It was one of the coldest days of the snowy season. We had seen the world covered with white in almost a month. The rivers were frozen. Wild animals had stopped wandering around. The small village was resting in silence. Had we not prepared enough firewood in advance we wouldn’t have made it through the nights. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the best miracle I have ever seen in my life.
I was in the kitchen making lunch for the family when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. I could only see his back. He wasn’t walking with his usual steps. He was obviously walking with great effort, trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to make sandwiches, thinking that whatever he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful long step toward the woods. This activity went on for half an hour: walking cautiously to the woods, then running back to the house. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I crept out of the house and followed him secretly on his journey.
He was taking something in his arms as he walked; being very careful not to trip and fall. I stepped close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns (荆棘) slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He might have a much greater purpose, I thought. As 1 came closer, I saw the most amazing sight. Several little cats curled up beneath a huge fallen tree, where there was no snow but the least space for any life to survive the severe winter. Billy walked right up to them, at the sight of which I almost screamed for him to stop what he was doing. He had piled up a stack of firewood next to the kittens and was about to light it with a match! He had no idea what the fire would cause at the hands of a six-year-old.
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My sudden voice obviously took Billy by surprise.
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Billy agreed to collect up the firewood after I decided to take them in.
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Past and Future Friends
It was the first day of school. When Mike spotted his friend Jack down the hall, he smiled slightly and increased his pace. Before he could catch up, however, one boy sprinted (快速奔跑) down the hall and fell into step with Jack. Lou, the most popular guy in school, was Jack’s new football teammate. Mike stopped walking and watched Jack and Lou laughing heartily as they walked down the hall.
Later that day, Mike saw that Jack was in his P. E. class. Relieved, he approached Jack and was greeted with a “Hey!” Before Mike could answer, though, Lou walked into the gym and Jack hurried to join him on the court. The scene in front of him faded away as Mike remembered another day of school almost two years earlier.
“Got anything good?”
The dark-haired boy looked up from the cafeteria table where he was sitting alone. He waved his hand at the remains of his paper bag lunch. “Not really.”
“I’m Mike Adams,” Mike said. “You’re Jack, right? How do you like Markham Elementary School so far?”
Jack gave a small smile. “Can’t say I like being the new kid. People aren’t very friendly.” “You just have to give them a chance,” Mike said. “Come over to my table. I’ll introduce you.”
The two boys had quickly become best friends. They had done everything together: practicing their skateboarding moves, riding their bikes to get ice cream, and fishing at Miller’s Pond.
Still, Mike had not seen much of Jack over the last summer. Jack’s family had gone on vacation for several weeks, and then Jack had started football practice, which was clearly how he had become such a good friend with Lou.
Mike felt a knot (郁结) in his stomach. Was he going to lose his best friend because he had not tried out for football? As he looked at Jack’s stylish new clothes and haircut, the knot in his stomach grew. After class, he left without trying to talk to Jack, and for the next few days, Mike avoided him altogether.
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2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Mike was walking home from school on Thursday when he heard footsteps behind him.
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Mike was a frozen statue as he watched Jack go away, thinking about the invitation from Jack.
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I put one last box into the back seat and closed the car door. It felt as if I were closing the door on my whole life. At first, I was excited when Mom told me she’d gotten a fantastic new job at an animal hospital. Then, because she always saves the bad news for last, she told me the really terrible part. The hospital wasn’t in our city; it was miles away in the middle of nowhere. And I’m definitely not a country girl.
I stood beside the car, taking a last look at our building. To most people, it probably just looked like any other old apartment house, but I loved every brick. Just then, I saw my best friends, Hana and Leo, come to see me off. While Hana played a cool riff(重复乐段)on her trumpet(小号), Leo sang, “We will miss you, Celia.” I hugged them tightly and jumped into the car fast so no one could see me tear up. As Mom drove away, I waved goodbye to my friends, my neighborhood, and my life.
We rode a while in silence, and I held my violin case for comfort. Leo, Hana, and I had been writing songs for our band, but that was all over now. “Don’t think of this as an ending,” Mom said, with her knack(技能)for reading my mind. “It’s an exciting beginning. It’s normal to be a bit anxious about unfamiliar things, but you don’t need to be afraid of them.” I kept silent and looked out the window as crowded, exciting city streets turned first into tasteless suburban shopping strips(商业街)and then into endless, boring trees and fields of corn. We finally arrived at our new home, a two-floored wooden farmhouse. Mom said I could go explore. Mom never let me go out alone in the city, so maybe a bit more freedom would be one consolation(慰藉)of living here.
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Feeling that country life might turn out okay, I wondered off, taking my violin with me.
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I couldn’t resist, so I took out my violin and began to play along.
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As Christmas decorations appeared in town, our parents called my two younger brothers and me together. At first, I thought someone had died, because I had never seen my parents look so sad. My brothers and I stood waiting for the awful news.
Mom hugged me as she murmured, “Christmas is going to be different this year. We won't be having a tree or presents. We can barely afford food.”Dad, resting on the couch, beckoned (招手示意) the boys into his arms.“Things will change when I get back to work.”
My family was poorer than dirt. Dad, the only bread-earner in our family, worked in a coal mine. However, soon after returning to work at the end of a long strike, Dad was hurt in a rock fall that broke bones in his foot. Lying on the couch with the swollen foot high on pillows, he didn't talk or smile much. There was little to smile about. No work, no income.
At nine years old, I mothered my younger brothers: Rodney, aged six, and Stevie, three. We shared a small bedroom. That night, after our parents’ announcement, we talked.
Rodney began. “Em, did you see how sad Mommy and Daddy looked? I thought Mommy was gonna cry.
“Me, too. Daddy's foot’s … this big” whispered Stevie, holding out his arms.
“Yeah..We're in hard times," I said.“It makes Mommy and Daddy sad."
“But we don't have to be sad," I added, hoping to brighten the mood.
“Since there are still several weeks to go, maybe we can do something to cheer them up," I said with overdone enthusiasm. The boys proposed, “We can take the money from our piggy bank...earn some more..and surprise them with gifts!"
“I can run errands(跑腿) for Aunt Em and neighbors to earn money," I offered.
“Yeah," Rodney added, “I and Stevie can return bottles and save the deposit money... instead of buying candy!" He pushed Stevie gently with his elbow.
“Yeah!”Stevie clutched his hands together.
We had a plan!
Until they nodded off, I coached my little brothers (especially Stevie) in ways to guard our secret. “Don't talk about it during the day."
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。
We awoke in the morning, transforming from sad children to the secret agents on an important mission!
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On Christmas morning, we hurried into the living room and handed the gifts to Mommy and Daddy.
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My dad, George, only had an eighth-grade education. A quiet man, he didn’t understand my world of school activities. From age 14. he worked. And his dad, Albert, took the money my dad earned and used it to pay family expenses.
I didn’t really understand his world either: He was a livestock trucker, and I thought that I would surpass anything he had accomplished by the time I walked across the stage at high school graduation. Summers in the mid-70s were spent at home shooting baskets, hitting a baseball, or throwing a football, preparing for my future as a quarterback on a football team. In poor weather, I read about sports or practiced my trombone. The summer before my eighth grade I was one of a group of boys that a neighboring farmer hired to work in his field. He explained our basic task, the tractor fired up and we were off, riding down the field looking for weeds to spray with chemicals. After a short way, the farmer stopped and pointed at a weed which we missed. Then we began again. This happened over and over, but we soon learned to identify different grasses like cockleburs, lamb’s-quarters, foxtails, and the king of weeds, the pretty purple thistle. It was tiring work, but I looked forward to the pay, even though I wasn’t sure how much it would amount to.
At home, my dad said, “A job’s a big step to growing up. I’m glad you will be contributing to the household.” My dad’s words made me realize that my earnings might not be mine to do with as I wished.
My labors lasted about two weeks, and the farmer said there might be more work, but I wasn’t interested. I decided it was not fair that I had to contribute my money.
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 pay day arrived at last.
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I understand immediately what my parents were worried about.
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