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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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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Mom was in extreme pain of cancer. I sat outdoors, watching the bees flying from one flower to another. I studied Mom's face, thinking how I could take her mind off the pain she was suffering. Her strong belief had always inspired and encouraged me. It was my turn to do the same for her—to encourage her to cheer up.
“Are the flowers in the field beautiful?” Mom asked weakly. She managed to find beauty in nature. Suddenly, I had an idea and asked her, “How about getting some flowers we can plant together in front of the house?” Mom's face slowly lit up and smiled. She said, “It sounds great.” Then we slowly climbed into the car.
Soon, we were wandering through rows and rows of colorful flowers. Mom's pain was forgotten temporarily as she bent over to choose a bunch of red roses. “Oh, how beautiful,” she whispered, pressing the flowers against her face.
A young lady approached and said, “Hello, ladies. It's a beautiful day for planting flowers. My name is Jenny. You can choose and buy whatever flowers you like.”
She was young and beautiful and I said thanks to her. I hurried to Mom's side, “I think we will have enough flowers to plant, Mom. Would you mind waiting in the car while I pay for them?”
“Let me carry the flowers for you,” Jenny smiled and said, “You are so kind and patient with your mother.” I replied, “Thank you. Mom is experiencing great pain because of her cancer. What I am doing is make her happy and forget her pain.” Suddenly, Jenny froze in her tracks.
She said, “My mom has cancer, too. May I please add your Mom's name to hers? I'd be proud to pray for both of them—overcoming the difficulties and achieving a victory as soon as possible.”
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。
Hearing what she said, we were very inspired.
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Mom was so happy that we talked a lot on the way home.
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A Texas family is hoping to repay a good man who jumped into action to save a 10-year-old girl from a riptide（激流）that almost turned their summer vacation into a tragedy.
The Whiting family was enjoy their last day of vacation on a sunny beach in Monterey, California, when 10-year-old Haylee Whiting got caught in a riptide. Haleey’s mom, Samantha Whiting,was sitting on the shore when she heard her daughter crying for help. Samantha rushed into the water to try and grab her daughter but underestimated the strength of the riptide. Soon the waves were swallowing them both.
“I was thinking ‘this is not happening; there is no way I’m being pulled out.’I was terrified, ”Haylee told CNN.
“I will never forget her face when she said,‘Mom，help me！’”Samantha said.
Luckily, Kevin Cozzi was nearby with his fiancée （未婚妻）and heard the commotion. A competitive swimmer himself, the California man said he had no hesitation in jumping into the waters. “I’ve been swimming since I was 3 years old competitively，so I felt like I could get to them，”Kevin recalled. “I ran out there and as soon as I got to the mom, I just told her to give me her daughter because I knew she was struggling.
Kevin ultimately was able to rescue Haylee, carrying her to shore before a lifeguard came to the rescue and took over.
“He saved as,” Samantha said.“If it hadn’t been for him coming to grab her off of me，there would have been no way that we both would have made it.”
Haylee suffered no injuries and the Texas family headed down to the following day,grateful to have avoided a tragic end to their vacation.
注意：
1. 续写字数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
However，the Whiting couldn’t stop thinking about this heroic stranger.
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Samantha decided to raise money to help Kevin and his fiancée plan their dream wedding.
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