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.

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.

When he was around 5-6 years old, my brother Ted, who is four years younger to me, suddenly found his legs unable to move one night. What followed was one of the hardest times of my parents'life. Months passed with them meeting various doctors, visiting different hospitals, and knocking at the doorstep of every possible chance — all the time with Ted in their arms, since he wasn't able to walk on his own anymore.

There were doubts of permanent paralysis（瘫痪）— the very mention of which was enough to break us down. From finding it extremely painful to walk, to not being able to get up on his own, and to not being able to stand at all, Ted's problem was worsening day by day. Most surprisingly, all this while, he was as strong as, perhaps, only children can be in such difficult times.

During this period, it was not unusual for my mother to have sudden breakdowns. Once, she burst into tears while watching Ted playing joyfully. He wiped off her tears, and said, “Don't cry, mummy. See, I can stand and even run on my own!” Saying this, he tried to get up, stood on shaking legs for just about a few microseconds and fell down, only to be safely caught in the arms of my mom, who hugged him dearly and cried some more.

This was the most heart-breaking thing that I had ever experienced. But it was also a powerful one for the simple fact that it was my little brother who taught us what life was all about—HOPE.

Witnessing my brother's strong will and positive attitude inspired me as well. As a brother, I could not stand by doing nothing at all. Hope was burning in my heart when I had the idea to train my brother to walk again. I firmly believe Ted could stand up and walk as he used to. Whenever school was over, I would put Ted into a pushchair and tell my mom that we'd just go to the park.

In the park, I would put Ted one meter away from me, encouraging him to walk.

We agreed to keep this a secret from our parents until mom's birthday.

3 . 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。

Mary was fond of outdoor activities, especially the beauty of nature. She would often spend her weekends hiking, biking, or simply taking long walks in the countryside. She had a group of close friends who shared the same enthusiasm for the outdoors.

One day, while enjoying a cup of coffee at a local cafe, Mary’s friend Jenny approached her with an exciting idea. “Mary, have you ever thought about stargazing (观星) in the wilderness?” Jenny asked, her eyes shining with excitement. Mary’s eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face. “Stargazing? That sounds incredible! Count me in,” she exclaimed, her voice filled with expectation.

The plan was set for a cool evening when the sky would be at its clearest. As the day turned into night, the two friends gathered their warmest clothes, packed some snacks and hot chocolate, and set off on their adventure. They began their journey from Mary’s house.

As they walked hand in hand, their breath turned into misty clouds in the cool night air. The moon was hidden behind thick clouds, casting a darkness on their path. But instead of feeling scared, they felt a rush of excitement washing over them. The stillness of the night, broken only by the soft whispers of the wind, brought a newfound peace to their mind.

They walked through the streets, little by little, the city lights faded, and the stars above became increasingly obvious. They couldn’t help but feel amazed by the countless stars that decorated the sky. They decided not to choose the well-known path and wandered deeper into the wilderness. Fireflies (萤火虫) danced gracefully, lighting up the night sky.

Mary’s eyes widened with childlike wonder as she watched the tiny creatures create their magical light show. Absorbed in chats and laughter, they failed to notice when the familiar sights started to disappear, slowly getting swallowed by the tall trees of the forest.

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。

Suddenly, Mary’s heart skipped a beat as she realized they had lost their way.

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Determined, the two friends set off, guided by the light of the North Star.

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4 . In our family, the presents we gave one another were almost always homemade. I thought that was the definition of a gift: something you made for someone else. We made all our Christmas gifts: piggy banks from old bottles, and puppets from retired socks. It didn’t seem like a hardship to me; it was something special.

My father loves wild strawberries, so for Father’s Day my mother would almost always make him strawberry cakes. While we kids were responsible for the berries, we each got an old jar and spent the Saturday before the celebration in the fields, filling it as more ended up in our mouths. Finally, we returned home and poured them out on the kitchen table to sort out the bugs. I’m sure we missed some, but Dad never mentioned the extra protein.

In fact, he thought that was the best possible present, or so he had us convinced. It was a gift that could never be bought. As children raised by strawberries, we were probably unaware that the gift of berries was from the fields themselves, not from us. Our gift was time, attention, care and “red” fingers.

Gifts from the earth or from each other establish a particular relationship, a duty of sorts to give, to receive, and to exchange. The field gave to us, we gave to my dad, and we tried to give back to the strawberries. When the berry season was done, the plants would send out its red runners to make new plants. So I would weed out little fields of ground where the runners touched down. Sure enough, tiny little roots would emerge from the runner and by the end of the season there were even more plants, ready to bloom under the next strawberry season. No person taught us this — the strawberries showed us. Because they had given us a gift, an ongoing relationship opened between us.

5 . “I don’t want to see that cat in our yard again,” my husband said as he shooed the beautiful cat back into the neighbor’s yard. “I don’t appreciate her cat ________ in our yard,” he insisted. Sighing, I sent off a quick________ to our sweet neighbor, Cheryl, informing her of my husband’s ________ of cats. “I’ll do my best,” she replied some time later, “but it’s kind of hard ________ where she goes when I let her outside.”

The following morning, John stood at the window in our bedroom. “You aren’t going to ________ this,” he said in a low voice. “Come look!” “Oh, my God!” I cried ________. Right in the center of our yard were two ________ groundhogs (土拨鼠). John raised the ________, and the two raced into the woods ________. That evening, I happened to glance out the window, only to see a big fat groundhog chewing on the flowers we’d planted. “Something’s got to be done!” John shouted. He surfed the Internet and looked up what ________ the groundhog could cause and how they could be ________. “The groundhogs do not like cats. That’s ________… in fact, they hate the ________ of soiled kitty litter. Um… why don’t you text Cheryl and let her know the cat ban has been ________?” I couldn’t help smiling to myself.

That evening, we spotted the sweet yellow cat in our yard searching mice. The groundhogs were nowhere to be ________. “It’s a beautiful evening, isn’t it?” My husband smiled as we sat on the sofa.

As an independent, self-reliant person who always handled everything by myself, I didn’t expect parenting to be hard. Oh, sure, it’s difficult for other people. I heard parents complaining all the time — kids are challenging; nothing is ever clean; there’s not enough time in the day to do everything. But that was “other people” and I knew I could handle it. How complicated could it be?

I’d always dreamed of adopting a child, and finally my dream came true one summer afternoon. Even though we had requested only one child, the worker asked, “Could you take another baby and his eleven-year-old brother?” Of course, we could. We had room to have all three boys together.

The first week after they moved in, I spent my days rushing from task to task, cleaning and making sure they had all they needed. I constantly organized our living room, which was suddenly full of toys, and picked up the path of destruction left in the boys’ wake. Cooking and cleaning after meals and snacks seemed to take half of my day. I hardly ever sat; something always needed to be done.

“I think we need a break,” my husband told me one evening as I was falling asleep on the couch as usual.

“No,” I refused. The idea of sending them to a stranger sickened me. However, with each passing day, I was growing more and more exhausted. Besides meeting the physical needs of the boys, there were medical and emotional needs. Both the little ones constantly clung (黏住) to me. It was never quiet in our house; I felt overwhelmed.

One night, my husband said firmly that he needed a break. Whether I “needed” one or not, we were going to take one. With tears rolling down my cheeks, I nodded, knowing it was true, although I didn’t want to admit my weakness.

I called my parents.

Asking for help is something I must keep re-learning as time goes on, but it’s getting easier.

7 . Growing up, Maitri Wadher, a left-hander, has struggled to cope in a world made for right-handed people. From school desks to spiral notebooks that stop the natural flow of writing, Maitri has faced tough challenges from a young age. “My mother used to tie my left hand and make me eat with my right until a doctor warned that this could significantly affect my growth and confidence,” Maitri says.

This childhood experience had gnawed (折磨) at the back of her mind, pushing her to do something to ease the lives of fellow left-handers. In September 2018, she started The Left Out Store, which makes everyday products ranging from left-handed writing tools and scissors to kitchen tools for left-handed people.

Starting The Left Out Store wasn’t in the cards for Maitri for a very long time. The idea for The Left Out Store came to Maitri in just 20 minutes during a festival at St. Joseph’s Institute of Management, where she was a post-graduate student. She presented the rough idea to judges who later became sponsors, and they enthusiastically supported it. This encouragement gave her the push to make it a market research project to test the waters and explore the potential market.

Initially, Maitri faced a few hiccups. It took her quite some time to find vendors (小贩) and make them understand how to make the products. With everything in place, Maitri went through a tough time reaching customers. The first time she made a proper sale was at an exhibition at Lalit Ashok. “People were surprised at first, but gradually more left-handed people began approaching me, and said they relate to my struggles.” Since then, she has been regularly marketing her products at exhibitions, and keeps The Left Out Store active on social media.

8 . My grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Seeing her condition worsen over time, and knowing I could do nothing, created a feeling of ________ in me.

As the years passed and my understanding of the disease grew, my frustration turned first to anger, then resignation (顺从), and finally ________. Though the disease was bound to slowly eat away at her, there were ways to ________ its progress. Every night the two of us would sit together and ________ while my grandmother would count beans. The exercise could help to keep her mentally ________.

Gradually her counting became slower, and she would lose track of things more ________. While at night we would count beans, in the day I involved myself in studies of ________. My earlier feelings of despair gave way to ________; advances in genetic engineering offered the possibility that one day those like my grandmother could be cured, or ________ from developing Alzheimer’s in the first place.

Seeing my grandmother slip away ________ me to take biology courses to learn more about cells, the nervous system, and genetic information, which helped me better understand how our ________ of this disease has grown in the past decade. ________ I began to see new possibilities for preventing diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Nowadays, my grandmother cannot count beans anymore and doesn’t ________ me at all. Once she used to tell me stories and I whispered to her all my problems. Now I am a ________ to her. How I wish one day I could contribute to a future, where no child has to watch their grandmother count the ________ they have left together.