I sat in the breakfast corner with my four-year-old son, Matthew, trying to ignore the ache in my stomach. I was still recovering from a surgery. I hoped for strength and happiness. But the future seemed so hopeless.
Matthew jumped up from his spot on the kitchen floor. “Bird!” he shouted, rushing to the sliding door. Sure enough, there was a white dove seated on a rubber tree. It sat there a few moments, and then flew away. I’d never seen one in our neighborhood before.
When I dragged myself to the kitchen the next morning, the dove was back. This time it was with a mate carrying twigs (嫩枝), “Look, Matthew,” I said, pointing to the tree. “They’re going to make a nest.” The doves flew in and out of the courtyard all week, building on the top of the rubber tree. Matthew could hardly contain his excitement. Every morning, he’d run into the kitchen and take his spot by the sliding glass door, talking to the birds while they worked. As much as I was grieving (感到悲伤), I couldn’t help but look forward to the doves’ visits too. We watched their progress as if it were a real-life soap opera unfolding before us. Gradually, my pain disappeared, replaced by joy.
Then it all went wrong. The courtyard was a safe enough spot for a nest, but the rubber tree’s broad, thin leaves were far from stable. One night, a strong wind blew through, throwing the doves’ nest to the ground. I heard the twigs break apart. Nothing good ever lasts. I wouldn’t blame the doves if they never came back. But they returned. And they paid no attention to the pi le of sticks that had once been their nest. They started again from scratch, though the wind destroyed all their hard work. The next day, and the next, they renewed their efforts, as if nothing had happened.
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: I knew I had to do something for the poor creatures.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:“The birds were back!” Matthew announced.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Emily White was born seventeen years ago with so many birth problems in her body. Some of her organs, bones and muscles were out of shape. No one expected her to survive. She did make it but with her strange body figure, everyone could recognize her, even from a distance.
In Emily White’s hometown, there was a yearly outdoor performance in the school auditorium (大礼堂). It had been performed for so many years and actually had become one of the most important events of the Christmas season for many of the town’s people.
Many people tried out each year for it, but so many were turned away. It can only include the most excellent people in the field.
Emily had a beautiful singing voice. Last year she went to Mrs. Owens — her music teacher to ask to join in the performance. Without letting her sing, Mrs. Owens took a look at Amy’s body and said, “Child, you just don’t fit. Everyone would stare at you and that would make you uncomfortable. It would make them uncomfortable, too.”
Without singing a single note, Emily was sent back through the door of the choral room. Hurt and upset, she decided never to try out again. But Mrs. Owens then retired.
This year, there came a new music teacher, Mr. Buttler. He heard about Emily and suggested that she have a try.
Emily didn’t want to be rejected again, so she hesitated a little about it. As Emily struggled, the door was pushed open and Mr. Buttler called, “Emily, you’re next.” Although kind of nervous, Emily did as Mr. Buttler told her to do. Mr. Buttler sat by the piano to keep Emily company. When Emily finished her testing performance, she thanked Mr. Buttler and knew the result would be posted on the door of the choral room the next day.
Emily couldn’t sleep that night. She was suffering from the feelings that she didn’t fit and the great need to be accepted. By the next morning, her stomach was even in pain because of stress.
注意：续写词数应为150左右Paragraph 1: The next day, Emily nervously glanced at the list on the door of the choral room.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Finally, the day of performance came.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A funny thing happened to Arthur when he was on the way to work one day. As he walked along Park Avenue near the First National Bank, he heard the sound of someone trying to start a car. He tried again and again but couldn’t get the car moving. Arthur turned and looked inside at the face of a young man who looked worried.
Arthur stopped and said, “It looks like you’ve got a problem.”
“I’m afraid so. I’m in a big hurry but I can’t start my car.”
“Is there something I can do to help?” Arthur asked. The young man looked at the two suitcases in the back seat and then said, “Thanks. If you’re sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble, you could help me get these suitcases into a taxi.”
“No trouble at all. I’d be glad to help.”
The young man got out and took one of the suitcases from the back seat. After placing it on the ground, he turned to get the other one. Just as Arthur picked up the first suitcase and started walking, he heard the long loud noise of an alarm.
It was from the bank. There had been a robbery (抢劫)!
Park Avenue had been quiet a moment before. Now the air was filled with the sound of the alarm and the shouts of people running from all directions. Cars stopped and the passengers joined the crowd in front of the bank. People asked each other, “What happened?” But everyone had a different answer.
Arthur still carrying the suitcase, turned to look at the bank and walked right into a young woman in front of him.
She looked at the suitcase and then at him. Arthur was surprised. “Why is she looking at me like that?” he thought. “The suitcase! She thinks I’m the bank thief!”
Arthur looked around at the crowd of people. He became frightened, and without another thought, he started to run.
注意：续写的词数应为150左右。Paragraph 1:
As he was running, Arthur heard the young man shouting behind, “Stop! Stop!” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:The taxi stopped in front of the police station. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.
One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.
Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city.When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.
The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.
Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Filled with delight, Ali walked home quickly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Once upon a time, there stood an apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it every day. He climbed to the top of the tree, ate the apples, and took a nap under the shadow. He loved the tree and the tree also enjoyed playing with him.
As time went by, the little boy grew up and he no longer played around the tree.
One day, the boy came back to the tree, appearing sad. “Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy gently.
“I am no longer a kid; I won’t play around trees anymore”, the boy replied, “I want toys. I need money to buy them.”
“Sorry, but I don’t have money. However, you can pick all my apples and sell them. Then, you will have money.” The boy was so excited that he picked all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy didn’t come back after that. The tree was upset.
One day, the boy returned and the tree was so joyful. “Come and play with me,” the tree said.
“I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?” “Sorry, I don’t have a house. But you can cut off my branches to build your house.” So the boy cut all the branches of the tree and left with delight.
The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy didn’t appear since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.
One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree requested.
“I am sad and becoming old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” “Use my trunk to build the boat. You can sail and be happy.” So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and did not show up for 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。
Many years later, the boy finally returned.
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The apple tree is our mother, who devotes all herself to us.
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In a bakery store, some cakes are put in row on a shelf during the Christmas season. Here you may select the one which is most to your taste, and you are even allowed to sample (试吃) them before coming to a decision.
I have often wondered whether some people, who have no intention of making a purchase, would take advantage of this. One day I asked the shop girl this question, and the answer was yes. “Now there's one old gentleman, for instance,” she told me, “he comes here almost every week and samples each one of the cakes, though he never buys anything, and I suspect he never will. Well, let him come if he wants, and he is welcome to it. And I hope there are a lot more stores where he can go and get his share. He looks as if he needs it, and I suppose they can afford it.”
She was still speaking when an elderly gentleman limped(蹒跚) up to the counter and began looking closely at the row of cakes with great interest.“Hey, that's the very gentleman I've been talking about,”whispered the shop girl, and then turned to him,“Would you like to sample them, sir? Here's a spoon for you to use.” The elderly gentleman, who was poorly but neatly dressed, accepted the spoon and began eagerly to sample one after another of the cakes, only breaking off occasionally to wipe his red eyes with a large torn handkerchief. “This is quite good.” “This is not bad either, but a little too heavy.” All the time, it was quite evident that he sincerely believed that he might eventually buy one of these cakes, and I was positive that he did not for a moment feel that he was in any way cheating the store. Poor old man! Probably he had come down in the world and this sampling was all that was left to him from the time when he could afford to come and select his favorite cake.
Among the crowd of happy, prosperous looking Christmas shoppers, the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful and out of place.
注意：1. 续写词数应为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:
In a burst of mercy, I went up to him and said,
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Paragraph 2:
The girl took down the cake from its stand and started to make a parcel of it.
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When I was 17, I read a magazine article about a museum called the McNay Art Museum, once the home of a watercolorist named Marian McNay. She had requested the community to turn it into a museum upon her death. On a sunny Saturday, Sally and I drove over to the museum.
“Do you have the address?” Sally asked while we were on the way.
“No, but I will recognize it. There was a picture in the magazine” I answered confidently.
“Oh
There it is.” I pulled my car slowly over a house which seemed like a house with heavy smell of life rather than a former residence(故居).
Surprisingly, nobody was at the gate and admission was free. We opened the door and entered, excited. A group of people sitting around a table stopped chatting and started at us.
A sweet girl in her teens locked her eyes on us and welcomed us with a sweet smile, “Hello, but who are you looking for?”
A man stood up and said almost at the same time “May I help you?”
“No,” I said. “We’re fine.”
Tour guides got on my nervous. What if they talked a long time about a painting you were not that interested in? Sally had gone upstairs. The people in the hall seemed very confused, keeping their eyes on me with curiosity. What was their problem? Some nice sculptures were well placed along the staircases(楼梯) and some paintings from Van Gogh or Picasso were hanging on walls and I appreciated them and highly praised the most beautiful house. Suddenly a picture of a man surrounded by a warm family caught my eyes and I also spotted the sweet girl among them.
“This is the most beautiful house I have visited.” said I, turning sharply, almost scaring the girl standing behind me.
“The most beautiful house ? The most beautiful house!”She murmured.
“Am I at the McNay Art Museum?” asked I .
注意：
1. 所续写的短文的词数应为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:
She smiled, shaking her head.
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Paragraph 2:
Years later, after a public speech, a woman approached and thanked me, asking whether I once entered a house , thinking it was the McNay Art Museum.
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A little girl whose parents had died lived with her grandmother and slept in an upstairs bedroom.
One night there was a_fire in the house and the grandmother died while trying to rescue the child. The fire spread quickly, and the situation was terrible.
Neighbours called the fire department, then stood helplessly by, unable to enter the house because flames blocked all the entrances. The_little_girl appeared at an upstairs window, crying for help, just as word spread among the crowd that the firefighters would be delayed a few minutes because they were all at another fire.
Suddenly, a man appeared with a ladder, put it up against the side of the house and disappeared inside. When he reappeared, he had the little girl in his arms. He delivered the child to the waiting arms below, then disappeared into the night.
An investigation revealed that the child had no living relatives,_and weeks later a meeting was held in the town hall to determine who would take the child into their home and bring her up.
A teacher said she would like to raise the child. She pointed out that she could ensure her a_good_education. A farmer offered her an_upbringing (教养) on his farm. He pointed out that living on a farm was healthy and satisfying. Others spoke, giving their reasons why it was to the child's advantage to live with them.
Finally, the town's richest resident rose and said, “I can give this child all the advantages that you have mentioned here, plus money and everything that money can buy.”
Throughout all this, the child remained silent, her eyes on the floor.
“Does anyone else want to speak？” asked the meeting chairman. A man came forward from_the_back_of_the_hall. He walked slowly and appeared to be in pain.
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4．续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
When he got to the front of the hall, he stood directly in front of the little girl and held out his arms.
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Paragraph 2：
When asked about her choice, the girl gave people the reasons firmly.
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We went to Darjelling during the summer holidays and booked a cottage (农舍) for our stay. Our cook Gopi came with us because we could not do without homecooked meals.
Usually all the shopping was done by our home help — Bharat, who had accompanied (陪伴) us to our holiday destination. However, one early evening, my mother decided to do all the vegetable shopping by herself. She believed that Bharat did not wait to check the really fresh items and instead, bought randomly in a hurry. As a result, the vegetables he brought back were not fresh.
After getting ready, she took her favorite purse with quite an amount of money, thinking she could go to other shops too after finishing at the vegetable market. my mother asked Bharat to get a rickshaw for her and on reaching the market, she asked the rickshaw wallah (人力车车夫) to wait for her. She took a coolie and did her shopping happily, choosing some of the freshest green vegetables available there. At last, her shopping was done. She returned to the rickshaw and sat on it while the coolie put all the things my mother had bought onto the rickshaw.
On reaching home, Bharat took all the packets of vegetables inside and my mother quickly paid the rickshaw wallah and got off, forgetting to collect her purse from the seat of the rickshaw. The rickshaw wallah left soon after saying goodbye to my mother. All of us greeted my mother and asked her about her evening of shopping with much delight.
Then we began to help my mother prepare our dinner. My father came to help chop the meat; I helped wash the vegetables; we were talking and laughing. When dinner was about to be announced, it was late in the evening, almost 9 p.m.
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4．续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
Then my mom realized her purse was missing.
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Paragraph 2：
We were just about to begin eating when the door bell rang.
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I fetched my mail as usual. Suddenly a colorful flyer (小传单) jumped into my sight. In the middle was a drawing of an old-fashioned phone, like the one my great-aunt Sara owned 40 years ago and at the bottom was a phone number. Running over it, I couldn’t help laughing.
“Is that mail funny?” my ten-year-old daughter, Jenny, asked.
“Not really,” I admitted. “It’s about the wake-up service. Outdated already.”
“What’s that?” she frowned (皱眉). I explained how, before smart phones, people sometimes paid someone to wake them with a call.
“Who sent this flyer?” she pressed.
I shook my head. “Probably someone older and he could need some money,” I said.
Her eyes lit up. “Can we order a wake-up service?” she asked.
“No kidding. With smart phones at hand, who will need it? And it’s not cheap at all. $2.5 per day.” I picked up the flyer and headed for the recycling bin.
“Wait!” she shouted.
“I feel sorry for the wake-up man, if he needs some money,” she said in tears. “Can’t we order one?”
I looked at the flyer with its drawing of an old-fashioned phone. I remembered, again, my great-aunt Sara and her old phone. As a kid, I used to visit her on Labor Day when Jerry Lewis would host his charity(慈善) event for the disabled kids. Aunt Sara would grasp my hand tightly and then reach for the telephone, dialing the number on the screen. Holding the receiver between us, we’d announce to the operator, “We’d like to help those kids.”
But now here was my own child, showing the same heart I had once been encouraged to have, and how could I ignore (不理睬) her? I googled the flyer’s telephone number. The number belonged to a man called Raymond.
Paragraph 1:Jenny dialed the number.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
“Ring, ring, ring” went the phone at 6 o'clock sharp.
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