It pays to have friends in “high” places!
Last year, Brody Ridder of Westminster, Colorado changed schools because hed was being bullied(霸凌). Sadly, the problem didn’t go away at his new school, The Academy of Charter Schools. When the school yearbook came out at the end of his sixth grade year, no one in his class wanted to sign his book.
Brody says he approached several classmates to ask them to sign, but they refused. The few who did sign only wrote down their names carelessly with no personal notes for Brody. Except for a couple of teachers’ notes, his pages were completely blank.
Greatly disappointed, Brody sat down and wrote in the book himself. ”Hope you make some more friends.—Brody Ridder,“ he wrote.
Mom Cassandra Ridder was sad indeed when she read the note and heard how cruelly he’d been treated. She took a picture of the note and shared it online for parents of students at Brody’s school. She had no idea it would lead to discussions all over town!
Parents were so sad to read Brody’s note to himself that they encouraged their children to reach out to the boy the next day. Rising senior Simone Lightfoot was one of the teenagers who heard the sixth grader’s story, and she understood his embarrassment. She and other high school students spent hours talking about Brody, coming up with a plan to help lift his spirits and make him feel less alone.
”We all just started planning that the next day we were going to go and sign this kid’s yearbook,“ said Logan South, another rising senior.
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 next day, they did just that.
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Not surprisingly, Brody’s classmates also reached out to him.
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Meet Hagen, a 6-year-old boy who recently celebrated his sixth birthday. Hagen is traveling with his family to Dallas with his amazing Buzz Lightyear(巴斯光年) toy. Traveling with kids is always busy, and the family had other things on their minds, so the tiny toy was unfortunately left behind.
Hagen’s mother said that when they landed, they thought they had gathered all their things and they headed to the taxi. It wasn’t until they were in the taxi that Hagen started crazily asking for his Buzz and his mother quickly realized that they did not have Buzz and he was still on the plane. Hagen was upset because he saw the toy as his best friend.
When the family understood this, it was too late to turn around their car heading for the family gathering as the plane had already departed(启程) for Little Rock, Arkansas. Hagen’s mother knows that losing a toy is never a pleasant feeling, especially for a 6-year-old and the toy is a big talking Buzz Lightyear action figure. So she had to lie that Buzz was on an awesome space task, and Hagen would get reunited with Buzz some day.
Well, LIT Ramp Agent Jason noticed Buzz all alone on the plane and his first idea was that he was probably here on a mission—and a mission did actually happen. Together with another colleague, Beth, Jason found out whose Buzz this was—there was a name on the foot and the airline’s contact information, so it wasn’t too hard—and they took Buzz on an adventure before sending him back.
Jason located Hagen according to name printed on the bottom of Buzz’s boot, ‘Hagen’. Only one passenger had flown on the plane with that name. That allowed them to locate the email of Hagen’s mother from their reservations. Then they posted the amazing pictures that Jason had taken with Buzz on his personal Facebook. The address of Hagen’s mother was given to Jason and he let Hagen’s mother know he’d be mailing him back to them.
Para. 1: Hagen got the package some days later.
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Para. 2: Hagen wrote a thank-you letter to Jason to express his feelings.
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My uncle is a successful businessman. One day, he invited me to have a dinner with one of his clients (客户) to discuss about future cooperation between them, during which he received a call. Then to everyone’s shock, he asked the waiter to check out and put an end to the trade with the client. I felt very confused. After all, it was a deal of one billion. When we got home together, he solved my doubt and told me a story about an expensive “school fee” he had paid for his dishonesty.
It was 15 years ago when he decided to return to his homeland to start a company after having got a PhD degree. Before leaving the country where he had studied for 5 years, he bought himself a Rolex watch with the savings made through years of part-time jobs and the scholarships he had got. At the airport, as was often the case, he had to accept the custom check. Of course, the watch on his wrist was on the list of things to be checked. Remembering that carrying things like this should pay some tax and worried about paying for his watch, he lied to the custom officer, “My watch is only a worthless fake (假货).”
“OK. I see.” said the custom officer and at the same time, in the presence of my uncle, he began to hit the watch heavily. “No!” Before my uncle woke up from his “smart”, the watch which cost nearly ￥100,000 had changed into pieces. “Why?” Shocked and not knowing the reason, my uncle was taken to the office for further examination.
Without finding any suspicious items, the officer let him go but warned, “Never use or carry the fake again, or you will be fined according to the law.”
My uncle continued, “Now, you see, my secretary called me saying the client used the fake to trade with X company one month ago. Such a dishonest man doesn’t have the qualification to cooperate with 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。
Hearing my uncle’s story, I was lost in thought.
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From the story, I know I was wrong.
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提示：1.有些学生认为发展爱好，影响学习，父母担心；放弃爱好，整天学习，觉得厌倦；
2.你的看法及建议。
要求：1.用上所给要点，并适当发挥；
2.行文流畅、正确、书写规范；
3.文中不能出现考生的真实姓名、校名；
4.词数80-100，开头已给出，但不计入总词数。
Relationship Between Learning and Hobbies
Many students have their own hobbies.
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Pembral was a good boy. But he was always forgetting things. Big things, small things, important things, little things. His mother was a patient woman, which was a good thing. Pembral regularly tested her patience. She learned early on to remind him of everything: big things, small things, important things, even the little things. Once in a while the little things that didn’t seem important at the time became more important later.
Sometimes she thought that Pembral forgot things on purpose — things like washing behind his ears; or picking up his toys; or feeding the dog. It bothered (麻烦) her to remind him of these sorts of things. However, for the most part, she knew that his mind just wandered off and it was her job to bring it back.
Fall weather had arrived. The air was cool and fresh, especially in the morning, even if the skies were brilliant blue and the sun was shining brightly. The light of the morning made wisps (缕) of fog come up from the ponds. The trees were changing their summer greens to coats of brilliant yellow, orange and red.
This was a time when Pembral’s mother cooked things that smelled and tasted really good. It seemed like he was just hungrier in the fall or something, and he liked how the windows steamed up and how the kitchen smells filled up the whole house when his mother was cooking up something good at that time of the year.
Pembral’s mother was baking (烤) something special that day: a carrot cake. It was one of Pembral’s favorites. But she needed some things from the store, and sent Pembral to get them. “I need eggs, sugar and raisins (葡萄干),” she said. “Here’s some money,” she went on. “Put it in your pocket where you won’t lose it.”
Pembral pushed the money into his pocket, and headed toward the door. He went outside and down the street, kicking dry leaves on the sidewalk into the air and breathing in their smell, and watching flying birds.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
When he got to the store, he picked up a basket and went about shopping.
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He was reaching into his pocket for the change when his mother said, “Where are the eggs?”
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The Achievement Gap in the United States
The achievement gap in the United States refers to the observed, persistent disparity(差异)in measures of educational performance among subgroups of U. S. students, especially groups defined by socio-economic status, race and gender. The achievement gap can be observed on a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point average, dropout rates, and college enrollment and completion rates.
Research into the causes of the disparity in academic achievement between students has been ongoing since 1966. Many experts argue that achievement gaps are the result of more subtle environmental factors and “opportunity gaps” in the resources available to poor versus wealthy children.
Home environments have a stronger impact on school achievement than in-school factors, in part, because children spend more time outside of school than in school. Studies have found that children in poverty whose parents provide engaging learning environments at home do not start school with the same academic readiness gaps seen among poor children generally.
In addition, the out-of-school factors influencing academic performance differ significantly between children living in poverty and children from middle-income households. Being raised in a low-income family, for example, often means having fewer educational resources at home, in addition to poor health care and nutrition.
The achievement gap has become a focal point of education reform efforts by a number of non-profit organizations and advocacy groups. Attempts to minimize the achievement gap by improving equality of access to educational opportunities have been numerous, such as multicultural education, finance equalization, and interventions to improve school testing, teacher quality and responsibility.
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Once upon a time, there was a village where lived a wealthy man named Rama. He was always ready to help the poor and needy. His act of kindness made him so popular that villagers thought of him as the head of the village. And he was overjoyed at villagers’ love for him.
Rama was a well-known businessman who dealt in the export of agricultural products. One year, there was no rain so the whole village was under drought conditions. There was a lack of food and water everywhere. Villagers were dying of hunger. Therefore, they reached out to Rama for help.
Rama, in spite of having a huge loss in business, chose to help the villagers out generously. He started giving out food for free. Every day he would give a part of his wealth and grains to the needy. Soon, Rama ran out of money and food as he gave all his wealth to the needy villagers. Rama tried hard to manage his business, but he failed. Finally, he was left with nothing.
Rama had to live in a rented house. He looked for a job but no one was ready to offer him one because they were in fear of losing their wealth because of his kind nature. After a few days, he left with no money, so he had to leave his rented house. Rama was now homeless. He and his wife decided to leave the village.
Rama and his wife set off for another village. After walking for a while, both were tired so they decided to take a rest under a tree, and after that, they would move further. They ate whatever they had with them and slept under the tree. They were so tired that they slept the whole day and when they woke up it was dark. They started seeking shelter. Soon they saw a luxury mansion（公馆）and went there 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。
They knocked and a man opened the door.
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When he heard his words of gratitude, Rama’s eyes were filled with tears.
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I needed to do something in my community (社区) in order to complete the community service hours required to graduate from high school. Some of my friends had signed up to spend time at a soup kitchen, so I did, too. It seemed like a good thing to do.
I thought that we would just be passing out dinners to those in need, but I found out we would be doing everything from preparing to serving the dinner. We began preparing the food, from mixing salad dressing to separating frozen meat. Much still needed to be done before dinner was served, but already outside the building many homeless people were gathering. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that we opened the doors and began serving dinner.
As the line of people came toward me, I got a little scared. I’d come face to face with the homeless: How should I act? How would they treat me? Would they hate me for having more than they did? While some of the people looked very friendly, some of them looked so dangerous. I didn’t have too much time to worry about it. I was assigned (分配) to serve the salad with the lady next to me. She smiled at me and said if I needed help, she’d be right there, which I found quite comforting.
I had never seen so many people wanting food. They were of all ages and nationalities. Most of them wore clothes that were torn and dirty. Some looked like they had tally given up on life, while others seemed to be making the best of the situation, smiling and joking. Some were better off than others, but they all needed a good meal and a warm place to eat. It saddened me to think of how many people there were who didn’t have a place to call home and the only food they got came from a soup kitchen.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
As they came in my direction, I put on my brightest and happiest smile.
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Paragraph 2:
I was so happy that I had earned my service hours in this way.
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I managed to stop my friend Timmy’s bike in a fashionable way at the end of the narrow road in the neighborhood. If I rode just a little further, I would come to a wide road of my city. When I stopped the bike, I saw Timmy running to catch up. I was grateful to him. He had taught me how to ride a bike. Now he was teaching me how to stop the bike in a special way.
When he neared me, he congratulated me on my first successful stop. Seconds later, my dad came up. He always seemed to be strict. He didn’t want me to do anything I liked. When he came up, he said angrily, “I suppose if I allow you to ride the bike, you will agree to keep off the city road?” “But we don’t get on it,” I replied.
He shouted, “You were close enough! If you had slid one more foot, you would have been there. What if a car had been coming? This road is dangerous. It goes through the hills. Tall trees line the road, and there are many bends. If you get on the road, a driver may not even see you coming! I didn’t buy you a bike just because of the dangerous road!”
I was really sad. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I got a chance to ride the bike again. It was a perfect afternoon. My parents weren’t at home. Timmy and I took the opportunity to ride his bike.
With Timmy’s encouragement, I dared to ride with no hands on the handle bars for the first time. Later, Timmy said, “Why don’t we try riding down the hill fast?” I knew that it wasn’t allowed. But finally, I agreed. Timmy rode down while I waited for him to come back. When he rode back, he said, “Incredible! Do you want to try it?” I said, “Yes!” I was excited because I was going to try something disallowed. I felt daring and free.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式作答。
With excitement, I started down the hill.
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I tried to stop the bike, but still ran into the coming car, though not violently.
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Surviving Mount Rainier
Bad luck and poor timing left Kart and three climbers stuck on Mount Rainier for several long days. They faced mountain climbing’s toughest tests. One man suffered altitude sickness; ice and rockfall rained down at night; cold nights in a tent that got torn left them hypothermic(体温过低的). Calm confidence, skill and the courage to continue up the route, despite illness and injury, likely saved their lives.
The climbers set out on a Friday, camping low on the route the first night because they were concerned about rockfall after a climber had recently died in an accident at the route’s typical high camp. On Saturday, at about 10,500 feet, one of the climbers became sick from the altitude, which began to slow them down. They needed to keep moving, so they put him in the lead so he could move at a pace he was comfortable with.
By Sunday evening, the ill climber was exhausted, and they had to make an unplanned camp on steep snow. They were in a bad place—on a platform about the size of a table under an ice cliff. The wind got stronger during the night, ripping the tent and snapping the poles. They tried to secure it by placing their packs and rocks around the edges. Finally, they just stuck their feet between the rocks and held the tent with their bodies. It was a cold night.
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:
On Monday, they managed to call 911 but forgot to ask how to communicate with the rangers (护林员) before losing signal.
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Paragraph 2
On Wednesday, they gathered everything and decided to carry on with their climb.
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