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.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . As a kid, my life was like a kid adventure movie. My parents always played the parts of
My father could
But since I became a father myself, I’ve come to
Now I hope to give my kids the greatest gift my father gave me — warm, gentle
| A．supporting | B．leading | C．temporary | D．ambitious |
| A．design | B．purchase | C．fix | D．change |
| A．system | B．service | C．route | D．profit |
| A．bravery | B．confidence | C．commitment | D．inspiration |
| A．remember | B．expect | C．imagine | D．realize |
| A．ignore | B．admit | C．appreciate | D．assess |
| A．legally | B．tirelessly | C．doubtfully | D．bravely |
| A．heard | B．told | C．predicted | D．continued |
| A．created | B．sacrificed | C．transformed | D．pursued |
| A．challenging | B．forbidding | C．encouraging | D．promising |
| A．fires | B．aspects | C．strengths | D．peaces |
| A．checked on | B．believed in | C．jumped at | D．set aside |
| A．choice | B．opportunity | C．reward | D．present |
| A．memories | B．character | C．assistance | D．instructions |
| A．action | B．risk | C．comfort | D．care |
3 . Many years ago, I was living with my best friend and we had many happy moments together. But there was one night that
On the night of November 25, 2011, I got into a fistfight with my best friend in our kitchen. It all started because I was trying to help him. He was drinking a lot, arguing with everyone and
I thought alcohol
That Christmas my friend didn’t have any place to go, so I invited him home to my parents’ house in Lancaster. They
That year my friend and I both received gifts that we would
| A．defined | B．inspired | C．created | D．changed |
| A．defending | B．separating | C．protecting | D．locking |
| A．communication | B．investigation | C．exploration | D．promotion |
| A．put up | B．take away | C．break out | D．call off |
| A．talking | B．crying | C．fighting | D．laughing |
| A．access | B．addition | C．abuse | D．affection |
| A．look | B．break | C．drive | D．carry |
| A．time | B．holiday | C．gift | D．family |
| A．happily | B．generally | C．formally | D．hurriedly |
| A．awake | B．asleep | C．available | D．absorbed |
| A．generosity | B．curiosity | C．ability | D．creativity |
| A．admitted | B．realized | C．recognized | D．accepted |
| A．exchange | B．present | C．treasure | D．appreciate |
| A．day | B．test | C．skill | D．eye |
| A．kind | B．grateful | C．blessed | D．healthy |
4 . I came to the United States ten years ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.
Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.
One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn’t understand them because I didn’t speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, “Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it.”
The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That’s the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.
That’s how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had written a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why. She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to college. I will never forget this.
1. According to the passage, the author probably is a ________.| A．teacher | B．doctor | C．father | D．mother |
| A．What her son said. |
| B．What her daughter said. |
| C．Thinking about herself. |
| D．Thinking about her daughter. |
| A．On the way to the movies. |
| B．They took a new route and got lost. |
| C．Ask a stranger for information. |
| D．According to the banner. |
| A．The author came to the United States from another country. |
| B．The author had two children including one daughter. |
| C．What really changed the author’s life was that she believed in herself. |
| D．The author wrote that she was the person her son most admired. |
It was now December twenty-fourth. So here we were, travelling about 2,000 miles and finally reaching our destination San Diego at last. We’d rented a room in a small, well-worn motel (汽车旅馆) near the beach.
Six-year-old Chat frowned. “There is no Christmas tree, Mommy! But it’s almost Christmas. How can Santa know where to put our presents without a Christmas tree?”
“Yes, a Christmas tree!” echoed (附和) his four-year-old brother Jay. “I want a Christmas tree!”
”Couldn’t we just get a small Christmas tree and set it up in this room somewhere?“ asked Chat. ”That way, Santa Claus will know where to put our presents.”
I sighed, looking around at our squeezed-in beds and bags. “But, honey, the five of us can barely move around in here with all our suitcases and everything. I’m sorry, but we just don’t have the room for something extra like a Christmas tree.”
Our oldest son, seven-year-old Robin, had been listening quietly. Suddenly, he grinned (咧嘴笑). “Yes, we do.”
I stared. “Where?”
He pointed to our motel room’s door. “Right there—on the back of that door. Please, Mommy, if we can’t get a real tree, can’t we make a pretend tree and put it up there? Then Santa will know we love Christmas just as much as he does.”
“And leave us some presents, too!” Chat added.
Make a tree? I looked at the newspaper that I had bought when I was searching for places to rent. If I taped some of those pages together, cut them out into a tree shape, and bought some poster paint and brushes at the store next door…
Now, I was grinning, too. “Okay, boys! Ready to make the very best Christmas tree in the whole wide world?”
“Yes!”
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。
So we bought some paint and then taped and cut and painted.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next morning, I heard, “Mommy! Daddy! Look! Santa did find us after all!”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A Boy With a Mission
In1945,a 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that met his heart racing. But the price-- five dollars--was far beyond Reuben Earle’s means. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Reuben couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything Mark Earle made through fishing in Bay Roberts. Reuben’s mother, Dora, struggled to feed and clothe their five children.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s weathered door. He told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding,“Can you please hold it for me for some time?” “I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled.
Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out into the sunlight.There was purpose in his walk. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.
When he stopped at a construction site, Reuben had an idea. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts. Sometimes nail sacks(麻袋)were thrown, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the local factory for five cents a piece.
That day he found two sacks, which he took to the wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails.
The boy’s hand tightly held the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home. It was dinnertime when Reuben got home. He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window fell upon her shoulder-length golden hair. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home, the glue that held it together.
Her chores were never-ending: sewing clothes, cooking meals, baking bread and planting. But she was happy. Her family and their happiness were her highest priority.
Every day after school, Reuben was busy collecting the nail bags. Often he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window encouraged him to hold on.
Finally, spring burst into green and Reuben’s spirits erupted. The time had come! He poured the coins out and began to count. Then he counted again. It would be enough if he sold two more sacks. Reuben ran down Water Street. The shadows were lengthening when Reuben arrived at the factory.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
The sack buyer was about to lock up.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Racing home, Reuben burst through the front door.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . My husband Adlai and I often went camping to celebrate special occasions. In fact, our anniversary (周年纪念日) was coming up. But this time I felt a sense of
For birthdays and anniversaries,
I never
As a result of their their
| A．duty | B．excitement | C．loss | D．fear |
| A．except for | B．instead of | C．with regard to | D．as for |
| A．send | B．discuss | C．spread | D．exchange |
| A．destroyed | B．watched | C．locked | D．examined |
| A．waiting | B．missing | C．appearing | D．dropping |
| A．hopeless | B．successful | C．dangerous | D．safe |
| A．got away | B．set out | C．gave up | D．came back |
| A．friends | B．customers | C．relatives | D．strangers |
| A．discovered | B．hidden | C．returned | D．passed |
| A．satisfied | B．moved | C．tired | D．frightened |
| A．easy | B．interesting | C．boring | D．difficult |
| A．needs | B．experiments | C．projects | D．efforts |
| A．kindness | B．understanding | C．encouragement | D．protection |
| A．partly | B．luckily | C．necessarily | D．secretly |
| A．talk | B．feel | C．plan | D．hate |
8 . When travelling on the railway, I always arrive early to take photos or films of trains on my phone. I do it for my teenage boys. I’ll text these images to them, and they’ll text back saying “great pics”, and occasionally get very excited if I’ve videoed a rare engine.
My older one, Solomon, now 17, had an early and strong interest in trains. By the age of two, he had identified his favourite train of all the Class 465, a four-car electric multiple unit. One day, passing the railway station, he started laughing with pleasure. A train was waiting at the far platform. It looked like a 465 to me by its shape and size, but Solomon noticed it had five cars instead of four and most important of all, the first three digits of its number were 376. It excited him that he had discovered not only a new train but a new set of numbers, too. Classes 465 and 376 are common, but each train has its own unique number. That is part of the appeal, specifics and detail.
My younger boy, Valentine, 15, came to trains through a different route: new technology. I was walking past our local station when I saw something special. A new train I’d never seen before. If such a train could exist in my rundown local station, anything was possible. Science fiction just became science fact. I had just seen the Class 395, the Javelin, Britain’s fastest train. A few months later, there would be one leaving our station every half hour to London.
Valentine adored the Javelin. Trips became fraught because both boys wanted to travel on their favourite train - the Class 465 versus the Javelin. We negotiated with them - we’d take the 465 on the way there, the Javelin back home. Everyone was happy.
My husband is also a railfan. Having the boys has allowed him to pursue his passion. Trains are our shared passion, a timeless source of pleasure.
1. Why does the author photograph trains whenever possible?| A．To kill time. |
| B．To make money. |
| C．To share online. |
| D．To delight her children. |
| A．He noticed five brand-new cars. |
| B．He discovered his favourite train. |
| C．He corrected his mother’s mistake. |
| D．He spotted a new set of train numbers. |
| A．Luxurious. | B．Thrilling. |
| C．Stressful. | D．Unlikely. |
| A．Trainspotting Bonds My Family. |
| B．Trainspotting Satisfies My Children. |
| C．Trainspotting Emphasizes Train Details. |
| D．Trainspotting Witnesses Technology Development. |
It was the middle of winter some 30 years ago. I was a young father with three little children depending on me. My college education, however, wasn’t helping me to find a good job in our depressed area. My work as a teacher had dried up and now I was working in a saw mill (锯木厂) for just above the minimum wage.
As I got ready to go to work I wrapped band-aids (创可贴) around my fingers and put more in my pockets. Cutting and piling wood for 8 hours a day had caused my fingers to split and bleed at their tips in the cold, dry, winter air. Then I walked down to my car in the snow and hoped it would start.
That day at work was harder than normal. The machines kept breaking down. And we had to rush to catch back up as the wood piled up. On top of it all the heaters in the building weren’t working and we could see our breath as we spent hours chopping, piling, carrying, and packaging the hard wood flooring to be shipped out.
When the work day finally ended, I walked tiredly toward the time clock, took off my work gloves and inspected my aching fingers. The splits were worse than ever and I had bled through the band-aids again. I tried to straighten out but my bad back cramped (绞痛) up as I did. I started my car and drove back home. I looked at the snow and blinked back tears. I wondered how long I could keep doing this, if things would ever get any better, and why life was so hard.
I tried to put a smile on my face as I opened my front door, but instead one appeared naturally. My daughter ran up to me, yelling “Daddy”, and wrapped her little arms around my neck. I lifted her up and my heart exploded with love.
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。
My tired body didn’t feel so tired any more.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Happy birthday!” my wife greeted me warmly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
David worked as the cleaner in the same school for 25 years, and he considered his job an important part of his life. Besides keeping the school clean, he was always ready to help teachers carry books from the library to the classroom. Anyone who needed help in school knew they could count on David.
Decades ago, his wife suddenly passed away soon after their marriage, and since then, David had been living alone.
After returning home from work, David often read cooking magazines because of his passion for baking (烘焙). He would bring freshly baked cookies and bread to school every week and serve them to the teachers.
“Wow! They’re so delicious, David!” Samantha, the English teacher, told him. She was one of the teachers that enjoyed David’s love and praised his efforts.
David felt he was losing his strength as he turned old. He’d turn 75 in a week. He thought he should retire (退休). He told Samantha and other teachers what he had been thinking, “I’m planning to retire. I think there must be someone else who might need this job to make a living.”
“Oh! David! We’ll miss you if that happens,” the teachers cried. “We don’t want you to leave!” David smiled and told them, “You know I don’t have a wife to look after or kids to raise, so money isn’t what has kept me going all these years. Your care and praise have encouraged me to work hard.”
The next day, David went into the headmaster’s (校长的) office and told him about his decision. “Are you sure, David? You’re an excellent member of our school, and letting you go isn’t easy for us,” the headmaster said. “Thank you, Sir,” David said. “But I feel I’m getting weaker, and it’s become difficult for me to keep the school clean. So my decision is final.” The headmaster agreed eventually.
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 day before David’s 75th birthday was his last day at work.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next day after work, Samantha, with other teachers, went to see David with a big cake.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
