One day a friend invited me to join gymnastics class that she had belonged to for many years. My mom got the needed information and within a few days I was ready to start!
When I got there, I was extremely nervous. The group wasn’t very welcoming so I was regretting signing up. It seemed they were comfortable with the team they had, and they didn’t want anyone to be added to it. But after working together for a few days, we all soon became friends. A month passed and I learned to do many things. I was excited and ready to learn back handsprings(手翻). Back handsprings are one of the main things you need to know for gymnastics because they are done so often. In my opinion, they are the hardest to do, but I was ready to try.
My friend was the queen of back handsprings, so she helped me understand each and every step. Our coach pulled out a handspring machine to help the kids who were learning how to do them for the first time. This machine is a block that has cushion(垫子) all around it. You basically sit in the mouth of the machine and push off with your feet and go backwards until you land on your hands, then feet.
Even with the handspring machine, I couldn’t get my feet right, so I had to try again and again. Impatient, some of the girls seemed to get angry. I was feeling like the new kid in the group again. The new kid that didn’t know what she was doing but everyone else knew it!
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。
Luckily, my friend, the queen of back handsprings, kept encouraging me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, I finally got it right.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In December, an unseen disease arrived in a village. Ally was one of the victims. She lay, barely moving, in her bed staring at a wall out of the window under her blanket.
The doctor took her father, who was a painter, aside and claimed, “She has one chance in—let us say, ten. And that chance is for her to want to live. Try to encourage her to think more hopeful thoughts, about the future, about living.”
Her father took some paper and a pen into Ally’s room and began a pen drawing, in an attempt to raise Ally’s spirits. Ally’s eyes were open, but they weren’t watching him. Instead, she stared out the window and counted backwards, “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”
“What are you counting, dear?” asked her father. “They’re falling faster now,” replied Ally.
“Three days ago there were almost a hundred. But now there are only five left now. Five leaves on the ivy vine (常春藤). When the last one falls, I must go, too.”
“Oh, I never heard of such nonsense,” quickly replied her father. But Ally’s mind was made up. “I want to see the last one fall. I want to go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.”
“Try to sleep,” said her father. Ally closed her eyes quietly. Watching her daughter’s pale face, he was lost in deep thought. As a painter, he had never produced a masterpiece he longed to paint in 40 years. As a father, he even couldn’t help her daughter cheer up. Looking out of the window, he noticed that there was just one remaining leaf. What’s more, a cold rain was falling mixed with snow. “Are there people in the world that are foolish to think they’ll die because leaves drop off from an ivy vine? This is not a place in which Ally shall lie sick.” He made up his mind to do something.
The next morning, Ally woke and asked for the curtains to be opened. One leaf remained on the ivy vine, bravely holding on in the wind and rain. “It will fall today. And I will die with it.”
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。
The following day, Ally asked again for the curtains to be opened.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A few weeks later, Ally recovered completely and the secret was revealed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Look!” I said to my husband, Roger, pointing to the branches. “The doves (鸽子) have built a nest.
On a chilly April day, we watched with horror as a hawk dived down and took one of the doves. By the next morning the other parent was gone too. Roger climbed up a ladder to take a look into the nest. Was it possible the hawk had spared the young? Yes, there sat a newly hatched baby dove! We brought him inside and set up the nesting box with the heat lamps we had used for raising chickens. Then we rushed to the pet shop to buy the formula (配方奶) which needed to look like the mother’s milk. But even with our care and prayers, we knew that the dove’s chances were slim. We were especially worried that our little bird, whom we’d named Hawkeye, hardly cooed (咕咕地叫) at all. That had to be a bad sign.
But to our surprise, Hawkeye not only survived but also thrived. Within a month, he was able to stand on the edge of a bowl and eat out of a baby spoon. And before we knew it, he was eating the seeds we gave him. Having the opportunity to nurture this new life brought me a greater measure of peace with each passing day.
As Hawkeye grew, we noticed that unlike all the other doves in our yard, he had a double breast with a line dividing it. When I did some research on the doves, I found out that females don’t often coo.
“We got it all wrong,” I told Roger. “Hawkeye is a girl!”
We realized that we’d have to teach her to fly. First, we urged her to fly from a finger to the bottom rung (梯子的横档) of a six-foot ladder, and in no time she was moving quickly to the top. She lit out (逃走，溜掉) for the kitchen whenever she heard the click of the spoon on her bowl. By mid-June she’d gained full confidence in her wings.
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。
Paragraph 1: At that time, we knew it was time to set our Hawkeye free.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: But one May morning, Hawkeye and the other dove landed on the rooftop.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Crab Lessons
My son Geordi was a rather spirited boy. Very little held his attention for long. He spent most of his spare time thinking up new ways to scare me half to death. Like the time he decided to “surf” on a tiny plastic table that was meant to hold a few drinks rather than a six-year-old boy. Geordi had just begun learning about the ocean in school and was surprisingly fascinated by it. We lived in Delaware, so any discussion about the ocean usually included horseshoe crabs, which crowded our coasts to mate in the late spring.
As part of the lesson, Geordi’s teacher brought horseshoe crab shells (壳) to school for the children to touch and examine. Hearing that horseshoe crabs had been around for over 300 million years, even before the dinosaurs, Geordi thought that was officially the coolest thing he had ever heard. He could not stop talking about it for days, and I decided it was time for us to take a drive to the Delaware Bay.
As we stepped out from the car, strong wind nearly blew my poor forty-five-pound child to the ground. Being a six-year-old mischievous (调皮的) boy, Geordi saw this as an opportunity to showcase his amazing talents, which included falling down, getting up, falling down and, yes, getting up again. This, of course, was always complete with giggles (咯咯笑). The drama came to a sudden stop as Geordi spied the dozens of army-truck-looking creatures in the sand. The next sound effect was “Wow!” as his body froze and his eyes widened with wonder.
Geordi ran around excitedly, not knowing which one to check out first. He settled on a horseshoe crab that was on its back, legs waving wildly in the air, desperate for water. “Mom, look at this one!” he screamed. “He’s cool!” I pointed out the different body parts of the crab for him, and he listened quietly and absorbed the information. He said, “I really liked him. I think I will name him Spike because he had all those really cool, spiky (尖的) things on his back.” Then I picked up the crab, turned it over to its proper position and placed it at the edge of the water.
注意：1.续写词数应为150 左右;
2.请按如下格式作答。
Geordi asked what I was doing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Geordi spotted many more horseshoe crabs on their backs.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My daughter Kathy’s birthday was approaching. Last Sunday, in the early morning, she asked me whether I’d buy her a birthday gift.
I said, “Of course. And to buy the gift, I decide to sell your never-to-be-used-again baby things that still look new and useful. Will you allow it?” She immediately agreed and began sorting out her baby stuff. My husband Sam gladly joined us. Soon, we gathered the stuff well enough. I decided to take them to the second-hand market in the following week and then use the money collected to buy Kathy the bike she dreamed about.
Thinking about that, I waved Kathy and Sam goodbye and left for the local hospital to visit an ill friend there. After twenty-five minutes of drive, I arrived. And after seeing my friend, I went to turn in my visitor’s pass at the hospital desk. There, I overheard an argument between a receptionist (接待员) and a worried and disappointed man whose clothes were a little worn out. The receptionist was explaining that his newborn girl couldn’t leave the hospital without an infant car seat.
Confused, the man asked, “What’s on earth an infant car seat? How much can one cost?” Based on his accent and appearance, I guessed he probably was new here. While I observed the man, the receptionist told him, “Sir, it’s a soft seat made specifically to protect infants and younger babies in a vehicle. It can be easily put in the vehicle. The price often ranges from 70 dollars to 550 dollars.”
So upset, the man said, “Where can I get such a seat at this time and where can I get the money to buy one?” “I’m sorry, sir, but this is what the state law requires. Nobody can take a baby out of the hospital without that seat,” the receptionist said. “Your wife can go home with you today, but the baby can’t leave unless she’s in a car seat.”
My daughter just had an infant car seat, which I had planned to sell. Finding the man looked so helpless, I wondered whether to give him Kathy’s seat for free.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
While debating with myself, I thought about my late mom who never hesitated to help strangers.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the man and I got to my house, Sam and Kathy felt surprised.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing the picture of Kelly and I holding teddy bears with great joy, I couldn’t help recalling the sweet memory. A few years ago, before Christmas, my dad placed a large box in his grocery store for people to donate toys for children in need. Kelly, my best friend came over to help with the wrapping. Knowing that our efforts would bring joy to so many children during the holiday season, we thought it was a rewarding experience.
As we worked, we shared moments of laughter and joy. After a short while, we had almost finished wrapping all the toys with just one little teddy bear left. Looking at it, I said, “It is the sweetest! It reminds me of my teddy bear. I sold all my little kid stuff at our garage sale when we moved. But now I’m really missing it!”
Kelly came to see it and shared. “I have a sad teddy bear story too. When my little brother was a baby, I let him play with my Rosy Bear, but he refused to give her back. Ever.” After our chat, we knew both of us had a special story with a teddy bear.
Right then, my dad entered the room and exclaimed. “Wow, great wrapping job! The kids are going to be thrilled when opening these presents.”
“They definitely will. Maybe we both want to be the one who can get the teddy bear. I can just imagine how delighted a kid would be to unwrap this sweet teddy bear.” said Kelly. We laughed, gazing at the perfectly wrapped bears.
My mom, joining in the laughter, suggested, “Why don’t you gather at our house next Saturday for a cookie-decorating party and exchange your Christmas gifts in advance? I’ll prepare the cookies for you.” “Good idea! I will enjoy the great joy of unwrapping the gift.” I said cheerfully. Hearing what we said, Kelly’s eyes lit up, saying, “Count me in!”
“All right, girls,” said my dad. “We need to do the toy-loading work now. We have to drop off all these presents before five o’clock!”
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。
Paragraph 1: The next week, I was trying to figure out a perfect gift for the party.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Finally, the day of the party arrived.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I decided to volunteer to be the “room mother” to my daughter Jenny’s class in second grade. I would have tasks like making cookies and helping with the kids’ every field trip. That evening, when I picked Jenny up from school, she introduced her best friend Tommy to me. During the chat, I noticed he had the sharpest sense of humor. And it touched my heart.
We burst out laughing just as their math teacher walked up. She smiled at me and then said to Tommy coldly, “Your grades are the lowest again.” Tommy’s face fell as he walked away. Placing his hands in his pockets, he turned and met my eyes. I would never forget that look. It was a look of hopelessness.
During the following days, I found Tommy’s low grades had led to him having no interest in study. Besides, he suffered from serious inferiority complex (自卑感). I wanted to communicate with him about his problem but he always refused.
Finally, one day he talked to me. He told me that all the students in his class except him had received at least one award because of good performance in study, sports or something else. “I don’t remember ever doing anything proud in my whole life, Miss Jaye,” he cried. “I’m nobody. I’ll be a failure forever. I won’t achieve anything.”
I felt great pity for him and told the story of my brother who also always doubted himself when young and finally grew to be an excellent scientist. Then, I told him that he was a wonderful boy who was humorous, smart, polite, etc. And I told him that he could be somebody as long as he was confident and worked hard like my brother. But he was still absorbed in sorrow.
In order to build Tommy’s confidence, I talked to his headteacher and his parents about his situation. But after several hours’ discussion, we still couldn’t make up a plan to help him.
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。
Paragraph 1: Suddenly, a poster on the table struck me.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Soon, it was the day of the Joke competition.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The boys at the back of the school bus were restless. Stevie did his best to ignore the others. “”Settled own!”Mr Taylor said. “We’ll be there soon. Wait till you see the climbing walls. You’ll be very happy.” Stevie hadn’t liked this “Boys Rulz” club from the start. They were troublemakers. Mom had made him join because she was worried that he didn’t seem to be fitting in. It was n this fault, thought Stevie, school was boring. None of the teachers trusted him, and no special boy’s group was to change that.
All the boys stared up in wonder at the huge climbing walls. Stevie looked down at his thin arms and wondered how he could climb up that. Mr Taylor and a man called Rick helped the boys get into their harnesses (保护带) and showed them how to climb up. “Now find a partner and get them to check all your straps (带子) and everything,” said Mr Taylor. The boys quickly paired off, leaving Stevie standing there alone. “Cool, you’re with me,” said Rick, holding up his hand for a high-five. Stevie high-five d him back weakly. Stevie was on a tiny wall which the others had called the “baby wall”. He gritted his teeth (咬紧牙关), his face pressed against the rough surface and reached for the next, hold. “Done!” he called down from the top. “Now let go of the rock and walk down as I showed you,” said Rick. “It’s perfectly safe.” Stevie did as instructed, and Rick started to let him down slowly. “Well done,” said Rick when Stevie got to the bottom.
Then someone pointed out that Mr Taylor hadn’t done any climbing himself.” I plan to, “said Mr Taylor.” But I’ll need a partner, someone I can really trust. “The boys volunteered actively, but Mr Taylor pretended he hadn’t heard. He looked around the group. “How about you, Stevie?” he said at last. “Fancy being my belayer?” A be layer is somebody who controls how you come down, the one that stops you from falling.
要求：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。
Stevie looked up, greatly surprised.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Ready to let me down?” Mr Taylor called down to Stevie.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In a distant village surrounded by rolling hills and large fields, there lived a young boy named Lei. At the age of 15, Lei stood out with excellent study performance. His journey to this point, however, was full of challenges and struggles.
Lei was born in a happy family. His parents, hardworking farmers, grew crops from the land to support their family’s life. Lei grew up, surrounded by the love and care of his family, with his days filled with laughter and the simple joys of childhood. However, his life took a sudden turn when his parents decided to move to the city in search of greater opportunities to support their family. Therefore, Lei had to be left behind and taken care of by his grandparents. Although Lei was taken good care of, he felt lonely and sad without his parents around. The house was once filled with his parents’ voices, but now only he and his grandparents were at home. He missed his parents and the happy time he spent with them.
This emotional struggle began to affect Lei’s schoolwork. Once as a curious and eager student, Lei found himself losing interest in his studies. He even didn’t want to go to school from time to time and his grades began to fall greatly. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, his parents made a difficult decision to send Lei to a boarding (寄宿制) school, hoping it would provide him with a fresh start.
However, adjusting to the boarding school life was not easy for Lei. His shy nature made it difficult for him to connect with his classmates and he often felt like an outsider. The pressure and loneliness increased until one day Lei told his teacher about his feeling and thoughts. Concerned about Lei’s health, the teacher immediately reached out to his parents, expecting them to have a heart-to-heart conversation with their son. Taking the teacher’s advice to heart, Lei’s parents took on a long journey, traveling by train and bus for almost a day to reach him.
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。
Then Lei’s parents had a heart-to-heart conversation with Lei.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The conversation was a turning point for Lei.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For many, an act of kindness is its own reward. But Eva Hachey found her selflessness answered in ways she could never have imagined.
For weeks, Eva Hachey had imagined adopting a golden Chihuahua with a white spot on its forehead. And there he was, at her local SPCA in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The dog had been abused by his previous owners and was timid. “He’d come to me, then back away and growl, then come back to me,” Hachey said. “After 15 minutes, the attendant picked him up and put him in my lap. He started giving me kisses. He stole my heart in that moment.” She adopted the ten-month-old puppy on the spot and named him Bruno.
Bruno lived happily with Hachey and her 35-year-old daughter, Angel Hutchinson, for five months. Then, on the evening of September 26, 2016, Hachey, 52 at the time, returned home as usual at 8 p. m. from her job as a chiropractic assistant and office manager. And as usual, she ate supper in front of the TV in the living room. Around 10:30, a friend called, just as Bruno went into Hutchinson’s room to go to sleep for the night. Hachey and her friend chatted a bit, and as Hachey hung up, she noticed the time was 11:08.
“The next thing I remember was a male voice saying, ‘Eva, Eva, wake up.’ It was an emergency doctor,” said Hachey. “I looked around, and the room was just full of people. And I said, ‘What are you doing in my house?’”
What they were doing was saving her life. By the time Hachey had hung up with her friend, Hutchinson was fast asleep in her bedroom and Bruno was in his usual spot next to her under the blankets. Hachey believed Bruno heard something odd then and possibly went to the living room to investigate.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;2.请按如格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Unexpectedly, Bruno ran back to the bedroom and tried every means to awaken Hutchinson.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A year later, Hachey finally fully recovered.
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