An Unforgivable Mistake
A few years ago, the company I work for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I’ve always loved jogging, so I was really happy when I found the apartment they had rented for us was next to Central Park. This meant that every morning I could go for a run before I went to work.
Because a lot of people had told me to be careful of muggers (行凶抢劫者) in the park, I didn’t usually take anything with me. How could they rob me if I didn’t have anything? But one morning my wife asked me to buy some bread on the way home, so I put a $10 bill in my back pocket.
It was a beautiful morning and the park was quiet with very few people walking or jogging around. While I was running, another jogger bumped (撞) into me. He apologized and continued running. For a while, I didn’t think too much of it. However, when I noticed the wide path where I was running, I thought it was kind of strange. The warning of muggers in the park occurred to me. It could have been a mugger! I suddenly became alarmed, so I checked my pocket. The money was missing! I immediately started to run after the jogger. I finally caught up with and grabbed him firmly by the arm. I started shouting and demanding that he give me the $10 bill. I’m not usually a hot-headed person, but I really lost my temper at that moment. I couldn’t believe the robbery was actually happening to me. Filled with anger, I shook my fist at him. This seemed to frighten him. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and gave me the money. Then he ran away as fast as he could.
I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I couldn’t wait to tell my wife the story. “You won’t believe what happened to me,” I started with pride. She immediately interrupted (插话), “I know, you left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”
注意：续写词数应为150左右。Paragraph 1:
Looking at the money on the table, I stood there, shocked.
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For several days, I waited at the same place.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My family and I were taking a well-deserved vacation to Disneyland. I had never been there before and was eagerly anticipating experiencing the magic.
There was another reason that this trip was special. My father was a workaholic who worked long hours. I longed to spend time with him. I wanted to be able to sit down with my father, who I loved more than life, and just talk. It always seemed like there was never time.
The day finally arrived when I was allowed to pack my clothes. I chose only my favourite outfits. I threw in my autograph book and then muscled the suitcase zipper around the overflow of clothes. I set my suitcase on my comforter and smiled. I was ready.
I didn’t get any sleep that night. I lay in my bed and stared out the window. I knew that my father’s work was going to be left at home, finally.
After a brief breakfast we hit the open road. It was all smooth sailing for the first couple of hours until I unexpectedly felt a sharp stop. We coasted to the side of the road, and my dad said something was wrong with the engine. We were in the middle of four lanes of traffic, so he decided the easiest thing to do would be to signal someone to stop and get a ride into town.
An hour later, my dad was still waving his hands at each and every passing car but it wasn’t doing any good. Not a single person would stop to assist my helpless family. Finally, Father gave up and decided to walk into town. I was certain it was a very long distance. I pleaded with him to stay and try again, but he was deaf to my pleading. He just said that he wouldn’t let anything ruin this trip for me. My heart ached as he put on his coat and began to walk away from our car. My dad has a back problem, and he was too stubborn to admit that he wasn’t in any condition to even walk a couple of miles.
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。
Then I saw a man out of the window, who was a truck driver.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After reaching the town, we expressed our thanks again.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1.明智上网的重要性；
2.提出具体建议（两到三条）。
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。
Be Wise Internet Users
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Here’s one more reason to get up and exercise! A newly
Furthermore, people who walk with “purpose”—
Even people
“There is evidence
5 . A lottery (彩票) winner in Kentucky won a six-figure jackpot (头奖). However, she wasn’t the only one who
Crystal Dunn of Louisville won the game’s $146,351.74 progressive jackpot. “I saw that and didn’t believe it
Dunn traveled to the headquarters of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation to
She stopped by Meijer — a supercenter store chain in Kentucky — to
“Many were excited, but a few were
| A．tried | B．benefited | C．worked | D．learned |
| A．taking out | B．giving away | C．paying off | D．turning down |
| A．finally | B．regularly | C．formally | D．actually |
| A．happen | B．appear | C．display | D．improve |
| A．check | B．collect | C．raise | D．search |
| A．found | B．wrote | C．received | D．demanded |
| A．planned | B．requested | C．managed | D．imagined |
| A．serious | B．easy | C．possible | D．clear |
| A．energy | B．happiness | C．patience | D．information |
| A．share | B．leave | C．refuse | D．divide |
| A．readers | B．workers | C．shoppers | D．teachers |
| A．thankful | B．confident | C．delighted | D．surprised |
| A．by chance | B．at once | C．on purpose | D．in return |
| A．simple | B．unexpected | C．common | D．impossible |
| A．practical | B．difficult | C．rewarding | D．available |
6 . If you want to improve your relationship with Mom or Dad, try listening to them, just like you would listen to a friend.
Now, it may seem kind of strange to treat your parents as if they were normal people and all, but it’s worth trying. We’re always saying to our parents, “
They have pressures, too, you know? While you’re worrying about your friends and your upcoming history test, they’re worrying about their bosses and how they’re going to pay for your education. Like you, sometimes they get offended at work and go in the restroom to cry.
| A．You don’t understand me. |
| B．Hey, parents are people, too. |
| C．It’s important to get on well with your parents. |
| D．So how can you better understand your parents? |
| E．Jump into their shoes and think from their point of view. |
| F．They have days when they don’t know how they will pay the bills. |
| G．If you take time to listen to your parents, two wonderful things will happen. |
7 . This summer has brought extreme heat and droughts to places around the world. The droughts are leading to serious problems, including shortages of food and energy, problems with transportation, and food price increases. The effects of the droughts are likely to be felt for years.
From Africa to Europe to the US to China, record temperatures and low rainfall have been causing problems. Droughts aren’t new, but Earth’s rising temperatures because of global warming are making them much harder to avoid.
The drought in the Horn of Africa may be the most serious situation. For several years, the area has had very little rain during the rainy seasons. Now the area, which includes Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, is suffering from its worst drought in 40 years.
Almost two-thirds of Europe is threatened (威胁) by what may be the worst drought there in 500 years. With temperatures reaching 40℃ and hotter, many crops have been damaged. In France, Spain, Portugal, and even Britain, firefighters have struggled to control wildfires.
In the US, many states that use water from the Colorado River are struggling with low water levels. Farmers in California and Arizona have been hit particularly hard. In California water use is being limited now and farmers aren’t able to grow as many crops. That can drive up food prices, and that affects everyone.
China is facing similar problems. It has been attacked by a terrible drought this summer, with temperatures as high as 45℃. The drought has dried up much of the water in the Yangtze, China’s longest river. That has cut the amount of energy produced by the world’s largest dam by 40%.
There are no easy solutions for any of these droughts. It took years to create the climate crisis, and it will take a long time to get it under control. For now, governments and people will need to carefully manage water supplies and other resources to limit the damage as much as possible.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Problems. | B．Droughts. |
| C．The effects of the droughts. | D．Earth’s rising temperatures. |
| A．Wildfires. | B．Food prices. |
| C．Water limits. | D．High water levels. |
| A．By giving some examples. | B．By offering some reasons. |
| C．By answering some questions. | D．By explaining some puzzles. |
| A．The Reasons Behind Worldwide Droughts |
| B．The Effects of Extreme Heat and Droughts |
| C．Droughts Cause Problems Around the World |
| D．Solutions Are Needed for Worldwide Droughts |
8 . Scientists report that people in Sydney, Australia are in a war with cockatoos (凤头鹦鹉). The birds have learned to open the lids on trash bins (垃圾桶盖), and people are figuring out new ways to keep the lids closed. But the clever birds are quickly discovering new tricks.
Cockatoos are large, white birds in the parrot family. They’re common in western Australia, where they normally live in wooded areas. But as forests have been cut down, cockatoos have gotten used to living near people.
Last year, scientists at the Max Planck Institute reported that cockatoos had learned how to open the lids on trash bins. Cockatoos open the lids to find food scraps (剩下的食物). But they can also make a big mess, which upsets the people who own the trash bins.
What really interested the scientists was that the birds were teaching other cockatoos how to do the same thing. When scientists first began studying the cockatoos in 2018, only three areas near Sydney had lid-opening cockatoos. A year and a half later, cockatoos in 44 different areas knew the trick.
The researchers asked over 1,100 people from around Sydney about their trash bins. More than 15% of the people were taking steps. The goal was to make it hard for the cockatoos to open the bins. The most common way of protecting the bins was putting a brick or other heavy object on the lid.
The scientists discovered that the humans were teaching each other tricks, too. In most neighbourhoods, many people used the same cockatoo-stopping methods as their neighbours.
The researchers say it’s like a race between humans and cockatoos to learn new ways of doing things. Now many cockatoos have learned how to push heavy things off the bins. As a result, humans have figured out ways to attach the items to the top of their bins. The researchers describe the situation as a “human-wildlife conflict (冲突)”. They expect these conflicts to become more common as humans take over more areas that used to be wild.
1. Why do cockatoos choose to live near people?| A．To avoid being killed. | B．To look for some food. |
| C．They like playing with trash bins. | D．Their homes have been destroyed. |
| A．Worried. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Annoyed. | D．Interested. |
| A．It’s a boring game. | B．It’s an interesting contest. |
| C．It’s a necessary competition. | D．It’s an effective communication. |
| A．They are stupid indeed. | B．They like making trouble. |
| C．They like communicating with people. | D．They keep learning and making progress. |
9 . It was Christmas Eve when my elder sister and I decided to open our presents before our mom got home from work. She usually came home about an hour after we got home from school, which we thought was plenty of time to sneak a look (偷看) at the gifts under the tree.
My elder sister opened present after present while I was ordered to stand guard at the big window in our front room. Finally, when my sister’s curiosity was satisfied, we changed places.
After opening a few presents, I found it faster to open one end of a present and look inside. “Cool! Mom and Dad got me headphones!” I pulled the headphones out of the box and was about to put them on when my sister shouted, “Quick! Wrap (包裹) it back up! Mom’s coming!”
I put the headphones back in the box but my hands were shaking. My heart beat faster as I tried to get the tape to stick. I had just finished burying the package with my headphones in it when my mother came into the front room. I jumped up and said, “Hi, Mom!” She smiled at me and said “Hi” back, but didn’t appear to suspect (怀疑) anything. My heart began to slow as I took a deep breath.
On Christmas morning, my sister and I smiled, and gave award-winning performances when we opened our presents—again. “Headphones!” I shouted. “Thanks, it’s just what I wanted.” After everything had been opened, my sister and I looked at each other, and our eyes met. Our secret was safe, but somehow Christmas morning didn’t feel the same.
My sister and I never opened our Christmas presents early again. I don’t know if it was that opening our gifts for the second time just wasn’t as much fun as the first time, or if we came too close to getting caught and didn’t want to think about what our mother would have done to us.
1. What did the author and his sister do before their mother came back?| A．They bought some Christmas presents. |
| B．They hid Christmas presents under the tree. |
| C．They opened Christmas presents in advance. |
| D．They wrapped the headphones for their mother. |
| A．Grateful and moved. | B．Happy and excited. |
| C．Curious and surprised. | D．Nervous and frightened. |
| A．His secret was found out. | B．His curiosity wasn’t satisfied. |
| C．A pleasant surprise was lost. | D．A festival atmosphere was lost. |
| A．He didn’t like the headphones. | B．He regretted what he had done. |
| C．He wasn’t satisfied with his mother. | D．He couldn’t find his Christmas present. |
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1. What’s the purpose of the above event?| A．To share some tips. | B．To collect some works. |
| C．To introduce some photos. | D．To recommend some videos. |
| A．A 6MB photo. | B．A 2GB video. |
| C．A PNG photo. | D．A 5-minute video. |
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