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.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.
“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.
“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk— her mom doesn’t have milk money and I do.”
Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words. Choked with strong feelings, Jackie held her sweet granddaughter tightly in her arms.
Last week, Jackie and Sunshine met with her teacher, Rita Hausher, and handed her the $30 the kindergartner had saved. There are 20 kids in Sunshine’s class and about half don’t get milk. It costs $ 0.45 a carton (纸盒). The total adds up to about $180 a month for every child in the class to have milk every day.
After dropping Sunshine off at school, Jackie posted a tearful video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan. To her surprise, many people offered to donate toward the cause. Within a week, Jackie raised more than $1,000. Now every student in Sunshine’s class can get free milk for the rest of the year.
Jackie said Sunshine doesn’t see her kind act as a big deal. She was just trying to look out for her friends. “She doesn’t understand the effect she’s brought about,” Jackie said. “But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to.”
1. Why did Sunshine empty her piggy bank?| A．She hoped to show off her savings in class. | B．She needed to train her counting skills. |
| C．She wanted to play with the coins. | D．She intended to pay for her friend’s milk. |
| A．Relieved. | B．Touched. | C．Curious. | D．Proud. |
| A．Two heads are better than one. | B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. | D．There’s no such thing as a free lunch. |
| A．Small Coins, Big Changes. | B．Jackie’s Piggy Bank. |
| C．Piggy Bank and Carton Milk. | D．A Moved Grandmother. |
Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏团). Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.
This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It should be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight in shining armor.”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right.” The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand; her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady told the price to him again. The man didn’t have enough money. How could he turn and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
In fact, we were not rich. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
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，每段的开头已为你写好。
Paragraph l:
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town. But it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.
On his way home he saw a person lying on the ground. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking the baskets with him.
The next afternoon the famer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked, “Are these yours?” “Yes, sir.” the farmer answered timidly (胆小). “Have you killed the man?” “No, no, sir.” the farmer said in a hurry. “When did you see the dead man?” “About seven last evening.” “Did you see who killed him?” “No, sir.” The officer brought out a knife and asked, “Have you seen it yet?” “No, sir.” The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and sent him into prison. The officer wanted to trap the farmer into the confession (供认), but the farmer didn’t admit he was the murderer.
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:
The officer was so angry that he asked the policeman to beat him up again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
The farmer was lucky. A few days later.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Roland was no exception. He was a magnificent German Shepherd (德国牧羊犬), a little lazy and overweight though. He loved to doze in the backyard. He yawned and stretched his body as he heard the slowly approaching footsteps of Mrs. Proudfoot. “Come have your lunch dear!” said Mrs. Proudfoot with her usual fondness for him and he wagged his tail affectionately in return.
Roland was licking the last piece of meat in his plate when the doorbell burst into music. Mrs. Proudfoot hurried to answer the door. Roland stood alert by her side.
“Good noon Mrs. Proudfoot”. It was Sam, her teenage neighbor. “My! My! You look pale! What happened?” asked Mrs. Proudfoot with genuine worry. She immediately waved him in and closed the door behind. Mrs. Proudfoot was a lonely widow, but was well loved in her neighborhood especially by kids, though she had no kids to call her own.
Once encouraged, Sam disclosed his dilemma. “My friend Barry lost a rare book of school library. It costs150 dollars, but he has only 55 dollars and his poor parents can’t afford to pay the rest. Barry is working parttime but that’s far from enough.” With a dramatic sigh he continued, “If he didn’t refund the loss before the end of term, he will be dismissed from final exams. That will ruin his future! I have to help him, whatever it takes. He is my best friend. “
“Don’t worry, Sammy. You want me to pay.” but Mrs. Proudfoot was interrupted. “No, No, Mrs. Proudfoot. This is not what I came here for. I’ll work for you. Would you favor me to walk your dog please? For 2 dollars a day.” He looked up with begging eyes.
Mrs. Proudfoot clapped her hands in agreement, “That can’t be better! I’ve been worried’ about Roland lately. He does need some exercise! It’s nice of you to make such an offer.”
Sam thanked her over and over, “I will start tomorrow morning.”
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。
Sam arrived very early the next morning.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A month later, Mrs. Proudfoot was delighted to find Roland fit and energetic.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.
This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight in shining armor.”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right.” The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady again quoted the price. The man didn’t have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Actually we were not wealthy in any sense. So I understood how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
Paragraph 1：
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2：
That day I went back home with my father without any tickets, except a valuable lesson.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sam Watts was a 37-year-old fisherman living and working in Canada. One day, Sam planned to head out into the Pacific at 9 am and work straight through until 5 pm the next day. Joining Sam would be his crewman, 24-year-old Tom Buck.
Although Sam had been warned that a storm was coming, there was little that would keep him from going. As he sailed through the waves some 120 kilometers from land, Sam let out his three-kilometer-long fishing line. The storm was gaining strength on land but had yet to reach the men far offshore. That changed around 1 am. Waves rocked the small boat, which began to turn sideways like an amusement park ride. “Get us out of here!” Tom screamed to Sam. “Let’s go back!”
With the winds and waves kicking up, the boat began to fill with water. Sam and Tom tried to pull in the fishing line together, but the high waves filled the boat with water, forcing Sam to make a hard decision. He cut the line, losing thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and fish in the sea. He then pointed the boat toward a port five hours away. Sam then called his boss, William Fox, to report his position.
With dawn coming, Sam spotted the rise of the mountains on the horizon. He was figuring out a route through the dangerous waters when suddenly the motor stopped. “I couldn’t believe it,” Sam said. “We were 24 kilometers off the coast, and the motor died.” High waves raised and dropped the boat, sending the men crashing into the sides. “William, William!” Sam yelled into the radio. “If you’re coming to get me, come now!”
“We’re coming!” William shouted back.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150词左右；
2. 可以使用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:
Shortly after, the radio died and the wind continued to blow straight offshore, driving the men farther out to sea.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
The next morning, Sam spotted a fishing boat in the distance.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9 . Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and his family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him. He seemed unhappy with me unless got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We talked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions Gone was my father’s critical (挑别的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.
1. Why did the author feel bitter about her father as a young adult?| A．He did not love his children. |
| B．He expected too much of her. |
| C．He was too proud of himself. |
| D．He was silent most of the time. |
| A．nervous | B．sorry |
| C．tired | D．safe |
| A．More critical. | B．More talkative. |
| C．Gentle and friendly. | D．Strict and hard-working. |
| A．the cafe owner | B．the author’s son |
| C．the author’s father | D．the friend of the author’s father |
Boys like to be considered to be brave, but what kind of things can be considered to be brave? It is not a question that can be answered by words, but by the actual deed. A boy with the name Henry gave us a good example. Ronny and Henry were two friends in the same class. They and together and went home together. One day as Ronny and Henry were going home after school, they saw some people fighting in the street comer. Ronny said excitedly, “Some people are fighting! Let's go and have a look!” But Henry refused, “It's none of our business. We'd better go home and don't get close to them. Also our parents are expecting to have dinner with us together at home and I don't want them to worry about me.
“You are a coward, and afraid to go,” said Ronny, and off he ran to the spot with some other boys. Henry had to go home alone and didn't think about it anymore. But Ronny thought Henry was a coward and told all the boys that. They laughed at him a great deal. From then on, they looked down upon Henry and didn't want to play with him. Henry was sad but he wasn't angry with Ronny for his rude behavior, because he had learned that true courage was shown most in bearing misunderstanding when it was not deserved, and that he ought to be afraid of nothing but doing wrong. Thus, he just ignored the other boys laughter and continued to stick to his thought and go to school and study as well. However, Ronny didn't invite Henry to go home with him anymore. Instead, he had his new friends who also thought 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 lots of fun.
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:
A few days later, something terrible happened to Ronny.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
At that moment, Henry happened to pass by.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
