Grandma tried to straighten out her fingers.“You know, Ann, I think I am done knitting.” she said.“My fingers just won’t do what I tell them any more.”
I looked at her hands.When I was little, she had taught me how to sew dresses for my dolls and how to embroider (刺绣) the faces of my dolls on the dresses.
But now she can hardly bend her fingers.The doctor said she should keep her hands warm.I made her cups of tea to hold and moved her chair closer to the fire.But it didn’t work.
I wasn’t used to seeing her hands so still.When I came downstairs, her quiet hands made even her voice stay still.I missed her voice more than ever.
I tried to help her find her voice.“Grandma, tell me about when you were a little girl,” I begged, knowing she loved to tell stories.“Tell me about Peti and Zoe.” Peti and Zoe were her brother and sister.“That was so long ago, Ann,” whispered Grandma.“I can barely remember.” But I still remembered her story about Peti cutting off Zoe’s two beautiful long braids (辫子) and then hiding them in the closet.Were those words still moving silently in her head?
Mom was sorting through our clothes for spring.“Ann, take these out to the trash,” Mom said.“There’s no need to keep worn-out clothes.”
I looked sadly at the pile of sweaters and then picked it up.
“Wait,” Grandma said as I walked by her and put the pile downstairs.“Let me see those.”
“Ann, wind the yarn (纱线) of the old sweater into a ball, like this.Then you can use the yarn to knit something new.” Grandma wrapped yarn around and around her fingers, first in one direction and then the other to keep the ball round.
After dinner Grandma fell asleep in her chair.
Mom came downstairs with an old pair of gloves with small holes to add to the pile of sweaters.
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。
Suddenly, the pair of old gloves gave me an idea.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Your family,” I said, handing the gloves with the faces of Peti and Zoe to Grandma.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It all started at tea-time. Mrs. Bendall, Dicky’s mother, and Mrs. Spears, who was spending the afternoon with her, were quietly sitting and sewing (做针线活)in the drawing room. The children were eating their bread and butter nicely and quietly, and the servant girl had just poured out the milk and water, when Dicky suddenly took the bread plate, put it upside down on his head, and held the bread knife tightly.
“Look at me!” he shouted.
His shocked sisters looked, and before the servant girl could get there, the bread plate shook, slid to the floor and broke into small pieces. At this awful point the little girls lifted up their voices and shouted their loudest.
“Mother, come and look what he’s done!”
“Dicky’s broken a great plate!”
“Come and stop him, mother!”
Can you imagine how mother came running?But she was too late. Dicky had jumped out of his chair, run through the window on to the veranda(走廊), and, well—there she stood—helpless. What could she do? She couldn’t chase after the child. She couldn’t hunt for Dicky through the apple trees. That would be undignified (不 体面的).
“Very well, Dicky, ” she cried, “I shall have to think of some way of punishing you.”
Seeing this, Mrs. Spears said, “Oh, my dear. I’m sure you make a great mistake in trying to bring up children without beating them. Nothing really takes its place.” “Believe me. There is nothing like handing the naughty kid to his father,” she added.
Mrs. Bendall, deep inside, was terribly shocked to hear the advice. But Mrs. Spears seemed to take it as a normal thing, so she did it too.
The children had gone to bed before Dicky’s father Edward came back. Mrs. Bendall rushed to him, “You have to beat Dicky.”
“But why on earth should I start beating him?” responded Edward. “We’ve never done it before.”
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。
After he heard the reason, a burst of anger went through him.
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Instead of beating him, Edward decided to talk openly with Dicky.
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3 . Sometimes our friends’ behavior can offend (冒犯) us; sometimes we can see changes they need to make — but how do we tell them?
It’s important to have solid evidence that there is indeed a problem. Evidence that can be agreed upon makes it easier for other people to recognize issues.
Be realistic. Complicated problems are unlikely to be solved with one conversation. Consider what is possible in one discussion and that it may be harder than you initially thought.
| A．Staying calm is vital. |
| B．Are there any ways to make difficult conversations easier? |
| C．Some people like to gather evidence to support their concerns. |
| D．This will help you to set realistic goals for what you can achieve. |
| E．Once you have proof, it’s important to highlight how it impacts us and others. |
| F．Should we always be completely honest with our friends about their behavior? |
| G．We can lower the potential for conflict by listening to the other person and asking questions. |
4 . The bonds of female friendship run deep and strong, so are they the new encouraging relationship, or idealized?
In many ways, my close friendships with women are what you’d expect from TV shows like The Golden Girls: emotionally close and involved, fierce and rude. What these shows get right about girl friendship is that our bonds run deep and strong.
There’s no fixed way for these relationships. You might have a group of girls who meet for lunch once a week, or you might have a few friends who aren’t part of the same group.
Healthy friendships are about trust and being able to be vulnerable with each other, not to prove you’re living life the right way. There’s nothing quite like having friends who really understand you, so let’s enjoy our mates without overthinking it, shall we?
| A．Are we supposed to give way to each other? |
| B．But they also tend to idealize these relationships. |
| C．So how should we enjoy our female friendships? |
| D．The ways we show up for each other can truly be beautiful. |
| E．Tolerating friends’ characters is a good way to maintain the friendship. |
| F．Whatever they are, enjoying friendships and not overthinking them is key. |
| G．Ever seen a group of girl-friends smiling over lunch and had a feeling of envy? |
5 . I was visiting my parents in 2003 when my mom came out of their room with a puzzled look on her face. She’d been listening to the radio and heard an interview with a best-selling author of young adult fantasy novels. The woman’s name was Tamora Pierce, the same as a young student my mom had taught nearly four decades before.
The Internet should be able to tell us. I found the author’s website quickly. She was a popular writer of books. I clicked on the biography link to scan for references to Burlingame Junior High, where my mom had worked, and my heart began to excite when I spotted it at the bottom of the first section. Here was confirmation that my mother had taught a now-famous writer!
But my eyes came to a stop reading the next paragraph, in which Pierce described writing her first fiction as a sixth grader. “The next year, as I was still scribbling (乱写) my own stories, my English teacher, Mrs. Jacobson, introduced me to the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien,” the biography read. “I got hooked on fantasy, and then on science fiction, and both made their way into my stories.” My mother’s name was Mary Jacobson.
Within days, my dad had checked out all the Tamora Pierce books at the local library, and in one we found another surprise: a 1998 novel, which was dedicated (题献词) to “the teacher who shaped my life”. The teacher was Mary Jacobson. The dedication concluded, “A great teacher is above all other treasures.”
This story made me see my mom differently. We knew she was a teacher, but we had no idea what kind of teacher she had been. She was just 24 when she taught Pierce. Until 2011, when she passed away, we did know who she was.
1. Why did the mother wear a puzzled look in Paragraph 1?| A．The interviewee was a best-selling writer. | B．The interviewee may be her former student. |
| C．The author visited the parents unexpectedly. | D．She was listening to the radio when the author arrived. |
| A．the pride the mother took in Pierce. |
| B．the mother’s preference for fantasy. |
| C．the mother’s influence on Pierce and her gratitude. |
| D．the hardship Pierce had suffered to become a writer. |
| A．Devoted and grateful. | B．Caring and demanding. |
| C．Inspiring and respectable. | D．Sympathetic and intelligent. |
| A．An Ordinary Teacher Shaping A Famous Writer |
| B．A Woman Writer with Gratitude for Her Teacher |
| C．Pierce: From a Student Writer to a Fantasy Queen |
| D．To Honor My Mother: A Creator of Famous Writers |
There lived two brothers, John McNeil and James, in a village in Kentucky in the north of America, who had lost their parents in a terrible earthquake ten years before. Worse still, ten-year-old John McNeil suffered from serious autism. He often stayed at a corner without saying anything with others and frequently ran everywhere, so his brother James was concerned about his safety.
On a windy, cold day, John McNeil forgot to put on his shoes and ran out the door. He headed straight for the 125-foot electrical tower behind the McNeiI home and didn’t realize the dangers of the structure. That day his thoughts were set on climbing to the top of that tower, touching the sky. Maybe he thought he could meet his parents in the sky. What a poor boy!
His seventeen-year-old brother, James, was always close by. James always made sure that no danger came to his little brother. But today was different. Today, John ran out the door unnoticed. He was making his way to the sky step by step by the time James saw him. John, like most autistic children, had no idea about fear or danger. James, on the other hand, realized that he had to face his greatest fear of all — the fear of heights.
However, James understood the danger of the electrical tower but chose to follow his younger brother secretly, trying not to look down, all the way to the top. He finally reached his brother and held him with his right hand. With his left hand, he held a metal bar to help stabilize them both. What a thrilling scene!
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请在相应位置作答。
James was shaking. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hundreds of people came together at the base of the tower. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . My grandma passed away last week. My mum began the painful yet necessary task of sorting through her belongings.
“Is there anything you want from grandma’s flat?” Mum texted me.
“Her aloe (芦荟), please.” I required zero thinking time.
Sometime around 1975, Grandma, always believing good things would happen in the future, received this plant as a gift, which she appreciated and placed in her doorway. It came from the local butcher. Five years later, my mum married the butcher’s son and had me. Grandma revealed to me this particular plant was a living relationship between the two families. And so was I.
Recently, whenever we visited Grandma’s flat, I attempted to fix this concept in my children’s minds. “That was a gift your great-grandma bought your other great-grandma! It’s older than me!” Then my kids would nod and ask Grandma for a sweet.
Numerous times, Grandma gave me cuttings or clippings of the plant, hoping I might raise my own and continue the legend. Yet, every time, my new branch died with my awful gardening skills. But that didn’t used to matter, because I could turn to Grandma, who would wait and accept my disturbance without becoming upset. Then I got another clipping and tried again. But now I can’t. So, I decided that the plant will go and live with Ann, my mother-in-law, who is a genius with a greenhouse.
The plan is for Ann to keep hold of the original plant. In time, she can teach me how to deal with its cuttings properly, and then maybe one day I can settle the plant in my place.
In the meantime, Ann will allocate (分配) clippings among my relatives, as Grandma used to do. My wife’s two sisters, for example, are both better at tending plants than I am, so it is quite imaginable they, too, will offer cuttings of the plant to their partners, spreading this loving plant across my entire extended family.
1. Why did the author want his grandma’s aloe?| A．He wanted to pass it down to others. | B．He showed a preference for gardening. |
| C．He had a pleasant memory of the plant. | D．He received it as a gift from his grandma. |
| A．Optimistic and patient. | B．Generous and helpful. | C．Honest and fashionable. | D．Humorous and skillful. |
| A．display his skills in gardening | B．have the plant better cared for |
| C．announce his grandma’s death | D．protect the plant from dying out |
| A．Aloe: my family bond | B．Aloe: a mysterious plant |
| C．Grandma: my life coach | D．Grandma: a lovely gardener |
Joey sat at the kitchen table, reading the sports page of the morning paper. He heard his grand-father coming down the stairs. When his grandfather came into the kitchen, Joey could see he wasn’t his usual happy self.
“Morning, Grandfather,” he said. His grandfather sat across the table and didn’t pick up the paper to read. Instead, he asked, “Joey, is anything happening in town today?”
“There’s a ball game between Doraville Middle School and my school tonight,” Joey told him. “It’ll be a close race, but I think we’ll win. Would you like to go?”
Joey felt bad for his grandfather. He knew he couldn’t read. His grandfather had told him of-ten, “I didn’t have the chance to go to school regularly. Looking after the animals and tending to the crops on the farm were much more important in those days than learning to read.”
One day, Joey stopped at the library to look through some books. He saw a sign on the library wall. It read: “Do you know somebody who doesn’t read? We can help. Just call this number.” Joey hurried home and showed the sign to his grandfather. “Somebody can teach you how to read. It says so right here,” Joey explained. Joey jotted the number down.
Several days later, Grandfather put on his best suit of clothes for his first day of school. He arrived at the library an hour early and met with his teacher. During that first class, he was so worried and nervous that he couldn’t concentrate. He couldn’t remember anything the teacher said. A few weeks later, Grandfather was studying when he looked up at Joey and said, “I’m too old to learn all of this.” He closed the book in frustration. “Oh, Grandfather, don’t get discouraged,” Joey said. Grandfather was stubborn. “I can’t do it,” he 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。
“How about letting me help you?” Joey asked.
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Months later, one day his grandfather told Joey that he had something important to share with him.
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9 . It was the third time that Lucy and her 30-year-old son Bob had participated in Run for Inclusion. It’s a mass run event organized by local non-profit group Runninghour to raise
When Lucy first heard about the event, she
This year, Bob participated in the 20km tandem (双人自行车) cycle. Lucy took part as well but was
It’s something she has been
Lucy
Getting
“Never give up on your journey,” she
| A．popularity | B．awareness | C．effort | D．service |
| A．got by | B．came back | C．signed up | D．caught on |
| A．close | B．sensitive | C．available | D．clear |
| A．armed | B．connected | C．mixed | D．paired |
| A．barely | B．occasionally | C．constantly | D．instantly |
| A．doing | B．admiring | C．benefiting | D．struggling |
| A．defended | B．supported | C．instructed | D．observed |
| A．magic | B．appeal | C．preference | D．highlight |
| A．predicts | B．expects | C．believes | D．imagines |
| A．attached | B．exposed | C．compared | D．introduced |
| A．trapped | B．skilled | C．interested | D．involved |
| A．integrate | B．break | C．fall | D．slide |
| A．part | B．favour | C．honour | D．wonder |
| A．warns | B．reminds | C．informs | D．encourages |
| A．avoid | B．regret | C．miss | D．mind |
“I want a friend!” my five-year-old’s clear blue eyes showed the pain of rejection. Noah is deaf, and the past couple of years have begun to show what the future holds for my little guy.
The first few years of his life, Noah had many friends in our neighborhood. Small children don’t talk a lot and are content to simply play. As time passed and Noah got to the age where speech and hearing were a noticeable part of “hanging out”, his friends started realizing he was different. Soon, no one came to play with my tiny son, and he too began to understand he was different. My heart has ached, and I have spent endless hours in tears, begging God to send him a friend. But the children at school come from everywhere, and none live near enough to “hang out” .
Noah recently began the heartbreaking hobby of writing and leaving mail on the porch (门廊) for his “friends” . He sticks his own toys to the notes, thinking that he can somehow make friends this way. I often have to retrieve (取回) his notes so that he thinks someone is getting his messages of friendship. His excited trips to the front porch the next morning would sometimes net him a feeling of having an unseen pen pal. It breaks my heart.
But today was different. I got a miracle—in fact, three of them.
My phone rang, and I was distracted with a long-distance friend, catching up with each other’s lives without noticing Noah slipping out the front door. It wasn’t until Nick, my sixteen-year-old son came home for lunch that Noah’s absence was known. Panic-stricken, Nick and I searched the house, yard, and garage ... no Noah.
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。
As I searched the house again, a million frightened thoughts came through my brain.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I let them play until lunchtime, at last walking down the street to retrieve my child.
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