Some kids play sports, some love attending parties and others are computer masters. Me? I have the spelling bee (拼词比赛).
The bee is my World Cup. I trained every day as soon as I returned home after school, the dictionary pages dancing softly in the light wind. I built up my muscle (once I spelled it m-u-s-u-1-e… so embarrassing!) carrying around my friend Oxford dictionary. I laughed in the face of difficult words in the spelling test. For example, “Serendipitous”. Please. That was so fourth grade.
As soon as I opened my eyes on Friday morning, I felt the hairs on my arm stood up. I looked at my alarm clock—it was only 6:27. I usually woke up at 7:01, which meant I had an extra thirty-four minutes to study before going to school to attend today’s spelling bee contest. My stomach felt like it was filled with a flock of flamingos (火烈鸟) dancing a fandango (f-a-n-d-a-n-g-o-h, I spelled wrongly a month ago). To calm down, I reminded myself that I was one of the best spellers in my class. Even though I was not ambitious enough to want to go to the National Spelling Bee—I just wanted to win the bee at our school. I could beat my arch-enemy (死敌), Nathan.
Nathan thought he was a better speller than me, but he didn’t even study words. He just read tons of huge science and math books. I could say safely that Nathan and I had nothing in common except being good spellers, but since he was a good speller without even trying, it didn’t count. I bet if you gave Nathan a literature word like “denouement” (it took me FOREVER to remember that one), he’d be out on the first round.
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。
I went downstairs, only to find Dad was already up, reading a newspaper.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally came the contest.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our animal rescue volunteers set up a shelter in a town in reaction to floods there. While out looking for animals left behind, we met a man who had a dog, which he had no intention (意图，打算) of taking with him when he finally left. When we offered to shelter his dog, he said, “Alright!”
Soon, he went into his tiny house’s backyard, returned with the dog and put it into our truck. Amy, one volunteer, asked what the dog’s name was. “He doesn’t have one,” the man said and left, without saying goodbye.
We returned to the shelter. After reaching there, the nameless dog sat still in the truck. When we put him on the ground, he just lay there, remaining still.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. Amy replied that maybe the dog was timid (胆怯的) because of his owner’s long-term neglect (疏于照管). She determined to help the dog and named him Albert.
After that day, Amy often carried the sixty-pound dog around the shelter, since he still refused to stand up or walk. At night, Albert lay next to Amy’s bed. Luckily, six days later, Albert never stopped moving, always keeping up with Amy. Wherever she went, Albert would be no more than two steps behind her.
I began to notice, though, that Albert still didn’t have the energy of an eighteen-month-old dog. Later, a doctor found he had heartworm disease (心丝虫病), a deadly disease.
I called Albert’s owner. When I told him that Albert had heartworm disease and that it would cost at least $300 to treat him, I expected he’d say, “I don’t have the money, so you keep the dog.” But I was wrong. He wanted Albert back.
“If he isn’t immediately treated, he’ll die,” I said. “Yeah. I understand. That’s what happened to all my dogs. Although I don’t have enough money to treat him, I can’t let you pay the fee. I’ll be out shortly to pick up (接) my dog,” the man replied coldly and hung up.
In the distance, I saw Amy and Albert playing games.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150词左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
“How am I going to tell Amy we have to give Albert back?” I whispered.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________While he walked to Albert, I shouted, “Wait! Could I buy that dog from you?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always tight, but we had a roof overheads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and if not a lot, always enough. Not knowing we were poor, my kids just thought was serious. I have always been glad about it.
It was Christmastime, and although there wasn’t money for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big excitement for the kids was the fun of Christmas shopping.
They planned weeks ahead of time, asking each other what they wanted for Christmas. Fortunately. I had saved $120 for presents to share by all five of us.
The big day arrived. I gave each kid a twenty dollar bill and reminded them to look for gifts of about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered (散开). We had two hours to shop; then we would meet back at the gate,
On the way home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, except my younger daughter Ginger who was unusually quiet. She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies—fifty-cent candies. I was so angry, but I controlled myself and didn’t say anything until we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to be angry again. This was what she told me:
“I was looking around thinking of what to buy, and l stopped to read the little cards on the ‘Giving Trees’. One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she wanted for Christmas was a doll. So I took the card off the tree and bought the doll for her. We have so much but she doesn’t have anything.” I felt so proud of my younger daughter.
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 gathered the other kids and shared with them what Ginger had done.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We walked excitedly to the nearby children’s hospital.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Katie was jumping rope on the lawn in front of her home. It was a nice day, the sun was shining warmly, and she had all the time in the world to enjoy her jumping. She felt happy. Her thoughts were focused on her jumping: how to match the spinning of the rope in her hands and the jumping of her feet so they didn’t get tangled(缠结), causing her to fall. When her mind and muscles were working together, when everything flowed smoothly, it felt pretty good.
As she jumped, she remembered that her grandmother had given her the rope for Christmas. She knew that her grandmother didn’t have a lot of money and had to save up to buy the jump rope. Before Christmas, her grandmother had taken her to some toy shops to look at different things, hoping to subtly find out what Katie wanted. When Katie got not just a jump rope but the very jump rope she really wanted, she felt especially loved by her grandmother.
As she skipped, a boy rushed across the road. He ripped her special jump rope from her hands, shouting, “Give me that” and raced back across the road toward the park. “What a horrible boy,” thought Katie. At first she was shocked and upset; but when she thought, “He has stolen the jump rope my grandma gave me for Christmas”, she became very angry. Then, thinking she had lost her jump rope forever, she felt sad and found tears welling up in her eyes.
Driven by a mix of emotions, Katie chased after the boy and her heart was heavy with the loss of her treasured gift. However, as she pursued the boy, a scene unfolded (打开) before her eyes—a younger child had fallen into a nearby pond, struggling and in need of help. In that moment, Katie’s focus shifted from her stolen jump rope to the urgent need to assist the distressed child. Then she saw the boy ran to this kid hurriedly.
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：
The boy had thrown an end of her jump rope out for the child to grab.
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Thinking that it was nice of him to apologize and return the rope, Katie felt grateful.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“The package is from Uncle Aaron in Scotland,” Rylee told her father. Her uncle travelled a lot on business, so Rylee seldom got to see him. Her father’s only response was to raise an eyebrow (眉毛).
Rylee opened the box. She pulled out a large necklace (项链). One side of the necklace had a symbol of circles. It looked like writing on the other side, but Rylee did not understand what the words meant.
The box also had a letter from her uncle. He explained how he had found the necklace at a curious little shop. He described how the elderly storekeeper had told him that the necklace had special powers and warned him to be careful with it.
Her uncle ended the letter with “BE CAREFUL!!!” in big letters and a “laughing” emoji (表情符号). He did not seem to take the storekeeper’s warnings seriously. “Let me wear it to school today, Dad,” Rylee said. “Maybe it will bring me luck on my history test.” “Good grades come from studying, not from luck,” Dad said. “I did study, but everyone thinks this will be a hard test.” Rylee put her fingers around the necklace she still held, “I wish you’d let me wear it.” “Yes, you can wear it today.” That made Rylee stop to wonder, because her dad had never given in that fast before.
At school, Rylee heard a group of kids talking. Some said her necklace looked ugly, while others thought it silly to believe in good luck necklaces. She wished her classmates thought the necklace was as cool as she did. Without warning, all eyes turned to Rylee and her necklace. Students began to push to get a closer look. Everyone seemed to talk at once, telling her how cool it looked. All Rylee’s friends wanted to borrow her lucky necklace. That made Rylee stop to wonder why everyone changed their minds so fast.
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。
Sitting at her desk, Rylee watched the teacher pass out their tests.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rylee looked down at her test and found that her score was one hundred percent.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A third-grade class knows exactly what will brighten an older neighbor's holiday meal — and it isn't a roast turkey. In October, I told the eight-year-olds I taught in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, about my Thanksgiving plan. "I'd like all of you to do extra jobs around the house to earn some money," I said. "Then we'll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner otherwise."
I wanted the children to experience that it's more blessed to give than to receive. I wanted them to understand that love of society and love of life is not just lip service; that people somehow have to make it come alive.
Early in Thanksgiving week, the boys and the girls arrived in class with their hard-earned pocket money and couldn't wait to go shopping. After pacing up and down in the supermarket, we put a turkey and decorations in the shopping cart (购物车). At last we headed toward the checkout, and then someone found a "necessity" — flowers. It was more reasonable to use any extra money to buy food. I pronounced, "You can't eat flowers." "But Mrs. Sherlock," the group replied, "we want flowers." I was defeated, and the children put a bunch of pink roses into the cart.
An organization had given us the name and address of Maria, a needy grandmother who had lived alone for many years. Soon we were driving along a rough road to her house. We finally pulled up in front of a small house in the woods. A thin woman with a tired face came to the door to welcome us.
My little group hurried to get the food. As each box was carried in, the old woman kept saying "Thanks" — much to the visitors' pleasure. When kids put the pink roses on the table, the woman seemed surprised. "She was wishing it was a bag of flour (面粉)", I thought. Having talked for a while, we returned to the car.
注意：1.续写词数应为150字左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As we fastened (系上) our seat belts, we could see the kitchen window.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Upon seeing the moving scene, the children became quiet.
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2. 简单评论；
3. 你的建议。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Green Travel
There are many ways we can choose from to travel to and from school.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Every Sunday, June, a six-year-old girl, tied her sports shoes and walked to Grandpa’s house. Grandpa lived around the block(街区), and June was allowed to walk there by herself. Grandpa often told her stories. They also ate ice cream together while they talked. Sunday was June’s favorite day.
This Sunday, June got dressed. She put on one sports shoe, but she could not find the other shoe. “Mommy, where’s my shoe?”
“I’m sure it’s in your room. Look carefully until you find it. You can’t go until you have both shoes on,” June’s mother said.
June sat on her bed and looked around. Her room was quite messy. There were clothes on the floor and papers on the desk. She wasn’t sure where to start.
Then June remembered a story Grandpa told her. When he was little, he lost a coin that he planned to use to buy his mother a candy. He walked back over every place he had been to that day until he found it. He had to go in order so he wouldn’t miss anything.
June stood up. “I’ll start in the corner and go around the room in order,” she thought. “That way I won’t miss anything.”
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。
June began in the corner where her desk was.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________June quickly put on her shoe and ran out of the door to Grandpa’s house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My family had a hard time when I was in Grade 11. My parents lost their jobs during the Depression. Dad was too ill to work outside, while Mum had a tough time raising us kids on her own in our small community. We relied on our community assistance to keep us clothed, and although our clothes were secondhand, we thought they were beautiful.
Looking back, I realize what Mum went through for sending us kids to school. Every morning she would put a new piece of cardboard in our shoes, because our shoes were worn out. Moving house constantly was typical for my family during the period. Rent was twenty-five dollars a month, but Mum couldn’t pay it. These were hard and sad years, but we never complained.
The new year was approaching, and we were entitled (享有)to a twenty-five dollar fund for social services. Mum said that instead of buying food, she would use the money to pay back rent, making sure we all had a roof over our heads for a little while longer. She told us then there would be nothing for the new year.
Unknown to Mum, I had been removing snow and doing odd jobs to earn enough money to buy a new pair of shoes. I knew exactly which shoes I wanted. They were made of genuine leather and they had a price of twenty-three dollars. Well, the big day came on the last day of that year. I was very excited, as I was hurrying up to catch the bus. It was only a half-a-mile walk, but on the way I noticed a house with lights and decorations. It was then that I realized in our house, we had no lights, no decorations, nor any money for goodies (好吃的东西). I knew then that we would have no delicious food for the new year, and I felt sad.
As I continued walking, I began to feel confused. I was sixteen years old, and I was feeling a strange sense of guilt. Here I was going to buy a new pair of shoes while Mum was home in tears. She would be trying to explain to us why there were no presents.
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 thought how I ought to use the money I had earned.
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Soon I got to my house with the groceries (食品杂货).
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Bus driver Charlie was out at 3 am to drive his bus around Torresdale Avenue near Cottman in the Tacony neighborhood when he saw a tiny girl waiting at the bus stop. It was Jill, a 4-year-old little girl.
It was the early hours of a rainy morning and Charlie was out to drive his SEPTA’s 56 bus on his regular route. As usual, he picked up his passengers one by one. Of course, he had no idea that he would pick up a special passenger at this time in the morning. Just as he was about to pass a stop near the Tacony neighborhood, a woman passenger told him about a little girl she had seen, all alone waiting at the bus stop. He stopped his bus and was amazed at what he had seen. Wearing her purple raincoat, sleeping clothes, and her boots, little Jill waspatiently waiting for the bus to stop so she could ride on it.
The bus driver could not believe his eyes. His passengers at the time were also surprised to see a tiny kid all alone in the rain at that moment. Seeing a child about the age of a preschooler at 3 am without any adult with her was surely a shock. Charlie was worried about her and then he had an idea. He had to do something to take the little girl safely back home.
He and the passengers on the bus tried to find out how this had happened. As it turned out, Jill even walked 5 blocks in the rain before she reached the bus stop where she was found. Without hesitation, Charlie called the local police and told them of the little girl.
As Jill sat on the bus, the passengers comforted her and made sure she was okay. As the little girl sat with the other passengers, she shared her mission (使命) that early morning. “All I want is a box of chocolates,” she said.
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。
Charlie drove the bus until it got to the stop which was not far from a police station.
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Jill’s parents hurried to the police station.
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