When I was in middle school, my social studies teacher asked me to enter a writing contest. I said no without thinking. I did not love writing. My family came from Brazil, so English was only my second language. Writing was so difficult and painful for me that my teacher had allowed me to present my paper on the sinking of the Titanic by acting out a play, where I played all the parts. No one laughed harder than he did.
So, why did he suddenly force me to do something at which I was sure to fail? His reply: “Because I love your stories. If you’re willing to apply yourself, I think you have a good shot at this.” Encouraged by his words, I agreed to give it a try.
I chose Paul Revere’s horse as my subject. Paul Revere was a silversmith (银匠) in Boston who rode a horse at night on April 18, 1775 to Lexington to warn people that British soldiers were coming. My story would come straight from the horse’s mouth. Not a brilliant idea, but funny; and unlikely to be anyone else’s choice.
What did the horse think, as he sped through the night? Did he get tired? Have doubts? Did he want to quit? I sympathized immediately. I got tired. I had doubts. I wanted to quit. But, like Revere’s horse, I kept going. I worked hard. I checked my spelling. I asked my older sister to correct my grammar. I checked out a half dozen books on Paul Revere from the library. I even read a few of them.
When I handed in the essay to my teacher, he read it, laughed out loud, and said, “Great. Now, write it again.” I wrote it again, and again and again. When I finally finished it, the thought of winning had given way to the enjoyment of writing. If I didn’t win, I wouldn’t care.
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。
A few weeks later, when I almost forgot the contest, there came the news.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I went to my teacher’s office after the award presentation.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up and walking the route(路线)through thick evergreen forest.
I looked around and finally spotted David, who was standing by himself off to the side by a fence. He was small for ten years old. His usual big toothy smile was absent today. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other children. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to run.
What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event!
I quickly searched the crowd for the school’s coach and asked him what had happened. “I was afraid that kids from other schools would laugh at him,” he explained uncomfortably. “I gave him the choice to run or not, and let him decide.”
I bit back my frustration(懊恼). I knew the coach meant well—he thought he was doing the right thing. After making sure that David could run if he wanted, I turned to find him coming towards me, his small body rocking from side to side as he swung his feet forward.
David had a brain disease which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but at school his classmates thought of him as a regular kid. He always participated to the best of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it unusual that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him longer—that’s all. David had not missed a single practice, and although he always finished his run long after the other children, he did always finish. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the challenges David faced and was proud of his strong determination.
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.
We sat down next to each other, but David wouldn’t look at me.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I watched as David moved up to the starting line with the other runners.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3 . In April last year, I saw a post on the PNP (Pilots N Paws) website from a family in Topeka. They had to move to Virginia but they were on a very tight
It just
When I met Tiffy’s owners, they seemed very
After some goodbyes, I asked George and his wife to help me
The flight was
| A．turn | B．budget | C．schedule | D．connection |
| A．food | B．shelter | C．medicine | D．transportation |
| A．desperately | B．temporarily | C．secretly | D．originally |
| A．appeared | B．proved | C．happened | D．showed |
| A．waited | B．offered | C．hurried | D．failed |
| A．see off | B．look for | C．hand over | D．pick up |
| A．confused | B．nervous | C．annoyed | D．curious |
| A．hard | B．fine | C．common | D．lucky |
| A．coworker | B．passenger | C．stranger | D．neighbor |
| A．speed up | B．work out | C．come back | D．take off |
| A．feed | B．follow | C．change | D．load |
| A．call | B．join | C．leave | D．serve |
| A．unnecessary | B．unexpected | C．unavoidable | D．uneventful |
| A．returned | B．fought | C．flew | D．agreed |
| A．thankful | B．generous | C．proud | D．sympathetic |
4 . You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his dogs.
For many years, I enjoyed living with my dogs, Tilly and Chance. Their
The next week we
We
A year later, much to my
| A．ownership | B．membership | C．companionship | D．leadership |
| A．reservations | B．expectations | C．confidence | D．prejudice |
| A．feared | B．doubted | C．hoped | D．learned |
| A．unsatisfied | B．amused | C．terrified | D．thrilled |
| A．predicted | B．worried | C．regretted | D．insisted |
| A．Flora | B．Chance | C．Molly | D．Tilly |
| A．tied | B．walked | C．bathed | D．fed |
| A．breath | B．balance | C．attention | D．imagination |
| A．calm | B．sure | C．soon | D．real |
| A．By the way | B．In that case | C．By all means | D．In that moment |
| A．continued | B．decided | C．intended | D．pretended |
| A．eye | B．tail | C．ear | D．leg |
| A．secretly | B．constantly | C．eventually | D．unwillingly |
| A．left | B．sold | C．suggested | D．searched |
| A．late | B．hard | C．fine | D．free |
| A．emptied | B．respected | C．occupied | D．discovered |
| A．looking | B．caring | C．waiting | D．calling |
| A．delight | B．credit | C．interest | D．disadvantage |
| A．beg | B．trust | C．need | D．aid |
| A．toys | B．awards | C．food | D．water |
A visually-challenged man from Beijing recently hiked (徒步) 40 days to Xi’an, as a first step
On the 1,100 kilometer journey, the man Cao Shengkang,
Cao and Wu also collected garbage along the road, in order to promote environmental
In the last five years. Cao
Now, Cao has started the second part of his dream to walk along the Belt and Road route. He flew 4, 700 kilometers
I was invited to a cookout on an old friend’s farm in western Washington. I parked my car outside the farm and walked past a milking house which had apparently not been used in many years. A noise at a window caught my attention, so I entered it. It was a hummingbird (蜂鸟), desperately trying to escape. She was covered in spider-webs (蛛网) and was barely able to move her wings. She ceased her struggle the instant I picked her up.
With the bird in my cupped hand, I looked around to see how she had gotten in. The broken window glass was the likely answer. I stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and took her outside, closing the door securely behind me.
When I opened my hand, the bird did not fly away; she sat looking at me with her bright eyes. I removed the sticky spider-webs that covered her head and wings. Still, she made no attempt to fly. Perhaps she had been struggling against the window too long and was too tired? Or too thirsty?
As I carried her up the blackberry-lined path toward my car where I kept a water bottle, she began to move. I stopped, and she soon took wing but did not immediately fly away.
Hovering (悬停), she approached within six inches of my face. For a very long moment, this tiny creature looked into my eyes, turning her head from side to side. Then she flew quickly out of sight.
During the cookout, I told my hosts about the hummingbird incident. They promised to fix the window. As I was departing, my friends walked me to my car. I was standing by the car when a hummingbird flew to the center of our group and began hovering. She turned from person to person until she came to me. She again looked directly into my eyes, then let out a squeaking call and was gone. For a moment, all were speechless. Then someone said, “She must have come to say goodbye.”
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。
A few weeks later, I went to the farm again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was just about to leave when the hummingbird appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . Like many young people, Jessica wants to travel the globe. Unlike most of them, this 25-year-old is doing it
They’re part of a new form of the
It’s not all sightseeing. The two travelers carefully
The couple has a high
| A．indoors | B．online | C．single-handed | D．full-time |
| A．game | B．service | C．vacation | D．procedure |
| A．safe | B．busy | C．helpful | D．affordable |
| A．local | B．private | C．sharing | D．agricultural |
| A．strangers’ | B．parents’ | C．co-workers’ | D．neighbors’ |
| A．favor | B．defense | C．honor | D．absence |
| A．plan | B．explain | C．compare | D．complete |
| A．buy | B．transport | C．choose | D．please |
| A．support | B．comfort | C．control | D．attention |
| A．cooking | B．staying | C．waiting | D．studying |
| A．success | B．survival | C．growth | D．unemployment |
| A．budget | B．abilities | C．expectations | D．understanding |
| A．admiring | B．donating | C．sending | D．borrowing |
| A．clean | B．open | C．simple | D．empty |
| A．guess | B．decision | C．response | D．impression |
Henry Tyler made the catch of the year on the weekend. When he saw a young child hanging from a sixth-floor apartment balcony (阳台), Henry ran one hundred metres, jumped over a 1.2-metre fence, and held out his arms to catch the
Eric Brown, only three years old, knocked Henry down when he fell. The boy is in the hospital and doctors say he'll be OK.
Eric woke up a little later when he heard children playing outside. He pushed a chair onto the balcony, and climbed up
Henry
"He saved my
"I just didn't want the boy to be hurt," said Henry.
9 . My life as a tax-paying employed person began in middle school, when, for three whole days, I worked in a baking factory.
My best friend Betsy’s father was a manager at Hough Bakeries, which, at Easter time,
Our
Dad
| A．sold | B．ordered | C．made | D．reserved |
| A．stores | B．families | C．schools | D．citizens |
| A．generous | B．financial | C．technical | D．temporary |
| A．plans | B．problems | C．excuses | D．hobbies |
| A．offer | B．earn | C．set | D．suggest |
| A．worked | B．closed | C．developed | D．survived |
| A．ambition | B．permission | C．experience | D．invitation |
| A．joys | B．ideas | C．roles | D．choices |
| A．Save | B．Keep | C．Stop | D．Remove |
| A．harder | B．better | C．longer | D．cheaper |
| A．Calm down | B．Slow down | C．Stay on | D．Move on |
| A．indicated | B．witnessed | C．expected | D．remembered |
| A．cried | B．smiled | C．hesitated | D．refused |
| A．tasting | B．finding | C．sharing | D．delivering |
| A．withdraw | B．donate | C．receive | D．appreciate |
10 . We journalists live in a new age of storytelling, with many new multimedia tools. Many young people don’t even realize it’s new. For them, it’s just normal.
This hit home for me as I was sitting with my 2-year-old grandson on a sofa over the Spring Festival holiday. I had brought a children’s book to read. It had simple words and colorful pictures — a perfect match for his age.
Picture this: my grandson sitting on my lap as I hold the book in front so he can see the pictures. As I read, he reaches out and pokes (戳) the page with his finger.
What’s up with that? He just likes the pictures, I thought. Then I turned the page and continued. He poked the page even harder. I nearly dropped the book. I was confused: Is there something wrong with this kid?
Then I realized what was happening. He was actually a stranger to books. His father frequently amused the boy with a tablet computer which was loaded with colorful pictures that come alive when you poke them. He thought my storybook was like that.
Sorry, kid. This book is not part of your high-tech world. It’s an outdated, lifeless thing. An antique, like your grandfather. Well, I may be old, but I’m not hopelessly challenged, digitally speaking. I edit video and produce audio. I use mobile payment. I’ve even built websites.
There’s one notable gap in my new-media experience, however: I’ve spent little time in front of a camera, since I have a face made for radio. But that didn’t stop China Daily from asking me last week to share a personal story for a video project about the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.
Anyway, grandpa is now an internet star — two minutes of fame! I promise not to let it go to my head. But I will make sure my 2-year-old grandson sees it on his tablet.
1. What do the underlined words “hit home for me” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Provided shelter for me. | B．Became very clear to me. |
| C．Took the pressure off me. | D．Worked quite well on me. |
| A．He took it for a tablet computer. | B．He disliked the colorful pictures. |
| C．He was angry with his grandpa. | D．He wanted to read it by himself. |
| A．Socially ambitious. | B．Physically attractive. |
| C．Financially independent. | D．Digitally competent. |
| A．He lacks experience in his job. | B．He seldom appears on television. |
| C．He manages a video department. | D．He often interviews internet stars. |
