It was time for the annual Potato-Salad Contest in Russet Park. After trying for the third time, Alexis shook her head sadly. There was no way she would win the Golden Potato again because Grandpa wasn’t here this year.
Memories of how Grandpa taught her to make potato rose in her mind. She sighed and missed Grandpa so much.
Alexis cut the potatoes and mixed the boiled potatoes, some sauces and a little salt and peppers in a bowl. But it didn’t taste right. Alexis tried a bite of the salad mixture, wondering what was missing. Seeing her frown, Mom suggested, “What about something spicy? Your Grandpa loved spicy things.”
“You’re right! Maybe he put a jalapeno pepper in it,” Alexis said, cutting up a bright green jalapeno and adding it to the bowl.
It was closer, but it still didn’t taste right. Alexis was drooping her head, disappointed. “Should we look in a cookbook?”
“Grandpa was never one to follow a recipe,” Dad entered the kitchen and said.
It was true. People loved Grandpa’s potato salad because it was one of a kind. Alexis remembered posing with Grandpa for a photo while they were making the salad.
Photo! That gave her an idea. Alexis hurried to the bookcase and found an old photo album. She immediately flipped it open, expecting to find clues in the photos there. Lots of photos showed Grandpa and Grandma cooking together. Dad laughed, “He and Grandma loved to tease each other but he always called her Honey.”
“Do you think he put honey in the potato salad?” Mum asked.
“It is worth a try,” said Alexis. She stirred some honey into the bowl.
But it still wasn’t quite right. Alexis’ heart sank, on the verge of giving up. Dad kept flipping the album. At the end of the album was the picture of Grandpa and Alexis making the salad together.
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。
It looked like Grandpa was crying in the photo.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With hesitation, the family tasted the potato salad with onions in it.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. What is your favorite food?
2. Your experiences of tasting it, especially for the first time.
3. Describe the characteristics of the food.
注意：写作词数不少于80。
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1.饺子是中国传统美食；
2.饺子种类繁多，你喜欢的类型及原因；
3.包饺子的意义。
注意：词数80左右。
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A Hot Pot of Debate
The strong smell of the famous Sichuan cooking floods into local streets, whose hot pots of chili (红辣椒) and oil boil like restless volcanoes (火山). Along with all the flavours, however, a wave of panic is in the air. Sichuan cuisine (美食) is facing a crisis.
It seems surprising to hear such concern, since Sichuan cuisine has been conquering the world and gaining considerable popularity abroad as China’s favourite out-of-home dining.
But according to some old and experienced cooks, the rapid growth has worsened the cuisine, drowning the tastes of dishes in large amounts of chili and oil with menus being narrowed to spicy (辛辣的) dishes. Many cooks now are pursuing spicier and spicier food, ignoring the great variety of the cuisine. Thus, the simplification of tastes has created a crisis, sending a strong shocking wave into the time-honoured but complex traditions. Early this year, I watched a young cook add green vegetable to Kung Pao Chicken, which should be a wonderful mix of chicken, peanuts, red chilies and spices.
However, voices from many young cooks throw light on the new demands on Sichuan cuisine in the modern time— ”There’s no survival without innovation.” They hold the view that we do have to maintain the tradition, but it’s not a display in a museum. What makes sense is that although Sichuanese cooking is classified as one of the eight great cuisines of China, its roots are quite shallow, so after over several centuries of trade and migration, outsiders brought in a variety of new ingredients and cooking techniques. These influences combined only several generations ago to create an unusually tasty cuisine.
I believe the attractiveness of Sichuan cuisine is that it’s a big melting pot. Whatever is attractive in other cuisines, it can be absorbed and adapted to Sichuan cuisine. It’s not right to judge who is right and who is wrong, but it is clear that we should preserve the essence of tradition, while meeting modern expectations as well.
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Nilsa stared at the clock on the classroom wall, daydreaming about lunch. Her mother had prepared a thermos (保温瓶) full of sancocho. It was one of Nilsa’s favorite dishes, and the national dish of Panama — a country in central America and the hometown of Nilsa’s family. Just thinking about sancocho made her mouth water.
Finally, it was time for lunch. Nilsa carefully poured some sancocho into a bowl. When she looked up, she saw her classmates staring.
“What is that? It smells really bad,” said Gus, covering his nose. “It’s sancocho,” Nilsa responded. “It’s kind of like chicken soup.” Codi glanced at the bowl and said, “Soup? It’s more like a science experiment.” He laughed, pointed to his lunch, and asked, “That’s one weird lunch. Why don’t you eat something normal, like pizza?”
Nilsa looked at everyone else’s lunches: pizza, fries, and sandwiches. Suddenly she didn’t feel hungry any more.
When Nilsa returned home and complained about her classmates’ negative comments, her mother wasn’t mad. Instead, she listened attentively and reminded Nilsa that there is no such thing as “normal” or “weird” food, and that different cultures have their own unique dishes that are loved and appreciated by those who grew up with them.
Nilsa’s mother also suggested making a fresh batch for Nilsa to bring to school the next day. “Then you can share it with your classmates and tell them sancocho tastes great, and that our family has been eating it for hundreds of years. Your great-grandmother taught your grandmother who then taught me.
Nilsa nodded in excitement, and she was grateful for the opportunity to share her favorite dish with her classmates.
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。
The next day at lunch, Nilsa pulled out her thermos.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Nilsa returned home and greeted her mother that day, her happiness was beyond description.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The school picnic day was on Sunday, and on Saturday morning I decided to ask Mum some questions. As soon as Mum took the last bite of her toast, I decided I couldn’t wait for her any longer and asked, “Mum, where is Italy?”
My mum pushed up her glasses and looked at me with her head to one side. Then she said, “Italy is an European country which is very far away from here, my love. Why do you want to know that?” I shrugged (耸肩), “That’s where Mike, the new boy in our class is from.”
She nodded and invited me to go to fetch the geography book. The book was big and Mum always kept the very big books on the bottom shelf of our bookcase. I watched as Mum flipped to the index and then to a page near the middle. “Here we go,” she said, turning the map around to show me. I let my finger meet hers where it said the word “Italy” in capital letters. According to the introduction to the country on the page, Mum helped me know more about the country.
“You know, Mum, Mike’s parents are extremely busy working in the downtown. He seldom eats regularly let alone (更不用说) have his native foods. I really want him to be very happy for his first picnic with us…” I paused and observed Mum, worried that Mum would think that it was silly and maybe a waste of money buying food only to give it away. But she didn’t. Instead, she said, “I think that’s a brilliant idea! Go and get ready, and we’ll head out on a big shopping.”
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 got ready so quickly that morning that I thought I must have beaten a world record.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We gathered on the grass on Sunday morning and I saw the Italian boy immediately.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Birthday Cake
Josie was a girl who loved to bake. She always helped her uncle at his bakery. Mostly she carried ingredients from the refrigerator to the large work table. Sometimes Uncle Dave let Josie stir (搅拌) the cake batter (面糊) with a wooden spoon.
Josie wanted to learn to bake a cake on her own. She asked if Uncle Dave would show her how Her mother’s birthday was only two days away. If Josie made a cake all by herself, it would be a wonderful surprise.
On Saturday morning, Josie arrived at the bakery just as it was closing. The bakery always closed early on the weekend so Uncle Dave could walk his dogs. “Ready, Josie?” Uncle Dave asked “Ready!” Josie answered.
First, Uncle Dave had Josie get all the ingredients (原料) and line them up on the work table. Then he showed her how to measure flour and sugar so that she had the exact right amount. She added these ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Next, Uncle Dave tapped an egg on the side of the bowl to crack it. “Be careful not to get any bits of shell in the bowl,” he said.
Josie tapped her egg very gently on the bowl. It didn’t crack. She tried again, and this time the shell came apart. She pulled the egg apart over the bowl and watched the yellow egg yolk drop into the flour.
Now it was time to stir. “This is fun!” said Josie.
When the batter was ready, Uncle Dave helped Josie pour it into the cake pan. He gave Josie oven mitts (烤箱手套) and showed her how to put the pan in the oven without burning her hands.
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。
While the cake baked, Josie and Uncle Dave wiped off the table and washed all the dishes.
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On her mother’s birthday, Josie put the cake before her mom secretly.
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I shut my lunch bag quickly as I saw what was in it.
The strong familiar smell of garlic(大蒜)and onion brought back some memories of middle school lunch times. That day, when I opened my lunch bag with Chinese fried tofu in it, the boys and girls shouted, held their noses and ran away. I went red in the face. So for the rest of middle school, I insisted having “normal” food for lunch like ham and cheese sandwiches instead.
This morning, before Mom rushed out for work, she simply spared some of her lunch in my lunch bag. It was not Mom’s fault(过错). As a busy single mother, she always gives me her best .Every time I invite my friends home, the Chinese spring rolls and rice puddings Mom makes always amaze them and fill their stomachs.
What would happen today? I felt nervous and restless.
I was at a loss when Mary and Tommy, my best friends in high school, came over and shared the same lunch table. My friends happily pushed their lunch bags in front, inviting me to share mine. Hesitantly, I did.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为80左右;
2.续写部分的开头已为你写好。
I had expected them to stand up and hold their noses, but it was not the truth.
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