1. 我的爷爷是一所部队的杰出的指挥官。（troop, outstanding, commander）
2. 他在与敌人的一次激烈战斗中牺牲了。（violent）
3. 他们的目标是解放那座城市。（objective, liberate）
4. 今天是清明节，我和家人都表情严肃地参加了纪念仪式。（solemn, memorial）
5. 父亲回忆起和爷爷一起度过的美好岁月，眼中含着泪花。（recall, with的复合结构）
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Robby was 11 years old when his mother, a single mom, dropped him off for his first piano lesson. “I prefer such students, especially boys, beginning at an earlier age,” I explained to Robby. But he said that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano. His mother was sick, and he didn’t want to disappoint her. So I took the boy as a student.
Well, Robby began his piano lessons and from the beginning I didn’t think it was a wise attempt.As much as Robby tried,he lacked the basic rhythm(韵律).But he practiced continuously. At the end of each weekly lesson he’d always say, “My mom’s going to hear me play someday.” But it seemed hopeless. He made little progress, I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled but never stopped by.
Then one day, Robby stopped coming to our lesson. I called him several times, no one answering the phone, which made me surprised and a bit worried. On my day off, I decided to pay them a visit, however, there’s also nobody home. One neighbor next door told me they had gone to the hospital. Then I learnt Robby’s mother is deaf! Shocked and confused, I left.
Several weeks later, our school mailed to the student’s home a notice on the upcoming recital (演奏会). To my surprise, Robby, who received the notice, asked me if he could be in it. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and because he had dropped out, he really didn’t qualify .He said that his mom was unable to take him to piano lessons due to some reasons, but he was still practicing. “Miss Hondorf...I’ve just got to play!” he insisted. I don’t know what led me to allow him to play in the recital.Maybe it was his persistence or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be alright.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
The night for the recital came.
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As soon as he ended,everyone was on their feet in wild applause.
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Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi to make a living. One night I took a fare at 2：30 am. When I arrived to collect her, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many other drivers would just honk once.
But I had seen too many poor people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation of danger, I always went to the door. “This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance,” I reasoned with myself.
So I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened.
A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
I took the suitcase at her request to the cab and put it in the trunk, and then returned to assist the woman.
She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the cab.
When we got in the cab, she asked me to drive through downtown to a hospice.
Learning from her words that she wouldn’t live long, I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.
We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newly-weds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of the sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
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We drove in silence to a low building, her destination.
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I held her hand tightly, and then walked into the morning light.
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There is a lovely woman around 30 years old who has migrated to the UK from a well-known conflict-torn country with 3 children, aged twelve, nine, and two and a half. I have been learning about her and hearing about some of her difficulties for about a year. In the UK we have what is called The Big Issue, a magazine the homeless sell on street corners to make legitimate money. Many of them cannot find regular jobs or are not able to work for lack of places to live in. My friend, like many who have no job，has multiple obstacles and no family help.
She “couch” surfs in a nearby big city where all the good Big Issue pitches are taken. Consequently, she has to travel some ways to get to this small town on the seaside, and a lot of her wages are used to travel.
One day last week I found her looking especially tired, sitting in the burning sun. Clearly, she was ill. I suggested she move to a shadier spot if possible, as the sun can make a sick person with a bad headache feel worse. There’s a spot in the shade she also goes to by the Post Office, so I helped her move her stuff down there. Then, as I usually do when I see her, I asked if she had lunch. She said she had felt bad and someone said she could get energy from a chocolate candy.
It was midday. I asked if she’d like the sandwich and juice, and a coffee. She was happy to get something else, and the egg sandwich and orange juice, plus small coffee, seemed welcome. Later she told me it helped her feel less dizzy. Then we talked a bit like a friend. She said in her country that day was Children’s Day, and yet her own children would receive no gifts, no celebration. She doesn’t complain to them, but she often thinks to herself, “If I work so hard, why can’t my children have anything the other kids have?” It’s a heavy burden falling on her.
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As I went about my town chores, I came across a children’s charity shop, and was inspired to buy a big bag of presents for her children.
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This delighted me.
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Zigfried, a little mouse, once lived happily in a farmhouse with his parents. They got a lot of food from the kitchen easily, because the owner of the farmhouse was very rich. For Zigfried and his parents, Christmas was their favourite. On that day, they could get more delicious food than ever like chicken, chocolate and cheese. Every time his father would bring a big chicken leg back for Zigfried. To Zigfried, wonderful food was his Christmas' miracle（奇迹）.
Unfortunately, Zigfried's father was caught by a cat when he was hanging around. Years later, his mother died because of illness and the owner of the farmhouse moved to the city. Happy days were away from Zigfried from then on. All the things had already been changed. There were no food anymore in the farmhouse and no family. All the rooms were empty.
New Year was coming again. Zigfried blew his breath on the frosty window of the farmhouse and rubbed it to see the outside. Still nobody came. Maybe today, he thought hopefully. It was only a few days before Christmas and he was waiting for a miracle. A miracle liked the old times, which he had been waiting for a long time.
This farmhouse had been empty too long. It needed a family. Zigfried's stomach made a noise. He realized that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. He jumped from the windowsill（窗沿）, grabbed a bag from his home, and went next door to Farmer Mike's.
Farmer Mike's house had been a great place for him until the farmer married a wife who had a cat. Zigfried trembled（发抖）when he thought of it. He looked around cautiously as he stole into the room where grain was stored and was quite nervous as he filled his bag with wheat. He was turning to leave when suddenly he felt a hot breath about his ear. His heart beat wildly, and without thinking he started to run and luckily escaped.
The next afternoon Zigfried heard some good news:
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The house came alive the next few days because of the coming of the new family.
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The most important change in a person’s life is the change of his or her attitude. Right attitudes produce right actions. Have you ever met someone who gave you a different view of life?
On a Sunday morning, I saw something very interesting as I went to the greengrocer’s. To get there, I had to cross a bridge over railway tracks. The bridge was pretty high. A set of steep steps had to be climbed; then the bridge flattened out (变平), followed by coming down another set of steps. On my way back from the greengrocer’s, I saw an elderly gentleman running up the steps. After watching him run up the steps so fast, I thought that he could be in a rush.
Before I knew it, he had crossed the bridge, and then he ran back to where he started. To my surprise, he did not stop. He turned around, and then went up and down the bridge again. He was not struggling, and seemed to enjoy going up and down the bridge. Being a fitness fanatic (热衷于健美的人) myself, I admired his ability to Cross the bridge so quickly. My curiosity got the better of me, and I came up to him to have a chat with him.
“Excuse me, sir. Are you training for an event?” I asked.
He stopped. “No, not training for an event. Well, I am training for life,” he said with a broad smile on his face as sweat rolled down his cheeks.
I told him that I had been looking for a role model of fitness, and that I hoped to be as strong as he is when I get to his age. He said that everyone has a choice about what they do with their life. “I am not different,” he added. With much admiration, I asked, “What drives you to maintain good health?”
Then he told me the accident he met with when he was young.
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“I used to be a cyclist,” he said.
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His great determination paid off, and he was able to walk again.
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Rats eat our food or make it so dirty that it isn’t fit for people at all. That’s why people often kill them with poison. After a day or two, they find the poison still there. The rats haven’t touched it, even though it is near the food which they eat. People think they must be clever and cunning（狡猾的）. Some scientists have been trying to find the best way to poison rats. They have watched just what a rat does day and night. They have found out that rats aren’t so clever. They are just very shy.
Rats usually live in holes. They run from these holes to the places where they eat and drink. They have special paths on which they travel each time. So they know their paths quite well.
If anything new, such as stone or wood, is put on the path, the rats won’t go near it at first as they are too frightened. It will take them many days to get over the fear. They are also frightened to go near a place that they know, where something has been taken away. If a path goes around a rock, the rats follow the same path around the rock each time. If the rock is taken away, they will still run around the place where the rock was! They won’t cross the empty place, which is now open to them, even though it would be quicker.
Rats will always keep away from anything unusual to them. That’s why they won’t eat poison on the first or second night. They usually won’t go any-where near it for about four days until they get used to being there. Even then they only eat a little at a time. If people want to kill rats with poison, all they have to do is to leave it out for a few days. Once the rats have got used to it, they will eat it and die.
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GUANGZHOU — At least 25 people have been confirmed dead after Super Typhoon Usagi made landfall in China’s Guangdong Province on Sunday evening, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.
“Electricity and water supply were cut off in the Huilai County, Jieyang City, and houses were collapsed as wind speeds at the center exceeded 180 km per hour on Sunday afternoon,” said Li Feng, a border police officer of the city.
Intercity trains between Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai were suspended (暂停) at 6 pm and nearly 50 trains, including those along the high-speed lines to Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, would be suspended until Tuesday, according to the Guangzhou Railway Corporation.
At a Xiecheng gas station on National Road 324near Shanwei City, where at least 13 of the 25 victims were killed, winds were strong enough to blow cars off the road and all traffic was stopped. Resident Li Huolong said he was on his way home in Shanwei when the back window of his car was broken by the wind. Educational authorities in 14 cities ordered schools to suspend classes on Sunday, a school day in China because of the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival which just ended. More than 47000 fishing boats were in harbor, with nearly 20000 fishermen kept on shore. All beaches in the province have been closed.
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Most people all over the world travel by road. In a city in Italy, however, waterways makeup the primary commuting routes. The city of Venice is best known for its canals. Unfortunately, this beautiful city of flat-bottomed boats (Gondolas), and churches is sinking and sinking fast.
Known as the “Queen of the Adriatic”, Venice is situated on more than one hundred islands formed by canals between the mouths of the Po and Piave Rivers. And even the bits of firm ground have rather boggy foundations and all these are slowly getting eroded (腐蚀).
The existing groundwater table and the global climate changes that have raised sea levels by several inches, are proving its disaster for the city. As sea ice melts and water levels rise, floods in Venice are getting from bad to worse. And buildings are already feeling the impact of this phenomenon, with their foundations literally being shaken. Take one of the most famous landmarks of Venice for example, the St. Mark’s Basilica, now leans slightly to the left.
Experts warn that the city may sink an additional eight inches in the next 50 years. Many scared residents have already started to move to drier regions in Italy’s mainland. To deal with the flood threat, a group of Venetians, called the New Venice Consortium, has come up with “Project Moses”—a dam project named after the biblical figure, Moses. The idea is to place underwater gates at different points where the Adriatic Sea enters the lagoon (环礁湖). When the water is low, the gates will remain open and as the water rises, the gates will close, preventing the seawater from flooding Venice. However, some people disagree with this idea. Environ mentalists point out that the gates would have to remain closed most of the time and seawater will not be able to move in and out of Venice. As a result the lagoon water will become stagnant (停滞的), harming the fish and plants that live there. Until a viable (可实施的) solution is found out, Venice, it seems, would continue to be threatened by floods.
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参考词汇：图表 chart
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