Often, when he came to visit, my grandfather would bring me a present. These were never the sorts of things that other people brought, such as dolls, books or toys. My dolls and toys have been gone for more than half a century, but many of my grandfather’s gifts are still with me.
Once he brought me a little plastic cup. I looked inside, expecting to see something special. But there was only some loose soil in it, which made me disappointed. He smiled at me affectionately. Turning around, he picked up a little teapot from my dolls’ tea set and took me to the kitchen where he filled the little cup with water. Back in the living room, he put it on the windowsill(窗台) and handed me the teapot. “If you promise to put some water in the cup every day, something may happen.” he told me.
At that time, I was only five years old. This whole thing made no sense to me at all. I looked at him doubtfully and asked, “Do I have to water it every day? What will happen?” He nodded to me with encouragement, “Yes, every day, dear.”
And so I promised. At first, curious to see what would happen, I did not mind doing this. But as the days went by and nothing changed, it got harder and harder to remember to put water in the cup. After a week, I asked my grandfather if it was time to stop yet. Shaking his head no, he said, “Every day.” The second week was even harder, and I became regretful of my promise to put water in the cup. When my grandfather came again, I tried to give it back to him, but he refused to take it, saying simply the same words, “Every day.” By the third week, I began to forget to put water in the cup during the day. Often, I would remember only after I had been put to bed and would have to get out of bed and water it in the dark. But I did not miss a single 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。
One morning, something amazing happened.
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This was perhaps my first lesson in the power of perseverance.
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1.推荐礼物；
2.推荐原因；
3.表达祝福
注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Peter,
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Yours,
Li Hua
3 . Five years ago, my husband and I bought a former farm. It’s a short ride from our Vancouver home but a world away. As we restore the land, I feel my well-being returning, but I think the farm is also working its magic on our son’s growing resilience (适应能力). Since Dev was 20, he has lived with mental illness. We have been on this journey with him from crisis to recovery.
It has taken a couple of years to clear the land, seed the lawn (草坪) and build garden beds. But we did it even as other parts of our life had come undone. The farm was holding our family together. We come over on weekends and holidays and have been planting.
Before he went to treatment, we planted a “guild” in the old apple farm.
The desire to recover this land has grown in me.
| A．We helped ourselves by helping others. |
| B．We also learned how to depend on others. |
| C．My son had great difficulty making a recovery. |
| D．I have seen this drive toward restoration in my son as well. |
| E．Just when it couldn’t get any worse, an unexpected light occurred. |
| F．During this time, Dev is concentrating on his own restoration process. |
| G．Its aim is to support the health of trees by grouping other surrounding components. |
Pumpkin(南瓜)carving at Halloween is a family tradition. We visit a local farm every October. In the pumpkin field, I compete with my three brothers and sister to seek out the biggest pumpkin. My dad has a rule that we have to carry our pumpkins back home, and as the eldest child I have an advantage — I carried an 85-pounder back last year.
This year, it was hard to tell whether my prize or the one chosen by my 14-year-old brother, Jason, was the winner. Unfortunately we forgot to weigh them before taking out their insides, but I was determined to prove my point. All of us were hard at work at the kitchen table, with my mom filming the annual event. I’m unsure now why I thought forcing my head inside the pumpkin would settle the matter, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time.
With the pumpkin resting on the table, hole uppermost, I bent over and pressed my head against the opening. At first I got jammed just above my eyes and then, as I went on with my task, unwilling to quit, my nose briefly prevented entry. Finally I managed to put my whole head into it, like a cork(软木塞)forced into a bottle. I was able to straighten up with the huge pumpkin resting on my shoulders.
My excitement was short-lived. The pumpkin was heavy. “I’m going to set it down, now,” I said, and with Jason helping to support its weight, I bent back over the table to give it somewhere to rest. It was only when I tried to remove my head that I realized getting out was going to be less straightforward than getting in. When I pulled hard, my nose got in the way. I got into a panic as I pressed firmly against the table and moved my head around trying to find the right angle, but it was no use. “I can’t get it out!” I shouted, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the enclosed space.
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；
Paragraph 1：
I was stuck for five to six minutes though it felt much longer.
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That video was posted the day before Halloween.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . She was dancing. My disabled grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway absolutely
She turned around and saw me standing in the doorway. Her beautiful movement ended so
“
I was considered to be one of them. And then one day a letter from the
“What happened then?” I
“I made my decision
Tears filled my eyes. I was thinking about how much joy we can bring to each others’ lives. I know people who have chosen to
| A．astonished | B．amused | C．annoyed | D．ashamed |
| A．sticking | B．rising | C．pouring | D．lifting |
| A．rapidly | B．inflexibly | C．firmly | D．freely |
| A．obeyed | B．followed | C．stretched | D．pushed |
| A．early | B．slowly | C．weakly | D．suddenly |
| A．beaten | B．caught | C．banned | D．forgiven |
| A．to begin with | B．to sum up | C．to tell the truth | D．to make matters worse |
| A．dancing | B．singing | C．working | D．exercising |
| A．hometown | B．battlefield | C．ballroom | D．campground |
| A．confirmed | B．persuaded | C．hurried | D．greeted |
| A．here and there | B．up and down | C．day and night | D．there and then |
| A．race | B．crash | C．ride | D．park |
| A．regretted | B．accepted | C．defended | D．supported |
| A．loss | B．gift | C．love | D．pain |
| A．go over | B．take off | C．put away | D．give up |
The Trouble With Chores (家庭杂务)
The twins, Jenna and Jeff, were good at most things. Their dad was good at most things, too. But there was one thing the twins and Dad were not good at—that was chores. It wasn’t that Dad and the twins didn’t want to do their chores. It was just that they always seemed to have reasons not to do them. And they had such good excuses.
“You’re right, my dear,” said Mum. “The grass does need cutting. But a spider has spun a wonderful web on the lawn mower and I haven’t the heart to put all her hard work to waste.”
“Mum,” said Jenna, “I know it’s my week to put up my cards. It’s just that I’m waiting for them to dry. They’ll be easier to scoop up that way.”
“Mum,” said Jeff, “may I skip setting the table tonight? There’s a TV show on the Ice Age, and I have to do a report on the Beast of Baluchistan.”
There were also the endless quarrels about who did what and who got the easy job. Mum sighed. If only Dad and the twins were as good at doing their chores as they were at arguing about them, life would be easier. Talking of chores, Mum thought instead of pushing them for chores, it would be a lot easier to do them herself. And that was what she did. She put away all cards and set and cleared the table. She chased the dust bunnies from under the furniture and cleaned up the twins’ messy room.
The twins did pick up and put away things occasionally. Dad did cut the grass once in a while. Not surprisingly, things began to slide. Everybody got a little unhappy, especially Mum, who spent much time doing chores. Something had to be done. But what?
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。
Mum decided to host a family meeting.
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Living in all that messy build-up wasn’t much fun.
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Many years ago, my father, who was 80 at that time, arrived for his regular two-week visit at my home in Karachi. He lived with my elder brother in Lahore most of the time and for ten years had stuck to his habit of going for an hour-long morning walk to keep fit. In Lahore, he would walk around a park that is quite close to my brother’s house. Naturally, he was keen to continue his morning walk while with us in Karachi.
Our preferred park is a 2 km walk from my house and it has a l km walking track. I could not drive him there every day as I had to leave for the office at the same time he wanted to set out. Since there are hardly any footpaths in Karachi, my father said he was delighted to walk on the road as he was certain there wouldn’t be much traffic in the morning.
I was less confident so I suggested it would be safer if he changed his walk time to the evening. That way I could take him to the park after work. However, my father-a determined person-said that he could not change his routine for just a few days and insisted that he would be leaving the house every day at 7 am and returning by 8 am. He started doing this and stuck firmly to his schedule. So one day when he had not returned by 8:30 am, my wife, Qaisa, phoned me in a panic. Worried, I immediately drove home, taking the same route that my father would have taken for his walk.
Not spotting him anywhere, I went to the police station to report my father’s disappearance. The station house officer advised me to wait until midnight before filling the report. Since it was only 10 am, I drove back to the park, in the hope of discovering some trace, but in vain. Totally at a loss for what to do next, I returned home and waited impatiently, walking back and forth in the house.
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。
Paragraph 1：
At 10:35 am the doorbell rang and my father stood outside the door smiling, accompanied by a young man.
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Paragraph 2：
After knowing what had happened, I showed my appreciation of his kindness.
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It was eight o'clock on a May morning, and Micah, my 17-year-old daughter, was in our bonus room upstairs. It had been her temporary eleventh-grade classroom ever since schools had moved to remote learning due to the pandemic （疫情）.
From the kitchen, I listened for the sound of her tapping on her laptop. I resisted the urge to check on her. Way too often, Micah was texting friends and commenting on their posts about the fun they were having together. We'd barely left the house for 10 weeks straight.
"Mom, everyone is hanging out today!" Micah's voice came from upstairs. "Why can't I?"
I went up the stairs. Micah was lying on the floor wearing pajamas（睡衣）, her laptop, school iPad and cell phone 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 having to stay at home 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 TV later?" I asked. "No, thanks." Micah shook her head.
"In a few weeks you'll be going to sports camp,'' I added "That's something you can look forward to." I closed the door. I was used to Micah's rejection, but it still hurt. Teenage independence is heathy, but I worried if I didn't find a way to bond with my girl soon, I might never be close with 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.
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。
That evening, I was surfing online and saw a friend's children playing with their new cat.
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"This is the one I want," she said, smiling.
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9 . I have been worrying for weeks now about what to give my mother for Mother's Day. For most people, this is a modest problem, solved by the purchase of a bathrobe or a box of candy. For me, however, Mother's Day represents an annual challenge to do the impossible—find a gift that will make neither Mama nor me feel terrible.
Expensive gifts which Mama defines as costing over $10 are out, because they make Mama feel terrible. "This is awful, " she once said, examining an apron. "I feel just terrible. You shouldn't have spent that much on it." Inexpensive presents - under $10—please Mama, but they make me feel terrible.
The story always goes this way: a gift given to Mama will bounce swiftly back to me. If I buy her something wearable, she perceives in an instant that it could be let in here, let out there, and it would fit me perfectly. If I give her a plant, she cuts off the top for me to take home and root in a glass of water. If I give her something edible, she wants me to stay for lunch and eat it.
Papa, a sensible man, long ago stopped trying to shop for Mama. Instead, on Mother's Day, her birthday, and other appropriate occasions, he composes a short romantic poem in which he tells of their meeting, unforgettable things, and marriage. After nearly 30 years of poems, Papa sometimes worries that the edge of his poetic inspiration has dulled, but Mama doesn't complain. She comes into the room while he is struggling over a gift poem and says, "It doesn't have to rhyme as long as it's from the heart."
This year, finally, I think I, too, have found a painless gift for Mama. I am going to give her a magazine article, unrhymed but from the heart, in which I wish her "Happy Mother's Day" and tell her there's nothing Papa or I could ever buy, find, or make her that would be half good enough anyway.
1. Why Mother's Day is regarded as an annual challenge by the author?| A．Most gifts are too expensive to afford. |
| B．Her mother has never been pleased with gifts. |
| C．She lacks the experience of choosing gifts. |
| D．It's hard to buy a satisfying gift for her mother. |
| A．She is particular about gifts. | B．She doesn't like receiving gifts. |
| C．She always cares about her child. | D．She always gives something in return. |
| A．Loving and wise. | B．Energetic and kind. |
| C．Brave and inspiring. | D．Optimistic and talented. |
| A．To show her love for her mother. |
| B．To show off her literary competence. |
| C．To offer a better present than .her dad's. |
| D．To avoid the difficulty of choosing |
10 . Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members, especially their parents, don't know them as well their friends do. In large families, it is often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for advice. It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or many friends.
Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone. This communication is very important in children's growing up, because friend can discuss something difficult to say to their family members.
However, parents often try to choose their children's friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. The question of "choice" is an interesting one. Have you ever thought of the following questions: Who choose your friends? Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you? Have you got a good friend your parents don't like?
1. Many teenagers think their________ know them better than their parents do.| A．friends | B．teachers | C．brothers and sisters | D．classmates |
| A．go to their friends | B．talk with their parents |
| C．have a discussion with their family | D．talk with their friends on the phone |
| A．Parents should like everything their children enjoy. |
| B．In all families, children can choose everything they like. |
| C．Parents should try their best to understand their children better. |
| D．Teenagers can only go to their friends for help. |
