December strode (阔步走) into the mountains of Colorado, shooting snowflakes and blowing them into a thick blanket of white. As Christmas approached, the farmers there closed down most wooden houses for a holiday cheer. Not all were closed, however. There was still work to be done, and someone had to stay. That someone was Slim Carter.
Old Jake, another farmer there, had offered to keep him company, but Slim shook his head. “After all, a young man like me has got plenty of Christmases ahead,” Slim joked. Before Jake offered to stay again, Slim hurried on. “I’ll just have a private Christmas this year, and that’s the way I want it.” So he was left alone at the house. Alone, with his horse in the farm and the wolves roaring in the forest nearby.
Truth was, Slim had decided not to celebrate Christmas at all. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Christmas. In fact, his Christmas memories were good ones. His mother would fill their house with the light of candles and the smell of candy. His father would make their Christmas tree hunt an all-day, men-only affair. Slim smiled as he remembered sitting on the broad back of their horse with the freshly cut tree along behind. Back home, they would cover the tree with paper snowflakes and homemade decorations and sing all the Christmas songs they knew. And that’s the way he liked it. Those were the memories he pulled out on nights when he was working alone. Such memories warmed him inside, even if his outsides were aching with cold.
This was Slim’s first year away from home. “Christmas is nothing if not spent with family,” Slim declared to the empty house. That was the real reason he’d sent Jake away. He figured he would handle Christmas better if he just pretended it was an ordinary winter workday.
But on Christmas Eve, as Slim headed back with snow beneath his feet and stars overhead, his head hung low. It was Christmas, even without the tree and the gifts. Christmas, and he was all alone.
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 he remembered decorating the tree with his family again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________While singing to his decorated Christmas tree, Slim heard a knock on the door.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was a beautiful sunny morning in early summer, when the world seemed full of sunlight and new green leaves. I was in a good mood as my parents had just given me $300 for my daily expenses during the week that they would be away in Mexico to visit my mother’s sick grandfather. I was extremely overjoyed, thinking hard about the things I could do with the money. If I survived on bread and butter the whole week, I would have an unexpected windfall of $ 200 to buy the latest Kobe Bryant basketball shoes! What a terrific idea!
As usual, the physical education class was thrilling. I felt most at case on the basketball court. After playing several fierce games, I could hardly catch my breath as I headed back towards the classroom, sweaty and exhausted. When I entered, I found my classmates gathered around Steven’s desk as he searched through his books and some other personal items anxiously. Steven had always been popular. Not only was he intelligent and well-mannered, but he also came from a well-off family. And he shared everything he had with us.
Right away, I learned Steven had lost the money he would donate to a children’s welfare institute that afternoon. Then I informed Miss Jones, the class teacher. She rushed over immediately and organized a search around the classroom. We stood by our desks and emptied the contents of our schoolbags onto the desk for inspection.
It was my turn. As Miss Jones took out the $ 300 from my wallet, the class fell into a shock. I didn’t know the amount lost was exactly $ 300 until then. I kept proving my innocence, but in vain. Miss Jones confiscated (没收) the $ 300 and decided I was getting kicked out of the school. I stayed home alone the whole week, living only on bread. I felt wronged, angry, and loss of self-esteem.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Finally, my parents returned home and talked with me.
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Miss Jones had just accepted my parents’ advice when Steven came.
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Asad was a 13-year-old boy who was very honest and hardworking. Recently, he had entered a new school, so he had no friends yet. On Monday morning, he was nearly late for school. The night before, his family attended his cousin’s wedding and reached home late, which was why he couldn’t get up on time as usual.
At school, Asad could not pay attention to anything and wanted the bell to ring so that he could buy something to eat. After a few hours, when the bell rang, Asad quickly opened his schoolbag to find his money, but just then he remembered that he had left for school in a hurry in the morning and forgotten to take money. He looked under his books, hoping to find some money but there was nothing.
Not knowing what to do, he walked out of the classroom and sat on a bench in front of the canteen. He saw a few of his classmates there, among them was Fahad. He was one of the richest kids in his class, but he was a very arrogant(傲慢的)boy who thought everyone else was a loser. But as Asad was new, he didn’t know much about Fahad.
When he went towards Fahad and asked if he could borrow some money for his lunch, Fahad laughed a lot and said, “I knew you were a loser, maybe a beggar?” Fahad laughed out so loud that other kids also heard and made fun of the situation. He didn’t answer Fahad, and slowly walked back towards an empty bench.
When he reached the bench, he noticed something lying near it. It was a wallet. He picked it up and recognized it as Fahad’s, as he remembered Fahad showing it to his friends and telling that his uncle bought it for him from the UK. There was quite a lot of money inside for a kid.
At first, Asad wanted to keep it a secret and punished Fahad.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then Fahad said, “Why are you giving back?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Long long ago, there lived a girl named Eat. She was a good girl, but she never liked her name because all the kids made fun of her name. She ran away from everybody who laughed at her name, so Eat never really had friends. She played alone all the time.
One day, Eat went to her favorite place near the river behind her house, where she always spoke to the river. On that day, when talking to the river, she said, “You are so lucky, as you can travel to different places and always be with your friends — ducks, turtles, fishes, and plants. I wish I had more friends and wouldn’t be alone anymore.”
When she was bored talking to the river, she picked up some stones and tried to skip (打水漂) them across the river. However, she failed most of the time. Finally, she found a perfect stone. She held it tightly (紧紧地) in her fingers, and said to the river, “Oh, dear river, if I could skip this stone all the way across, I would wish for a dear friend just like you.” Saying this, Eat waved her arm back and threw the stone with full strength.
She watched the stone skip once, twice... and to her surprise, the stone went on skipping and finally, on the seventh skip, made it across the river onto the shore of the opposite side. Eat was totally amazed. She could not just believe her eyes.
Her happiness were disturbed (打断) when she heard footsteps coming towards her. Eat looked around and found a little girl was rolling down towards her. Eat hurried to get up to help. However, she lost her balance and fell off, too.
The little girl was crying and holding her knee. Eat pulled herself and went close to the girl, whose knee was bleeding (流血). She said gently to the little girl, “It will be alright. My house is nearby, let me help you. My mother will take care of the wound.”
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:
Once they arrived at her house, Eat called out, “Mom, help! Someone is injured.”
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The little girl looked at Eat and asked, “What is your name?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Michelle was eight years old when she heard her Mom and Dad talking about her little brother, Jack, now only an infant(婴儿). He was very sick and they were completely out of money. Only a very costly operation could save Jack the baby now but there was no one to whom they could turn for the money needed. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mom, “Only a miracle can save him now.”
At the words, Michelle went to her bedroom and took out all the coins from her little moneybox. After counting the coins three times, she slipped out the back door and made her way to the drug store six blocks away . . .
She waited for a long time before the pharmacist(药剂师）turned around and asked her. “And what do you want?”
“Well, it's' about my brother,” Michelle answered . “He's really, really sick . . . and 1 want to buy a miracle.”
“I beg your pardon?”said the pharmacist. “His name is Jack and he has something very bad growing inside his body and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”
“We don't sell miracles here, little girl .I'm sorry but I can't help you, ” the pharmacist said. “Listen, I have money to pay for it.” And with these words, Mich poured out all the coins from her pockets. At this time, a well-dressed man behind Michelle stooped down and ask the little girl. “I'm selling the miracle you want. Tell me how much money you have.”
“One dollar and eleven cents, ” Michelle answered in a low voice. “And it's all the money I have, but I can some more if I need to.”
“Well, ” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents— the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. Show me the place where your brothers lives.”
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 :
Holding the man's hand firmly , Michelle took him home.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
When asked why he chose to help the family, the man detailed,
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