People often talk about the “walls” that some individuals build around themselves. I was one of those individuals. Long after I divorced and became a single parent, I still wore my wedding ring. Maybe it was because I didn’t want anyone to know that I had failed at something in my life. Wearing that ring helped me pretend that everything was okay.
You think that people can’t see through those kinds of walls. But they do. They just know enough not to let you know that they see you are pretending. One day at work, however, pretending didn’t come that easily. I was on my coffee break with colleagues. Then my cell phone rang and the garage boss told me loudly the car repairs would come to $850. I looked worried. I needed that car to hold down my present job. Without it, I would have to walk fourteen miles to and from work in North Bay. I felt sick. I didn’t have a credit card, and I certainly couldn’t call the $28 in my bank account “savings”. But every problem has a solution, and in my case that meant I had to ask someone else for something—even if it was only a lift downtown after work. Luckily, my colleague Jane volunteered to give me a ride to the garage after work.
I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to come up with bright ideas about how to pay my garage bill. I figured I could borrow $200 from my mom and pay her back at a rate of $2.50 a week. I thought of what I had at home that I could live without and therefore sell. I finally decided the best I could do was to offer to type up invoices (发票) for the garage.
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。
When Jane dropped me at the garage that evening, the owner asked me to step into his office.
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Before I could say anything, he added, “People who you work with have been coming in here all afternoon.”
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张颖 | Ready To Do |
| ◆help others for years ◆go to the old people’s home twice a month(cut hair, wash clothes. do some cleaning) ◆offer people umbrellas or raincoats on rainy days | |
我的观点和打算 | ◆opinion: I think if everyone is ready to help others, the world will be a better one. ◆plan: do some small things... |
(1)短文内容必须包含表格所提供的要点，可适当发挥;
(2)文中不得出现真实的姓名、校名及地名;
(3)词数100左右。
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Chuck and his elder brother Peter lived with their dad Kyle and their grandfather Stan. One evening, Chuck and Peter asked their grandfather about the number one activity on his bucket list(人生愿望清单). “I was going to rebuild my dad’s farmhouse and maintain it. It’s a shame I could never do it, ” he sighed. Stan worked hard as a car mechanic, but his earnings were never enough to maintain such a huge farm.
Months passed and there was no mention of the farm again. Stan and Kyle continued working in their car repair shop, while Chuck and Peter worked downtown. On Stan’s 75th birthday, Chuck and Peter decided to give him a surprise.
“Grandpa, ”Chuck started, “this year we decided not to give you a cake for your birthday. ”“Ah, wait and see, Grandpa. I think you’re going to like this a lot better than a chocolate cake, ”Peter added.
At that moment, Peter excitedly brought out his laptop and flashed a 3 D model of a modern farmhouse. Kyle and Stan stared at the computer screen. “What are we looking at?”Stan asked his grandsons. “We know how much your dad valued his farm and how much you wanted to honor him by maintaining it. Chuck and I raised money to fix the farmhouse and the farm, ” Peter said with a smile.
Stan covered his mouth with his hand. Tears instantly streamed down his face. “You’d do that for me?” he cried. “Grandpa, you’re the best grandfather on earth, ” Chuck told him. “We do absolutely anything for you. There’s nothing else you need to say but to assure us that you’ll help us rebuild the farm, Grandpa! You too, Dad!”
Kyle and Stan nodded their heads. “Absolutely. When we’re done, I’ll throw a barbecue party! My dad said that if I ever get to maintain the farm, we should throw a barbecue party, ” Stan said excitedly.
注意：
(1)续写词数应为 120左右；
(2)请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Every day after that, Chuck and Peter set out to work on the farmhouse.
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That Sunday, they decided to host a barbecue party and invite their neighbors.
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4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.
Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!
Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.
One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!
“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”
“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.
Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.
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. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.
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Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.
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| Viewpoints | Pros | Cons |
| Reasons | 1. Not feeling lonely 2. Taking turns to look after parents | 1. Worrying about getting less love from parents 2. Not getting along well with brothers or sisters |
| Your opinions | ||
1.词数：100左右，开头已给出，不计入总词数；
2.应覆盖所有要点，可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Do you agree that your parents have a second child? Different students have different opinions about it.
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Leo had gone nowhere during his two-week vacation. He had the money, but he hated to travel alone. He used to take vacations with Max, his younger brother, but they had a big argument at the end of their last vacation. Each of them had spent the last two months waiting for the other to apologize.
Leo did not feel good about being distant with his favorite brother. But he was not going to ask for forgiveness when, in his mind, he just broke Max’s cup by accident, but it was not a big deal at all. So Leo's summer vacation was spent in his own "back yard". As usual, he cleaned up his apartment , put away his books, trying to make his life busy and full.
However, he did do one thing new and different alone. He went to a new coffee shop at the corner. It served delicious coffee at reasonable prices, and the staff were quite friendly.
The vacation seemed endless. He always sat at a coffee table outside by himself and read the free daily paper. Each day he was there, reading most of the newspaper articles and drinking his coffee black with the question crossing his mind again and again: What was Max doing?
Leo was unhappy. Between articles, he took breaks by watching the nearby traffic and pedestrians(行人). The coffee shop was next to a huge park, the favorite place for both Max and him where they even spent a whole summer vacation battling for the same soccer team. They were champion of the town! The coffee shop, with its excellent location and coffee, had helped make his vacation a pleasant one. If his brother should be there to join him just one day, his vacation would be perfect, he imagined.
One morning, accidentally knowing from mom the cup he broke was a gift from their late grandma, Leo was deeply sorry. He tried to break the ice and smiled to Max at the breakfast table but got no response. Leo was still unhappy.
注意：1.所续写的短文的词数应为 150 左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1：
Then Leo decided that he should do something more. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2：Leo got to the coffee shop early. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was eight o’clock on a cold spring night. Our apartment was full of the artwork of an energeic five-year-old. The house was in a mess.
I was so tired that night. I had depended on a walking stick to go anywhere for seven weeks, recovering from an operation, and I couldn’t find a way to cheer myself up.
The phone rang - for the sixth time in less than an hour. I knew who it was. My mother had been suffering from dementia (痴呆). Though we visited her every few days, she believed that her daughters had not visited in months. She thought that her friend Jimmy never wanted to see her again, but he called her and visited weekly.
She had no idea that she had repeated the things she was about to say a million times today and a million times the day before. She had no idea that I had an operation, nor could she remember her own grandaughter’s name. She forgot most of her own past and she drifted in the present. Also, she was lonely.
This time I cast my anger at the easiest target: my mother, the very victim of this chance horror. “Mom!” I shouted. “We visited two days ago! You have to believe me, and even if you don’t, I cannot talk anymore! Everything is fine!”
Silence. Then: “I was only calling to say hi. Why are you shouting?!” she continued. “Do you have a minute?”
“No, Mom, I don’t. I can’t stand this!”
I sat on the couch, defeated. I was suddenly aware of all that my daughter was watching me shouting at my mother and losing my patience. I have failed at being a good example to my daughter.
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 daughter approached me, saying, “Can I talk to Grandma Ellie?”
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After many kissing noises, they eventually hung up.
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1.你正在成为谁；
2.你成为他或她的原因。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.短文题目已为你写好，不计入总词数。
The person I am becoming
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Jackson sat at his school desk and looked over at the new kid in class. His name was Billy and he just moved here from Florida. His first day in class was yesterday and, so far, Jackson had not talked to him. Today, during the break, Jackson was going to try to make a new friend.
When the bell rang, Jackson hurried out of his seat and followed Billy outside.
“Hi Billy,” Jackson said as they walked outside. “Do you want to play basketball?”
“No. I’m not very good at basketball.”
“Do you want to play kickball?” Jackson asked.
“No. I’m not good at that either,” Billy said. Billy walked away from Jackson and sat on a big flat rock in the grassy part of the school yard.
Jackson stood there and wondered what to do next. He asked Billy to do two things and both times Billy had said no. Maybe he didn’t like Jackson. Maybe he didn’t want to be friends. Jackson thought about playing basketball with the other kids. He looked over at Billy sitting on the rock all by himself. It must be hard to move to a new school, Jackson thought.
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。
He decided to give it one more try.
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“Thanks for asking me to play with you,” Billy said. “I have a hard time making friends.”
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It was eight o'clock on a May morning, and Micah, my 17-year-old daughter, was already in our spare room upstairs. It had been her temporary eleventh-grade classroom ever since schools had moved to remote learning due to the pandemic.
From the kitchen, I listened for the sound of her tapping on her laptop or her talking with her classmates in their discussion sessions. We’d barely left the house for 10 weeks straight.
“Mom, everyone is hanging out today!” Micah’s voice echoed from upstairs. “Why can’t I?” I stepped up the stairs. Micah was lying on the floor wearing her pajamas, her laptop, school iPad and cellphone in front of her.
“It’s not fair,” she said.“ I have no one I can be with. I can ‘t wait until I’m 18 and can do what I want.”
We’d had this conversation before. Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. I was sick of being alone too. Even though Micah and I were home together more than we had been in years, we might as well have been living in separate worlds.
“Wanna watch videos later?” I asked. “Bake some cookies?”
“No, thanks.” Micah shook her head, as if the idea of doing something together was impossible.
I closed the door. I was used to Micah’s rejection, but it still made me upset. Teenage independence is healthy, but I worried if I didn’t find a way to bond with my girl soon, I might never be close to her again. She’d be 18 in the fall and had already convinced herself she didn’t need me anymore. Maybe she was right. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to reach her.
That evening, I logged onto a social app and saw a friend’s children playing with their new kitten. My mind went back to when I was in high school and our family moved. It was hard making friends. Mom surprised me with an eight-week-old gray kitten that I named Miss Muffet. Having a kitten to love and train brightened my days and got me through that difficult, lonely time. Maybe Micah would like a kitten.
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 asked if she wanted a kitten.
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In the car, Micah put the kitten under her chin.
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