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.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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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One bright Saturday morning, Mali and her mom walked around the neighbourhood. That is, her mom walked, but Mali ran, skipped, jumped over puddles and visited the neighbours’ dogs. Mali paused to look at the budding (发芽) trees on her block. “I can’t wait until summer,” she said, “especially for Mrs. Fair’s great tomatoes at her market stand.” She pointed.
Mali’s mom stood looking at the empty lot where the market was set up every summer weekend. She looked at Mali, “Honey, Mrs. Fair told me last week that she had to close her stand. She’s really getting too old to run it anymore.”
Mali turned, stared, and put her hands on her waist. “But Mrs. Fair’s stand can’t close!” she said. “It’s the only place in the neighbourhood we can buy fresh, delicious tomatoes.” Then she added, to show she wasn’t being selfish, “Everyone needs fruits and vegetables for a healthy diet.”
After they got home, Mali headed out to her backyard swing to think. “If only I could plant a garden,” she thought. “but our yard is way too small.” Just then, she noticed her neighbour, Mr. Taylor, looking at his daffodils. Mali knew he was thinking about how he had planted those flowers with his wife. This was the first spring since his wife had died, and Mali saw the sadness on his face. Then she had an idea.
Mali cleared her throat, and Mr. Taylor looked up. Mali decided to walk over to the fence. “Hi, Mr. Taylor,” she said. He waved, and turned away. “Wait!” Mali cried. Taking a risk while she still felt brave, she rushed to gather her thoughts. “Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Fair isn’t doing her tomato stand anymore because she’s getting old. So I’d like to grow tomatoes. I don’t want to get in the way of your flowers, but I really want tomatoes.”
Suddenly, Mr. Taylor smiled. “Mali, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but you’ve made me smile. Reasons to smile have been scarce lately. What do you want to do?” Mali repeated, “I wanted to plant tomatoes, but I have no big land.” She sounded a little awkward.
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。
Just then, an idea came to Mr. Taylor.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the fruit ripened, there were more juicy, red tomatoes than even Mali could have imagined.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was eight years old when my family moved from Towoomba to England in 1950. My mother was suffering from a rare disease and had to take treatment in London. The day before we boarded the ship, Father sent his five-year-old red heeler (Australian cattle dog), Spider, who was loved by us all, to his friend Sandy, as Sandy was to be his guardian while we were overseas. We didn’t know how long my mother’s treatment would take or how long we would be away.
Six weeks later, an airletter arrived from Sandy, giving my father the news that Spider had run away just two weeks after we had sailed. I will always remember my father’s face as he read this news. My mother and I tried to comfort him, knowing in our hearts how useless this was.
Sandy had advertised constantly on the media. Despite many “sightings”, the dog was never found. It seemed Spider just kept running and searching for us. My father worried he would be shot or dead from starvation. But our family thought that Father held a secret hope that Spider was still alive.
We sailed back to Australia two years later and my father immediately began his own search for Spider. He repeated calls to the people who had said they had seen his dog, but it turned out to be clueless.
One cold winter’s Saturday morning, eight months after our return, my father had a call from Gin Gin, 375 kilometers from Toowoomba. An elderly lady living on her own was putting food out “for a very old yellow dog”. This had been going on for a few weeks. Immediately we set off.
Five and a half hours later, we found the old house beside the bush (灌木丛). Sadly, the lady told my father that the dog hadn’t been around for a few days. My father had an upset look in his eyes. He put two fingers to his mouth and did his special whistle for Spider.
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。
Suddenly there was a sound in the bush.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Once home we gently cleaned him up.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Mom, please,” Ann a begged eagerly. “Please, let me do it by myself!” She had never made cookies by herself before, but at the age of nine, she felt capable of handling many things. Her friends had been baking cupcakes for a year. Yet, it seemed her parents had little faith in her.
“Anna is going to make cookies? Alone?” her brother, Carl, asked with a laugh. “That is going to be disaster!” Carl used big words to act smarter than Anna. Having a big brother could be annoying. Admittedly, Anna always appeared clumsy. But that was before she turned nine. She thought her parents should realize she would do better now.
At her words, a flash of uncertainty crossed her parents’ faces. Would they agree? Holding her breath, she had waited for what seemed like ages. Surprisingly, Mom nodded, saying, “Okay, but please be careful, and remember to take a look at the cookbook first.”
Fueled by determination, Anna raced to the kitchen. With each step, there was a sense of purpose and confidence growing within her. She had already done it with Mom a million times before. Putting the cookbook aside, she got down to baking cookies from memory, breaking eggs, dropping a cold stick of butter, adding salt and then…um…yes, mixing it well! Using a mixer was easy. She turned on the mixer at the medium speed—and whoa. Whoa. Whoa! Butter splattered (飞溅) everywhere, making the kitchen in a mess. Collecting herself, she turned back to the mixing bowl and started again. This time with softer butter.
Anna placed rounded spoonfuls of mixture onto the cookie pan and put it into the oven (烤炉). Within a few minutes, a fantastic smell filled the kitchen- the smell of cookie success! She was going to silence all those doubts. No more eye-rolling from her big brother. No more “You’re too young, Anna” from her parents. She believed she was grown up and mature enough to be relied on.
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 moment Anna pulled the pan out of the oven, Carl stepped into the kitchen.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Now she decided to have another try, carefully following the cookbook.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As Valentine’s Day, a time for expressing affection through the exchange of presents, drew near, Kendra found herself seated at the kitchen table, carefully penning her name on Valentine’s cards for her classmates. She recognized her own hesitation; words didn’t come easily to her. While she envied the ease with which her peers talked and laughed, her shyness often kept her quiet.
Kendra grabbed another card. . Her eyes lit up at the phrase “You’re dynamite (引起轰动的人或物)!”—a term that would undoubtedly delight her Grammy, who frequently used the expression to praise their festive decorations. “Well, that looks dynamite!” Grammy would exclaim, her approval filling Kendra with warmth.
Just as Kendra was signing the cards, her mother came in, sharing the sad news of Elise, their neighbor, and her recent accident that led to a broken leg, restricting her to home schooling for the coming weeks. Kendra felt sorry for Elise, and quickly picked the most splendid valentine, hurrying to Elise’s home.
Upon arrival, Kendra’s look fell upon the life-sized deer statue decorating the front yard. She studied it, saying to herself, “Wouldn’t this deer look cool with a big heart around his neck? Elise could look out of the window and see it decorated for Valentine’s day.”
With this idea, Kendra got the sizable red heart her Grammy had given her, tied it with string, and hung it around the statue’s neck like a festive chain. The next day, she decorated the antlers (鹿角) with a variety of smaller hearts. It was during this act of kindness that Colin and Amy, Elise’s fellow classmates, happened upon the scene. “Are you decorating Elise’s deer for Valentine’s Day?” they asked. Kendra confirmed with a nod, explaining her intention to cheer up Elise. Despite her uncertainty about what to add next, Colin proposed adding some color, while Amy suggested putting decorations on the deer’s back and forehead. United by a shared purpose, they agreed to meet later.
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。
That afternoon, they met to decorate the deer with the materials they had sourced.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Just then, Elise’s front door opened, and Elise stuck her head out.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Alice was only five and it was her first camping trip with Mum and Dad. She was excited but was a little nervous, too. “What if the tent collapses and squashes us? What if the wind blows it away? What if it rains and the tent leaks? What if a wolf comes into the tent and eats us?...” she kept asking Mum these strange questions.
This made Mum laugh. Alice had read too many fairy stories with big bad wolves in them. Mum comforted Alice, saying that there weren’t any wolves in the city or even in the whole country, except in zoos. “Well, what if one has escaped from a zoo?” asked Alice. Mum laughed, “Zoos are careful enough not to let their animals escape.” Then Alice soon forgot about wolves as the v started getting ready for the camping trip.
Alice helped Dad load up the car. They put a tent into the car, which wasabi gone for the whole family to stay in. Then the sleeping bags, blankets and more. “It’s cold at night when you’re sleeping in a tent,” added Dad. When everything was packed, the car was full to bursting(爆棚). Dad started the car, and soon they were leaving the city behind them.
“Look at the hills!” shouted Mum excitedly. “Look at the cows on the grass!” They drove up a winding road until they reached the campsite, which belonged to a farmer and was in a big field. Once the tent was set up, Alice went to explore. There were trees to climb and a stream for paddling(戏水). Alice sat there watching the cows eating the grass. The day flew by and was: getting dark. Then the family had a barbecue near the tent.
As they were ready for sleep, strange rustling(沙沙声) noises came from the fence next to their tent in the darkness. “What are those noises? Is a wolf approaching?” Alice worried and moved closer to Mum, “Maybe it’s just the wind,” Mum gently patted Alice. Alice didn’t say, anything more. They were all tired after a day outdoors, and crawled into their sleeping bags. Soon Mum and Dad were asleep.
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 was the first time that Alice had slept in a tent outside.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She said to her parents, “There must be a wolf or something else near the fence.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was Christmas Eve when my sister and I decided to open our presents before our mom got home from work. She usually came home about an hour after we got home from school, which we thought was plenty of time to sneak a peek at (偷看) the gifts under the tree. My sister opened the first gift while I was ordered to stand guard at the big picture window in our front room.
I was so excited that I could barely stand still. I also couldn’t keep my eyes on the window very long. My head moved from the window to my sister and back to the window again. I felt like I was watching a Ping-Pong match.
“All right!” my sister shouted. She pulled out a jewelry box. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
I jumped up and down. “Yeah, it’s my turn!”
“No,” she said. “It means that there must be some jewelry under here. I watched my sister rummage (翻找) through the presents under the tree trying to find one she thought was small enough to be a necklace or earrings.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” I said, stomping my foot. I couldn’t do anything except stand guard as she opened present after present. Finally, when my sister’s curiosity was satisfied and she had finished, wrapping her last present back up, we traded places.
My heart hammered so hard that it felt like my chest was moving in and out. My sister reminded me to be careful not to tear the paper, and wrap the presents back up the same way that I had found them.
After unwrapping a few presents, I found it faster to open one end of a present and peek inside. “Cool! Mom and Dad got me headphones for my stereo (立体声音响设备)!” I pulled the headphones out of the box and was about to put them on when my sister shouted, “Quick! Wrap it back up! Mom’s coming!”
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
“Come on!” My sister’s face was as white as the paint on the wall.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our secret was safe, but somehow Christmas morning didn’t feel the same.
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