As Alina sat gently rocking and singing, her two-year-old son was lying on her chest (胸口). He was suffering from a serious disease. It was December 22nd, and they were staying at the hospital.
As Alina rocked, her mind was working overtime. She was worrying about money. She was working as a manager for a retail(零售) chain, and it was the busiest time of the year. Alina had already taken almost all her vacation time and knew she would not be paid for the days she was now taking off. And she had only a couple of hundred dollars in the bank.
But Alina s main concern was her son. His health had not been good. She didn' t know how she would be able to manage, working full-time and looking after him. Feeling sad, Alina felt the tears well up and spill over (溢出).
And that' s when Lorna arrived. She had been Alina s assistant.Quickly blinking (眨眼睛) back the tears, Alina welcomed her in.Lorna had come to offer some support and had brought a card signed by the office staff, about fifteen people. Alina was touched they were thinking of her during a completely crazy work week. But as she read the card, she discovered there was more. Inside the card was this note.Dear Alina. We want to help. Each person who has signed this card has donated one vacation day into your account. We know you need to spend some time with your son and don' t want you to worry about having to take time off without pay."
Even the company owner had donated a day to her. Alina was speechless and got quite choked up (哽咽). The tears held back earlier now threatened to spill over again. She was so touched by such kindness.
After Lorna left, Alina felt an inner peace and a deep gratitude. If only they could get home in time, she felt sure she could pull some sort of Christmas celebration together for her kid. Alina went to sleep that night with renewed hope.
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 next day Alina was surprised by what she received from the community.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the years following, Alina wanted to pay forward the blessings she had received.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My mom only had one eye. I hated her. She was such an embarrassment.
She ran a small shop at a flea market, and collected old clothes and some other things to sell for the money we needed. Once during elementary school, it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed and wondered how could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ignored her. The next day at school, my schoolmates asked me, “your mom only has one eye?” and taunted me.
I was so angry with my mom and wished that she would just disappear from this world. So l said to my mom, “Why don’t you have the other eye?! If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock!” My mom did not respond, I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, I felt so good to have had said what I wanted to say. Maybe it was because I was full of anger then and there, I didn’t think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.
For the words I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty. I told myself that I would become successful in the near future and get out of that house for good, so I studied very hard. Later I got accepted by the Seoul University, I left my mother and came to Seoul to study. Then I got married there.
I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I am living happily as a successful man. I enjoy the life in Seoul because it’s a place that doesn’t remind me of my mom past. This kind of happiness was getting bigger and bigger, until one day someone knocked at my door. It was my mom! And still with her one eye! It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom’s eye.
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。
Para 1:
I screamed at her, “Who are you? I don’t know you!”
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After the funeral (葬礼), the neighbor gave me a letter saying, “My dearest son...
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________There was a story that all the kids told at my school. I don’t know if they believed it but some of them certainly acted as if they did. On the way from my home to school there was a little old cottage. You could only just see the cottage, as if it were trying to hide itself behind the lemonade trees and bushy garden. At times, but not very often, the children had seen a little old woman make her way along the cracked leaf-covered path from the front door to the mailbox. Her fingers were twisted in funny shapes, her body was bent over and her back hunched (弓背). If she lifted her head to look at you, her face was all wrinkly. “The witch (女巫) at Number 97” was how most kids spoke of her. “Don’t look in her eyes,” you could hear them say. “She’ll capture you in a magic spell, take you into the house and never release you again.”
In the mornings and at the end of the day, my friends and I would pass Number 97 in a group. We felt safer and more secure in numbers. But now, I played the recorder so well that I was asked to join the school band, and that meant staying after school one afternoon a week to rehearse (排练). So I had to walk home all by myself.
I set out as I normally would but as I began to approach the little old cottage it looked scarier than ever. For a while I hesitated, not knowing what to do. I wanted to run but felt I really needed to just walk my way through the experience. I took some deep breaths and tried to think of something different: Home, supper and my bed. While thinking of those things, the dreadful look of the old cottage seemed to fade. When I started thinking about the witch again, the cottage loomed big and frightening in my thoughts. “No,” I said to myself, “Concentrate on how good it will feel to get home,” and with that I started to feel easier.
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。
But as I reached the front gate to Number 97, my heart almost stopped.
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One day, I asked the “witch”, Mrs. Walcott, if I could know her story for homework.
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Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.
“That aroused my curiosity,” Jackie told CBS News. “Nobody messes with the piggy bank.” After observing Sunshine at work a few minutes longer, Jackie decided to find out why the little girl broke into her savings.
“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.
“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. The little girl finally stated the real reason why she needed the money. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk—her mom doesn’t have milk money but I do.”
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。
Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words.
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Jackie posted the video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan.
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It was in the afternoon before the end of the Second World War that Antonio Black, who was twelve, caught sight of a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window. The brooch is so beautiful that he was unwilling to leave the store until he had purchased it. But it was too expensive — $5. His family was very poor and his parents struggled to make ends meet. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Antonio couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Susan. Slim and beautiful, his mother was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”
“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”
Antonio respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would be surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (锤打) from a side street, Antonio suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Antonio knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.
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。
Every day after school, Antonio started his plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day finally came!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was about four years old, I started washing my face on my own. However, I always ignored the area behind my ears on purpose though my mom would often remind me.
One summer, in July of that year, my mom drove me to my grandparents’ house for our annual summer holiday visit. When we arrived, I was told that Grandma had gone on a trip with her friends and wouldn’t be back for another two weeks. Feeling a bit down, I went to the yard to play while my mom and grandpa caught up on some things. Although I couldn’t hear their conversation clearly, I had a strong feeling they were talking about me based on their gestures and expressions. Later, my mom returned home, and she would come back to pick me up two months later.
After dinner that night, Grandpa asked me to take a bath before going to bed. Since I loved taking baths, I happily agreed. With the bathtub (浴缸) filled with water, Grandpa reminded me, “Just make sure you clean the area behind your ears really well. You wouldn’t want potatoes to start growing there, would you?”
“Potatoes?” I stopped in my tracks and turned back to look at him. “Yes, potatoes. If you don’t clean the dirt behind your ears, potatoes might actually sprout (发芽) and grow there,” he explained, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. “But I don’t have any potatoes behind my ears, Grandpa,” I said as I ran my fingers along the back of my ears. He took a quick glance and replied, “Oh, I see a couple of sprouts: starting right there!” He urged me to get into the bathtub immediately and scrub (擦洗) them away thoroughly.
I nodded, still in disbelief. This was the first time I had ever heard such a thing. Why hadn’t my parents warned me about this before? I wondered, but couldn’t find an answer. Nonetheless, I felt shocked by Grandpa’s warning.
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 hurried to jump into the bathtub, carefully scrubbing behind my ears.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“What are you looking at behind your ears?” Grandma asked me curiously.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I am Denise Clarice, the only one in my class who does not have a pet. No dog waits for me at the bus stop. No cat sits beside me while I read. I don’t even have a tiny, furry hamster (仓鼠) to hold in my hand. But I don’t feel sorry. Why?
The rule about no pets at our house is not because I am too young to have pets, because I am 1l years old. Besides, I am very responsible. I always return library books on time and I do my homework every day, even when I would rather play in the grass. The rule about no pets is because of Kevin. He is my little brother and he is sensitive to pets, which make him sneeze (打喷嚏).
One day, when I was walking home from school, I heard a soft little sound from behind a garbage. I stopped and listened. There it was. I heard the sound again. I walked quietly up the driveway and looked behind the garbage. A tiny ball of gray fur looked up at me and said, “Meow.” Before I knew it, I was holding the cat. Before I knew it, I was walking toward home, holding the cat in my arms. She must be lost. “Finders keepers,” I thought.
I took the cat upstairs to my room. We played with a ball, and she jumped high to catch the ball. I was excited that I made a comfortable little bed for her in a box with a small blanket and gave her milk to drink. Soon, my mother called me to dinner.
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。
Not long after I sat down at the table, Kevin started sneezing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the end, I had to return the cat.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My 10-year-old son and two friends attended a wonderful basketball camp on 6 August 2023. The camp was over two hours long, with more than 60 kids in attendance. I watched how much fun my son was having throughout the day.
A few minutes before the session (一场) ended, there was a shooting contest. Only a few kids were chosen to compete, and my son was not one of them. The contest winners received prizes and recognition, and some children were also selected as “All Star” due to their excellent performance. Again, my son was not selected.
My son was struggling to deal with his disappointment. Of course, as his mother, I would have loved to see him win an award. He absolutely loves the sport, and he is impressive at rebounding (篮板球). He would have enjoyed the honors. It would have also been fun to see either of his friends selected. But sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.
When the camp ended and we walked out, I could see how disappointed he was. I love my kid’s confidence and his competitiveness, but it can also lead to dealing with disappointment and frustration.
At the camp, he played a basketball game with kids he had never met, guarded them fiercely and took shots easily against them. As his mom, I was thrilled he spent the day without his iPad. All in all, the day felt wonderful. The last thing that I wanted was for these awards to ruin the experience.
I could see how he was feeling about the day. I decided to simplify it for him. I did the math and figured out the shooting contest and awards were about 6% of the total camp. The rest of the camp, the parts that he enjoyed, were 94% of the day. Even though the kid loves math, it was hard for him to see the contests and awards as a small part of his 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。
Paragraph 1:
At night, I went to chat with him.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Indeed, we should learn how to be more positive.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In 1940, I worked in the checkroom of the railway station. I saw everybody that came up the stairs.
Harry was a young man who came to the station and waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9:05 train.
I remembered seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn’t much more than a thin, anxious kid then. He was all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his sister, who he hadn’t seen for many years.
Well, the passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn’t look toward the stairs again until nearly time for the 9:18 and I was very surprised to see that the Harry was still there. His sister didn’t come on the 9:18 either, nor on the 9:40, and when the passengers from the 10:02 had all arrived and left, Harry was looking pretty upset. Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what his sister looked like.
“She’s small and dark. She is nineteen years old and very neat in the way she walk,” he said. “She has a face that has lots of spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long, and her eyebrows come to a little point in the middle. She’s got a brown fur, but maybe she isn’t wearing it.”
“I couldn’t remember seeing anybody like that,” I told him.
He showed me the telegram he’d received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME AT THE STATION. MAY. It was from Omaha, Nebraska. “Well,” I finally said, “why don’t you phone to your home? She’s probably called there if she got in ahead of you.”
He gave me a sick look. “I’ve only been in the town for two days. We were going to meet and then drive down to the south of the city where I’ve got a job. She doesn’t have my address.”
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。
When I came on duty the next day, Harry was still there and I asked more about his sister.
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One day, after about two weeks, I thought I could say something encouraging to him.
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With a wide smile on her face, 15-year-old Sirin eagerly rushed to her mom to show off her new painting. But Mom raised her eyebrows with eyes wide open, and spoke impatiently, “No time, baby. Right now I am busy with an important talk. Just wait for some time, OK?”
Holding her oil painting, she frowned (皱眉),and then searched for her dad. “Dad, see what I have done,” Sirin exclaimed cheerfully. Her dad turned around while adjusting his tie, grinned at her, and showed his thumbs up!
Immediately, Sirin replied angrily, “Dad, you haven’t seen it yet.”
He smiled at her saying, “No time, baby. I will see it later.” He just patted her back lovingly, kissed her forehead, and rushed for his office.
She was not a kid to be pleased with simple gesture or smile. She stood there for a few seconds, and then stormed off to her own bedroom. Hot air was blowing from her nostrils (鼻孔) ; her face turned into apple red. She threw the painting on the table, slammed the door and threw herself on her bed.
“Why is everybody so busy?” She recalled thousands of incidents that hurt her in preschool, middle school and even in high school too! She assumed at least her own family members would give some values to her thoughts, but they were no exception. Unconsciously, her eyes were filled with tears.
The knocking sound on the door put a sudden stop to her thought. Her mom was calling her for dinner. Sirin deliberately (故意地) came late to join them. She kept silent and didn’t look at anyone, scratching the table mat with her nail. Her mom was puzzled at the unusual behavior. Suddenly the morning incident came to mind. Softly, she asked, “ Honey, did I do anything wrong? ”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
At this very moment, Sirin could no longer resist her anger.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When back from school the next day, Sirin was surprised to see her beautifully-decorated paining on the wall.
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