One of my favorite possessions is a little red can. It sits among my collections, looking somewhat old and out of place. But this can is special. It has a history. It was dear to me when I was younger, but mean even more to me now.
I’ve always loved to visit my grandparents in Cleburne, Texas, and as anyone in the family can tell you, there is always a gathering around the dining room table for meals and conversations so that we can keep in touch closely. It is important to keep in touch with the family members since we are busy with our own business, so my family members keep the tradition to have the gathering every month. We enjoy the moment when all of us meet in a place and communication helps us to solve the problem of isolation. As the first grandbaby, though, I was at a slight disadvantage. When I sat in the dining chair, only my nose could reach the table. Cleburne is a small town with a small population, and the phone book could only lift me an inch. So, Grandma and Grandpa came up with the idea of the little red can.
It was about ten inches high, made of tin, and painted a glorious shiny red. It worked perfectly, enabling me to bang away on the table with my little spoon and cup as I tried to keep up with the joyful talks around the table. After I finished a meal, I was placed on the floor, and the can was opened, and all sorts of surprises kept me busy while the adults visited. The can was full of lovely dolls which attracted little girls like me greatly. Besides, there were fresh and novel items that were mysterious to me and left me to explore.
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。
Pretty soon, other grandbabies started to arrive, and each of them had their own turn on the little red can. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Decades later, Grandma proudly pulled out the little red can again when I traveled to Cleburne with my daughter. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Daddy, I have something to tell you. I wanted to ask your permission to go to America.” I didn’t finish my speech as he shouted, “No!” “But why? What…”, I replied. “If this all is about money, then you may not worry, I got a scholarship …”
I didn’t know what to do. I felt a warm tear running down my cheek. I thought there would be no problem because he always knew how much I dreamt about studying abroad. I was so angry and said: “But why do I have to ask your permission? I am already 18 and I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t tell me what is right and what is wrong.”
I shut the door so hard that it staggered. I was so disappointed that all these years he couldn’t see what I was doing. The tears were flowing on their own. I realized how much my love for dad was, however, I just could not stay at my hometown anymore.
I left home and my eyes were full of anger and tears. I didn’t know what to do and what to expect, but I decided to go far away from home and start creating my dream life. I took a bus and went to the airport.
I closed my eyes and felt that something was wrong. Everything was so silent when suddenly I heard my phone ringing. It was a nurse from the local hospital:
“Hello! Are you the daughter of Kuat?”, she asked. “Your dad has had a heart attack and he’s in a coma now. The situation’s serious. We want you …”
I wasn’t listening to her anymore. Tears were flowing and I started to choke when all of a sudden I heard a man’s voice and opened my eyes. I realized that it was a nightmare.
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 started searching for my phone and wanted to hear my dad’s voice.
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“Here you are, my sweetie. I’m not letting you leave because I don’t want you to forget me.
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My parents grew up poor. But as a family, we were comfortable, though we didn’t have much what would be considered luxuries. One year, my father went on a trip to Italy and brought my mother an opal ring. It was her favorite stone, and she cherished that ring. It represented Dad’s love for her.
Dad died at the age of 53 in 1980 after a grueling battle with cancer. Mom was working at Burlington Coat Factory Department store. She usually wore the ring to work. Over the years, the ring became impossible for my Mom to wear because of her swollen knuckles (指关节). I had the ring fitted with a clasp so that Mom could wear it again. She took great pride in the frequent compliments as she got on that ring.
One day during her shift, the ring slipped off. She didn’t realize it until the following day. Mom was sad. The ring did not have a high monetary value, but it meant as much to her as life itself. I decided to go and look for it.
I encountered Chloe, one of my Mom’s co-workers at my Mom’s workplace. She led me to the store where Mom worked, and then left. It was packed with clothes, racks and tables. I started row by row crawling on the floor to see if I could find the ring underneath all the clothes. When I got to the last row and hadn’t found the ring, the thought occurred to me that it might have fallen into the pocket of a coat as my Mom was hanging or rearranging the clothes. I started feeling around in the pockets of some of the coats, but quickly abandoned. There were at least 20,000 pieces of clothing in that department. The attempt seemed useless.
注意：续写的词数应为150左右;
I stood by a small table in disappointment when Chloe came in.
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I called my Mom and now I was choking back tears.
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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 was backpacking in Panama over Christmas in 2018, and planned to climb Volcán Barú. It is one of the only places on earth from where you can see the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans at the same time.
I set off before sunrise. It was a bit cold, so I had pulled on leggings under my trousers. I’ve always felt safe travelling as a solo (单独) woman. I love the freedom. When I got to the base at 7 am, the ranger (护林员) was unwilling to let me go alone, but relented (缓和) because an American couple were behind me.
The first part of the climb was beautiful. I walked for an hour and had reached a fair height. The views were impressive, so I stopped to take a photograph. Suddenly I heard violent barking behind me.
I turned and saw two dogs running aggressively towards me. I could see their teeth looked sharp, and they looked angry. There was nowhere for me to run. I tried to keep calm, but my heart was racing. They stopped a dozen feet from where I stood and kept barking. I knew they could move fast, so I didn’t want to try to outrun them.
I kept walking, saying, “Good dog, calm down,” as evenly as possible. But I was terrified. Then one dashed up and sunk his teeth into my leg below the knee. I was shocked. He held on for a few seconds. The pain took my breath away as I felt his fangs (犬牙) in my flesh. I considered bending down to get a rock to fight him off, but was nervous in case he went for my neck or the other one launched at me.
I tried to keep walking, and he finally let go. Then he was behind me, growling (嗥叫). I kept going, my body shaking, until after about 15 minutes I was out of their sight.
When I thought it was safe, I stopped.
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A pickup truck appeared, driven by the ranger.
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Hunger
When I was a young boy, my mother would place spoonfuls of vegetables onto my plate whether I wanted them or not and the rule in our family was that we always had to clean our plates. However, I rarely saw my mother eat the vegetables herself. She always served us first. She seemed never hungry.
She worked for a rich lady in town, and I always assumed that the reason why she didn’t have our tasteless meals was that she had eaten meats and sweets in the rich lady’s kitchen. Our meals were boring, and there was never enough since there were ten of us — my parents plus eight children.
One afternoon my older sisters were sick, so they couldn’t take care of me. Therefore, my mother had no choice but to bring me with her. It was a long winter day and as my father hadn’t had much work, we had even less food than usual. So I was very excited to go to the rich woman’s house.
My mother placed me in a corner while she rolled out pie crust (饼皮). Then she cooked some meat, and by the afternoon, the pleasant smell filled the kitchen and was making its way into my empty stomach. Then, a bell rang in the kitchen and my mother told me, “Don’t move” and then left.
I tried to do as told, but then I thought it wouldn’t matter if I ate just one blackberry. So I put a single blackberry into my mouth. What an explosion of flavor! The wonderful taste hitting my empty stomach was more than I could handle! Soon I was throwing blackberries into my mouth with two hands! It wasn’t until I was staring at the empty bowl that I noticed the empty, unbaked pie crust sitting on the table waiting for the berries. I looked around for more berries, but there was none. Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching, so I quickly hid into the cupboard (碗柜).
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Just at the moment, my mother entered the kitchen, following a well-dressed lady.
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After the lady left, I crept(爬) out of the cupboard with tears streaming down my face.
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As I sat by the window of our schoolhouse that afternoon, my heart began to sink further with each passing car. This was a day I had been looking forward to for weeks. Miss Pace had kept a running countdown on the blackboard, and our class had almost gone crazy by the time the much-anticipated “party Friday” had arrived.
I had happily volunteered my mother when Miss Pace requested cookie volunteers. Mom’s chocolate chips were the best on our block, and I knew they would be a hit with my classmates. But two o'clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had already come and gone, dropping off their offerings of dessert. My mother was missing in action.
“Don’t worry, Robbie. She’ll be along soon,” Miss Pace said as I looked sadly at the street. I looked at the wall clock just in time to see its black minute hand shift to half past two.
Around me, the noisy party went on, but I wouldn’t leave my window watch post. Miss Pace did her best to comfort me, but I just stayed there, holding out hope that the familiar family car would appear, carrying my embarrassed mother with a tin of her famous cookies under her arm.
The three o'clock bell soon awoke me from my thoughts and I sadly grabbed my schoolbag and headed home.
On the four-block walk, I plotted my revenge (报复). I would slam the front door upon entering, refuse to return her hug when she rushed over to me, and never speak to her again.
The house was empty when I arrived and I looked for a note on the refrigerator that might explain my mother’s absence, but found none. Heartbroken and angry, I was lying face-down on my bed upstairs when I heard her come through the front door and mount the steps.
When she entered my room and sat beside me on my bed, I didn’t move but instead stared blankly into my pillow, refusing to acknowledge her presence.
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’m so sorry, honey,” she said. “I just got busy and forgot.”
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I desperately tried to recall the words she had used to comfort me from times past when I cried.
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1.你最感激的人是谁；
2.为什么感激他/她；
3.如何感恩。
注意：1.词数 100 左右;
2.首句已为你写好。
Hello, boys and girls,
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Thank you for your listening.
The Feel-Good Shoebox
Catherine sat on her bed with her chin in her hands. “Why aren't you getting ready for Grandma's birthday party?”asked Mother.
“I can't bake like Sylvia or knit like Anne,” Catherine grumbled. “They made good presents. All I made for her is an ugly card.” “It's a lovely card. And no one can be good at everything,” said Mother. She sat on the bed next to Catherine. “When I was your age, I felt sad when I couldn't do certain things. But one day Grandma showed me the shoebox game, and it made me feel a lot better.” Catherine frowned （皱眉）. “How can a shoebox make me feel better？”“You＇ll see，” said Mother. She disappeared down the hall, then came back carrying a shoe box, a pencil, paper, and scissors.
Catherine watched as Mother cut several pieces of paper into squares. “Nôw, I want you to write down all the things you can do,” said Mother. “Like what?” asked Catherine. “Why not start with things you've learned in school? Give it some thought while I ice Grandma's birthday cake.”
Catherine sat for a while wrinkling （起皱纹） and unwrinkling her eyebrows.Slowly Catherine began to write and write. Before long she had written on every square of paper. She was so busy that she didn't hear Mother come into the room.“My goodness!"said Mother.“Do you think they'll all fit in the shoebox?”“I hope so,” said Catherine. “It was fun thinking of all the stuff I can do.”“And the next time you feel sad because you can't do something, your feel-good shoebox will remind you of how much you can do-just as mine did when I was a little girl,” said Mother,“Now let's finish getting dressed for Grandma's party.”
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。
“Happy birthday！” yelled（欢呼） the children when they arrived at Grandma’s house.
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Then Catherine gave her card to Grandma.
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Caneze and her parents moved to the United Sates when she was only two years old and they haven't visited their motherland for ten years. Last month, Caneze's grandfather came to see them, and the family threw a big party. But Caneze didn't spend much time with him that day. He didn't speak English,so how could she have any sort of conversation with him? Caneze spent most of that day in the study room,texting her best friend, Maya, and watching her cousins play video games. There was a huge art competition coming up at school,and Caneze and Maya were planning to compete.
“I wish you'd spent time with your grandfather instead of your phone, Caneze,” Mom said one day on the way home.
“But I don't even know him,” Caneze said, “and he doesn't speak any English. How could I talk to him?”
“And you don't speak any Ukrainian(乌克兰语), Caneze, but he'd love to get to know you. I think you may find that you two have a lot in common. ”
Two weeks later, Caneze came home from school in the afternoon to find her grandfather sitting at the kitchen table chatting with Mom happily. On the table sat some books. The old man smiled warmly at Caneze, and she smiled back as she sat down at the table. As Grandpa and Mom spoke in Ukrainian, Caneze let her mind wander. As the art competition was around the corner,
Maya and she had to be quick for their project. Suddenly, an idea for a picture came to her, so she fetched her sketchbook. Sitting at the table, she sketched while the adults talked. Then Caneze heard Mom say, “I have to run out for a few minutes. You can stay here with Grandpa. ”
Caneze suddenly felt unsure and shy, what would the two of them talk about? “This is going to be awkward,” she thought as her mind was racing for an idea for this embarrassed moment. She gave Grandpa a polite smile and then returned to the lines and shapes she had drawn on the page.
Paragraph 1:
Suddenly she sensed Grandpa was watching her.
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Paragraph 2:
“This is beautiful - I didn't know you were an artist,”Caneze said.
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Raelene seemed to be in trouble with her mother. It seemed like her mother was screaming all the time. Raelene couldn't bear it. She tried to keep to herself and out of her mother's way. At times she shut herself in her room but her mother would follow her in, still shouting at her and telling her to do things.
One day, when her mother had been screaming, Raelene went outside to get away from it all. Her pet dog, Crystal, came running up to her, tail wagging, but Raelene had had enough and screamed at Crystal. Crystal dropped her tail between her legs and turned around to run off, looking for a place to hide. Raelene saw how Crystal had run away when she screamed. She thought how it was like what she did when her mother screamed at her.
At school, Raelene was studying science and had learned about experiments, so she decided to carry out an experiment with Crystal. She sat down on the ground, closer to Crystal's height where she could see Crystal's nose and eyes peeping (偷看) around the corner of the house. Raelene began to talk to Crystal in a soft, gentle voice. This was the experiment. What she said and how she said it were different. Her words said Crystal was a bad dog for running away and hiding. However, she said it in a gentle, loving, and caring voice. Soon Crystal moved out from around the corner and came back with her tail wagging and her whole body full of excitement.
Raelene continued her experiment. She now told Crystal what a good dog she was and how she was the only person who seemed to understand Raelene-- but how she did it was in a loud, shouting voice. Crystal again dropped her tail between her legs and ran around the corner.
“This is interesting,” thought Raelene. She now used the same loving words in a gentle, loving voice. Again Crystal emerged and rested her head on Raelene's lap.
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。
Raelene continued to experiment with different things.
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After that Raelene began to experiment when her mother was screaming.
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