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.”

At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.

But things began to change as she was doing the chores.

2 . With 19:40 on the clock in the first half of the University of Vermont’s match-up against Albany in March, Josh Speidel caught a pass and scored. The crowd went wild, and the coaches and players of both teams hugged Josh. Josh announced, “I did it! I’m a college basketball player!”

Making a single lay-up (单手上篮) would be no big deal for the average player. But five years ago, Josh suffered a brain injury in a car accident only months after signing with the UVM Catamounts. Josh had offers from 15 universities, but playing for UVM had always been his dream.

After the accident, he went into a coma (昏迷) and the doctors told his parents that he might remain in a vegetative state or need round the-clock care for the rest of his life. But his parents never lost faith that their son would wake up, and agreed they wouldn’t tell Josh his terrible prognosis when he did.

Four weeks later, Josh proved them right. Not only did he learn to walk and talk again, soon he was even working out. But the goal of playing basketball was a driving force in Josh’s recovery.

Just a year and a half after the accident, he headed off to Burlington, Vermont to start college. With periodic arm tremors and short-term memory loss, Josh knew he would never play for UVM, but he watched every practice from the sideline sand became an important part of the team. UVMs associate head coach Kyle Cieplicki, who’d been Josh’s lead recruiter, said, “He’s shown the whole team how to handle adversity.”

Now 24, Josh will graduate from UVM in May with a 3.4 GPA. He’s majoring in education and social services, and plans to work with kids. Josh tells people who are struggling with their own challenges,” Always have a goal in your head and chase after it as hard as you can. And whenever you need help, ask.”

3 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.

Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!

Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.

One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!

“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”

“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.

Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.

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. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.

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Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.

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6 . Al Nixon began each day from a bench with a spectacular view of the Tampa Bay, Florida. One day, a woman stopped, “Seeing you here, I know that everything is going to be ________.” That was when Nixon knew—he needed to________ the people walking by, letting them know that men ________ to each other.

Instead of staring straight at the waterfront, Nixon started ________ at people and striking up conversations. “I wanted them to walk away knowing they didn’t have to feel ________.” Nixon, 59, said. His being present and his ________ to listen have led some to nickname him the Sunshine Mayor (市长).

“Nixon is this calm, constant________,” said Dee Glowa, who is in her late 50s. “He listens without ________ and without any kind of return expected.” While most people ________wave or stop to make small talk, others are anxious to step into his “________” and spend a few minutes with someone who will listen.

No matter what problem a person wants to ________, Nixon lends an ear. “You have to have an open heart and an open head,” he said. “No topic is off ________, but some people sit down and don’t want to ________ at all.”

Once a woman ________ and they stared at the water for an hour, then she said thank you and walked away. She just wanted a moment of ________ and to know she wasn’t alone. And in that moment, in that hour, on that morning, she truly wasn’t.”

Last Saturday David was taking a walk in the park near his home when he noticed a woman with a boy of about eight years old. When David passed them, he heard the woman yelling: “How stupid you are! You’re good at nothing.” David stopped and looked at the little boy. The boy said nothing. He just stood there, looking upset.

David was reminded of his English teacher Mrs. Brown in middle school. After he entered middle school, David lacked self-confidence because he was often made fun of by others. He was often told that he was good at nothing, which David believed.

But one day it all changed. That day, in an English writing class, Mrs. Brown asked them to read a novel. They were asked to write a new chapter of the novel after they finished reading it. A few days later, David handed in his story. He didn’t give it much thought. But the next day to his surprise, the comment “well done” from Brown came into view the moment he turned to the page where the story was written. When David read that, he almost burst into tears. He had never expected to be praised. He suddenly gained some self-confidence.

That day after he returned home, he wrote another short story and gave it to Mrs. Brown the next morning. And again he was praised. David became very interested in writing. He often wrote short dories and asked Mrs. Brown to read them and correct them for him. Mrs. Brown always gave him good advice to improve them. One year later, David joined the school newspaper and became an editor of it. He gained his confidence and was hopeful about his future.

He succeeded in entering college and kept writing. Several years after graduating from college, he had his first book published, becoming famous as a writer in his country. And he owed his success to Mrs. Brown’s encouragement. Without her encouragement, his life might be very different now.

Inspired by his own life story, David decided to do something for that boy.

The mother was ashamed when she heard that.

David is a 22-year-old man. Not having received a college education, he found it difficult to find a job. He worked at a small company and wasn’t paid well. He thought life was unfair and often complained.

One day, his boss asked him to go to his office. To his sadness, he was told he didn’t need to come to work again.

That day, David didn’t go straight back to the small apartment he shared with another man. He wanted to find a quiet place and sit there quietly for some time. Having lost his job, he had no idea what to do.

He walked and walked. Finally he stopped in front of a beautiful house. The house had a very big garden behind it. He saw an old man sitting in the garden.

“The old man must be a millionaire (百万富翁)”, thought David. “How I wish I were him! If I were him, I wouldn’t have to work and I’d have a large amount of money. I would be the happiest man in the whole world.”

Thinking how poor he was, David was even sadder. He hurriedly walked forward and found a place and sat there quietly.

Finally, he became hungry and decided to go back home. On his way back home, he passed the old man’s house again. This time the man was sitting in his front yard. When David passed by him, he noticed that the old man was looking at him. The old man looked as if he admired him very much. David was confused. Why would such a rich man admire him? He was so poor while he was so rich.

Finally, David decided to have a talk with the old man. So he stopped and walked to the old man.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hello,” said the old man.

Then they started talking. David told the old man he really admired him.

“You have such a beautiful house. You’re so rich! How I wish I were you!” said David.

Hearing that, the old man smiled and said, “And I admire you, too! I wish I were you! If I were you, I’d still enjoy my youth. Now I’m so old. Wealth doesn’t mean much to me!”

What the old man said struck (击中) David.

It took place in a teacher’s family. One day, Ben was playing basketball in the living room after school, when he accidentally threw the ball at a vase sitting on the shelf. The vase dropped to the floor and a large piece broke off. What made Ben more upset was that the vase was not a common decoration but an antique (古董), which was handed down through generations from the 18th century. It was also his mother’s favourite possession. To cover his terrible action, the terrified boy glued the pieces together hurriedly and put the vase back to its place.

As the mother herself dusted the vase every day, she naturally noticed the cracks (裂纹) that evening. To her surprise, the repair work was actually very good. At dinner time, she asked her boy if he broke the vase. Fearing punishment, the suddenly inspired boy said that a neighbour’s cat jumped in from the window and he couldn’t drive it away no matter how hard he tried. It raced around the living room and finally knocked the vase off its shelf. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying, for all the windows were closed before she left for work each morning and opened after she returned. However, in the face of her son’s nervous eyes and the suspicious looks of the other family members, Ben’s mother remained calm. She realized she shouldn’t just simply blame and punish her son for lying. She came up with another idea.

Before going to bed, the boy found a note from his mother in his room, asking him to go to the study at once. The boy thought he would now be punished but, as he had already lied, he was determined to deny everything to the end, no matter how angry his mum became.

In the study, calmly bathed in the light, his mothers face showed no sign of anger. On seeing her son push open the door and cautiously enter, she took a chocolate box out of a drawer and gave him one.

The mother said, “This chocolate is a reward for your imagination: a window-opening cat!”

Now with some chocolates in hand, the boy’s bad attitude disappeared.