The Lost Dog
One summer day, I went out my back door and found a small dog sitting in the grass. The dog stood up and wagged (摇) his tail when he saw me. I touched his short brown-and-white coat and checked him for a collar or ID tag (项圈或身份牌). He had neither. I lived in a small town. I knew all the dogs in the neighborhood, but I’d never seen him before. I told him to sit. To my surprise, he sat at once. “Stay,” I said, as I made my way into the storeroom where we kept the dry dog food for our dogs. When I returned, he was sitting in the exact place where I had left him. “Wow! You sure are trained,” I said. I set out some water and food, and the dog started eating.
I left him in the yard and went inside to read through the newspaper’s “Lost and Found” column (专栏). Unluckily, nobody had reported a missing brown-and-white dog. An hour later, my brother came home and asked why there was a strange dog in the yard. “I don’t know where he came from,” I said. “But he is owned by someone. Maybe he’s just lost and will find his way home.” Later that afternoon, my brother and I went outside and found the dog walking by the back door. We played with him for a while and found that the dog knew tricks. He could sit, stay, roll over, and lie down according to instructions. He also loved jumping to catch a tennis ball in mid-air. When my parents came home, we showed them the dog and all his tricks. My parents were shocked by his skills as much as we were. None of us had ever seen a dog so well-trained before. The dog got along well with our dogs, and we gave him a comfortable place to sleep in the storeroom.
The next day, I checked the “Lost and Found” column again, also with no result. Then, I called the newspaper and ran a “Found” advertisement describing our new friend.
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。
Three days later, we got a call from a woman who had seen our “Found” advertisement in the newspaper.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When the woman’s truck got near our yard, the dog ran to greet her.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alex was very excited because the New Year Eve’s party was coming and as usual it was going to be held in his Uncle Peter’s home. Suddenly, he saw his grandfather sitting alone looking very unhappy.
Alex went to him and asked, “Grandpa, why are you sitting alone? Is there anything wrong with you?”
His grandfather replied, “No, I am fine. I just feel like sitting alone.”
“Grandpa, you know the New Year party is near, so are you preparing for it?” asked Alex excitedly.
“No dear, I am not. With the passage of time, the world has completely changed and I don’t see any point in celebrating the world I see today,” answered his grandpa disappointedly.
“I know something is wrong with you and you are not telling me. Please tell me what the problem is.” Alex said.
“I feel I am a stranger in the world I am living in. It is not the same as I have known. Now everyone is busy with their own work. Your father is busy with business, your brother is busy on the computer, your sisters are busy watching dramas and your mum is busy with housework. I don’t know how to pass my days,” said his grandfather sadly.
“Grandpa, you have me!”said Alex.
His grandfather smiled and said, “Yeah, you are here, but what about others? In our days, we had a fixed (固定的) time each day when the whole family sat together and talked, shared problems and laughed together.”
That night Alex thought about what his grandfather had said and an idea flashed his mind. He decided to have a surprise. New Year party at his own home and make everyone come together that day. As New Year’s Eve got nearer, Alex got busy preparing for the party. He kept it a secret from his grandfather and asked everyone not to let him know about it in order to surprise him.
注意：
1.续写词数应为 150 左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
It was December 31 and everyone was busy with their own work.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alex saw his grandfather looking very happy while talking with the family members.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was time to go home. “Remember to work on your class speeches for homework,” Miss Walker said as everyone started talking and packing their school bags. Jenny felt sick. She hated having to read aloud in class. She was sure everyone would get really bored with listening to her. Once, when Jenny was reading out her holiday diary, Lee was even looking at his watch, a silver and blue one which seemed just magical.
Jenny watched Lee walk ahead of her as they left school. He seemed so clever, and he had a certain sort of shining confidence. He was just one of those people who were good at everything. Jenny sighed. As she turned the corner, she saw Lee’s watch lying right in the middle of the path.
Jenny picked it up and wanted to return it to Lee, but she couldn’t catch up with him. When she arrived home, Jenny put it on, thinking about the magic. She was surprised that it fitted so well. She walked to the mirror and started practicing her speech. Words just flooded out of her. “I’m going to talk about swimming. I have been lucky. I’ve won lots of competitions. But when I’m in a race, I’m not really thinking about winning. I’m just loving the feeling of being in the water…” Jenny laughed with excitement. She walked across the room. She suddenly seemed to have a certain sort of confidence. Turning back to the minor, Jenny saw a flash of light from the watch in the glass. The flashes of silver seemed almost magical. So maybe Lee’s watch really did have something magical.
The next day, as the lesson began, Miss Walker ask cd who was going to be brave and go first. Nobody moved, Jenny slowly raised her arm. Before Miss Walker could say something, there was a shout “She’s stolen in y watch!” Lee said angrily. “It went missing at school yesterday.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段. 每段的开头语已为你写好；
Paragraph 1:
Everybody was fixing their eyes on Jenny, waiting for an explanation,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Miss Walker smiled and asked the class lo listen lo Jenny’s speech first.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aram and Rossi’s Bakery
Walking along the narrow brick sidewalk, Aram took a deep breath. The air smelled of lemons and baked bread and coffee, coming from Rossi’s Italian Bakery. He was almost there.
Aram still couldn’t believe his luck. All his friends were working boring summer jobs—waiting tables and babysitting. And here he was, about to start as an actual baker’s assistant, doing what he loved. It was all thanks to his Aunt Rita. She knew Mrs Rossi and had arranged everything. It was the perfect experience for his future career. Rossi’s Bakery, he was sure, would one day be known as the place where he got his start.
Ah, here he was—the bakery. A faded wooden sign over the door read “Rossi’s Bakery.” Aram straightened his shoulders and entered. Mrs Rossi was sitting at the counter, looking old and wise. Aram greeted her and stuck out his hand. Mrs Rossi looked at it for a second before turning around and waving him inside. “I’m ready to learn everything,” Aram said.
“Great. Let’s start with the cash register,” Mrs Rossi said, “because that’s what you’ll be doing.” She showed him how to use the cash register. It wasn’t hard. The pastry trays were all marked by price, and there weren’t that many choices anyway. “That’s it?” Aram said, his heart sinking. “But when do we bake?”
“Bake? I order wholesale now. No more baking. I’m too old.” Then Mrs Rossi silently held up her hands. Aram took in her knotted, swollen fingers, and he understood. A wave of disappointment struck him. Sadness overwhelmed him so suddenly that he couldn’t think of a word to say.
He sighed, and Mrs Rossi sighed, too. “I used to bake it all. Bread and cakes. And no one did it better than me. But that was when these things worked,” said Mrs Rossi holding up her hands once more and glancing across the shelves filled with empty bottles labelled with names of the various ingredients (配料) she once used. Suddenly she came alive, waving her arthritic (关节炎的) hands. “People used to line up around the corner. Everyone wanted my baked bread.”
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 a thought occurred to Aram that he could ask Mrs Rossi to teach him.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mrs Rossi finally said, “Let’s buy the ingredients first.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
