Karl was Fred’s son. When his son was little, Fred’s wife passed away, so a mountainous responsibility landed on Fred’s shoulders. Fred was fond of and cared about his son so much that he raised his son with all his heart and soul. He taught him to walk, talk, read and write. He also taught him how to be a true and moral man. When Karl came home with an injury due to falling off his bike or something else, it would hurt Fred’s heart more than it would hurt the boy. Whenever Karl went down with a fever, Fred would sit beside him day and night, barely sleeping a wink (合眼). He always supported Karl in every aspect. Gradually, Karl grew up to become an adult.
How deeply Fred loved his son! However, Fred was unprepared for the day when his beloved son Karl told him he would leave and start his own business in a new city.
“But, Karl, you are too young to start a business,” Fred warned his son. “You still have a long way to go. I think you can help me manage the cafe my grandma left to me first. This way, I’d be able to teach you more about business.” But Karl was stubborn and wouldn’t follow Fred’s advice. “Dad, I am not a kid anymore, so allow me to determine my life. OK?” said Karl. One week later, Karl packed his things and left for the new city, leaving the sad and worried father behind.
Three months passed. One night, Fred got a call from his son. It was strange because Karl seldom called him up after he left for the new city. “Dad, I should have followed your suggestions and stayed at home. I went bankrupt (破产的) and I am in debt now,” Karl said. “I knew this would happen someday,” Fred painfully thought. He planned to help his son and made one of his most difficult choices. “Don’t worry, my son. Luckily, you will succeed to (继承) a huge amount of money from your uncle, soon,” Fred told Karl.
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。
“Oh, I am so fortunate,” said Kurl.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On his way back home, Kar l was wondering how his father was.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The art competition at school was always a highly anticipated event. This year was no exception, with students from all grades eager to showcase their creative talents. Among them were two friends, Jane and Sally.
Jane had a deep passion for art, but she often struggled with expressing her ideas on paper. She would spend hours in front of a blank canvas (画布), trying to capture the perfect image in her mind, but her efforts often fell short. Sally, on the other hand, was naturally talented and her artworks were always praised by teachers and classmates.
As the competition drew nearer, Jane worked harder than ever, staying up late into the night to perfect her piece. Sally, however, seemed to take it all in stride (大步走), casually sketching and painting without much effort. She often teased Jane about her lack of talent, making jokes that were meant to be light-hearted but stung Jane deeply.
On the day of the competition, Jane’s heart was filled with both excitement and fear. She had worked so hard on her piece, but she knew that it still paled in comparison to Sally’s effortless creations. As she set up her canvas and began to paint, she could feel Sally’s eyes on her, mocking (嘲笑) her every move.
Halfway through the competition, Jane encountered a difficult obstacle. She couldn’t seem to capture the essence of her subject the way she wanted to, and her frustration mounted. She looked around at the other students, seeing their confident strokes and vibrant colors, and she felt a pang of defeat. She wanted to give up, to throw away her brush and walk away.
But just as she was about to do so, she caught sight of Sally. Sally wasn’t laughing or mocking her now; instead, she looked at Jane with a mixture of surprise and concern. It was as if she realized that her words had hurt Jane more than she had intended. And in that moment, Jane found a new resolve. She wasn’t going to let Sally’s words or her own doubts defeat her. She was going to finish her piece, no matter what.
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。
With renewed determination, Jane returned to her canvas.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She heard her name announced as the winner of a special recognition award for perseverance and dedication.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________He met her at a party. She was outstanding;many guys were after her, but nobody paid any attention to him. After the party, he invited her for coffee. She was surprised, so as not to appear rude, she went along.
As they sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything and she felt uncomfortable. Suddenly, he asked the waiter, “Could you please give me some salt? I’d like to put it in my coffee.”
They stared at him. He turned red, but when the salt came, he put it in his coffee and drank. Curious, she asked, “Why salt with coffee?” He explained, “When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea. I liked playing on the sea. I could feel it salty, like salty coffee. Now every time I drink it, I think of my childhood and my hometown. I miss it and my parents, who are still there.”
She was deeply moved. A man who can admit that he’s homesick must love his home and care about his family. He must be responsible. She talked too, about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was the start to their love story.
They continued to date. She found that he met all her requirements. He was tolerant, kind, warm and careful. And to think she would have missed the catch if not for the salty coffee! So they married and lived happily together. And every time she made coffee for him, she put in some salt, the way he liked it.
注意：1. 续写词数应为100左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
After 40 years, he passed away and left her a letter which said:
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Mama’s Soup Pot
There are too many treasures in life we take for granted, the worth of which we don’t fully realize until they’re pointed out to us in some unexpected way. So it was with Mama’s soup pot.
Mama’s soup was special because there was no recipe for it. It had been so since her girlhood in Italy, where she learned its secret from her grandma, who had inherited (继承) it from generation to generation. Also, it was a symbol of security. For our large immigrant family, Mama’s soup guaranteed we would never go hungry. And we could judge our economic conditions by its contents.
At one time, however, Mama’s soup pot became a source of embarrassment to me, for I feared it would cost me a new friend I had made at school. Sol was an unusual pal for me because his father was a doctor and they lived in the best part of our town. Often Sol invited me to his home for dinner, where I found the food was good but tasteless, lacking the heartiness of the one served from my mom’s flame-blackened pots. Moreover, the atmosphere matched the food and everything was so formal. Sol’s mother and father were polite, but the conversation around the table was not natural, which made me a little depressed. And no one hugged!
In my family, warm hugs were a constant-men, women, boys and girls-and if you didn’t kiss your mother, she demanded: “What’s the matter? You sick?” But at that time in my life, all this was an embarrassment.
I had known Sol would like to eat dinner at my house, but that was the last thing I wanted. My family was so different. No other kids had such pots on their stoves, nor did they have a mama whose first action upon seeing you enter the house was to sit you down with a spoon and bowl.
One day, Sol pointedly asked if he could come to my house. I had to say yes.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
The day Sol came over I was nervous.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But Sol quickly finished his bowl and asked for one more.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One click of my wooden stick, and the buffaloes (水牛) moved forward. I guided them along the road’s edge, through the heart of the village. We walked past mud homes and villagers bent over tending to their crops. We eyed the green fields, where the buffaloes could eat growing grass. This was my life in a small village in Sindh, Pakistan. We had little, but I had a big dream.
Up ahead laughter attracted my attention. A group of students came into view, their uniforms a contrast to my faded trousers and worn-out shoes. Fingers wrapped tight around my stick, I stepped forward and said sincerely, “Dear students, could you please show me your books?” The students looked from my face to my stick, to their books. They quickly opened their bags and showed me their books. Illustrations of people and places caught my imagination.
“Someday, I’ll go to school too,” I declared, returning their books. Actually, I was desperate to go to school so that I could broaden my horizons.
Months passed. Every day I rose to my chores and buffaloes. Until, one day I got my chance. My uncle came to visit. He and Father sat, drinking tea outside. “Brother, you must send Rasool Bux to school. Herding the buffaloes is not in his future,” Uncle convinced my father. that all children should go to school. The following week, I was studying in primary school. Now, armed with my own books, I set out to learn everything. I read textbooks, asked questions, and even read newspapers for my father and his companions.
By the end of the year, I proved to be one of the best students in the school. I resolved to study at college or university in Karachi, a big city over 150 kilometers away. Unfortunately, I suffered from a skin condition that left white spots on my skin. The constant loss of skin color was stressful, making me feel bad about myself and even drawing attention away from my studies.
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。
The thought of not being able to finish school made me feel extremely depressed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I visited my uncle after I did make it to university in Karachi.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sunlight flooded through the window when Tomas was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling with a literary classic. Not far away, the huge new tower blocks lined the road. The faint sound of cars was dimly heard.
His mother was chopping (切碎) tomatoes for their dinner as usual. Suddenly she said,
“You know, the thing I miss most is cooking a really hot salsa (辣番茄酱) with fresh peppers straight from the garden. That’s what I miss most about Mexico. But now I could only use this instead.” She sighed, waving a packet of chilli spice powder at him. Tomas looked up from his book in surprise. His mother had never talked like this about their old life before. He studied her now. She looked a little sad and swept the pile of chopped tomatoes into the cooking pot.
Watching his mother busy in the kitchen preparing dinner, Tomas thought about the insight his mother had given him into her feelings, and he realized that he felt the same way about leaving Mexico and coming to this new country now.
Tomas missed his old home and his mother missed Mexico, too. She had loved working in her market garden, selling the fresh vegetables that she had grown herself and then coming home to cook up huge, tasty meals for her family. Tomas’s stomach rumbled (饿得咕咕叫) at the memories.
He thought about how different things were for them now, living in this large, gray apartment where there was no garden and no friends visit to share their delicious meals.
He sighed. At least they were still able to speak regularly every night after dinner with his grandmother back in Mexico over the computer—Grandma! Rosa!
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 Tomas had an idea.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A week later, a package arrived from Mexico.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was preparing side dishes to go with our Sunday barbecue when our daughter Rose stormed in the front door and rushed to her room. I glanced out the window and saw our neighbor Lucy walking back to her house across the road. As a mother, my feeling told me something happened between them.
“Rose, come in here. I need some help with dinner.” She came out of her room and stood beside me. She had a stubborn look on her face—the kind kids have when they know they are wrong but have persuaded themselves they are right. “I noticed that Lucy, your classmate, came over but didn’t stay long. Why?” I asked. “I don’t like her,” Rose complained. “I wish she would stop coming over here all the time. She dresses terribly, and sometimes she doesn’t smell good. Her nose is always runny, and her hair is in a mess. None of us like her.”
I knew that she referred to the popular crowd. It was a lot for a senior high student to deal with, trying to fit in with the popular crowd. It might be a shame if one of the girls in that crowd knew Lucy was playing with Rose.
I explained why I felt so sad for Lucy. “You see, baby,” I began, “I know how she felt today when you were sort of cold toward her. I know because that was me when I was in sixth grade. I was the poor kid with hand-me-down clothes, the kid who others looked down on. I also know what it was like to be hungry and see other families having a barbecue out and enjoying themselves. That feeling never goes away.” I went on to tell her that I didn’t want her to be that child or adult who looked down on others. I told her I wanted her to be kind and helpful, not judgmental and hurtful. I noticed Rose had tears in her eyes.
注意：1．续写词数应为100词左右；
2．请按下列格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Minutes later, Rose went to Lucy’s house across the road.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a windy day, Emily invited Nora to play football in her garden. “I go first!” Nora shouted as she kicked the ball towards Emily.
“Is that all you got? Watch me, the champion, hit the ball. It will travel off to infinity (无穷大)!”
Emily ran like the wind to the ball and kicked it so hard that it flew over the fence of her garden and into the neighbor’s house. There was a sharp cracking sound.
“Uh oh... what did you do?” Nora asked, feeling afraid.
“L…I don’t know. Oh no! 1 think I broke my neighbor’s window,” Emily cried as she dashed across her garden and hid behind some cherry bushes. Nora faded into thin air.
Terror was written all over Emily’s face. She saw the neighbor, Mr. Mason, picking up the pieces of sharp glass. There was anger, as well as panic, on his face.
The sun was setting. Emily knew that it was not secure for her to stay out so late. Eventually, as the light faded, she returned home, keeping her eyes wide open for the neighbor.
Her heart was shaking as she cautiously arrived home. Her mother saw the sweat on her face. She knew, her daughter had done something wrong. Mother sat next to Emily on the comfortable sofa and then asked, “Emily, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
Emily held her mother’s hands. Her eyes were wet with tears. “Mom, I did something bad, but it was unintentional. I hit the football so hard that it flew out of our garden and broke Mr. Mason’s window.”
Mother listened to her patiently as she calmed her and wiped her tears away. Then she held a sharp-tipped pencil. “Do you know why pencils have erasers?” Mother asked, surprising Emily since she wasn’t expecting such a question.
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。
“To erase our mistakes, ” Emily replied.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With her heart beating fast, Emily walked up to her neighbor’s front door.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My father and I disagreed about my curfew (晚间在家的时间). He would say I had to be in by 9:30 on weekdays, and 11:00 on weekends, and there was no exception. One day, I took courage to first show my opinion on my curfew. I told him it made me feel like a junior high school kid. He explained that though a curfew might sound like a restriction, it was really about people looking out for one another.
The very next Friday after that exchange, my dad and I had tickets to see our own town’s professional football game. On that day he was driving his car to a nearby city to meet some major clients and told me that his getting home and our leaving for the game would be tight.
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 was beside myself with extreme anxieties, assuming the worst had happened.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The heavy stone in my heart finally fell to the ground.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food, as they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.
One day, Ali took Zahra’s shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret.
Zahra agreed, and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra’s school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.
Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city. When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.
The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted, he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finishing line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞)with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.
Ali looked up and saw the other boys running ahead. Refusing to give up. He ran as fast as he could. He dashed across the finishing line and won the fourth prize. Thinking he would let his sister down, Ali couldn’t help crying. Just then, he suddenly heard the announcement from the broadcast that he won the third prize as the runner who knocked Ali down was disqualified for breaking the rule. Holding the shoes close to his chest during the award ceremony. Ali felt happy as he eventually won the shoes for his sister.
注意：词数：80词左右。Filled with pleasure, Ali walked home quickly.
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