Edward and Stephen were both eighteen years old. They were so together in friendship that they felt themselves to be brothers. They had known each other since childhood, growing up in the same block in Liverpool.
Edward was fair and lean, while Stephen was dark and short. Edward’s brown hair was always falling over his eyes, while Stephen wore his black hair in a natural style.
Each youngster had a dream of someday becoming champion of the world. Whenever they had time, the boys worked out at the Fencing (击剑) Club. Early morning sunrises would find them running along the Mersey River, wrapped in sweatshirts, with short towels around their necks.
Edward and Stephen studied hard and dreamt positively. Between them, they had a notebook filled with torn tickets of every fencing match they had ever attended. They each had taken part in many elimination bouts (淘汰赛) and had won many gold medals. The difference was in their style.
As fencers, Edward’s lean form and long reach made him better in attack, while Stephen’s short and muscular frame made him speed y in movement. Whenever they had met in the piste (击剑台), it had always been intense and competitive.
After a series of elimination bouts, they were informed that they were to meet each other in the finals next month —the winner to represent the Club in the Championship Tournament.
Fencing was like any other profession. The two boys knew friendship had nothing to do with it. But how would the competition affect their relationship? Everyday they continued to run together along the Mersey River. However, while joking with each other, they both sensed an invisible wall rising between them.
The day before the finals, they met as usual for their daily workout. After a mile or so, Stephen stopped.
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 think we both got something to say to each other.” Stephen said.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As the two went onto the piste, the audience held their breath.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A Birthday Surprise
I stood at the kitchen window watching Papa as he sat in the old, wooden lawn chair staring out at the lake. Ralph, his old black dog, lay on the ground at his side. Papa’s hand absently stroked (抚摩) the head of his old companion as they dreamed the dreams of old men and old dogs in the evening sun. “He does this day after day?” I asked Mama.
She nodded, sadness filling her eyes. “I don’t know what to do for him. There is a strong desire in his eyes that I can’t satisfy -a desire for the past. The past can’t be brought back to the present. Once days are gone, they are gone forever,” Mama sighed.
“I’m going down to talk to him,” I said.
I called out to Papa and handed him a cup of coffee. “What are you and Ralph thinking about all these hours you spend out here?” I asked,
“We’re not thinking,” he said softly. “We’re wishing.” I sat on the grass beside his chair. “Wishing for what?” “For the impossible, I suppose,” he sighed. “You always told me that nothing was impossible if you wanted it badly enough and were willing to work hard for it,” I reminded him.
He laughed softly, but there was no amusement in the sound. “But Ralph and I have come to learn that when you reach our age, some things are actually impossible.” “Maybe I can help you. What do you want so badly?” I asked.
Papa grinned (咧嘴大笑), and his eyes shone brightly at the thought of his dream becoming a reality. “Ralph and I want to fix up the old boat and go out on the lake again. We used to spend all day out on the lake, fishing, drinking beer and eating sandwiches,” Papa said.
Yes, I remember. When I was young, Papa and Ralph often enjoyed themselves on the lake on weekends. They’d start for home when the sun went down, totally satisfied with themselves and with life. Now, Papa was almost eighty-five years old and had a heart condition, so Mama was horrified by the idea of him going out on the lake again at first. But eventually I managed to convince her.
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。
After Mama agreed, I persuaded my friends to join in my secret plan.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On the day of Papa’s birthday, we were all eager to give him a surprise.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This Friday brought a mix of emotions—both excitement and disappointment — all because of a flyer from school. When I got home, Mum saw the flyer in my hand and asked, “What’s this?”
“A flyer for a five-day art camp,” I explained. “But Emily can’t go.”
“Would you like to attend?”Mum asked. “You’ve always loved art.” Her words reminded me of what Emily had said earlier: “Tessa, you’re the real artist. My brother thought the roses I painted were rocket ships.” I sighed. Mum patted my back. She knew I had a hard time jumping into something with no familiar faces around. “Maybe next year.”
“Maybe,” I echoed. Then I told Mum I wanted to go outside to draw the Westons’ pine tree (松树). She nodded with an encouraging smile.
As I walked into the bright sunshine, I couldn’t help but think about the art camp. I wished I felt a little bit braver. Emily could make friends with a whole bus of kids in ten minutes, but my stomach felt like a little boat tossed in a heavy storm when I was surrounded by strangers... By the time I started drawing, I had made up my mind to forget about the art camp.
I began by drawing the pine tree’s strong and straight trunk, and then added the beautiful branches, making sure the upper ones lifted gently towards the sun. Lost in my work, I jumped when I heard Mr. Weston speak up, “You’ve done a great job showing the strength of that tree on paper.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, glancing up.
As I drew the needles to the branches, Mr. Weston told me something I never knew about pines: If you plant the root ball too deep, the tree dies. Their roots grow out, not down—to get enough water and grow tall.
“You have a good eye, Tessa.”With these words, Mr. Weston nodded goodbye.
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。
Paragraph 1: His words made me pause and think.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: The next Monday, I signed up for the camp.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After a busy week, Emily and her parents decided to go on a mountain picnic. They longed to fully experience nature’s beauty and enjoy quality family time. Little did they know, this outing would be filled with unexpected twists and turns (波折).
Arriving at the mountain’s base, they discovered a house, in front of which Mike and his father had just finished loading a boat onto Mike’s truck. Emily approached them and asked for the best picnic spot in the area. Knowing the mountain well, Mike suggested a location about two hours’ walk away. “It’s worth the effort,” he assured them.
Parking their car next to Mike’s truck and carrying their picnic supplies, Emily and her parents set off on the winding road. Tall green trees on one side, a flowing stream on the other, the road eventually led them to a breathtaking clearing dotted with colorful wildflowers. They enjoyed their delicious sandwiches, fruits, and snacks, engaging in pleasant conversations.
Just as they finished their meal and settled down to relax, dark clouds unexpectedly rolled in. It looked like rain. Panicked, they hurriedly set up the tent they had brought. No sooner had they entered than raindrops began pouring on the roof. Heavy rain enveloped the surroundings, making it impossible to see anything. They had no choice but to patiently wait it out.
After what felt like a century, the rain ceased. Emily and her parents wasted no time packing up their belongings, ready to get downhill. However, their excitement turned to worry when they discovered that the small stream they had previously crossed had turned into a wide and impassable river. With no cellphone signal, they were trapped without a means of seeking help. To make matters worse, darkness was approaching.
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, they heard the sound of a vehicle from across the river.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Emily and her parents boarded the boat.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sophie had to move to a new school in the town from her own village with her family because her father got a new job in a company. At the beginning, she used to sit alone in the class and then one day a girl, Nia, from her class talked to her, hoping that they could be friends. Nia was a modern girl born and brought up in the town. She was kind and a loving girl.
Nia never really had many friends because she used to choose her friends very wisely. When Nia came to Sophie with the hand of friendship, Sophie did not think even for a second and accepted her friendship as she needed friends. As the days passed by, Nia and Sophie had already developed a good friendship. They then promised that they would focus on the better things they would do for each other if they made mistakes.
Soon Sophie made many friends like Stephen, George, Josh and Ernie. She spent a lot of time with most of them as close friends and almost forgot about Nia. One day Sophie along with all her friends decided to do something adventurous: to light up firecrackers (鞭炮) behind the office building.
As word spread very fast among teenagers, Nia heard about it and told her to be aware of her real friends but Sophie paid no attention to it. Nia then knew that Sophie would not be so careful so she decided to look out for Sophie without her knowledge.
When they were pushing Sophie out to light up the crackers with a candle, Stephen saw a teacher coming out of the office room. He waved to the others to run away but left Sophie alone there.
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。
The teacher noticed Sophie and shouted, “Stop!”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the headmaster’s room, Nia pulled out her phone.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Stranded (困住) far from family, I refused to give up
The date had been circled on my calendar for months — Friday 18 December 2013. Mum was coming to pick me up from university and bring me home for the Christmas holidays. There was nothing that made me happier than Christmas with my family. Our small celebrations were the same every year. I could picture it. Mum, my younger brother and me all dressed up and opened presents on Christmas morning by the tree, the same festive CD sound tracking our day.
The call came at 10am that Friday. I was dressed and packed, Christmas presents divided into carrier bags. I’d made sure the fridge in my shared student kitchen was empty, everything eaten or chucked away, and my live-in carer was leaving at lunchtime.
“We are not going to make it,” my mum said on the phone. “Ken was blanketed overnight, with up to 20cm falling in three hours. We’ve crawled as far as Detling, but they’ve closed the motorway because it was dusted in a thick layer of snow. There’s no way we can get to you.” I was stranded.
Alone in my student bedroom, I burst into tears. “What am I going to do?” My life was different from that of other students. Without my carer, I had no one to help me cook, wash and get into bed. My friends had already left and the halls of residence were eerily (怪异地) quiet.
Suddenly, a crazy idea came across my mind, “How about going home independently using the wheelchair?” Anyway, I decided to have a try. After calling multiple firms in the hope that their one wheelchair-adapted vehicle was available, I was lucky to get an accessible one to the train station. One hour later, I arrived, but found myself stranded on the bustling platform, feeling helplessly at the steps leading up the train.
Just then a few young men noticed my struggle in the wheelchair and came to help me.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I finally arrived home, making it indoors, mum was shocked to see me.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I didn’t like Del so much. He always called me the nickname “Germy”, which meant “dirty”, instead of my real name “Jamie”. Besides, he was known as a trouble-maker in school. So when the head teacher Mr. Smith asked Del to come to his office, I naturally thought that Del had done something mean to someone. Through the window, I caught sight of a smaller boy crying. Del seemed unhappy, too.
He did not return to class that day. All of us were discussing what had happened to him. What else could such an annoying boy do? “He must have hit the boy and was sent home,” I whispered to my friends. Their eyes widened. It felt good to see them so interested in what I said.
The next morning, the whole school was talking about Del being expelled(开除) for beating up a kid. I was surprised that my assumptions were passed on so quickly. So when Del walked into the classroom, all the kids were shocked. The kids next to him shift ed their desks away. “What’s your problem?” Del asked. “I don’t want you to attack me,” one kid said. Some laughed. “Yeah, I might,” said Del. I could tell he was joking, but many kids thought he admitted he did beat up someone.
During recess(课间休息), Del tried to join the kickball game. “Neither team wants you,” one of the players said. “Why?” Del asked, looking confused. “I always play with you guys.” They ignored him and went on playing. Del sat by himself while the rest of the school enjoyed their recess away from him. Del looked lonely and sad, much different from before. I started to feel sorry for him.
Later that day, I learned what really happened. The kid was Del’s little brother and he was crying because their mother fell ill and was sent to hospital. I felt even sorrier for what I said before. I started a rumor(谣言).
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。
At recess the next day, I saw Del sitting alone watching the kickball game.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Now that Del had forgiven me, I decided to do more before the recess was over.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I used to be a lonely girl sitting at the back of the classroom. Having failed the college entrance exams and changed schools twice, I seldom smiled. Every day I would sit at the desk, staring into textbooks and exercises, motionless and heavy-hearted. However, my classmates were in a different picture. They were playing, laughing and chatting delightedly. Besides, I hated it when they were always answering the teachers’ questions, loudly and confidently. Obviously, I had no friends in this fiercely competitive class.
Life is harder for senior students. Hardly does a day go by without exercises or tests. Every time when the scores came out mine wouldn’t be the first or second but last. I was especially tired of the endless exercises and exams, which I seemingly would never do well in. I was under a lot of pressure, feeling like a fish being fried in a pan.
Hanging over me was a dark cloud. The only dim light came from Mr. Smith. Every time I stepped into the classroom, he welcomed me with a warm smile; every time my gaze began to wander over the classroom or stare out of the window, his caring eyes would draw me back to his class. Besides, he was the only teacher who invited me to the office, talking about my studies and scores. I remembered when I came out of his office, I felt refreshed believing that I could work harder.
I was feeling everything was changing for the better. I prepared hard for the final exam of the first semester, desiring to prove that I was not the last one. So before Mr. Smith told us the test result, I was expecting something good in store for me.
But I was still the last one in the class. A burst of sadness and shame consuming me, I was heartbroken.
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。
Right at that moment, Mr. Smith invited me to his office.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, the college admission letter came.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was seven years old, my family moved from Mexico to America. In Mexico, I was a cheerful girl who loved making people laugh with my jokes and inventing fun games to play with my friends. However, when I arrived in America, I found it hard to fit in, and I became quieter.
We lived in a small house with a modest yard where we grew vegetables—my responsibility. While I took pride in watching them grow, there were times when I dreamed of having a beautiful garden like my schoolmate Luella’s, with its delicate tulips (郁金香). Although Luella lived in the same neighborhood as me, we barely knew each other.
It was after a tornado that Luella and I finally became close friends.
The tornado struck on a Sunday afternoon.The gentle breeze transformed into a strong wind, and thick gray clouds filled the sky. Gradually, the tornado took shape, starting as a thin rope and growing into a large black funnel (漏斗). My entire family gathered in the bathroom, seeking shelter from the storm. Terrified, I sat close to my mom, knees in my chest. After the storm had passed, our worries and fears were replaced by relief that we were unharmed and that our house had remained undamaged.
As I stepped outside, I witnessed the extent of the damage the tornado had caused to our neighborhood. Across the street, a tall tree had fallen, crushing Luella’s garden in front of her yellow house. We hurried over to check on it. Fortunately, her family seemed to be away at the time, and no one was injured. However, her once-beautiful garden was in ruins, with the fallen tree destroying the tulips and debris (碎片) spread everywhere. I could only imagine how heartbroken they must feel seeing this.
Then my mom’s usual words rang in my ear, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and my family started to think about how we could help.
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。
Just at that moment, Luella’s family returned in their car.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Even after the debris was cleared, I could still sense Luella’s sorrow for her lost garden.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Julia lived in a fairytale-like village among rolling hills, with a snaking river flowing through its heart, home to diverse fishes. From a young age, she always spent hours running along the riverbank and sometimes she sat down and watched in awe as the fishes swam gracefully through the crystal-clear waters.
One day, she discovered a deep hole not far from the river. In the depth of it, there lay a tiny pool of water where she spotted a trout (鳟鱼) gasping for air. She bent down and peered at the fish in its tiny “prison”, its silver stomach going up and down like an engine. Thinking of its hunger, Julia went and fetched the trout a worm, but it ignored the food and just went on breathing fast. In her curious and sympathetic mind, she wondered how he had been there.
As she made her way back home, her mind was consumed with thoughts of the fish and the mystery surrounding it. So, she told her mother the tale of the trout in the deep hole and asked for her opinion.
“Maybe a bird had carried the egg to the hole, just like the story.” She replied.
“What story?” Naturally, Julia followed.
And so her mother started to tell the whole story of how a bird carried a trout egg to a deep well, where the trout was born and trapped.
“And so, in the end, this fish got bigger and bigger, and the water got smaller and smaller.” She was about to end the story when Julia cried out loud: “Mom, please don’t make it a sad horrible story.”
To change the direction of the story, her mother even brought in a fairy, who had made it rain and filled the hole, so that the trout could be scooped (舀) up and then sent back to the river.
At the end of the story, Julia sank into thoughts as she knew that there was no such thing as a fairy but the trout was really there, struggling for its life.
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。
Thinking of this, Julia ran out, bucket in hand.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Cheerful and fulfilled, she couldn’t wait but rush home.
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