Cretan town. I spoke strictly to the GPS: “We don’t want to be here; we want the highway.”
It instructed me to turn right once more. With every turn the street narrowed. It was like being in a magical shrinking room.
We retracted (缩回) the side mirrors. We took another turn. The new road was even narrower, the walls so close you felt compelled to hold your breath.
Another car appeared coming towards us from the opposite direction. The driver gestured, telling me I would have to make way. But how? I didn’t have the nerve to back up along the impossibly narrow road.
There was a narrow garage opening to one side, a small side street to the other. If I could squeeze the car forward into the garage, I could then back into the side street, allowing the other car to pass.
Locals arrived, standing on various sides of the vehicle, helpfully indicating that I had a centimetre to spare here a millimetre there. There were brick walls on both sides of the car. There was zero chance that I wouldn’t damage the vehicle.
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。
A local stood at the back of the vehicle,waving me on.
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The other car passed.
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Palm trees seemed to speed by the car window. Eight-year-old Katrina began to get nervous, the way she always did in new surroundings. She felt a thin shine of sweat above her lip in spite of the car’s cool air. “The aquarium won’t be crowded, I bet, and people are gonna notice me. I hate wearing this prosthesis leg (假肢).” She felt tears pinprick behind her eyes. “Not being normal is the worst.”
Entering the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, around a comer of a tank, she noticed an animal that looked unusual. “Is that a dolphin with stump (假肢) instead of a tail?” she asked an aquarium staff. He nodded. “Yes, that’s Winter. She’s a very special dolphin.” “What happened to her?” “This girl dolphin was found off the coast of Florida, caught in a crab trap. The ropes from the trap cut off the blood circulation to her tail. So she lost her tail,” Katrina caught her breath. “She’s just like me. She’s just like me.” “But she struggled to survive. Now she wears a prosthetic tail part of the day to help her swim like a dolphin’s supposed to swim.” the staff continued, “Every day, Winter shows us anything is possible if we believe.”
Katrina felt her heartstring was touched. She waved at Winter. Looking at Katrina, Winter raised her flipper (鳍), came to her and lifted her head. “She’s swimming right into my arms,” Katrina said tearfully. They made eye contact. She seemed to be speaking to Katrina: We’re the same.
Back home, all Katrina talked about was Winter. For two weeks, she cried and begged her mother to take her back to Clearwater.
Unfortunately, another blow hit Katrina. She fell on the hardwood floor at home and broke her other leg. Katrina was in constant leg nerve pain. After a through examination, the doctor explained bad news that she would need another surgery on her leg. Years of a living hell came back to her.
She started fearing surgery again and refused to take any.
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。
Katrina’s mom decided to take her back to Clearwater.
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Finally came the day when Katrina was in the hospital again.
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Sadie, a 100-pound German Shepherd, was very anxious and especially uneasy around humans. Due to her anxiety issues, she had been turned down by three shelters. She eventually was taken in by the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge in New Jersey, which is a shelter where dogs go when other shelters could not rehouse them. The dogs who end up in this shelter can sometimes spend the rest of their days without a family to love. Thankfully, there was one person out there who was willing to give Sadie a home.
The first time Sadie saw Brian Myers, she just immediately jumped on him kissed his face and knocked his glasses and mask off. Myers just thought he loved this dog. He wanted to give this dog a chance, and believed they could work through her issues. So he adopted her without a second thought.
He thought he was rescuing her. Little did he know he was saving his savior(救星).
When Myers took Sadie home, she put her paws on his shoulders to lick his face, thanking him for giving her a chance. She would go with Myers wherever he went, tracking all his movements. The two developed a loving and respectful bond. Sadie slept on Myers’ bed at night—politely. They succeeded in working through all her anxiety issues.
One night Myers woke up to use the bathroom and when he got up, he felt his legs give out from underneath him and he fell to the floor. He had no feeling on his left side and couldn’t stand up in the crawl space between his bed and the wall. Myers knew he was in trouble.
It was really frightening—he couldn’t get up and didn’t realize at that moment that he’d had a stroke. His cellphone was on the dresser about 15 feet away, but there was no way he could get it. He laid there on the floor wondering, “How long will I be stuck here before someone finds me?”
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。
Meanwhile, Sadie sensed that something bad was happening.
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Thanks to Sadie, Myers was rushed to hospital.
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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。
These days, Marathon des Sables runners carry a GPS tracking device and helicopters monitor their path to make sure no one gets lost, but when Mauro, a police officer, participated for the first time in 1994, there were no such safeguards in place. When you’re running through the largest desert on Earth, one wrong turn can cost you your life. Mauro Prosperi did just that during the Marathon des Sables, a six-day ultramarathon that many regard as the toughest foot race in the world.
The race was almost 156 miles long, taking runners across sand dunes (沙丘) with few natural sources of water. Temperatures in the Sahara could reach as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, and each runner carried over 20 pounds of food, water, and emergency supplies on their backs. Most of these runners wouldn’t end up finishing the race, which was about the same length as six regular marathons.
That was how, on the fourth and longest days of the race, the runner Mauro encountered a severe sandstorm that turned him around and sent him wildly off course.
He spent eight hours waiting out the storm, huddled in a sand dune. The next morning, he expected to see rescuers heading his way. Instead, all he saw was desert in all directions. “After running for about for hours, I climbed up a dune and still couldn’t see anything,” he said. “That’s when I knew I had a big problem.”
A search party was organized to find Mauro, but rescuers had no idea he had been so far off course. Twice a helicopter circled over his head, and twice they didn’t see him wildly waving at them from below. He sent up his only flare (照明弹) and even set his backpack on fire hoping to catch their attention, but it was no use.
When Mauro’s water ran out, he began drinking his own urine. He found a marabout shrine, an ancient building that once served as a tomb. He took shelter from the sun’s rays there, drinking the blood of bats.
With his energy running out, he thought, “I am bound to die here”.
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After being treated in the hospital for weakness, he made a full recovery!
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As a nurse at the cancer care center where I’ve worked for seven years, I’ll do almost anything to make a patient feel better. But when I met Patty at the center, in 2011, she didn’t want my help.
She was a tiny 44-year-old single mom battling an aggressive head and neck cancer. Unlike many of our other patients, Patty was alone during her treatment, but no matter what I did. I couldn't get her to open up. She just buried herself in book or pulled a blanket over her head to fend off conversation.
Eventually I hit on a reliable way to make Patty smile: mentioning her nine-year-old son, Stephen. She'd tell me how well he did in school, how he'd been selected to read a poem he wrote at a local bookstore. She desperately wanted to live for him. With three kids myself, I totally understood how she felt.
After a year and a half of treatment, in August 2012, Patty was told her cancer had spread, and I learned she wouldn't live much longer. My first thought was, “What's going to happen to Stephen?”
Nurses at the center shared stories at their meetings about how bright and unusual the boy was. but no one seemed to know how to resolve the issue of what would happen to him when his mom died. My husband, Michael, who too works at the center, started hearing about Patty and Stephen.
One morning in October, Patty quietly slipped away. Michael and I picked Stephen up after school, drove him to a nearby park, and sat on a bench by a pond. I finally managed to say, “Stephen, we're sorry to have to tell you this, but your mom came to an end this morning.” The sound that came out of his mouth was like nothing I'd ever heard before. This skinny little guy sat between the two of us and just wailed (哀号) and wailed. It was as if his whole world was just destroyed.
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。
Something inside me was telling me what to do.
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Finally, we took him home with us.
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1.活动目的；
2.活动经过；
3.活动影响。
注意：写作词数应为80左右。
提示词：冬至 Winter Solstice
A Winter Solstice Celebration
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Just as many families do at a point, Catherine chose to add a new family member by adopting a pet. Shortly after her daughter Kate’s birth, Catherine decided she wanted a close bond with a dog for Kate. Thus, Catherine called the dog shelter close by to inquire about adoption. After hearing about the available animals, she chose a Doberman Pinscher. Once they signed adoption papers, they named the dog Khan.
Catherine was hopeful this would provide valuable lessons for her baby, such as sharing, learning to love and responsibility to care for animals. She was looking forward to having the dog join the family.
Hearing of Khan’s rough background, Catherine immediately loved the dog. She was overjoyed to bring this special dog back to her family. Of course, she realized there were risks involved. Well, the obvious risks from bringing a large, potentially dangerous animal to her young baby, Catherine pushed them aside. If she had not adopted Khan, he would have been killed just a week later. So, this was his new life and second chance, and the family was hoping for the best.
Everything began smoothly. They trained Khan during the first few days. However, everything changed on that fourth day when the dog acted completely out of character.
The fateful day began with the usual playtime in the yard. Although baby Kate had her parents watching from a distance, they did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Kate and the new dog had been making a habit of playing out back like this. However, things were different this day.
So what was actually happening out there? The two were not being loud or crazy. They began running through the backyard grass together. Again, Catherine watched the two closely. Surprisingly, things had changed within an instant!
注意：
1.续写词数应为150词左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Khan began acting wildly all of a sudden,
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Obviously, it was Khan who saved her baby but he barked weakly and then fell down with dying eyes.
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