Tomato Changed My Life
Doing things-without being planned was never my strength.
As a 14-year-old, I would refuse to go for walks around the block with my friends if I was the least bit behind in my schoolwork.
Unlike most teenagers, I lived not in my room, but in an unused kitchen upstairs where I spread my books and papers on a large round table. I spent considerable time there, working continuously for hours, and my mother worried. She would try to lure (引诱) me away. “Come and watch the parade!” she would call from downstairs. “All neighbors are out there!” She thought of all kinds of tricks-the swimming pool, ice cream, stray cats and turtles-to remove me from my -studies, but nothing ever worked.
Later, in college, the pattern continued. The library and my college dorm replaced the unused kitchen at home. When spring came along friends would stop by my dorm or peer into my library room to persuade me to play Frisbee on the lawn. “No, I would almost always say.” I have too much to do.
My college study days were gone, but not my need and love for schedules. My friends and sisters tried to keep me away from my plans, but they were hardly ever successful.
This summer, though, while house sitting for my parents, I was persuaded to change my plans in the most unexpected way. The sight of tomatoes growing in my mother’s garden lured me out of my tightly scheduled world. They drew me with the power of a lover’s gaze. Hundreds of them were turning ripe and red by the minute, decorating the garden like decorations on a Christmas tree.
“If I have time, I’ll make tomato sauce (番茄酱).” I told myself. But my long week in the house by myself was already filled with things to do: writing, and finishing a project that I brought home from the office.
Then, watching the fascinating tomatoes continuously falling to the ground in ever-greater numbers, again I mentally argued about all the things I had planned and needed to do.
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。
Finally, I gave in.
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A month later, my parents came back.
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One day two years ago, my mother came home from work and announced that she had found a pet for the family. My father, little sister, and I eyed her in doubt.
My sister asked what kind of dog it was. My mother said it was a poodle (贵宾犬) named Pepe. I couldn’t believe she wanted a poodle — especially one with such an ordinary name. But she had made up her mind. “Actually, I’m doing a co-worker a favor,” she said. “The woman who owns Pepe says he hates to be alone and needs children to play with him.”
Pepe arrived the next night. His short tail shook happily. I didn’t get very close to him, thinking he should have stayed with his previous owner. My little sister played with him until bedtime, and he would come to me and begged for more attention. I always ignored him. But no matter how I treated him, he’d always like to be with me. He has always been waiting for me at the front door at the end of the day, smiling happily. He seems to know that I will be coming home from school at that time. Every day, he asks me with his eyes to play with him or take him somewhere. At night, he will wait until I fall asleep, leave his bed by the wall heater, walk down the hall and jump onto the end of my bed.
One night, while everyone was sleeping, I was in a half dream state. My throat hurt, my eyes pained, and some animal was crying in my ear. I opened my eyes and saw fog in my room. I wondered who left the window open. Pepe cried and bit my pajama sleeve (睡衣袖). Then I woke up and realized that it wasn’t fog in my room — it was smoke.
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。
Standing up, I couldn’t breathe.
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I turned off the burner with Pepe around me.
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I have a passion for fishing and animal protection, which can date back to my childhood. When I was young, my father was a fish and wildlife officer, so he traveled all over the province in the spring and fall. He loved his job, especially the part where he protected nature from human.
He’d taught me to fish alone, in silence, lost in my own thoughts.
I still remembered that special day. Midweek, even in late August, no one was around. Police Outpost Lake is as far as you can go and still be in Canada. Songbirds, ducks, and Canada geese glided (滑翔) by on the breeze, touching down briefly on the water’s surface before flapping and quacking their way back up into the sky, passing in front of the sun, temporarily blocking its warming rays.
“How can I get the fish with these birds making noise?” I complained, rod (鱼竿) in my hand.
“Be patient, Jacob. Birds won’t disturb you.”
Out of the corner of my eyes, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a few great northern loons (潜鸟) stayed together not far from the shoreline. Dad once told me loon usually travel alone, but here were five of them in a group. Maybe it was a family? One loon, making odd sounds, swam away from the group, towards me.
This is unusual.
“Dad! Come here! Take a look at this loon!”
Hearing this, dad laid his rod down on the dirty sand, walking quickly towards me.
The loon rested in the shallow water near shore, not ten feet away from us. It was so close, we could see its red eyes.
“Look at that beak (喙)!”I said. “It could easily hurt us to death with that thing! It could tear our faces! Blind our eyes!”
Walking into the water, getting closer to the loon, we both saw thin wire wrapped around its neck. Fishing line maybe? Was there a hook(钩子)on the line, too? Was the loon asking us for 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。
Paragraph 1: Reaching down, I touched its feather, my heart racing.
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Paragraph 2: “Hurry, Dad! I can’t hold this bird forever, you know!” I said.
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Robert and Henry were two friends in the same class. They always played together and went home together. One day, Robert and Henry were going home from school, when, on turning a corner, Robert cried out, “A fight! Let's go and see!”
“No,” said Henry. “Let us go quietly home and not meddle with (插手) this quarrel. We have nothing to do with it and may get into trouble. Also our parents are expecting to have dinner with us together at home and I don't want them to worry about me.”
“You are a coward (懦夫), and afraid to go,” said Robert, and he ran. Henry went straight home and in the afternoon went to school as usual.
But Robert had told all the boys that Henry was a coward, and they laughed at him a great deal. From then on, they looked down upon Henry and didn’t want to play with him together. Henry was sad but he wasn't angry with Robert for his rude behavior, because he learned that true courage is shown most in bearing misunderstanding when it was not deserved, and that he ought to be afraid of nothing but doing wrong. Thus, he just ignored (忽视) the other boys' laughter and continued to go to school and study as well. However, Robert didn't invite Henry to go home with him anymore. Instead, he had some other boys who also thought Henry was a coward. Everyday after school, they didn't go home directly but went to the river or somewhere to play games and had a lot of fun.
A few days later, Robert was bathing with his new friends in a river, and got out of his depth. He struggled, and screamed for help, but all in vain. The boys who had called Henry a coward got out of the water as fast as they could, but they did not even try to help him.
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：
Robert was fast sinking.
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Paragraph 2：
Thus, Robert’s life was saved.
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It was summer, and my dad wanted to treat me to a vacation like never before. He decided to take me on a trip to the Wild West. We took a plane to Albuquerque, a big city in the state of New Mexico. We reached Albuquerque in the late afternoon. Upon Paul, my dad’s friend, picked us up from the airport and drove us up to his farm in Pecos.
His wife Tina cooked us a delicious dinner and we got to know his sons Ryan and Kyle. My dad and I spent the night in the guestroom of the farm house listening to the frogs and water rolling down the river nearby. Very early in the morning, Uncle Paul woke us up to have breakfast. “The day starts at dawn on my farm,” he said. After breakfast, I went to help Aunt Tina feed the chickens, while my dad went with Uncle Paul to take the sheep out to graze (吃草). I was impressed to see my dad and Uncle Paul riding horses. They looked really cool.
In the afternoon, I asked Uncle Paul if I could take a horse ride, and he said yes, as long as my dad went with me. I wasn’t going to take a horse ride by myself anyway. So, my dad and I put on our new cowboy hats, got on our horses, and headed slowly towards the mountains. “Don’t be late for supper,” Uncle Paul cried, “and keep to the track (足迹；踪迹) so that you don’t get lost!” “OK!” my dad cried back. After a while Uncle Paul and his farm house were out of sight. It was so peaceful and quiet and the colors of the brown rocks, the deep green pine (松树) trees, and the late afternoon sun mixed to create a magic scene. It looked like a beautiful woven (编织的) blanket spread out upon the ground just for us.
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
Suddenly a little rabbit jumped out in front of my horse.
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We had no idea where we were and it was getting dark.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________An odd thing happened to Arthur when he was on the way to work one day. As he walked along the First National Bank, he heard the sound of someone trying to start a car. He tried again and again but couldn’t get the car moving. Arthur turned and looked inside at the face of a young man who looked worried. Authur stopped and asked “It looks like you’ve got a problem,” Arthur said.
“I’m afraid so. I’m in a big hurry and I can’t start my car.”
“Is there something I can do to help?” Arthu asked. The young man looked at the two suitcases in the back seat and then said, “Thanks. If you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble, you could help me get these suitcases into a taxi.”
“No trouble at all. I’d be glad to help.” The young man got out and took one of the suitcases from the back seat. After putting it on the ground, he turned to get the other one. Just as Arthur picked up the first suitcase and started walking, he heard the long loud noise of an alarm (警报).
It was from the bank. There had been a robbery (抢劫)!
Now the air around the bank was filled with the sound of an alarm and the shouts of people running from all directions. Cars stopped and the passengers joined the crowd in front of the bank. People asked each other, “What happened?” But everyone had a different answer.
Arthur, still carrying the suitcase, turned to look at the bank and saw a young woman walking towards him. She looked at the suitcase and then at him. Arthur was surprised, “Why is she looking at me like that?” He thought. “The suitcase! She thinks I’m the bank robber!” He became frightened, and without another thought, he started to run.
As he was running with the suitcase, Arthur heard the young man shouting behind, “Stop, stop! My money”,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Arthur seized (抓住) this opportunity to catch the young man and took him to the nearby police station by car.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On market days when the farmers brought their goods to the little town to sell, I used to walk by them to chat. One of the farmers was telling me about a little stray (流浪) dog hiding among the market stalls (货摊). The thing that made us notice the dog was that he was sitting up, paws (爪) dangling (悬垂), staring at the passers-by hopelessly, begging for something that can remove his hunger.
“Look at that little fellow(家伙),” the farmer said, “I wonder where he’s from and how he can end up like this.” As he spoke, the stallholder (货摊主) threw the dog some bread, but when the man approached, the little poor thing ran away. I was standing there, trying to see where he had gone, when a young policeman came up to me. “I’ve been watching that dog begging all morning,” he said, “but I haven’t been able to get close to him.” “Yes, it’s strange. You can see he’s cute and friendly, but he’s also afraid. I wonder who owns him.” “I don’t think he has an owner, Mr. Harriot. I know just about all the dogs around here. But this one is a stranger to me.” I nodded. “I’m sure you’re right. He could have been treated badly by somebody and run away, or he could have been abandoned.” “Yes,” the policeman replied, “I don’t know how anybody can leave a helpless animal to watch over itself like that. I’ve had a few attempts (尝试) to catch him but it’s no good.”
Days later I met the policeman again and he told me that the dog had been caught, because it was against the law for a dog to go begging in the market. I couldn’t believe such a ridiculous (荒唐的) thing and asked him to take me to see the dog.
Paragraph 1:We walked a short way to a dog cottage(笼舍).
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Days later, I revisited the cottage and felt a wave of relief (放心).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. In your opinion, is Yang Liwei a hero? Why, or why not?
2. What do you think a true hero should be like?
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It’s hard to talk to dads sometimes. The roles we often expect our fathers to play—protector, provider—can make them seem impenetrable (不可理解的). That’s how it was with my dad. He came to Canada at the age of ten and settled in an immigrant community. He was never much of a talker. He rarely drank, so we didn’t get to see him loosen up after a few beers. He didn’t tell stories about himself at the dinner table or when we went for walks in the park. He was a private person and seemed to want to stay that way.
Bringing up the many questions I had about life before I was born--his early hopes and dreams, loves and heartbreaks—let alone sharing my own feelings, felt like too much for us to handle. I didn’t want to threaten the integrity (完整) of his hard shell. I had gotten used to it, and it made me feel secure.
But when my relationship and career suffered a hit a year ago at the same time, things had to change. I was facing serious questions about my own nature (本性), and I wanted to know that he had faced them, too. I needed to know how he had found his way, because I felt like I had lost mine.
In a severe moment of desperation, it occurred to me that sending an email might be the key. An email can be crafted (心制作) slowly and carefully. I could speak at a comfortable distance and give him room to adjust. He’d be up in his office — a comfortable place filled with bookshelves, dusty CD-ROMs and piles of old newspapers. I’d be at my desk in an apartment 20 minutes away.
So I wrote to him. I told him about my regrets and fears, and I asked him to answer, if he felt like it, and to share something about himself, something that would give me much-needed perspective on my life, especially on relationship and career.
注意: 1. 所编写短文的词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Two weeks later, his response showed up in my email box.
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I closed the email and started to cry.
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“Guys, remember. This competition is extremely difficult. There will only be a few selections to make it to the final round with the judges,” the music teacher, Mr. Brooks, explained. “But I hope all of you put your best foot forward and make our academy stand out!” The teacher was talking about a state-wide competition held by the best musicians in the area.
Shahnaz, the new student who had only come to the class two weeks before, took the teacher’s words to heart and put her heart and soul into a composition. She had learned how to play the piano for a long time and really did well in it. She wanted to prove herself.
All the students were supposed to improve their compositions with the help of their teacher, Mr. Brooks. However, he spent most of his time guiding the few outstanding students in his class.
He never had much to say to Shahnaz unless it was a comment about her mistakes, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to impress him. He was a good piano player and could teach her a lot. She hoped that her composition would be improved under the guidance of Mr. Brooks.
“OK,” Mr. Brooks said during one of his lessons, “it’s time for Shahnaz to play.” Shahnaz sat in front of the piano and began moving her fingers softly. She practiced and practiced once her composition was done and could almost play it by heart.
Finally, the piece was finished. Shahnaz looked at Mr. Brooks nervously and hoped to receive his recognition. But he just sighed “Frankly, you made many mistakes. You shouldn’t take part in the competition.”
注意：
1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Shahnaz left Mr Brooks’ class that day with a heavy heart, but she refused to let his words break her spirit.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The night of the competition finally arrived.
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