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.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But things began to change as she was doing the chores.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In my high school years, I tried not to be anybody’s best friend and avoid going to birthday parties or weekend trips with my peers (同龄人). That was not because I was too shy but because I couldn’t afford the expenses. My parents did odd jobs to support the family and our income was low and unstable. As the oldest of the three kids in my family I had started to take part-time jobs on weekends and during vacations to help improve the family economic conditions. However, in my heart I did have a best friend, Joseph. I never said that to him and I guessed he didn’t know it.
Joseph came from a very different family from mine. His parents were both senior executives (管理人员) of high-tech companies, who provided him with the best of everything and he had many friends around him. We did school projects together, had discussions about interesting topics and enjoyed our time together. But I never joined him in anything outside the school. I liked him but I knew I didn’t have much to offer.
I had decided to go to college after graduation from high school, so I needed to have excellent academic performance in all subjects to be qualified for scholarships. I worked hard and was doing well in everything except math. I knew math was important to me but there seemed to be no way out. I was struggling when Joseph came to my help. He was considered one of the smart boys by the math teacher, who gave us monthly tests and awarded best performance with chocolates and best progress with Skittles (彩虹糖).
Joseph was a frequent holder of the best performance award. I appreciated his help because he had great ways to get me thinking and guide me to solve problems. I was making progress in math and Joseph knew it. He encouraged me to go for best progress award first and then best performance.
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。
Those awards seemed really big goals for me, but I decided to go all out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Three months later, my first goal was achieved.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On November 27th, 2021, I was waiting to check out at a local store. The store is always busy because it is on the main street of our small town. Though I have moved to a house that is a little far from the store, I still come back to this spot for shopping, because everyone knows my face if not my name.
The clerk was very busy because it was Thanksgiving Day. Besides usual snacks and daily necessities, people were buying kinds of food and bunches of flowers. It was about 5 p. m. and still light outside, but people seemed to be hurrying back to their cars. As it was the rush hour, with people anxious to get home from work, few of the people in line responded to the clerk’s greetings. Even fewer people wished the clerk a nice evening.
Surprisingly, one elderly woman who was paying for ice cream and some snacks smiled at the clerk who was taking what seemed to be the woman’s last 20 dollars and 21 cents. The elderly customer nodded in the direction of the flowers and said to the clerk, “I hope someone will bring you a bunch of these flowers tonight.” The clerk smiled, saying a bit regretfully, “That would be nice, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen. My husband and I both have to work till midnight today.”
Hearing that, the customer seemed to be lost in thought. She accepted her plastic bag, thanked the clerk and then headed towards her old and damaged car outside the store. Hearing the dialogue between the woman and clerk, several of us women in line began to talk about when the last time we had gotten flowers was, and finally we all agreed it had been a long time.
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。
Several minutes later, the elderly customer came back with a few coins in her hand.
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The clerk looked at the elderly customer in surprise.
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Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of great importance to her comeback. “If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident. After the medical treatment, she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.
“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica. “How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”
“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match.” said Mary with a determined look.
“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong. She can be your real well-matched competitor. Come on!”
After Jessica left, Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin (旋转). “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.
A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair. Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one to you!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain (徒劳). “It may be missing on the way.” With these words, she then rushed out.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数不少于80字；
2.续写部分为一段，请在答题卡相应的位置作答。
Paragraph 1
Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.
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I was a shy 13-year-old boy that year, afraid to speak before people and poor at communicating with others. My parents were worried so they introduced a part-time job in a restaurant tome during the summer vacation, hoping it would make a difference to me. Although I hated it and didn’t believe it would bring any change to me, I had to accept it. The part-time job fell on Monday of each week.
On the first Monday, I simply dared not look at people in the restaurant. And when I was speaking with them, my face turned red and my voice was low. On my way back home, I felt so bad. But when I reached home, my bad feelings disappeared. I found my parents had brought home a pet cat, which I had expected to get for a long period of time. The cat was so lovely.
However, one Thursday, he secretly ran out and disappeared. We looked for him everywhere the whole day but found nothing. We lived in the city, close to a high-traffic road, and this cat didn’t have “street smarts”. I guessed he would probably die and wouldn’t be home again. And after three days of looking for the cat with no sign of him, I quite believed he wouldn’t be home again. My parents told me “A miracle (奇迹) may happen as long as you don’t give up.” However, I quite doubted it.
On the morning of the following Monday, I left for work 45 minutes earlier and started walking to the bus stop a block away. While waiting for the bus there, I thought about the work and felt upset. It wouldn’t be helpful to me and it was tiring! How much I wanted to quit the job! And thinking of the cat, I felt even worse.
Since it was still early, I suddenly wanted to spare some time to look for the cat again though I had little hope. I told myself, “If I still fail to find him this time, I won’t look for him again.” Then, I decided to walk to the next bus stop to look for him around. Minutes later, suddenly, a dirty and weak cat sitting by a tree caught my eye.
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。
My eyes widened, and I was surprised to find it was just our cat.
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Encouraged, I rushed to the bus stop and decided not to give up the part-time job.
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Emma had two exams that day — physics and history. She really hated physics. It was her worst subject. Alice looked at her, and then looked away quickly. Emma thought Alice looked pleased, because she didn’t have a problem with physics, she didn’t have a problem with anything...Miss Perfect!
“I thought we were friends, but she hasn’t spoken to me for two weeks now. she promised to help me go over for the physics exam too, but then she’s forgotten all my calls and texts. And when I rang her house, her mum just told me she was busy.” Emma thought angrily. At that moment, Mr. Read asked all the students into the exam room.
Emma couldn’t answer some physics questions. Suddenly she saw Alice sitting two rows in front of her. Emma couldn’t believe it! Alice was holding her phone on her knee under the table and reading from it. Is that how Alice always got such good grades? She felt really angry at Alice, and thought about telling the teacher, but...“Stop writing,” said Mr. Read and started to collect the exam papers. Oh no, Emma hadn’t answered two of the questions. She was going to fail again!
Emma wanted to talk to Alice at lunchtime, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. Emma went to the library to prepare for the history exam, which was her favorite. But she couldn’t concentrate. “Unfair! Alice was getting good grades by cheating all that time.” She thought about telling a teacher, but everyone would hate her if she did that. Just then, Mr. Read walked past her table. “Mr. Read...”
Emma was sitting behind Alice again in the history exam that afternoon. Mr. Read wanted her to look at Alice and agreed if she saw that Alice was cheating in the exam.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
She was working on the last question when she saw that Alice had her phone under the table.
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Paragraph 2:
Emma was walking towards the school gate when she saw Alice waiting for her there.
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Peter woke up early in the morning. He went downstairs in a hurry and started to have his breakfast as quickly as possible.
“Why are you in such a hurry, early bird?” Mum asked him. “We will have an English spelling test today, Mum,” Peter said. “Mr. White promised to offer prizes to those who get 100 scores. I’ve been studying the word list since last week. Although the words are difficult, I am well prepared for them.”
Peter reviewed the spelling of each word once more carefully when Dad drove him to school. At last, it was time for the students to have a test. “Responsibility,” Mr. White started. Peter wrote it on his test paper quickly and confidently.
“The second word: contribution,” Mr. White said.
“So easy,” Peter thought. He quickly wrote the word down.
Thirty words later, the test papers were collected by Mr. White. “I am to mark your papers now,” he told the class. After marking the test papers, Mr. White said, “Three of you won a prize today for excellent test scores. Peter, David and Mary got full marks on the spelling test!”
Mr. White praised them. Meanwhile, he gave the three students each a dictionary. Peter’s was an English-Chinese dictionary—the one he liked best. Peter was so excited that he held it high when his classmates cheered. “This is my happiest moment,” Peter thought.
After Mr. White gave the test paper back, Peter had a look at the words, feeling proud of his spelling. All of a sudden, the word “contribusion” confused him. It didn’t seem right. Peter began to compare them after taking out the word list. “C-O-N-T-R-I-B-U-S-I-O-N,” he whispered. He spelled it wrong.
“What am I to do?” Peter said to himself. “I expect my classmates to think I’m a master at spelling. If I tell Mr. White one of my spelling words is wrong, I’ll have to give my prize back, or I will become an example for telling a lie.”
Staring at the full marks written on his test paper, Peter was lost in thought. After a while, he remembered a lesson Mum used to teach him, “We ought to be an honest person.”
Paragraph1:Slowly,Peter raised his hand.
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Peter looked around.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________参考词汇：be drowned(淹死) pass by(路过) run jump into rude behavior
bring to the shore(岸) ashamed(内疚的)at forgive(原谅) courage(勇气)
do good(做好事) do evil(做坏事)
Robert and Henry were two friends in the same class. They always played together and went home together. One day Robert and Henry were going home from school. When they turned around a corner, Robert cried out, “A fight! Let’s go and see!”
“No,” said Henry. “Let us go quietly home and not meddle in (插手) this quarrel. We have nothing to do with (与……没有关系) it and may get into trouble.
“You are a coward (胆小鬼), and afraid to go,” said Robert, and off he ran. Henry went straight home, and in the afternoon went to school as usual.
Late, Robert told all the boys that Henry was a coward, and they laughed at him. From then on, they looked down upon (瞧不起) Henry and didn’t want to play with him together.
Henry was sad but he wasn’t angry with Robert. He just ignored (不理睬) the other boys’ laughter and continued to go to school and study as well. However, Robert didn’t invite Henry to go home with him any more. He had some other boys and they also said Henry was a coward. Every day after school, they didn’t go home directly but went to the river or somewhere to play games and had a lot of fun.
A few days later, Robert was bathing with his new friends in a river, and got out of his depth (深度). He struggled, and screamed (尖叫) for help, but all in vain (徒劳). The other boys got out of the water as fast as they could, and they did not even try to help him.
Paragraph 1:
Robert was fast sinking (下沉).
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Paragraph 2:
Thus, Robert’s life was saved (救).
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I grew up in a poor family with a single mom addicted to drugs (吸毒上瘾). Often there was no money for food, and I was always hungry.
On my eighth birthday, some close family members were invited to go to a park to celebrate my birthday. No cake. No presents. Except for my aunt, she had an envelope in her hand.
Before everyone sang Happy Birthday, I saw a little boy, probably my age, and a woman, perhaps his mother, digging in the park dustbin (垃圾箱) for food. Both the mother and the son were in rags (衣衫褴褛) with their clothes dirty enough not to tell the color of the clothes.
The sight of them filled me with sympathy. I begged my mom to invite them to my party but my mother was not a fan of strangers. She said no.
I was attracted by them. I didn’t know others struggled like me, and it hurt my heart. I watched them as everyone sang. I watched them as my aunt handed me the envelope. I watched them as I opened it until I saw the content, a new 100-dollar bill. My mother was angry be-cause my aunt gave me such a large amount of money. Maybe she thought my aunt trusted me more than her with cash.
We were poor and lived a hard life. But I had never dug in a dustbin for food. Again, I couldn’t help watching the mother and the son searching for food.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；2．请按如下格式在答案卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I was watching them when I remembered my previous (以前的) life. Once I had a happy family with more than enough to eat and wear.
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Paragraph 2:
My memories of the past were interrupted by my aunt’s voice. My aunt kept talking over my mother, telling me that I could do ANYTHING I wanted with that money. So I did.
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Many years ago, there was a king who often thought, “Nothing good can come to a nation whose people only complain and expect others to solve their problems.” One day, he had an idea. Early one morning, the king disguised (伪装) himself and went to a local village. He placed a large stone in the middle of the main street and hid a diamond under the stone .Then he hid behind a huge maple tree and watched.
The first person down the street was a milkman with his cart. He crashed into the stone, spilling the milk everywhere. “What fool put this stone here?”he shouted. He picked himself up and angrily went away. After a while, a group of women came along, each balancing a pot of water on her head. One woman tripped over the stone and her water pot went crashing to the ground. She picked herself up and walked away in tears. Neither she nor her friends thought about moving the stone out of the road.
The king watched all day as many people complained about the stone, but he found nobody making an attempt to move it. The king was in despair (绝望). “Is there no one in his village who feels any responsibility to keep their neighbours from harm?”
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
Just then, the king saw a young boy coming along.
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Paragraph 2:
Just then, the king stepped out from behind the tree.
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