1 . I was 68 when I first stepped on stage as a standup comedian in 2003. I’d never set foot in a comedy _______ before. I’ve always been a(n) _______ — I’ve worked as a singer, actor and musician — but all that came to an end after 9/11. I live in New York, and we watched the _______ towers fall from my apartment building. For a year afterwards, nobody wanted to go out or be _______.

It was then that I started to think about comedy. I realised people needed to laugh, to enjoy themselves again, and thought that with a little _______ I could do it. I took a few classes, tried to work out a routine, and finally _______ the courage to get up on stage. That first time was terrifying. I had no idea what the audience would _______ of me.

In New York, comedians are _______ young men with beards. It’s hard enough to _______ through as a woman, even harder as someone old enough to be their grandmother. As I stepped on stage that first time, people laughed nervously. They were clearly ________ to see me. I introduced myself, stated my age and tried my first joke. There was ________. But by the time I got to the third line, people were properly laughing. I was ________.

Now my sets differ. I might be on stage for 10 minutes in front of a dozen people, or my one-woman show is a full hour in front of a crowd of 100.

After a show, people young and old come up to me, saying what a(n) ________ I am. They say they want to be as active as me when they ________ my age. I’m pleased I can show that as an older person you don’t need to take a ________ seat in life.”

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!”

“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.

“No!” screamed Asha as she saw a huge pimple (粉刺) on her nose. She didn’t have time to cover the pimple as she was running late to school. She ate her breakfast fast, grabbed her bag and caught her school bus just in time. As soon as she got on the bus, kids started laughing. Nobody was willing to let her sit beside them. Even Anita, her best friend, acted a bit differently, which made her more upset.

Asha was lost in thought. A new thought popped in her mind every second. Once she thought “Great! I have to worry about my pimple as if homework and exams were not enough.” The next minute another thought popped in her mind.“I am tired of using this face wash. I still wonder how I agreed to use that thing!” Then suddenly, Mr. Shetty, the bus driver, said, “Asha, do you want to miss the class?” Asha was so lost in her thought that she did not even notice that everybody had got off the bus except her.

She did not want to step into the school campus. She thought, “What will my teachers think? What will my friends think?” After some time, she gathered courage and entered her class, expecting that she would be laughed at. While entering the class, she heard students commenting on her pimple. A child laughed, “Look, someone’s cherry is on her nose! Get it for me.” She heard some boys murmuring, “She would definitely be chosen as the joker in the dance.”

It was a very hard day at school for her. As soon as she got home, she hugged her mother tightly, with tears welling up in her eyes.

Asha told her mother what she had experienced in the day.

Asha opened the door and in came her friend Anita with a bunch of flowers.

Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.

An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.

“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.

“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”

“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.

Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.

Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.

“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，

“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”

“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”

At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.

But things began to change as she was doing the chores.

In 1989, fresh out of high school, I had the difficult task of choosing a career path before college started in three months. In those days in Pakistan, there were limited choices: becoming a doctor or an engineer, or entering the financial world after getting a business degree. I wasn’t interested in engineering, so that I was left with medicine or business. I couldn’t decide.

My uncle suggested that I do a work placement(实习) to experience it for a month in an international company followed by a month in a hospital. After that, I could make a decision. It seemed like a good idea.

I was accepted for a month’s placement at a foreign bank in Karachi. I got a feel of how the world of finance functioned, made new friends, and generally enjoyed the mostly easy­going work surroundings.

The month passed rapidly, and soon I began working at a leading hospital in Karachi. The experience couldn’t have been more different. The hospital had a stressful environment. The days started early (at 7 am, compared to 9 am at the bank), and were filled with endless duties. And the night calls! This was crazy, working all day, through the night, and again the next day.

I began thinking about my two experiences. The bank had offered a more relaxing atmosphere, better working hours and less stress. The hospital was full of excitement, but studying and training were difficult. It seemed that the business choice was going to win out.

Near the end of my month at the hospital, I was driving home after an especially busy night call. In front of me was a public bus, with college students sitting on the top. As the driver weaved through (穿梭) traffic, I could see the boys shaking from side to side.

Suddenly, a boy fell off the back of the bus.

The next day, when I went to the hospital to see the boy, all his family got up, with grateful smiles on their faces.

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Sock-eater ants are made-up animals with the best intention ever.

“Ow!Ow!” I shouted as I broke my jump rope rhythm and trapped my feet in the loose rope. “Something in my shoe is biting me,” I screamed. My teacher, Miss Bell, heard me and hurried over. “Which foot is it?” she asked. I stuck up my right foot as she bent over to inspect it. Just then, feeling a new sting, I yelped in pain. “Here. Let’s take off your shoe.” Instructed Miss Bell, squatting down to get the shoe.

Then, I remembered the holes in my socks. Welfare socks didn’t last long. Holes in socks were common for our family in the years following the Great Depression. Socks with holes in the heels often got pulled down so the hole wouldn’t show. Where there was a hole, there would soon be a blister. Every week as she washed our clothes, Mama would say, “Even if we’re poor and our clothes are worn out, we can still be clean.”

I refused to let Miss Bell take off my shoe. I could not bear for her and the others on the playground to see the hole in my faded red sock. “Come on, then. Let’s go inside to the office.” I did my best to hold back my tears. Yet, each time the thing in my shoe stung me, I would let out aloud, “Oh, oh, oh!” Tears raced down my twisted face.

Miss Bell lifted me onto the desk and tried again. “Let me take a look.”She just about had the shoe off when I saw the hole. I grabbed the shoe and pulled on and held it. The stinging worsened the tighter I grabbed the shoe. Miss Womble, the fifth-grade teacher,came into the office. “Can I help? I know her. She lives next door to me.” “I guess ants are stinging her right foot, but she won’t let me take off her shoe,” said Miss Bell.

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。

Miss Womble put both hands on my shaking shoulders and looked into my upset, red eyes.

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Dealing with the angry bites gently, Miss Womble lifted her head and smiled at me.

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