The telephone rang. Jack answered the call from his mother, “Mr. Richard died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.” Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel (新闻影片) as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days. It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son.
“Jack, did you hear me?”
“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him.” Jack said.
“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisced (追忆) about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,” Mom told him.
After Jack’s father died, Mr. Richard stepped in to make sure Jack had a man’s influence in his life and it was Mr. Richard who taught Jack many things. Jack wouldn’t have been in this business if it hadn’t been for Mr. Richard.
Busy as he was, he returned home and attended the funeral, which was small and uneventful. Mr. Richard had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before Jack had to return home, he and his mother stopped by to see the old house next door one more time. Standing in the middle of the room, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture... Jack stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” Mom asked.
“Where is the watch, the thing he valued most?” he seemed to ask himself.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
“It was a gold pocket watch that he used to wear every day,” he told his mom.
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One day Jack received a package on his desk.
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I was in 7th grade when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was very sudden and unexpected for our family and obviously I was beaten. I tried my best to balance my first year of middle school and my home life, even if I knew this was impossible. I hated coming home from school every day for fear of what I would see when I got home. I hated seeing my mom sick all the time; she was not herself and all I wanted was for her to stop treatment and get better. Luckily, I had lots of support from my family, friends, and teachers during this hard time to help get me through it.
At the beginning of the year, I was determined to stay on track with my homework and studying and get through my first year at middle school successfully. Slowly, I started to become more distracted while at home with taking care of my mom, cleaning the house and helping my grandma cook our meals. While I was at school, I could escape and put my mom’s sickness in the back of my mind while I hung out with my friends and enjoyed playing. I noticed that my quiz and test grades were increasingly getting worse, but I never brought this to the attention of my mom because I did not want to worry her. Eventually, all of my grades were lower than C’s.
I knew that I was not doing well at school, and I needed to get my grades back up. I knew that a lot of my teachers were cutting me some unimportant work because they knew what was happening at home. Ms. Zazoski, my English teacher was the most supportive teacher that I have ever had and I am so glad that I was in her class that year.
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 day my teacher had me stay after school to have a talk with her.
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That was the motivation that I needed to improve my grades.
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The Girl Who Never Talked
I never really felt like I fit in. I was a freshman in high school and my only close friend was Bella, whom I had known since kindergarten. Bella is and will always be one of my best friends and we often play together. However, she had other close friends too, but I didn't. I was on the volleyball team, and on the court I knew exactly who I was and where I was supposed to be. I loved all of my teammates, but when we were sitting in the stands before and after games I would just sit there quietly, totally unsure of myself.
At school, no one spoke to me and I didn't know how to get along with them. It seems like the only time anyone talked to me was just to jokingly say, "You are so quiet!... do you ever talk?" I wanted to talk, but I just couldn't find the words. I never felt like I knew what to say in a big group of people. All of these made me upset.
One Saturday after our game, Bella was supposed to come over and spend the night at my house. We always had a lot of fun together. I wished that I could talk to the other girls the way I talked to her. But before we left the gym that day, some of the other volleyball girls invited her to go to the movies with them. Since Bella had already made plans with me, they asked if I would like to go to the movies with them too. I agreed and was happy to have a chance to join them.
One of the moms drove us, and we all piled into the back seat of her Suburban-Rhiannon, Destinee, Christine, Bella, and me. I was kind of nervous at first, but once it was just us five, I came out of my shell (壳). For the first time in my life, I really felt like I was a part of the conversation, instead of just sitting there listening. It turned out that I had a lot to say.
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。
All the way there, an all the way back, we talked and laughed.
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I smiled, knowing I finally had friends and my school life would be much happier.
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Wide awake, I sat up in bed before dawn. I'd had another dream about Jennifer, my middle child. She's 38 now. Usually in my dreams she's still a little shy girl.
Jennifer had been five years old and her older sister seven, when the twins were born. Everything changed. The boys demanded much of my time and energy, so I hardly had any left for their older sisters. Sweet, quiet Jennifer, sandwiched between the others, required almost nothing from me. Eventually Jennifer had her own children and lived about an hour and a half away. But it seemed as though she were worlds away.
I often dreamed about her. In this one she was a grown woman and mixed in with a crowd. I waved hard, “Jennifer! I'm over here!” But she didn't notice me.
I longed to hear my daughter's voice and called, “Hey, I had a dream about you.” Then Jennifer surprised me. “I dreamed about you too. But it was terrible. I won't even tell you.”
“But I am eager to hear.”
Her words came out without thinking, “We were walking through a vegetable garden. A farmer shouted that I'd stepped on one of his tomatoes and asked for 43 cents. I didn't have any money and turned to you. You said no. I begged. I woke up in tears.”
The pain in her voice almost cut my breath off. “There were so many things I should have done for you. I overlooked you. You seemed so competent and independent. I forgot you were just a child.”
There was silence on her end of the line. The communication seemed broken again. I called an old friend and told her about Jennifer's dream and our awkward attempt to connect. “Your relationship probably broke down over a lot of little things,” she said.
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 realized what I should do to mend our relationship.
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The next day, my daughter called me excitedly.
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Are your children getting on your last nerve? Did a coworker's comment rub you the wrong way? There's no need to plug the steam coming out of your ears. In fact, science now gives you full permission to release those emotions; you might actually be happier for it. If that seems counter—intuitive(违反直觉的), hear us out. A new study suggests that people tend to be happier if they can feel and express emotions as they want. That goes for unpleasant emotions like anger and hatred, too.
An international team of researchers recruited 2,300 university students from the United States, Brazil, China, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Poland, and Singapore. They then asked the participants to tell them which emotions they desired and which ones they actually felt, and then compared those responses to how the participants rated their overall happiness or life satisfaction.
The results showed an interesting trend. While participants wanted to experience more pleasant emotions, they reported higher life satisfaction if the emotions they experienced matched those they desired. More surprising still, 11 percent of people wanted to feel less of positive emotions, such as love and empathy, and 10 percent of people wanted to feel more negative emotions, such as hatred and anger.
At first glance, these result might seem confusing. But there's a simple explanation, according to the study's authors. Happiness is "more than simply feeling pleasure and avoiding pain," they write. It is also learning to release negative emotions when you feel them, instead of ignoring them or bottling them up.
"If you feel emotions you want to feel, even if they're unpleasant, then you're better off," lead researcher Dr Maya Tamir from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem told the BBC News website. 71
