When Marco was a boy, he tried everything to get his father’s love and attention. He worked hard to earn exceptional marks and always tried to behave well. But he was so sensitive and shy that he always hid behind his hair, which he wore long around his face. To make it worse, Marco was naturally shorter than the other kids. This added to his already low self-confidence.
At 14, he and his younger sister Sandra moved in with their dad and his new wife. His father was busy and their communication was nonexistent. The only time his dad ever spoke to him was to be demanding or critical. He began to fear coming home from school every day, feeling desperately alone and isolated.
One day his father, tripped over Marco’s bike in the garage. The angry reaction left Marco in despair, thus crying out, “That’s it! I’m going to kill myself.”
“You don’t even have the guts!” replied his father.
For two days, all Marco could think of was wanting to die, but he didn’t want to prove his father was right. Angry and sad, Marco was stuck.
Two days later, his aunt called him. This seemed like a miracle. Aunt Ginette usually only called on his birthday. She said she had just seen some young teenagers participate in a public speaking contest and she thought about him. She told him she firmly believed he could perform on stage like those kids, since she had seen him do skits (幽默短剧) for the family at Christmas.
Marco was shocked. Him? In a public speaking contest, which was contrary to his shy personality? But Aunt Ginette was sure it was something he could do. Feeling her strong belief, Marco agreed.
All that winter, twice a week after dinner, he took three different buses in each direction for the three-hour round-trip to practice in the place where the competition would take place. Marco was taken by a feeling he never felt before. The hours and the obstacles no longer counted. The criticism from his father around his absence for after-dinner chores didn’t matter.
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。
Four months later, the big night arrived.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With the championship, Marco’s new life started.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A Little Boy
A little boy selling magazines for school walked up to a house that people rarely visited. The house was very old and shabby and the owner hardly ever came out. When he did come out, he would not say hello to his neighbors or passers-by but simply just glared at them.
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man. The boy’s parents told him to stay away from the house, and a lot of other neighborhood children were told the same thing from their parents.
Dusk found the boy lingering on and hesitating what to do. As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. “What do you want?” the old man said impatiently. The little boy was very afraid but he had a quota (定额) to meet for school with selling the magazines. So he got up the courage and said, “Uh, Sir, I am selling these magazines and, uh, I was wondering if you would like to buy one from me.”
The old man just stared at the boy without a word. The boy could see inside the old man’s house and saw that he had dog figurines (小雕像) on the fireplace mantle. “Do you collect dogs?” The little boy asked. “Yes, I have many collections in my house. They are my family here and they are all I have.” The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul.
“Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors. It is perfect for you. I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much.” The old man was ready to close the door on the boy and said, “No, boy. I don’t need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye.”
The little boy was sad that he was not going to make his quota with the sale. He was also sad for the old man being so alone in the house that he owned. The boy went home and then had an idea. He had a little dog figurine that he got some years ago from an aunt. The figurine did not mean nearly as much to him since he had a real live dog and a large family.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
The little boy headed back down to the old man’s house.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________From that day on something changed inside the old man.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We sometimes think we can take care of things on our own. However, sometimes we need to use the strength of our groups to get things done.
Ray Drake knew this better than anyone, because he was moved to tears when he understood how good it was to have good neighbors when he needed them.
In 1989, Drake lost the use of his legs. The Iowan man did have family, though. His two older sisters were there to help him get his life back on track and deal with his new situation. The plan worked for years, and their love helped him through hard times.
In August 2020, a strong windstorm stopped everything in Iowa. There was terrible damage, and 40% of the crops in the state were lost. People lost their electricity. Businesses were a mess and homes were all broken. So many people had a hard time.
The storm caused Drake to have a specific trouble. There were broken trees all over his yard, and he couldn’t move them. His sisters were also too small to clean up the trees. The three people really needed help.
After about a week, Drake’s sisters decided to ask for help because the power lines were still down and people were still trying to get their lives back together. They called some of their brother’s old high school friends to see if anyone had a chainsaw (链锯) they could bring over to start cutting up the fallen trees.
Doug Applegate, a friend, looked at the damage and realized that just a chainsaw wouldn’t be enough to clear the fallen trees from Drake’s yard and that the family would need more. He made a call for help in the area to see if anyone there could give a helping hand.
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。
Soon, the call for help was answered.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The collective effort turned a seemingly impossible task into a manageable one.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My dad and I had been looking forward to the Stale cross-country race of my senior year of high school, which would be the climax (顶点) of my existence.
I was the fastest runner on my team, and I was supposed to make it into the top fifteen. We had been working towards this race for three years. It was everything to me, and it was everything to my dad. He was a runner and was wild with joy by my success in running. He made it to every race, even flying home early from business trips to see me run. I always listened for his voice, which rang above the crowd-telling me to relax my arms, calling out my time. He pushed me. He cheered for me. He believed in me. We spent countless hours on the sandy canals of Arizona. Breathing in the dust of the desert, the blossoms of the orange trees, and the terrible smell of the dairy farm, we made our way across the city. We pounded miles and miles into our running shoes, marking with every step the path to greatness. It was a journey that was just ours. A dream passed on from one generation to the next.
Then the big day came. It was hotter than normal - too hot. My throat felt like a field of cotton, cracked with the summer heat, as I waited for the gun to fire. I gazed out at the crowd; dozens of familiar faces from church and school flickered across my view. They had come for me. They were counting on me. I saw my dad set his watch, worry and excitement etched across his face. With the sound of a gunshot, the race began.
For the first two and half miles, I felt great. I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with hard practices and a strict diet. The scorching sun beat upon my back, blinding me with its brilliance. Nothing was going to stop me, though.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
However, without warning, my strength was running out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I whispered, “I’m so sorry I disappointed you, Dad.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My parents worked very hard at ensuring that everything seemed pleasant and peaceful for me. I had a very calm childhood and I mostly ignored the fact that my elder sister was different. The child psychologist had term edit as “Asperger Syndrome”(阿斯伯格综合征). This diagnosis turned my parents’ world upside down, but they never let it affect me.
Only at the age often, I started to notice the differences, and became conscious of my social life and self-image that I had carefully cultivated. My sister, on the other hand, was socially awkward. She could not look at people in the eye. She would mumble(咕哝) to herself and repeat the words she had just said under her breath. She, however, was academically capable and hence we attended the same primary school. Despite this, I never, ever acknowledged in public that she was my sister. It was the incident that changed how I viewed my sister. It was the incident that changed me.
Being in primary six, about to graduate, my sister and her fellows had to put up a performance, whether in a group or individually. Due to her inability to integrate, my sister was the only one left without a group. The school had made it compulsory for everyone to put up an item, so my sister had to perform individually.” I’ll sing,” my sister told my parents, somewhat confidently. Hearing that, I was taken a back and completely shocked. How could my sister, who was socially awkward, sing in front of the school? I knew so very well that if I allowed this to happen, she would embarrass me, one way or another. “No!” I protested. My parents shot me a look and then turned to my sister, saying “Good idea!” That was when I knew my sister was going to perform anyway and I was going to be part of the audience watching her.
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 sat in the hall, waiting for her performance to start.
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Finally, my sister started to sing.
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One day after school, Susan’s eight-year-old daughter Liz went home with disappointment. She cried sadly and told her mother that she failed to be chosen for the school basketball team. And Liz kept saying that she was an unlucky girl. Susan knew that her daughter enjoyed playing basketball and had been practicing hard for the chance, so she must be terribly sad.
After knowing about the situation, Susan decided to cheer her daughter up. She went over to Liz, asking, “ Would you like to come with me to the supermarket and be my helper ?” To Susan’ s surprise, Liz agreed at once. Susan then gave Liz twenty dollars and a shopping list, saying she could use the change to get a treat for herself. Liz was excited and rushed away to get ready.
When they arrived at the supermarket, Susan advised Liz to put the twenty-dollar note in her pocket. Liz helped her mother collect goods and fill the shopping cart (购物车) while keeping an eye out for the things she wanted. She worked out how much change she would have, and then chose an apple pie as her treat.
With all goods collected, Liz went to the checkout counter (收银台) happily. Just then, she found her twenty-dollar note was gone! In tears, she rushed to her mother and told her about that. “What a bad day! I’ve met so many terrible things today!” she cried. “Take it easy. We’ll go to the help counter and see what the workers can do,” Susan comforted her.
The workers at the help counter made an announcement (公告) over the loudspeaker, “We have a little girl here who’ s very sad because she lost the twenty-dollar note her mother had given her for shopping. If anyone finds the money, please kindly bring it to the help counter.”
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Moments later, a worker gave Liz a twenty-dollar note, saying a lady just handed it over.
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“Well , actually I didn’t find the note. I gave away my twenty-dollar note,” the lady said.
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I had all the usual child fears. I couldn’t go to sleep unless the light in my bedroom was on. I dreaded that someday when my mother was distracted, Crazy Betty (our local small-town oddball) would grab me in the grocery store. On the hottest summer nights, my feet had to be wrapped tightly in my bed sheets; if one of them hung bare over the side of the bed, who knew what might grab it in its cold, slimy claw.
But all other frights paled in comparison with the Great Fear, the Titanic of my childhood terrors. That fear — and I admit, I feel a tightening in stomach typing the words even today — was that something would happen to Monk-Monk, my beloved toy monkey. That was the deepest fear of my childhood and I learned from it the lesson of cherishing what’s important in my life.
Looking at Monk-Monk today, you wouldn’t see what I see. You’d see a torn, discolored sock monkey, very much past his prime, stuffing leaking from his stumpy tail, holes on his sock-body inexpertly stitched up with thread that doesn’t match. I see my dearest childhood friend, my companion of a thousand nights. When I was only two and very ill, an aunt made him for me and delivered him to the hospital. I bonded with him fiercely and rarely let him out of my sight. When no one else was around, Monk-Monk played endless games with me, soaked up my tears, and listened to my secrets.
And then Uncle Ken came to visit. He lived in Ohio and occasionally he would come and stay with us for a couple of days. I didn’t know Uncle Ken well, and I didn’t like him very much. I had the feeling that he didn’t really like me, either. He clearly thought it was pretty silly that a big first-grader was dragging a sock monkey around, and he teased me by saying he thought he’d take Monk-Monk home to Ohio with him. His words almost scared me to death. I clutched Monk-Monk more tightly.
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 at school a few days later when Uncle Ken left.
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Finally Monk-Monk was found jammed behind the sofa.
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8 . Hansen and his 10-year-old son Chase search the streets of Salt Lake City every weekend for the homeless to take to lunch. They started Project Empathy(共情)four years ago to
“Just start with a smile, a hello. It really just starts with that. If you do it, you can make a connection. A small gesture can have a
Some of these shared meals have turned into stronger
Father and son’s
“My hope for the future is to
| A．buy | B．cook | C．share | D．eat |
| A．often | B．further | C．also | D．even |
| A．dramatic | B．different | C．minimum | D．decisive |
| A．remarked | B．praised | C．joked | D．quoted |
| A．desires | B．connections | C．motivations | D．opinions |
| A．provided | B．permitted | C．abandoned | D．housed |
| A．through | B．for | C．despite | D．to |
| A．surprised | B．relaxed | C．awesome | D．calm |
| A．dreams | B．influences | C．experiences | D．efforts |
| A．assesses | B．compares | C．highlights | D．respects |
| A．importance | B．task | C．chance | D．role |
| A．argument | B．problem | C．debt | D．conflict |
| A．go away | B．catch on | C．fade out | D．give off |
| A．establish | B．miss | C．exchange | D．maintain |
| A．before | B．if | C．until | D．so |
I’d made the drive to visit my sister, Mandi, so many times that I could practically do it on autopilot. That gave me plenty of time to think about all she was going through. Mandi was 34, with two young children, and had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
I turned at the edge of town, barely glancing at the landscape around me. There wasn’t much to see at this time of year. The once colorful leaves had all fallen from the trees, leaving them black and bare. It was a troubling reflection of what Mandi was going through, the joyful things in her life dropping away one by one.
“Are we almost there, Grandma?”
I’d nearly forgotten my young granddaughter was in the car with me. She’d been quietly watching the scenery go by. I needed to focus on something more positive, at least for her sake. “Thank you, God, for this beautiful day,” I said, trying to sound cheerful.
“I see a pretty blue sky,” Jocelyn said. “And the chocolate trees!”
“Chocolate trees?” I was confused.
“Yes,” Jocelyn said. “When the trees don’t have their leaves on them, they look like chocolate.”
Well, she was not wrong. They were deep brown, like dark chocolate. More importantly, when I thought about them that way, the trees no longer looked so sad and hopeless.
I was still thinking about those trees when we got to Mandi’s, so I told her about the chocolate tree story as soon as Jocelyn and I walked in the door.
“I love that!”Mandi said. Jocelyn bounced on Mandi’s bed, and Mandi gave her a weak smile. I listened as Mandi and Jocelyn made up a story about a princess who lived in a forest made of chocolate trees. Jocelyn’s laughter warmed my heart, but I could tell Mandi needed to rest. When Jocelyn left the room, Mandi continued looking out of the window.
“Looking at the trees?” I guessed.
“I was,” she admitted. “I was thinking about how some people see something bare and ugly out there, but our Jocelyn sees chocolate trees. We should all be like that. We should learn to look for the chocolate.”
“It would certainly make the world a lot sweeter,” I laughed.
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。
A few months later, I drove Mandi home from her chemotherapy (化疗) treatment.
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I sensed movement beside me.
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Sometimes you can count on (指望) people to do the right thing. When Dave Tally found a backpack with a laptop and an envelope full of cash in 2010, he could have considered it a very lucky day. The homeless man counted $3,300 in the bag, an amount that would make a huge difference in his life. However, as tempting (诱人的) as it was to keep the money, deep down he knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.
Back then, Tally was sleeping in the basements of local churches and trying to save up enough money to fix his only source of transportation: his bike. That money could have bought him, a brand new one. Instead, he turned the bag to his boss at the Tempe Community Action Agency, an organization that helps homeless people in the area find jobs. Tally had been working there part-time.
“Finding the envelope with the cash was just exciting. There were lots of crazy thoughts that went through my head,” Tally told ABC News at the time. “I went into the survival mode for a moment, actually more than a moment, thinking about all the things I could do for myself.”
“I beat myself up pretty hard for even thinking I would spend one cent of that person’s money,” Tally added.
After Tally made up his mind to return the bag, he faced the problem of tracking down its owner. There were no identifiers on the backpack or a way to get into the laptop without a password. But then someone suggested checking the flash drive (闪存盘) that they’d also found inside the bag to see if it held any clues (线索).
It sure did. Arizona State University student Bryan Belanger had uploaded his resume (简历) to the drive, easily providing Tally with his contact information. As it turned out, Bryan Belanger was carrying that cash because he was buying a used car from Craigslist website, and he accidentally left his belongings in a station on the way to work.
Paragraph 1:
Belanger was regretful for his carelessness and thought his backpack was gone forever.
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Paragraph 2:
Tally said the day he found the money’s rightful owner was the day his life changed.
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