One click of my wooden stick, and the buffaloes (水牛) moved forward. I guided them along the road’s edge, through the heart of the village. We walked past mud homes and villagers bent over tending to their crops. We eyed the green fields, where the buffaloes could eat growing grass. This was my life in a small village in Sindh, Pakistan. We had little, but I had a big dream.
Up ahead laughter attracted my attention. A group of students came into view, their uniforms a contrast to my faded trousers and worn-out shoes. Fingers wrapped tight around my stick, I stepped forward and said sincerely, “Dear students, could you please show me your books?” The students looked from my face to my stick, to their books. They quickly opened their bags and showed me their books. Illustrations of people and places caught my imagination.
“Someday, I’ll go to school too,” I declared, returning their books. Actually, I was desperate to go to school so that I could broaden my horizons.
Months passed. Every day I rose to my chores and buffaloes. Until, one day I got my chance. My uncle came to visit. He and Father sat, drinking tea outside. “Brother, you must send Rasool Bux to school. Herding the buffaloes is not in his future,” Uncle convinced my father. that all children should go to school. The following week, I was studying in primary school. Now, armed with my own books, I set out to learn everything. I read textbooks, asked questions, and even read newspapers for my father and his companions.
By the end of the year, I proved to be one of the best students in the school. I resolved to study at college or university in Karachi, a big city over 150 kilometers away. Unfortunately, I suffered from a skin condition that left white spots on my skin. The constant loss of skin color was stressful, making me feel bad about myself and even drawing attention away from my studies.
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。
The thought of not being able to finish school made me feel extremely depressed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I visited my uncle after I did make it to university in Karachi.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I was a little girl, I used to be afraid of the dark. A simple sound in the middle of the night could make me imagine the scariest scenes.
My uncle lived alone in his big old house in New Hampshire. The house was surrounded by a huge yard with lots of trees. The inside was very neat and tidy but reminded me of a museum with its ancient objects. Everything looked like it dated from the previous century, from the old-fashioned oil paintings to black-and-white pictures on the walls. Looking back at it now, it would have made the perfect setting for a frightening large house.
Once, my family visited my uncle in the fall. During the day, my sister and I made big piles of leaves to jump in with the help of Elaine, my big sister. Our room had a double bed facing a window, out of which stood a huge maple tree. The floor was made of wood that made funny sounds every time we took a step.
Although the day had been bright and cheerful, the night turned out to be extremely windy. Soon after Elaine and I were lying in bed and all was dark, I started to notice strange noises, as if someone was walking in the room. It seemed that someone was knocking against the windows, making strange noises. There were even howls (咆哮声) coming from somewhere outside!
At this point, I didn’t know what to think. All of a sudden, I thought I heard someone coming up the stairs, and my heart rose to my throat. I thought I saw something moving in the dark corners of my room, and my breath quickened. Elaine sat up in bed, but when she looked at me, she seemed confused, too. We couldn’t help but wonder if we were going crazy.
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。
The noises continued for a while longer.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next morning, though I knew it was a false alarm, I was still nervous and talked with my uncle.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Brave Dog wasn’t always his name. In the beginning, he was just Stray Dog（流浪狗）.
I saw him for the first time one evening when Mattie and I went to milk the cows. He was all dusty coat and skinny-ribbed（皮包骨头的）, hardly worth a second glance. But Mattie made a beeline for him, reaching out to pet him, “What a pretty dog!” The dog looked unsure, as if he weren’t used to being spoken to kindly. I grabbed Mattie’s arm. “Keep away from that stray dog,” I told her, “You know how Dad feels about stray dogs.” “Don’t call him Stray Dog,” said Mattie. “He’s a pretty dog.” The dog licked her face and put a paw on her shoulder. Mattie threw her arms around his neck. “I’m keeping him.” She declared, “I’m calling him Pretty Dog.”
To Mattie, he was Pretty Dog. She talked to him, played with him and fed him secretly. He responded by following her like a shadow when no one else was around. To the rest of us, he was Stray dog. We did everything we could to chase him away, but he kept coming back. One day, Dad accidentally caught Mattie sneaking Stray Dog a piece of leftover roast meat. “Mattie! Get away from That Dog!” Dad shouted, “Where’s your common sense, girl? We don’t waste good food on stray animals. You see That Dog again, you send him away!” So, Stray Dog became That Dog. One cold winter day, Dad set off to go ice fishing. Matti e had begged to go, but Dad said no. “You’ll only fuss（对…大惊小怪 ）about cold,” he said, tweaking（捏, 扯）her pigtail（辫子）. “I want to do some serious fishing.”
Dad came home a few hours later. “Got some fine ones,” he shouted from the porch. “Come see!” Mom and I came out. “Where’s Mattie?” Dad asked. Mom and I looked at each other in confusion, both thinking Mattie was with the other. Then, Ma strode to the closet. “Her coat and boots are gone.” Mom turned to Dad with troubled eyes, “Maybe she went after you.” Worry lines creased（弄皱）Dad’s face. “She never came to the lake. Come on, we need to find her.”
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
In the lane, we found Mattie’s boot prints following Dad’s big ones.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Suddenly, some dog barks came from the distance.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the back of my closet is a small box that has followed me to every new address. It’s the first thing I find a place for as the moving truck pulls away. The only remaining contents in it are dozens of notes in my mother’s tidy writing. My mother, who put her business degree to use running a small company with my father, while raising me, was always prepared and always gave me abundant love. By day she made marketing slogans and distribution strategies. By night: bubble baths and bedtime stories. She and I had the same February birthday. Each year my parents arranged wonderful parties.
When I was 3, she learned she had advanced breast cancer and immediately began to prepare by rescarching every available treatment. Each day, she would sit for hours at our dining table, her straight dark hair tied back, surrounded by piles of paper, studying, technical paragraphs.
When I was 7, the materials on the dining table began to change. Wrapping (包装) paper and ribbons (丝带) took the place of her highlighted pages. Paper creased (折) under her fingers. Knots (蝴蝶结) came together with a tiny creak. She had begun making a gift box for me.
Inside, she packed presents and letters for the milestones of my life she would miss—graduation, wedding, and every birthday until the age of 30. My mother died 10 days before our shared birthday. That morning, when I turned 12 and she would have turned 49, I woke up early and opened the box as my mother had shown me.
Neat rows of brightly wrapped presents glowed like the spring tulips (郁金香) that were just coming up in the front yard. In the package marked “12th Birthday”, I found a little ring with an amethyst (紫水晶) at its center. A white card curling around the present read: “I always wanted a birthstone ring when I was a little girl. I hope you like it, too. Happy birthday, darling girl! Love, your Mommy.”
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。
On the morning of my high school graduation, I walked to the box.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Today I hit 31, and I sat in my room, holding the nearly empty box.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hometown Feelings
Some people still live in their hometown. However, others may only see it once or twice a year. Nowadays, millions of Chinese leave the countryside to search for work in the cities. Among these is Zhong Wei, a 46-year old husband and father. He has lived in Wenzhou for the last 13 years. With a hard job in a crayon factory, he doesn’t find much time to visit his hometown. “I used to return home at least once a year, but I haven’t been back for almost three years now. It’s a shame, but I just don’t have the time” he says.
Many people like Zhong Wei regard with great interest how their hometowns have changed. Perhaps large hospitals and new roads have appeared. In many places, the government has also built new schools and sent teachers from the cities to help.
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。
“I noticed that’s true of my hometown” adds Zhong Wei.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
According to Zhong Wei, however, some things will never change.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once upon a time, a young girl whose name was Lily, lived in a small village in the heart of a forest. She was known throughout the village for her kind heart. She spent her days helping her neighbors, taking care of the animals and exploring the forests.
One day, as she was walking through the forest, she came across a small, injured bird lying on the ground. Its wing was broken, and it looked up at her with painful eyes. Lily knew she had to help the bird, so she carefully picked it up and put it in her arms.
She took the bird back to her house and dealt with its wounds. She fed it and gave it water, and soon the bird was on the way to recovering (康复). As the days passed, Lily came to love the bird. But she knew it belonged to the forest, so she helped the bird fly back to the forest.
Another day, Lily happened to see a group of children playing a joke on a young boy for his height, and the boy seemed to cry. Seeing that, Lily realized she had to do something to help.
She walked to the group of children and asked them to stop laughing at the boy. They looked at her doubtfully, but Lily seriously told them that it wasn’t kind to make fun of others. Finally, the children listened to her. They stopped laughing at the boy and even apologized (道歉) to him. Lily smiled, feeling proud of herself for standing up for what was right.
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。
As the years went by, Lily continued to spread kindness throughout the village.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One day, Lily heard a knock at her door
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A North Carolina woman had her first birthday party at 105 years old. Although she is so old, she never realized her dream—she wanted to have a birthday party. She also wished to receive 105 birthday cards, the same number as her age.
Lorene Summey is an elderly person at Somerset Court, a nursing home in Cherryville, North Carolina. Two months ago, a worker in the nursing home asked Summey what she would like for her upcoming birthday.
“We have an old lady that has a birthday next month and she will be 105 years old! She has never had a big birthday party before, so I asked her several months ago what she would like to do for her birthday. She said she would love to have square dance at her birthday party,” Jodie Lankford wrote in a Facebook post. “I think this wish is not quite too difficult, and we can help her to achieve.”
“She explained to us her experiences in her childhood. She said her sister could always go out to enjoy herself but she had to stay home most of the time to take care of the younger ones. She felt unfairly treated by her parents at the time,” she said. “She wanted her hair and makeup done, and she wanted to wear the same dress she wore when she was young.”
“She is also concerned about another thing—she doesn’t think she could have 105 birthday cards sent by mail to her for her birthday! I’ve told her that we will have more. I have made her believe that her wish is sure to come true,” Lankford added.
Last Friday night, her great birthday party began on the square of the nursing home. The time came for the old lady to realize her wish.
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。
Summey looked especially beautiful that day.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Back to her room, the caregivers showed Summey the birthday cards.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was a Sunday morning. Betty woke up earlier than usual. She couldn’t sleep any longer because she was so excited that her uncle Mark was taking her to the beach. She had always loved going surfing with her uncle. She put her swimming suit on and took her bag quickly that she had prepared the night before and went outside to wait. She jumped up and down with joy when she saw her uncle’s red jeep turn the corner down her street.
Uncle Mark got out of the car and helped Betty get in. “Are you ready?” he asked. “Yes!” replied Betty. Uncle Mark could see the excitement in her face. Suddenly he said seriously, “well, before we go, I have to let you know that a shark appeared recently where we’re going to surf today.” Scared and shocked, Betty couldn’t say a word. “Haha! I’m kidding you, “Uncle Mark burst out laughing. Betty laughed too. She knew Uncle Mark liked teasing others. “Let’s go and have some breakfast, I know just the place,” Uncle Mark said. They went to a breakfast shop and ate some tacos (炸玉米饼).
After breakfast the two of them went down to Pacific Beach and got their surfboards ready. “First you have to wax (打蜡) the bottom,” explained Uncle Mark. “I know. I’ve watched you do it before!” Betty said as she took the wax from Uncle Mark’s hand. It took about 15 minutes to wax the bottom of their boards. When Betty finished, Uncle Mark looked it over to make sure it was done well. “Nice job, Betty, you wax your board like a true surfer.”
Finally, they were ready to get into the water. They carried their boards down to the beach and went out into the water. Betty was overly excited and tried to rush to catch a wave. Predictably, she crashed and had to start over. Next was her uncle’s turn. He stood up on his first try and smoothly surfed the wave before jumping into the water. Betty cheered for her uncle’s perfect run.
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。
All of a sudden, Betty felt something touching the bottom of her foot.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Help! Help!” Betty screamed in horror.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A friend of mine whose name was John Smith had a bad memory, which made him famous. He was so forgetful that he sometimes forgot what he was talking about in the middle of a sentence. His wife had to constantly remind him about his meetings, his classes — even his meals! Once he forgot he had eaten breakfast twice, at home and at school. His wife liked to remind her neighbours, “If John didn’t have his head tied on, he would forget that too!” Since Smith was a professor at a well-known university, his forgetfulness was often an embarrassment to him. It wasn’t that he was not clever, as some critical people tended to say, but just very absent-minded.
One hot summer day, Professor Smith decided to take his children to a seaside town about a three-hour train ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his young children, he kept the name of the town a secret. However, by the time they arrived at the station, Smith forgot the name of the town he was planning to visit. Luckily, a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take care of the children while Smith hurried back home to find out where he was going.
The professor’s wife was surprised to see him again so soon.
“Oh, my dear, I forget the name of the town.”
“What? You forget the name? Maybe one day you will forget my name! Now I’ll write the name of that town on a piece of paper, and you put it in your pocket and please, please don’t forget where you put it.”
Satisfied that she had solved the problem, she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house for the third time.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
“What is the matter now?” asked his wife.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hearing the cry, out rushed their neighbours, trying to find out what had happened.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was a volunteer for an organisation at the beginning of this year. The organisation is aimed at helping children who suffer from cancer. One day, we were asked to raise money for cancer research and programme funding at an event.
Since my friend Lisa was also a volunteer for the organisation, I went to the event with her. There were many people at the event. After seeing our poster, some people came to us and talked with us. But few people donated money. It was a bit hot that day. Both Lisa and I got really upset.
Half an hour later, Lisa started complaining, “I don’t think we can raise much money today. ”
“Don’t worry. The event lasts for three hours. There is still a lot of time left，” I said, though I also thought poorly of our plan to raise much money that day.
While Lisa and I were talking, a little boy of about eight years old came to us. He stood in front of our poster and started reading.
After a while, he asked, “What is cancer？”
I explained what cancer is. Then I said, “Many people around the world are suffering from cancer. It can be really dangerous. More research is needed to learn about it so that people with it can suffer less. That’s why we’re collecting money for it. ”
“Do children suffer from cancer, too？” asked the boy.
“Yes. Many children suffer from cancer. Some of them may die. They need help. ” Lisa said and I nodded.
Hearing that, the boy became sad. Then the boy asked, “How much money have you collected？”
Both Lisa and I were embarrassed to tell him that we didn’t raise much money. At last, we said, “Not much. ”
The boy looked into our donation container and only saw a few onedollar and fivedollar bills. The boy said nothing after seeing that and left. Then some girls came to us and we started talking with them. Neither Lisa nor I thought the boy would return. However, about twenty minutes later, the boy did return.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；2．请按如下格式在相应位置作答。The boy happily ran to us and asked, “Would you take a donation from children？”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Both Lisa and I were deeply touched.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
