Many years ago, I lived in a densely populated old community in Northern California. There was a little girl named Grace that made me have a deeper understanding of the power of dreams.
I used to watch her from my kitchen window, who seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during break. A sea of children, and yet to me, she stood out from them all.
I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone. She would practice dribbling and shooting over and over again, sometimes until dark. One day I asked her why she practiced so much. She looked directly into my eyes and said without a moment of hesitation “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship. I like basketball. I decided that if I were good enough, I would get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Then she smiled and ran towards the court to restart the routine I had seen over and over again.
Well, she was determined. I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her team to victory.
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。
One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head buried in her arms.
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She lifted her head from her hands and told me that her father said those coaches were wrong.
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I really like my job—teaching, in which I can watch children grow up and understand slowly, especially when I can play a part in it. However, it can be a challenging job. There are times when students can seem uninterested in learning and troublesome in class. Tyler is just one of them.
Tyler was enrolled in my senior American government class for a term. He had impulse-control and anger-management issues. He had been suspended (停课) many times before. When he entered my class in his senior year, I expected the worst.
Every time I talked at the front of the class. I would ask questions of students, calling them by name. Doing this helped me to get to know them and learn their names. Unfortunately, every time I called on Tyler, he would respond with a glib (未经思考的) answer. If he got an answer wrong, he would become angry.
About a month into the year, I was still trying to connect with Tyler. I could usually get students to join in class discussions or at least encourage them to sit quietly; by contrast, Tyler was just loud.
One day, Tyler was talking while I was teaching. In the middle of the lesson, I said, “Tyler, why don’t you join in our discussion instead of having one of your own?” With that, he got up from his chair, pushed it over and yelled something, some dirty word even included.
Due to his terrible performance in my class, he was sent to the office with a discipline referral (纪律处罚表), and he received a week-long out-of-school suspension.
To this point this was one of my worst teaching experiences. I feared that class every day. Tyler’s anger was almost too much for me, like a bomb, ready to explode anytime. The week Tyler was out of school was a wonderful time, and we got a lot achieved as a class.
On the day of Tyler’s return, I stood at the door waiting for him, ready to have a talk with him.
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As part of my efforts to build connections with him, I managed to meet him regularly after class to learn about his study problems and his advice on how to manage class better.
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From high up in his skinny apartment building, Pieter could see the canal stretching in all directions. Every Saturday, Pieter watched for Grandpa riding toward the building on his bicycle. But today, Pieter knew that his grandfather wouldn’t come. Pieter would not hear the ring-ring of Grandpa’s bicycle bell. And there would be no Saturday afternoon picnic in the park. Last week, Grandpa had a knee operation, Now he needed a walking stick to provide assistance―and Pieter didn’t know if Grandpa would ever ride his bike again. Sighing with worry, Pieter was lost in thought. Would he ever again hear the ring-ring as Grandpa approached?
That’s when Pieter had an idea. He grabbed his birthday money-l0 euros-from the top dresser drawer. Then he hurried to tell Mum his plan. A few minutes later, Pieter ran down the stairs of his building and burst into the afternoon sunshine. His bike was waiting for him. Pieter wore his helmet and pedalled down the bumpy road, Ring-ring sang his bicycle bell to alert walkers that he was coming. He pedalled past the hardware(五金) store in the corner. He pedalled past the window washer who whistled a she worked. And he pedalled two more blocks before arriving at the market. He loved the market’s sights and smells.
Pieter’s euros clinked(叮当响) in his pocket a she walked through the market, examining each table. He stopped at a fruit stand, chose two shiny apples and paid two euros. Then he stopped at the cheese table and asked for half a pound of cheese, handing the waiter three euros. Pieter placed the items in his bicycle basket and pedalled back toward home. Imagining his Grandpa walking toward him joyfully accompanied by the ring-ring sound, Pieter whistled a merry tune.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.开头已给出。
Paragraph 1：
Wearing a bright smile, he stopped halfway in front of the hardware store.
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Paragraph 2：
But instead of heading for home, Pieter pedalled in a different direction.
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For the past 17 years, Cathy had been living in the shadows. Because of some birth problems, her bones and muscles were out of shape. No one expected her to survive long. She did make it but with her strange body figure, everyone could recognize her, even from a distance.
In her hometown, a yearly outdoor performance was held in the school auditorium(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.
Cathy had a beautiful singing voice. Last year she went to her music teacher Mrs. Owens to ask to join in the performance. Without letting her sing, Mrs. Owens took a glance at Cathy’s body and said, “Child, you are just not suitable. Everyone would stare at you and that would make you uncomfortable. It would make them uncomfortable, too.”
Without singing a single note, Cathy was sent back through the door of the music classroom. Hurt and upset，she decided never to try out again. But Mrs. Owens then retired.
This year, there came a new music teacher, Mr. Butler. He heard about Cathy and suggested that she have a try.
Cathy didn’t want to be rejected again, so she hesitated about it. As Cathy struggled, the door was pushed open and Mr. Butler called, “Cathy, you’re next.” Kind of nervous as she was, Cathy did as Mr. Butler told her to. Mr. Butler sat by the piano to keep Cathy company. When Cathy finished her testing performance, she thanked Mr. Butler and knew the result would be posted on notice board the next day.
Cathy couldn’t sleep that night. She tossed and turned in bed one thousand times. 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 due to stress.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卷相应位置作答。
Cathy rushed to school and glanced at the list on the notice board anxiously.
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Finally, the day for the performance came.
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After being busy for half a year, my parents decided to drive me to a scenic spot outside the city to have fun. Joyfully, we planned our driving route.
Then, on a December Saturday morning, my dad started his car and we set off with great expectation. Before long, we left the noisy city and came to the mountains. There were few vehicles on the road and the trees alongside were pretty. We felt so excited!
As a few hours passed, we drove onto a narrow road. And minutes later, we found a river not far away from the road. The beach was very wide, and we wanted to have a rest there for a while. So my dad turned our car and drove towards it. Soon, we were driving on the sandy beach. Moments later, our car wheels were struggling in the increasingly soft sand. But my dad wanted to get closer to the river.
Before he regretted it, our car had got stuck in the sand. My dad tried to turn around or move back, but the car didn’t move. We were worried, trapped in the middle of nowhere. Even worse, it began raining and was cold. We got out of the car and tried to push it, but failed. After a couple of minutes, we were tired and our hair and coats were a little wet. But the car only sank further into the sand.
Anxiously, we walked to the road, eager to stop a vehicle and let it help pull our car out of the sand. Our coats and hair were wetter and wetter. Before the journey, we hadn’t prepared umbrellas or carried any food. Now, we were hungry and cold, standing in the rain. After waiting for a long time, there wasn’t one vehicle passing.
Just when we were helpless, we saw a farmhouse not far away. “Can they help us?” I asked. My dad was doubtful. Still, we reached there, and found it was a big family. They seemed poor and unfriendly. My dad told them our problem and begged them to help us pull our car out.
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。
To our surprise, they nodded without thinking.
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My dad was so grateful that he handed some money to the family to thank them. _
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It was the worst day ever. The exact date was January10, 2010. And my life was changed completely when that accident happened.
Before that day I had just started my college life and loved being at that stage in my life where I could eat all the pizza I wanted, yet engage in adult conversations with my parents about the responsibility to make life better for others. I was pretty sure I could be someone in the future, a great volunteer maybe. Then on that day, all the possibilities were destroyed by a careless driver. The days I spent in hospital were dreadful, suffering severe pain and hearing the doctor telling me that I could never walk anymore.
When I was finally permitted to leave the hospital, I had myself in a small apartment and refused any visit, blaming everyone in the world and drowning myself to despair. After I missed ten calls from my dad, he just couldn’t leave me alone. And when he entered the apartment, it was in a mess, with pizza boxes on the floor and dirty dishes in the sink. In the corner, there was a garbage can around which were pieces of garbage and waste paper. He turned around and finally had his eyes on me. A few steps towards me and he stroke his fingers through my hair, gently asking, “You want to see something?” I felt a little guilty for making my dad so worried, so I faked a smile and nodded my head.
He opened my fridge, searched for a while and took out some ice and some tea leaves after boiling some water in a pot. Mysteriously, he put the ice in the boiling water. After a while, he asked, “How is the ice now?” “What?” I was a little confused about his question, wondering what he was about to do next. When he repeated the move and asked me the same question, I began to feel bored. “How is the ice now?” “What ice? There is no ice in the water now! It melted!” I answered with my eyes fixed on the roof. Suddenly, Dad held my head, looked at me straightly and explained, “The ice was once tough and hard.” Dad continued, “But when it was put in the pot, the boiling water melted it and made it disappear as if it had never existed, just like what the difficulties may do to one’s dream.”
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。
“Want to see something different?” Dad went on to pour a spoonful of tea leaves in the boiling water, too.
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I knew it was time to change.
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I spent most of my teenage years in an old farmhouse in the Durham County countryside. That was more than 30 years ago, but life there dated back to an even earlier era I spent my summer days doing manual labor in the tobacco fields, while my summer evenings were spent preparing vegetables in the backyard. My fall weekends were often spent cutting wood and storing logs for the fire. Some of my neighbors still had outhouses. We had an indoor TV receiver which helped us tune into the few television stations we could watch.
Living where we did, we could see three or four other houses from our own, none of them within shouting distance. We knew our neighbors, most of whom were elderly. My father wouldn’t let other folks do without when he had enough, so we helped them out when they needed it.
Jimmy lived across the street, on the far side of a tobacco field. He was seventy years old and lived alone. He lost his wife two years ago. He had barely supported himself these last couple of years since his health had gotten worse. One day, we went to visit him at his home. It was a small wooden house with dirty windows and a curtain that had been mended several times. The poor old man would sit in an armchair by the window, holding a faded (褪色的) photo, and with tears in his eyes, recall happy memories of his wife.
One weekend, my father went to check on Jimmy, but a rare heavy snow happened to fall. It was so heavy that he couldn’t get his old truck up Jimmy’s uneven (不平坦的), snow-covered road Nobody could understand what made Dad climb the 400 yards or so to Jimmy’s house. My brother and I were waiting anxiously at home. After a long time, he rushed home and told us that Jimmy was sick and had no firewood left.
续写要求：
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:
My father asked us if we would like to help.
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We knocked on Jimmy’s door, and he greeted us.
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It was February 16, 2019, at 8a. m. when my girlfriend, Jessika McNeill, and I arrived at Utah’s Zion National Park. We’d traveled from our home in Mesa, Arizona, to hike the nine-mile-long Subway Track, so named because of its amazing tunnel-shaped canyon (峡谷). Halfway through our track, which included climbing over huge rocks and crossing streams, the sunshine gave way to a light snow. Soon after, we reached the walls of the Subway Track. A small pond stood in our way, with the track continuing on the other side. Because the pond looked shallow, we began to get through, with Jessika leading the way.
About five feet from the edge, her front foot sank into the sandy bottom. Then she fell forward and both legs started to sink. I rushed, grabbed her under the shoulders, and pulled her out of the muck (淤泥). She climbed back to shore. But now I was sinking. The muck came all the way up to my right leg and my left ankle. I freed my left leg but couldn’t move my right. Jess handed me a long stick we’d picked up earlier in the hike. I jammed it down the side of my leg and tried to move and pull it out. Nothing. I was stuck in quicksand.
Jessika started scooping (挖出) sand with both hands, but it was refilling faster than she could pull it out. ”Don’t bother,“ I told her. ”You’re just wasting your energy.“ While I was no longer sinking, I wasn’t getting out, either. We couldn’t call for help because there was no signal there. I told Jessika she had to hike back and seek help. She was scared-she had only ever hiked with me and was afraid of hiking alone on such a tough track. But we were out of options.
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。
A few hours after Jessika left, it was getting dark and started to snow heavily.
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A whistle woke me up, spotting a flashlight through my jacket, I cried for help.
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Jean’s dream was to be a great chef, so when she was 20, she travelled to France, which has the most famous cuisine in the world, to learn to cook. After twelve years, she was among the best.
Her father, Bob, was getting old, and she wanted to be near him. Jean accepted an offer from one of Washington’s top restaurants. The manager offered her a handsome salary, and 30% ownership of the restaurant. The next day, Jean went to sign the contract. As she got out of the car, she caught sight of a green sunshade. Instead of going to meet the manager, she crossed the street towards the old restaurant, Fargonetti’s. She pushed open the door and the memories came flooding back.
Jean’s mum died when she was just 11, and her father lost his job and was forced to freelance (从事自由职业). Money was very short. When Jean turned thirteen, Bob had made a reservation at Fargonetti’s, the capital’s best restaurant.
“I’m not hungry, baby girl. I had a huge breakfast,” Bob said. “This is all for you!” “Oh,” Jean cried. “Daddy was so silly! He’s been saving to come here for lunch for MONTHS and now he ruined his appetite with breakfast!” The waiter, Carl Bader, immediately realised what was going on and went to Mr Fargonetti, the restaurant owner, and told him about Jean and Bob.
An hour later, surprisingly, the waiter brought wonderful dishes and set them before the father and daughter. “Lunch is on the house with Mr Fargoneti’s compliments (致意),” Carl said. For Bob and Jean, it was a free but magical meal. They were on cloud nine when they walked out. “Jean,“ said Bob happily. “I feel our luck has changed!” And it did! The next day, one of Bob’s old friends called and offered him a job at a new magazine, and Jean believed Fargonetti’s had made it all happen. That was when she decided to become a chef!
Twenty years later, the old restaurant looked run-down and sad, but Jean recognised the waiter immediately. “Carl?” she asked delightedly.
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 man looked surprised.
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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The early April wind was colder than I expected as I walked anxiously toward the Holiday Inn at Union Square in San Francisco. With every step I took, I heard my mother’s words, “Johnny, I am all packed and looking forward to seeing you!”
After five years of trying to get a visa to the United States to visit me, she finally succeeded on the third attempt. The long and boring process, while at times heartbreaking, could not prevent my mom from her desire to make the trip. Despite being only five feet, three inches tall, Mom had always been the pillar (支柱) of our family. Her solution to the visa challenge proved once again that no barrier was a match for Mom’s strong determination and love for her family — in this case, me!
Although excited, I was extremely nervous. Mom and I had not seen each other in more than eight years, since I left Malaysia at eighteen to attend college in the U.S. Due to a fault, my application for permanent residency was put on hold. In spite of being gainfully employed and a homeowner, I could not leave the country until my paperwork was resolved.
In the beginning, our only source of communication was through letters. Later, it became lengthy phone conversations. Much had happened during the eight years while I was absent.
During the months before her U.S. trip, I tried to help my mom prepare what she needed to pack. I planned for her to stay with me for four months, during which time we would be traveling throughout the United States. Her reply was always, “Don’t worry about me. I know what I need. How about you? What would you like me to bring you from Malaysia?” My answer never changed. All I wanted was a couple of bags of authentic curry and chili (辣椒) powder from our hometown of Melaka, as I was running low on these treasured spices.
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。
When the day finally came, I waited patiently for her in front of the hotel.
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It was late afternoon by the time we reached my house in Baton Rouge.
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