It is a hot sunny Saturday morning on the farm. Maya, Duksie and Doobie are helping Mama K in her vegetable garden. The children work all morning.
Mama K always gives the children a treat for helping her. Sometimes it’s cake or chocolate; sometimes it’s apples, pears or oranges. Mama K has only one rule. “Share it fair!” The children know they must share the treats equally, so they all get the same amount.
Today Mama K has baked a round strawberry cake with pink icing (糖霜) and berries from her garden. The children wait on the grass for their treat. “Here you go!” smiles Mama K. “But remember the rule. Share it fair!”
Maya has the first turn to share the cake. She uses the knife to draw lines in the icing. The others watch her. She does not cut the cake yet. The others must first agree if her way is fair. “I think I will make two cuts down like this. Now we have three slices, all the same!” Maya shows them. There is one line on the left and the other on the right.
“No way!” says Duksie. “The one in the middle is much too big!” Doobie also shakes his head. Maya laughs and tells Duksie to try.
“Pass me the knife.I’ll do it,” says Duksie First she rubs out Maya’s pattern in the icing, and then she makes one cut across and one down. “Look, I have made my three slices!” “That’s not fair!” shout Maya and Doobie together,.
“Why don’t you try, Doobie?” says Duksie. “I bet you can’t do it!”
“I wish the cake was a square, and then it would be easy!” says Doobie thoughtfully. And then! A picture comes into Doobie’s head. He sees the silver badge (标识) at the front of his father’s big red Benz truck. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! I know how to do it,” shouts Doobie.
“How did you work it out?” Maya asks. Doobie smiles to himself. For now it’s his secret. Later, he will tell his dad.
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。
First Doobie uses a knife to smooth Duksie’s lines in the icing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With Mama K’s encouragement, Maya takes charge, expertly cutting along Doobie’s lines to make three equal slices.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I will never forget that day with a woman and her beautiful singing. Several years ago, at a medical laboratory clinic in Waterloo, an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair singing the tune “My Heart Will Go on”, a song familiar to many people. She sent her sweet voice exploding into every corner of the clinic with little effort.
I was there with my father when the woman arrived. She settled into the seat directly across from my father. Because she was so tiny, she had to sit on the edge of the chair so her feet could touch the floor. It seemed as though she was sitting forward to start a conversation with him. I was concerned about how my father would react to the possible invasion (侵犯) of his space. He was 77 and had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for several years. This serious brain disorder has been torturing (折磨) my father these years. Since Alzheimer’s has a tendency to destroy a person’s patience, Dad had had a few challenging experiences in the past. I couldn’t help but think that this woman was playing with fire.
Her singing began gently. My father was staring right at her. I couldn’t read his expression, but it seemed to be something like confusion. I wondered whether he was actually looking at her or if he was lost somewhere deep in his mind. Or maybe he was trying to discover whether this was someone he should know. That was what was happening now: no polite smile, no friendly nod. Just a stare. This lack of important acknowledgement didn’t stop the little woman one bit and her singing slowly got louder. Getting to the chorus, she was totally lost in her own singing with her eyes shut.
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。
Still, I watched for any signs of an outburst of anger.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The woman smiled and said, “Thank you.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Peter walked home from school. Salty tears ran down his cheeks, and his stomach hurt. He didn’t know what to do. Nokomis was waiting for him on the front porch.
“What’s wrong, Biyen?” said Peter’s grandmother. Biyen was the Ojibwe (齐佩瓦人) name for Peter. He called her Nokomis, which meant grandmother.
Peter looked up. “I have to give a presentation where I talk about a family tradition. I know we have lots of beliefs and customs. Can you remind me of one?”
Nokomis smiled and nodded with a smile. “Come with me,” she said softly. Peter followed Nokomis. She went to a closet, stretched to reach the top shelf and pulled out a small box. She handed it to Peter, asking him to open it.
Peter opened the box. Present before him was a wooden hoop (圈). It was in the shape of a circle. String was woven and twisted around the hoop. It looked like a spider web. A black bead (珠子) sat near the center with feathers hanging from the bottom. Seeing it, Peter wiped away his tears and smiled.
“This is a dream catcher,” said Nokomis. “Our people have made these for many years. Circles are symbols of unity and strength. Let’s hang it over your bed tonight. It will catch your bad dreams in the web, and your good dreams will fall through the center. Maybe it will give you courage to do your presentation.” Looking at Nokomis, Peter asked whether he could take that to school. Nokomis refused because the dream catcher was extremely precious, which meant a lot to her.
Peter felt disappointed at her words because he wanted to share the dream catcher with his class. “We could make you one,” said Nokomis. “I’d like that!” cried Peter in excitement. Without delay, Nokomis and Peter worked together and they made a dream catcher.
注意：(1) 续写词数应为 150个左右；
(2) 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: That night, as Peter looked at the dream catcher over his bed, he had an idea.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Thunders of applause exploded after Peter gave the presentation.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My legs and arms were shaking. Sweat was tripping down my face. Every step felt like thousands of needles were sinking into my legs. I couldn’t take it. By that time I had got three blisters (水泡) on each foot. It felt like I was in Sahara!
It was discovery week. Grade eight was visiting Altai for a week. We lived in camps near the river. Now we were going up the mountain called The Devil’s Finger. But the mountain was only getting steeper (陡的). Most of the people were already on the top, screaming, laughing and taking selfies. Then I realized I had left my hat on the bus and I felt even worse. I touched my head. It was warm, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
Most of my friends were up the hill cheering me on. “Pointless!” I told them. “I can’t go any faster!” They looked at me and laughed. “They have got to be kidding me! Are they doing it on purpose?”
I was making my way slowly up the mountain. My feet stepped on something. I thought it was a rock, but whatever. The rock slipped from under my boot and went tumbling down the mountain. I lost my balance and fell on the ground. “Are you OK?” I heard a voice behind me. “Just tired. I’m taking a break.” I didn’t want to say that I fell.
There were only eight people behind me by that time. I decided to speed up because I didn’t want to be the last one up. I looked up. Yana was already on the top, waving to me. “It’s like she isn’t tired at all,” I thought to myself. The sun was behind her so I could barely see her face. Actually, no. I could see a huge smile on her face. She was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear it. I decided that the rest of the way up I would not stop to take any breaks.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
However, my body wasn’t listening and I sunk to the ground again.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, I reached the top of the mountain.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was ready for bed when the phone rang. This cannot be good. My mind quickly ran through the list of family members that might need my help, but the voice on the other end of the line was only vaguely familiar.
“Lindy, this is Leslie,” she said. “I hope I didn’t catch you sleeping.”
I was a bit confused that she would be calling me at eleven o’clock at night. I didn’t know here very well, and we only occasionally spoke with each other at various community events. I assured her that I was still up and asked what she needed. I was afraid it might be something really terrible to cause her to reach out to someone she barely knew. Instead, she asked me a strange question.
“Do you have room for a turkey in your freezer?” she asked.
We had lots of room in our freezer. In fact, we had too much room. My husband’s business had taken a downturn and we were pretty much at the bottom of our food supply.
“Sure,” I responded, “Did your freezer break down?”
“Not exactly,” Leslie replied, “but if you will give me directions to your house I will explain when I get there.”
This was certainly odd. “Our freezer? Now?” Tom asked. “We hardly know her.” I didn’t have an explanation for him, so I just shrugged my shoulders. We quickly changed back into blue jeans from our nightclothes and scurried to meet her outside so the doorbell would not wake our four children.
Pulling up the driveway was a huge freezer truck. Leslie stepped down from the passenger side and explained that her husband serviced a small grocery store that had just lost its lease. They had to empty all the freezers before midnight and it was a shame to just throw away all this good food so she began to go through her list of contacts. Ours was the last place they planned to stop and anything left would have to be discarded.
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。
When she put the turkey in our freezer, Leslie noticed that it was pretty empty.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Looking at the freezer filled with foods, I asked when she would come back for these.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It’s a great pity that I had not put forth the amount of effort required. I had spent too much timed playing with my friends instead of improving myself. I had let down my teacher, who was the kindest, sweetest, and prettiest one I had ever known. She laughed often, and never threatened any of us, yet she was able to “read” the children, control the class, and teach effectively. Miss Pratt put a lot of herself into her work. Every day near the close of school, she would read to us, or even better, tell us stories about when she was a little girl. Most importantly, she made us feel that she cared about us and that we were important.
Because of a serious car accident when I was three and a half years old, I had a sear (伤疤) below my nose that was the result of a torn upper lip. Everything else had healed up without any after effects physically, but my emotions remained scarred. Meanwhile, having been called “Chief Running Nose” and “Scarface” by many children, my confidence had suffered. Although my parents and relatives referred to me as pretty, I did not see myself that way.
Focusing on my scar, I could not appreciate any redeeming features (可取之处). At the end of one school day, I remained in my classroom, waiting for the arrival of my mother, who was coming to take me to an appointment close to the school. Miss Pratt sat at her desk with a fellow teacher and chatted.
I glanced at the clock and realized it was time to get ready to leave. I put on my wool coat and hat. The teachers looked at my clothes and seemed to admire it. I was able to read their lips a little and my ears perked up to hear, “Who is she? She is really cute.” My teacher Miss Pratt answered, “I agree. Bernice is quite pretty.”
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。
“Pretty” caught my attention since it was almost my favorite word.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________About two months later, the final exam result was announced and I got the first place.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We Survived Getting Swallowed by a Whale
Respect and revere (敬畏) nature. I’m Julie, 56 years old, living in San Luis Obispo, California, about four miles from the beach. Every few years, the humpback whales come into the bay for several days while migrating.
In November 2020, the whales were around, so I took out my yellow double kayak (皮划艇) to watch the wildlife. I paddled out the pier (长堤) and saw seals, dolphins, and about 20 whales feeding on silverfish. They sprayed through their blowholes. Each one is huge, about 15 metres long. Sometimes they turned side fins as if waving at me. It was incredible.
At the time, my friend Liz was with me. We had met 28 years earlier. I asked Liz if she wanted to see the whales. I really wanted to share the magnificent experience with her.
“No way,” she said. She’s terrified of whales and sharks. I promised that the craft was stable and safe enough. Moreover, humpback whales couldn’t swallow down kayaks for their throats were tight even though they had enormous mouths and white-wall-like internal mouth structures, not to mention that we got paddles and life jackets. After some persuasion, Liz finally agreed.
We set off at about 8:30 the next morning. There were already about 15 other kayakers in the bay. One hour later, I spotted two whales right past the pier, swimming toward us. We were in awe, feeling amazed to be so close to a creature that size.
When whales swam down after breaching (跃身激浪), they disappeared in ripples. I figured if we paddled there, we’d be safe since they’d just left. We followed them at a distance—or what I thought was a distance. I later learned that it’s recommended to keep 90 metres away, or about the length of a football field. We were probably 18 metres away.
All of a sudden, a swarm (群) of fish started jumping out of the water into our kayak. Their movement sounded like crackling glass. Now I knew we were too close. I was terrified. Then our kayak was lifted out of the water—about two metres—and tipped back into the ocean. I figured the whale was going to drag us down somehow, and I had no idea how deep.
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 didn’t realize that Liz and I sitting in the kayak were in the whale’s mouth.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Thankfully, the whale spitted us out, people paddling to help, shooting videos.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Police chief Matthew Bruce’s son, Adam, came late into his lives, so he always spoiled him and never said no to him for anything. As Adam grew older, he began to take his parents’ love and concern for granted, as if it were permission for him to do whatever he pleased. There were certainly times when he was criticized for bad grades or sneaking out of the house, but that was limited to only minor blame. Adam thought that if he pretended to be an “ideal” son, he would have to face absolutely no blame from his parents. So he began to act like a good son in front of them while engaging in all sorts of wrongdoing behind their backs, such as breaking the law. However, Adam always got away with it.
One day, Adam was driving back from a party with his friend Freddie when he began over-speeding. Freddie warned him to slow down, but Adam didn’t listen. Adam’s driving worried Freddie. He asked Adam to slow down again, and when Adam didn’t, he grabbed the steering wheel himself, causing the car to slide off the road and ran into a tree on the side. Then they heard the alarm of a police car behind them. The car came to a stop in front of them, and a police officer approached them.
“I’ve been following your car for a while now, and I’m afraid I’ll have to take you to the station for speeding. May I have your driver’s license first?” the police officer said.
Freddie was scared. “Here’s my driver’s license, sir,” he said, offering it to the officer. Adam tried to explain that he was the police chief’s son, but the police officer turned a deaf ear to him. They drove him to the station, and when Adam stepped inside, he was surprised to see his father there. He had been called to the station for an urgent case.
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。
Adam felt no worries and thought he was out of trouble.
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He told Adam he would need to earn money himself to pay for the fine.
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After a long drive and precious little sleep, Todd left his Wisconsin motel around 5:30 a.m. to make it to a funeral near Green Bay. Not long after, he started to hear a grinding sound coming from his front tire, and it kept getting louder. He finally pulled into Lauritzens BP & Sports shop in Wild Rose,Wisconsin, hoping to find help. It was only 7 a.m., and he still had 75 miles to go.
As luck would have it, Todd found Glenn Geib putting oil on the shelves. The mechanic checked out the car and gave Todd some bad news: The wheel bearing was failing and needed to be repaired right away. Fixing it would take a few hours. Geib then looked Todd up and down and asked why he was so dressed up. Todd explained that he was going to the funeral of his boss’s wife.
Geib checked the only one rental car agency in town, but it was sold out. The next closest rental agency was 40 miles away. “I must have looked pretty stressed out at this time,” Todd wrote later on Facebook. Geib noticed, and he was determined to help.
With a population of 699, close-knit Wild Rose has a reputation in central Wisconsin for kindness. Seniors gather at the Wild Rose Community Center for free midday meals. The local Lions Club chapter collects used eyeglasses for folks who can’t afford them, part of the Lions Recycle for Sight program.
But kindness in Wild Rose doesn’t come just from organizations. Kent Barnard, the town library director, remembers a high school kid who walked into Patterson Memorial Library needing gas money. Barnard happily gave it to him, and the guy went on his way. A couple years later, that man came back. “You gave me $10 for gas when I was in high school,” he said, and Barnard was repaid.
“People are not well-off, but they’re taking care of each other,” says Jerry Apps, a local author who lets the library sell his books and DVDs and keep some of the proceeds to fund its programs.
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。
So, faced with a stranger in need at the service station, Glenn Geib did what came naturally.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Todd jumped into the car and made it to the funeral.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In our family, we have a beloved pet named Max, a golden retriever (寻回犬) with a heart of gold. Max has been an integral part of our family for the past five years, bringing joy, laughter, and countless precious memories into our lives. His intelligence and adorable personality never fail to bring joy and laughter into our lives. Every day, when I come home from school, Max greets me at the door with his tail wagging and his eyes sparkling with excitement. He always seems to know when I need a comforting presence, and his playful bahavior never fails to cheer me up.
Max’s intelligence is truly remarkable. He has learned numerous tricks and commands over the years, and he never ceases to amaze us with his problem-solving skills. One time, I accidentally dropped his favorite toy behind the couch, and without any prompting (提示), Max fetched a stick and used it to fish the toy out. His creativity and resourcefulness never fail to impress us.
Max’s playful personality brings endless joy and laughter into our family. Whether we are flying disc in the backyard or going for walks in the park, Max is always ready for a good time. His boundless energy and enthusiasm are contagious (有感染力的), and he has a way of making even the simplest activity feel like an adventure. His playful barks and exaggerated jumps when he’s trying to catch a ball never fail to make us laugh.
Max’s ability to sense our emotions and respond with love and affection is truly remarkable. He seems to know when we are feeling down or stressed and always finds a way to comfort us. One warm summer evening, as the sun was beginning to set, I was sitting comfortably in my living room, buried in a captivating book. Max, my loyal golden retriever, was lying peacefully beside me, enjoying a well-deserved nap. However, as the day drew to a close, Max suddenly sprang to his feet, his ears got a lift, and his eyes fixed intently on something outside the window. Without warning, he let out a series of loud, urgent barks, as if trying to alert me to a potential threat or disturbance. Alarmed by his sudden outburst, I set my book aside and joined Max at the window, curious to see what had caught his attention.
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。
As I approached the window, I witnessed my elderly neighbor, Mr. Thompson, lying motionless in his backyard.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the days following Mr. Thompson’s accident, Max and I visited him at the hospital as often as we could.
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