It was a few days before Christmas many years ago and it looked like it would not be a happy one for my family.
The factory that I was working at gave us a long holiday while their machinery was being repaired, that is to say, there is no need for us to go to work. In return for this, we didn't have much money.
My wife and I had managed to save some money to buy our young children some toys, but an unexpected car repair had taken most of our cash. We knew for sure that we could only afford to get one small gift for each of our children.
We arrived at the store and walked down the parking lot past people loading gifts into their cars. I saw the happiness on their faces and 1 heard them laughing and speaking happily. I envied them a bit, because it sure didn't feel like Christmas to me. We hurried into the store past old Tom, a beggar who had begged here for many years. To some extent, we had been "friends". I had always enjoyed putting something in his kettle before and he always held up his thumb to me. But today we passed him quickly with our heads down, pretending we didn't see him even though I heard clearly he was saying hello to me. I wasn't sure if I could afford gifts for my own family and I could not help others.
We searched all through the store hoping to find one thing each of our small children would like. Thankfully, we were able to get them each something sweet. We headed for the checkout and paid the bills for all the toys children selected. We found that we even had a few dollars left over.
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右。
2.续写部分分为两段,每段开头语已给出。
Paragraph 1:
With those dollars left, we walked out of the store.
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Paragraph 2:
"This is for your children!" old Tom handed me something.
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Several years ago, I traveled by train to Stockholm. I was visiting two friends who were to meet me at the train station. I stood there waiting for my first friend to arrive and in the midst of all the hurrying passengers that Friday afternoon, I heard a weak voice; it sounded like a question. I turned and saw a young man standing with a white cane ( 拐 杖 ) , his suitcase by his feet. I approached and asked,“Do you need help?”“Yes,”he replied, nodding his head, appearing relieved.
He had been trying for some time, unsuccessfully, to get someone’s attention. He had missed his train home. His cell phone battery was dead, and he needed to call his mother to tell her of the circumstances.
This young man named Mustafa, I found out, had just completed his first week at a school for the blind. He went to school on Mondays and returned home on Fridays. Of course I helped him call his mother. I did not understand what he spoke with her on my cell phone, but I could tell the language was Swedish. Of course the next problem was finding the right train home and telling his mother the new arrival time. Yet in this disordered train station, I did not want to miss connecting with my friend Bogdan who was on his way to the spot where we were standing.
Before I could dial the number to call Bogdan, he was suddenly already there. I described the problem and Bogdan took the young man’s arm and we were off on our adventure to help get Mustafa home. While sorting out where his home was, what train, and what time, my second friend Marcello called and wondered where we were. Soon he joined us. It happened that Marcello speaks 12 languages.
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。
Marcello’s gift in language was a great advantage.
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Now we were leading Mustafa to his train.
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We were enjoying the summer vacation on the beaches of beautiful Gulf shores Alabama. My oldest daughter was about 6 years old and the youngest was 3. We bought a two-man inflatable boat thinking this would make for a really fun day for the two girls. And so it did. The two of them played all day in that boat.
Not far from us, a middle-aged man was taking a sunbath, greeting us with a smile now and then. Later the little one got tired and was beginning to look pretty pink with too much sun. So, I took her to our spot on the sand and placed an umbrella over her as my older girl continued to play in the boat. I probably became a little too involved with my younger daughter and spent a little too much time not noticing what was going on the small distance to the water. But as I looked l became concerned as I saw the little boat had moved far out from the shore with my oldest daughter in it. I called to her to come in closer to shore but she seemed to be too frightened to accomplish just that. We hadn’t thought to buy any oars for the boat. Her little arms were too short to reach across the boat and into the water. All she could do was paddle hard to one side and was just making small circles.
About this time, others on the beach noticed this but no one seemed to be doing anything but watching. Being a pitiful swimmer, I was standing as far out in the water as I could. Shouting instructions to her with no success. I watched her float farther out to sea and prayed to God. “Lord. I don’t believe you gave me this beautiful child for me to watch her float out to sea. Lord, please save her!”
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。
As if by miracle, that middle-aged man turned out to be the answer to my paper.
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I reached out my hands as my girl got out of the boat．
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Whether we notice it or not, our child is a little reflection of ourselves. They grow up looking more and more like us. They even have similar personalities and hobbies. And in some cases, the standard of choosing a good friend.
One day, my 10-year-old Jane said, “Mom, I made a new friend at school today. Can she come over tomorrow?” Her words made me extremely happy because Jane was a shy girl and I wanted her to make some friends to bring her out of her shell.
“Sure, honey, that sounds great.” I said, thinking back to my own childhood best friend, Susan. We lived across the street from each other in Washington Heights, New York. We met at the age of 10, too. Like my daughter. I was shy and had trouble making friends. But Susan drew me out. She was one of the friendliest people in school, with shiny black hair and a mile-wide smile. Thanks to Susan. I was happy every day.
In senior high school, Susan went on a trip to Florida. This was the first time we had to be away from each other for a few days. “I’ll be back soon and I will write to you as soon as I arrive.” she told me. But I didn’t get her phone call nor receive any mail from her. Soon, my family moved to New Jersey, making my hope of seeing Susan impossible.
Whenever I thought of him, tears came into my eyes.
The next day Jane brought her new friend home. “Hi, Mrs. Smith.” the little girl said. Her hair was so shiny and black and she gave me a big smile. “My name is Jo. My mom will pick me up 2 hours later.”
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。
Paragraph1:
I was puzzled because my daughter’s new friend looked so familiar.
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Paragraph 2:
Two hours passed really quickly, and there was a knock on the door.
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5 . When Jim Grant spotted black smoke coming out of a building on his way to work, he
Pulling up to the building, Grant saw flames（火焰）shooting out of a second-floor window. Not seeing or hearing any fire engines
On the second floor, he
Thanks to them, a family was saved from the fire. Grant and the policeman were honored for their
| A．drove | B．stopped | C．reached | D．abandoned |
| A．saw | B．made | C．missed | D．crossed |
| A．burning | B．leaving | C．approaching | D．waiting |
| A．entrance | B．road | C．building | D．window |
| A．locked | B．kicked | C．counted | D．repaired |
| A．agreed | B．cared | C．responded | D．understood |
| A．arrived | B．returned | C．hidden | D．escaped |
| A．skipped | B．closed | C．noticed | D．remembered |
| A．frightened | B．curious | C．patient | D．grateful |
| A．turn back | B．go up | C．get out | D．lie down |
| A．following | B．dragging | C．examining | D．passing |
| A．safely | B．secretly | C．suddenly | D．previously |
| A．witness | B．guide | C．service | D．help |
| A．woman | B．door | C．car | D．baby |
| A．wisdom | B．generosity | C．honesty | D．courage |
6 . In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway（晃动）. The authorities closed access to the bridge and tens of thousands of people made their way back to land. A disaster was avoided.
The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns. Its author, Dr. Henry Petroski, has long been writing about disasters. In this book, he includes the loss of the space shuttles（航天飞机）Challenger and Columbia, and the sinking of the Titanic.
Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.
Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.
"Success is success but that is all that it is," Dr. Petroski writes. It is failure that brings improvement.
1. What happened to the Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th birthday?| A．It carried more weight than it could. |
| B．It swayed violently in a strong wind |
| C．Its roadway was damaged by vehicles |
| D．Its access was blocked by many people. |
| A．No design is well received everywhere |
| B．Construction is more important than design. |
| C．Not all disasters are caused by engineering design |
| D．Improvements on engineering works are necessary. |
| A．Failure can lead to progress. | B．Success results in overconfidence |
| C．Failure should be avoided. | D．Success comes from joint efforts. |
| A．A news report | B．A short story. |
| C．A book review | D．A research article. |
7 . The end of the school year was in sight and spirits were high. I was back teaching after an absence of 15 years, dealing with the various kinds of "forbidden fruit" that come out of book bags. Now was the spring of the water pistol.
I decided to think up a method of dealing with forbidden fruit.
"Please bring that pistol to me," I said. "I'm going to put it in my Grandma's Box."
"What's that?" they asked.
"It's a large wooden chest full of toys for my grandchildren," I replied,
"You don't have grandchildren," someone said.
"I don't now." I replied. "But someday I will. When I do, my box will be full of wonderful things for them."
My imaginary Grandma's Box worked like magic that spring, and later. Sometimes. students would ask me to describe all the things I had in it. Then I would try to remember the different possessions I supposedly had taken away—since I seldom actually kept them. Usually the offender would appear at the end of the day, and I would return the belonging.
The-years went by, and my first grandchild Gordon was born. I shared my joy with that year's class. Then someone said, "Now you can use your Grandma's Box." From then on instead of coming to ask their possessions back, the students would say, "That's okay. Put it in your Grandma's Box for Gordon."
I loved talking about the imaginary box, not only with my students but also with my own children. They enjoyed hearing about all the forbidden fruit I had collected. Then one Christmas I received a surprise gift—a large, beautifully made wooden chest. My son Bruce had made my Grandma's Box a reality.
1. What was the author's purpose in having the conversation with the students?| A．To collect the water pistol. | B．To talk about her grandchildren. |
| C．To recommend some toys. | D．To explain her teaching method. |
| A．The student's parent. | B．The maker of the Grandma's Box. |
| C．The author's grandchild. | D．The owner of the forbidden fruit. |
| A．They went to play with the baby. | B．They asked to see the Grandma's Box. |
| C．They made a present for Gordon. | D．They stopped asking their toys back. |
| A．She enjoys telling jokes. | B．She is a strict and smart teacher. |
| C．She loves doing woodwork. | D．She is a responsible grandmother |
8 . In 1883, John Roebling, an engineer, was inspired by an idea to build a bridge connecting New York with Long Island.
John
He
| A．Anyway | B．Though | C．Therefore | D．However |
| A．suitable | B．impossible | C．easy | D．available |
| A．thought | B．talked | C．told | D．took |
| A．hid | B．shared | C．realized | D．kept |
| A．plan | B．decision | C．map | D．way |
| A．event | B．accident | C．thing | D．fight |
| A．since | B．when | C．before | D．until |
| A．injured | B．dead | C．sad | D．nervous |
| A．give out | B．lose face | C．lose interest | D．give up |
| A．stick | B．hand | C．finger | D．eye |
| A．quickly | B．slowly | C．easily | D．rarely |
| A．partner | B．teacher | C．wife | D．father |
| A．pointing | B．indicating | C．arguing | D．shouting |
| A．different | B．other | C．same | D．usual |
| A．completed | B．appeared | C．decorated | D．rebuilt |
The Meredith family lived in a small community. As the economy was in decline, some people in the town had lost their jobs. Many of their families were struggling to make ends meet. People were trying to help each other meet the challenges.
Mrs. Meredith was a most kind and thoughtful woman. She spent a great deal of time visiting the poor. She knew they had problems, and they needed all kinds of help. When she had time, she would bring food and medicine to them.
One morning she told her children about a family she had visited the day before. There was a man sick in bed, his wife, who took care of him and could not go out to work, and their little boy. The little boy -his name was Bernard-had interested her very much.
“I wish you could see him,” she said to her own children, John, Harry, and Clara. “He is such a help to his mother. He wants very much to earn some money, but I don't see what he can do.”
After their mother left the room, the children sat thinking about Bernard. “I wish we could help him to earn money,” said Clara. “His family is suffering so much.”
“So do I,” said Harry. “We really should do something to assist them.”
For some moments, John said nothing, but, suddenly, he sprang to his feet and cried, “I have a great idea! I have a solution that we can all help accomplish(完成).”
The other children also jumped up all attention. When John had an idea, it was sure to be a good one. “I tell you what we can do,” said John. “You know that big box of corn Uncle John sent us? Well, we can make popcorn(爆米花), and put it into paper bags, and Bernard can take it around to the houses and sell it.”
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 Mrs. Meredith heard of John's idea, she thought it was a good one, too.
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With everything ready, Bernard started out on his new business.
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An old wooden seat that Susan extremely valued often reminded her of mother’s Golden Rule.
Back in the 1930s, the country life was really tough. One day after dinner, Susan’s mother sat on the seat, announcing to the children the Golden Rule: “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” Susan reflected carefully and seriously on what her mother had said. She resolved that she would keep in mind and follow the rule.
One Saturday afternoon, she went to farmer Jason’s inn (小旅馆) to get the pay for her mother’s washing for the guests there, which amounted to five dollars. She found Jason in the yard, who, as all the villagers knew, was selfish and mean.
His eyes clouded with anger, as he had just finished a quarrel with one of his guests. He held in his hand an open wallet, full of bills. He barely noticed Susan until she made her request for the money. Instead of shouting at her, as usual, for troubling him when he was busy, he handed her a bank note.
Feeling relieved for escaping from Jason so easily, Susan hurried out of the inn. When carefully putting the money into her pocket, she discovered that Jason had given her two bills instead of one, and her first reaction was joy at the unexpected prize. She looked around and there was nobody nearby to share her discovery. “It is mine. All mine.” she said to herself. “I will buy mum a new coat with it, and she can give her old one to sister Mary, and then Mary can go to the Sunday school with me next winter. I wonder if I can buy a pair of shoes for brother Tom too.”
Just at that moment, she realized that Jason must have given the extra money to her by mistake, and therefore she had no right to own it. But a voice of temptation (诱惑) whispered, “He gave it, and you can keep it. He will never know, even if it is a mistake. ”
As Susan hurried home, this conflict went on in her mind.
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Susan’s face became red with embarrassment and annoyance.
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