1 . The Language of Flowers
Ding dong! I looked up from the couch. Who in the world could that be? My body was troubled with illness, so I’d
I
Instead of returning to the couch, I
The group had followed him and picked very
The more I understood what the flowers were
| A．hidden | B．given | C．driven | D．broken |
| A．forbid | B．accept | C．act | D．respond |
| A．cautiously | B．reluctantly | C．instantly | D．cheerfully |
| A．size | B．style | C．uniqueness | D．shape |
| A．go together | B．stand out | C．mix up | D．fade away |
| A．informed | B．thanked | C．rewarded | D．telephoned |
| A．delivery | B．program | C．mystery | D．scene |
| A．companion | B．message | C．commitment | D．gift |
| A．expensive | B．rare | C．specific | D．fresh |
| A．explained | B．clarified | C．defined | D．analyzed |
| A．pain | B．fortune | C．sympathy | D．sunshine |
| A．modest | B．tolerant | C．formal | D．meaningful |
| A．involving | B．saying | C．smelling | D．signing |
| A．advocated | B．confirmed | C．required | D．earned |
| A．ambition | B．value | C．curiosity | D．fantasy |
Her pale face stood out against the blackness of her hair. She looked much younger than her fifteen years, a worn coat hanging loose above her. We weren’t supposed to take a child, but an emergency call came through that morning. A home was needed for a young girl immediately.
I, together with four children, hurried to get her room ready. The kids were great. Joanne, our second-eldest daughter, did the cleaning and Margaret, Rob and Jeff helped make the bed. I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I was excited, but scared at the same time because I was told an adopted child might give us a lot of trouble.
That afternoon, Trudy arrived with the social worker Mrs. Kline. She stepped into the front hall and stood against the wall. I will never forget the look in her eyes. The first thing that came to my mind was that she looked like a hunted animal. The children moved towards her, and Jeff grabbed her hand and said proudly, “Come and see your room. I helped make your bed.” Trudy pulled back, speechless.
At this point, I stepped towards her and said, "Welcome to our home, Trudy. “She looked at me with such blank eyes. But with her head bowed, she simply said, eyes moving back and forth like a creature looking for a way out, “No, thank you.”
For the first two weeks, Trudy was very quiet. She would come into the kitchen while I was working, and we would discuss school and what she would like to do in the future. Mrs. Kline had given us all the information about her history, but I never mentioned the terrible things that had happened to her.
As the days went by, Trudy became a delight to have around. Very quickly, it seemed like she had always been with us. The girls would sit in each other’s rooms and giggle(咯咯笑) like typical teenagers. It was a sound that warmed my soul. However, when they talked about new clothes, Trudy fell silent again.
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 took Joanne shopping for a winter coat, and Trudy came too.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Back home, I presented the jacket Trudy had tried on.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I like staying overnight at my Gramma’s house — that is, until Gramma starts telling me how wonderful my cousin Maya is. Then it’s Maya this and Maya that until I don’t ever want to hear another word about her.
That’s why I wasn’t too excited when Gramma called me on the phone to “come on over and bring your pajamas.” When I got there, it was worse than I’d expected. There, in Grandpa’s big leather rocker, sat Maya, all dressed up and formal-looking and wearing fancy shoes as if she’d just been to a party.
“Surprise, Kristen!” Gramma said. “Your cousin Maya and her parents have traveled in from the East Coast on business. Maya gets to stay with us this afternoon.” Gramma chattered away about how excited she’d been for this surprise get-together, and how cousins ought to get to know each other better.
I hung my baseball cap in the closet and set my backpack by the stairway, all the time smiling and nodding as if I’d been waiting forever for this chance to spend an afternoon with Maya. Grandpa’s chair squawked (咯咯叫) as Maya rocked back and forth. It’s the chair I like best in the house, the one I usually sit in. I sat down on the sofa across from her.
Shortly, Gramma went off to the kitchen to “see about some lunch,” she’d said. That left me stuck in the living room with rocking Maya.
She was still small but taller than I’d remembered her from her last visit four years ago. She was good at small talk, though, and was chatting away about how nice it was to see me again. But I could tell that she didn’t really think so. The last time she was here, we’d had hours of fun together building caves out of Gramma’s sofa pillows.
After that, I’d heard about her only through Gramma’s tales. Maya taking piano lessons. Maya learning math. Maya, Maya, Maya. Now Maya was here, looking great with the latest haircut and a fancy dress.
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。
Glancing down at my jeans and my old sneakers, I wished I hadn’t come.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“How do you know all these things about me?” I asked.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Gramma Goodie visits her grandsons every Sunday afternoon. Every visit starts the same. First she rings the doorbell.Then Chris jumps down the stairs.Jamie runs to open the door. And every time,Gramma Goodie has gifts.But the kids never know what she’ll bring.
Sometimes it’s something you need,like socks or underwear. Sometimes it’s movie tickets or a giant teddy bear.It could be a kite or a stuffed (填充的) baby kangaroo. It could be a lollipop (棒棒糖) that turns your tongue blue.
Well, one Sunday, Gramma rang the doorbell. Chris hurried down the stairs. And Jamie opened the door.
“Hello, my darlings,” Gramma Goodie said with a smile. “Look what I have for you.” She pulled out a pack of cards, and they played “Go fish” all afternoon. At the end of the day, Gramma gave the kids kisses. Then she said her good-byes.
As she drove away,Chris and Jamie heard their parents talking. They said that Gramma Goodie’s birthday was next Sunday. They were going to plan a special dinner and bake a delicious cake for her birthday surprise.
“Gramma Goodie has a birthday?” they thought. Both were a little puzzled.Grown-ups have birthdays? Who in the world knew?
“Well, we have to get her a gift,” Jamie said.
“But what?” asked Chris. “Gramma Goodie has almost EVERYTHING!”
Jamie thought about scarves and flowers. But Gramma had plenty of scarves and a huge rose garden. Chris thought about books, pillows and photo albums. A diary? She had one.An umbrella? She had that too. A radio? There is one in her kitchen. Oh, what would Chris and Jamie do? They spent all week thinking.
On Sunday, the doorbell rang.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“What’s this?” asked Gramma Goodie.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The cheerful girl, Jenny, with golden hair was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw a necklace of shining white pearls in a pink metal box. Quickly the mother checked the back of the little metal box and then looked back into the begging blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face. “A dollar and ninetyfive cents. That’s almost $2. If you really want it, I’ll think of some extra housework for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy it for yourself. Besides, you might get another dollar bill from Grandma on your birthday a week away.”
After dinner back home, she did more housework and even she asked the neighbor for housework for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at least she had enough money to buy the cheap necklace from the dime store (廉价商店).
Jenny loved her pearl necklace. She wore it everywhere. The only time she took it off was when swimming.
Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”
“Oh, daddy. You know that I love you.”
“Then give me your necklace.”
“Oh, daddy, not my pearl necklace. But you can have my Barbie doll — the one you gave me. She’s my favorite.”
“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.
Daddy repeated the same request about a week after the story time. However, Jenny refused and wouldn’t give up her necklace to her daddy.
A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed, waiting for her father._________________________________________________________________________ “What’s it, Jenny? What’s the matter?” Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted the metal box up with her little hand to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little trembling voice, she finally said, “Here, daddy. It’s for you.” _______________________________________________________________________________
With tears in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out one hand to take the cheap necklace. ___________________________________________________________________ He had had it all time. He was just waiting for her to give up the cheap necklace made of artificial pearls so he could give her a real valuable treasure. Jenny was very glad to take the necklace and a big smile appeared on her face. _____________________________________________________.
Wednesday night, it was the closing time of the mall. But there was an hour’s work, at least, to get everything cleaned up. It would be 11 :00 pm before I finally got home. I hadn’t even had time to have dinner. I was starving. My feet ached. My whole body, from head to foot, was filled with tiredness. I couldn’t wait to go to bed. But it would be only 6 hours before the alarm went off at 5 :00 am for my day job.
Things had been tight for over a year. My husband Paul’s business had taken a huge hit. I had a full-time job at a day care centre and somehow did my homework for my college class too. Then I had to work nights at the mall. Without me taking my second job, there wouldn’t be enough money to pay the bills, let alone buy any New Year presents for my 15-year-old daughter, Marie. No one wanted to wake up on New Year’s morning to no presents.
I barely even saw Paul and Marie anymore. Marie was growing up, but a teenage girl still needed her mom. I worried about her. Was she eating enough? Keeping up with her school work? I wasn’t afraid of hard work. Everyone was having to dig deeper these days, putting in extra hours. I knew I was lucky to have two jobs, when millions of people couldn’t find one.
How I hoped to quit my job at the day care centre and obtain a full-time degree. I’d dropped down to one class a semester. If I quit that, there was no way I’d find the willpower to try again. Besides, wasn’t I always telling Marie to never give up?
My mind went back to the conversation I’d had with Marie earlier. Paul had dropped her off at the mall, where she was getting picked up for a babysitting job. “Remember we’re going shopping this night,” she said, “I’ll even have my own money. See you later.”
The floor was nearly done. The manager asked me to leave.
Paragraph 1:
I opened the back door of the mall and saw Marie outside with a bag of food, smiling.
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Paragraph 2 :
I pulled her tight towards me.
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Daniel and Lucas are twins. They are teenagers, studying in the same class. Their teenage life is rich and colorful. Tony is their grandpa, whose age is 70 this year. The two grandsons like to take exercise with their grandpa and even go out on adventures.
In the summer of last year, they paid a visit to Stone Mountain Park with their grandpa. They had the opportunity to spend the day with their grandpa, seeing the various beautiful sights and attractions. One thing that three of them had really desired to do was climb to the top of the mountain. Stone Mountain isn’t a very high mountain and fortunately there are some walking routes to the top of it, but for the two teenagers, along with a rather old grandpa, it’s a difficult task.
Daniel and Lucas were much more interested in the walk than their grandpa, and they viewed it as an exciting adventure. But climbing the mountain was a rather big challenge for Tony, who was old and thin. He decided to start the slow walk up to the mountain.
It seemed like that Tony was taking forever to climb just a short distance, but considering his personal safety, he had to remind himself that it took him two steps to equal his grandsons’ one step. When he walked closer to his grandsons, he had to stop for a while to regain energy, and then tried to catch up with them, over and over again.
Tony was very tired. He just wanted to arrive at the top of the mountain as soon as possible to enjoy the beauty of the mountain top. But the twin grandsons were not focused at all on the trial of climbing the mountain. On the contrary, they were simply enjoying the journey of the walk. They enjoyed all that they had seen and all that they had heard along the way up to the top of the mountain. They stopped now and then to look at every large rock and observe the unusual plant formations. Suddenly, they found a strange plant. Daniel called out, “Grandpa, here is a special plant. Come and have a look.”
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。
Tony was hurrying towards his grandsons when he fell down.
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Daniel and Lucas wondered how to get their grandpa to the top of the mountain.
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The door opened and in came a young man. Shocked to see us packing things into our suitcase, the young man
I was in my room, unwilling to head to the community theatre with “my brother” Henry. He was just adopted by my parents recently. I was not in the mood for being onstage with him.
“Kristie, come here,” my mom called. Following her voice, I found her outside the bathroom, holding a wet book. She gave the book a shake. “Henry’s book was in the bathtub. Did you put it there?” She glared at me—something she never did before Henry came to our home. I didn’t wet his book on purpose. Tears of hurt clouded my eyes. Worse still, she promised to buy him a new copy. My heart ached. Henry was stealing my mother’s love. He was ruining my life.
Meanwhile, Henry was just nearby, absorbed in working on a complicated rope knot (绳结) as usual. Why did a boy like him do the girly work? Far from manly!
Soon, it was time to have to set off for the community theatre. As Henry walked ahead of us to the car, my mom took me aside and said in a low voice, “It’s the first time for Henry to be onstage. Be kind to him, Honey.” I nodded but sighed. Being kind didn’t use to be hard. But after Henry moved in, everything felt different. The theatre used to be a special place for my parents and me. With Henry involved, it didn’t seem so special any more.
Finally, it was our stage time. My heart beat wildly. I forgot my annoyance at Henry for a while. As we kids lined up, ready to act out our short play, I realized how loosely I had tied the drawstring (束带) on my skirt. Sure enough, my skirt began to drop. Laughter from the audience could be heard, and even though I was wearing shorts under my skirt, I could feel my face burst into flames. However, my hands were full. If only someone could help me out!
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。
Right then, Henry sensed my embarrassment.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After the performance, I found Henry and tapped him on the arm gratefully.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Birthday Cake
Josie was a girl who loved to bake. She always helped her uncle at his bakery. Mostly she carried ingredients from the refrigerator to the large work table. Sometimes Uncle Dave let Josie stir (搅拌) the cake batter (面糊) with a wooden spoon.
Josie wanted to learn to bake a cake on her own. She asked if Uncle Dave would show her how Her mother’s birthday was only two days away. If Josie made a cake all by herself, it would be a wonderful surprise.
On Saturday morning, Josie arrived at the bakery just as it was closing. The bakery always closed early on the weekend so Uncle Dave could walk his dogs. “Ready, Josie?” Uncle Dave asked “Ready!” Josie answered.
First, Uncle Dave had Josie get all the ingredients (原料) and line them up on the work table. Then he showed her how to measure flour and sugar so that she had the exact right amount. She added these ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Next, Uncle Dave tapped an egg on the side of the bowl to crack it. “Be careful not to get any bits of shell in the bowl,” he said.
Josie tapped her egg very gently on the bowl. It didn’t crack. She tried again, and this time the shell came apart. She pulled the egg apart over the bowl and watched the yellow egg yolk drop into the flour.
Now it was time to stir. “This is fun!” said Josie.
When the batter was ready, Uncle Dave helped Josie pour it into the cake pan. He gave Josie oven mitts (烤箱手套) and showed her how to put the pan in the oven without burning her hands.
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。
While the cake baked, Josie and Uncle Dave wiped off the table and washed all the dishes.
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On her mother’s birthday, Josie put the cake before her mom secretly.
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