When my little brother Tom was four, Mom said something like “I’d give anything to have a few more hours in the day.” And Tom said, “Why don’t we buy a bigger clock?” If time worked that way, I could have used an extra-big clock last week!
Our teacher had asked us to make an art project showing how plants eat, “I can’t believe we only have two nights to finish it,” Noah said with a sigh. “I have no idea how I’ll get mine done.”
I didn’t say anything. Not because I was nervous—I wasn’t nervous at all. 1 love art projects! In fact, I was so relaxed that I didn’t work on the project at all on Monday night. I planned to start the minute I got home from baseball practice on Tuesday. But there was just one thing.
I forgot baseball would run later than usual because it was the day of Baseball Buddies, which happens every month, and it’s a chance for us older students to practise baseball with the adorable younger kids. The second I got home, I threw the entire craft box (手工盒) onto the kitchen table, took out my “How Plants Eat” paper, and started to work. But just then, the telephone rang.
It was my friend Ollie, who said his grandmother Abuela had just made cookies and wanted to know if I’d come help decorate them. I love decorating cookies, and I love, love, love Abucla’s world-famous Thanksgiving cookies that only happen once a year!
I had no choice. I had to go. Ollie and I put all the star cookies with red jam filling in one group, and all the snowflakes with white cream-cheese filling in another. It was 7 o'clock when I finally got home.1 planned to work on my project right after we ate. But then another interruption hit me.
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。
Just as I was about to start, Dad said, “Joanna, it’s your turn to do the dishes.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Looking at the big “F” on my paper, I started to reflect on what I had done these days.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Be a true runner
For me, it was normal to feel lost at the inter-camp track. Four camps of kids were ready to lead their teams to a blue ribbon and win the day. Not me. I was too little to be the leader and too skinny to be an athlete. I knew this by the time I was twelve, because my camp counselors（辅导员）and the other kids reminded me of it every chance they got. So when our camp needed a fourth runner in the two-mile race around the lake, I knew I was no one’s first choice.
I hid in the shade of a maple tree as they called the names of the runners, my body tensed as I heard a counselor call, “Fred! Where is Fred! He is in this race!” It was Barry. He spotted me under the tree. “Fred! We need a 12-year-old who hasn’t been in other events to run the two-mile!”
He gave me a push towards the starting line. Having no confidence and trying to save myself from the shame of taking the last place as four camps watched, I pleaded with him.
“But I don’t know the way around the lake!”
“You’re in. Just follow Bill!” Barry smiled.
Bill was my friend and the fastest runner in our camp. And then Barry said, “When you make it to the last stretch（最后一程）on the field, just throw your head back and run.”
At the starting line, I stood next to Bill and trembled.
“On your mark… Get set...” The gun cracked and sixteen of us took off. I stayed close on Bill’s heels, a little too close for Bill, I guess. He shouted at me, “Back off!”
I did. Two guys passed me, but I kept my eyes on Bill.
It was tiring. The distance was widening between Bill and me. We made the turn from the dusty road onto the muddy, wooded trail that would go around the lake back to the field. Through the trees, I saw Bill trip over a tree root and fall. A runner from another camp passed him.
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。
In a moment, Bill was up again and running.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I didn’t know when I crossed the finish line.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was a cold night in December. Two beggars were sitting on a busy street corner in the downtown section of the city. They watched helplessly as lots of people walked by. Some ignored them on purpose and others were too caught up in their own cares to even notice their existence.
Every so often, a kind-hearted woman or a small child would drop a few coins in the hats which lay in front of them on the icy sidewalk. Some people, feeling particularly generous, would even pull out a bill or two from their wallets and drop them into the beggars’ hats and then continued their walking.
Just as they were getting ready to leave the street corner, they noticed a man walking toward them. He was obviously a wealthy man. They could tell that from the finely tailored business suit he was wearing.
The first beggar whispered to the second with excitement, “He’s coming our way!” The two tried not to look directly at the man as he stepped closer to them, but they couldn’t help gazing up with expectation as he reached into his pocket and took something out.
“Thunk” was the only sound they heard as what looked like a piece of hard candy, wrapped doubly in tissue paper, hit each of their waiting hats. The rich man turned and continued on his way, not making a backward glance.
“How sickening!” said the first beggar, as soon as the rich man was out of sound range. “He could have easily left us a few coins or a spare bill, but he tricks us with a piece of hard candy. ”The beggar picked up the object with the very tips of his fingers and threw it into the gutter（排水沟）. He watched as it floated a few yards in the stream of muddy water and disappeared into the drain（下水道）at the end of the street. Then, he gathered up his things and walked away.
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 second beggar looked down at the object in his hat.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
So the second beggar changed his mind.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Out of a 13-year-old girl’s summer boredom, I put up a tent in our yard and intended to sleep in it. It was midnight and my dad had been asleep upstairs. A girl knocked on the front door, asking if she could use our phone to call her parents.
I watched her struggle to dial the numbers. After she dialed the wrong numbers several times, I offered to do that for her. But after I dialed several times, there still no people answered the phone. Looking at the girl, I said, “Want to sleep in my tent?” She hesitated for a while and agreed.
I accompanied her into the darkness of the yard, entered the tent, and turned my lantern on. She told me how she got here. She and her parents had a nice dinner. After dinner, she expressed she wanted a beautiful dress in a special style, but it was too expressive for her parents. They argued fiercely（激烈地）and she left in anger. She wandered alone aimlessly（漫无目的地）until she found herself on an unfamiliar road. Her cellphone was in her parent’s bag and she seemed to have got lost. She wiped her eyes with my pillow, looked at me sadly, and then said, “Why didn’t my parents buy that dress for me?”
I knew just nodding obviously couldn’t solve the problem. “Do you think your parents love you?” I asked. Hearing my questions, she nodded and said regretfully, “My parents always meet my request as far as possible. This is my fault to ask them to buy that dress which they can’t afford. ” At the time, my phone rang. It turned out her parents’ call. Her parents sounded very worried and said they would come very soon. Then, my dad walked down the stairs.
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。
I explained what had happened and he asked the girl, “Do you want that dress?”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At that time, her parents came.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I was a baby, my parents gave me anything I wanted. Then my dad died when I was two and a half, and I got even more stuff as my mom, friends and family gave me more and more to try to make me feel better. But when I was seven, my world changed.
That was when the real estate market(房地产) crashed. My mom had thought that buying houses was a good idea as a way to invest her money to take care of us. After the crash, I went from the kid who got an iPod when his tooth fell out and who had the coolest house to hang out in, to literally, having nowhere to stay.
After the real estate crash, when I would ask for a new toy, or bike, or even to see a movie my mom would say “maybe for your birthday” or “I’m sorry honey, but we can’t really afford that right now.” I didn’t know it then, but my mom had grown up in a family where money was never a problem, so this change was as big for her as it was for me. My constant requests for toys and video games were not helping my mom, who was to deal with her feelings about our new crisis—our financial situation. But I wasn’t used to hearing “no” so for a year or two I kept asking.
Then something happened that would change my way of thinking forever. My mom had been working really hard all year, just to pay for the necessities, like our water and power bill. When she asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said that I wanted a new video gaming system. I didn’t know that it was expensive. All I knew was that my friends had them and that I wanted one too.
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。
On my birthday, I believed that I would get what I wanted when opening the presents.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From then on, I learned the difference between what I wanted and what I needed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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 my father passed away a couple of years ago, I had to shoulder the responsibility and worked extremely hard to support my family. Being a travel agent, I was no stranger to long and tiring travels, moving from one place to another. Seldom did I have time to visit my mother, who lived alone a little far away from me.
One day at an airport, I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her plane’s departure and standing near the door. He said to his daughter, “I love you, I wish you enough.”
She said, “Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed I wish you enough too, Daddy.” They kissed good-bye and she left. The father stood there watching until his daughter was out of sight.
He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude(侵犯) on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever? ” “Yes, I have, ” I replied.
“Forgive me for asking but why is this a forever good-bye?” I asked.
“I am old and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my funeral,” he said I could definitely tell that he was in great sadness.
“When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?” I then asked cautiously.
Paragraph 1: Hearing this, he began to smile and then explained it to me.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: I felt tears well up in my eyes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994 but I can remember my mother’s words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don’t want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him. ”
AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together any more, and my dad lived alone. For a while he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him. We couldn’t afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no school supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost. The teacher’s words muffled (低沉) as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my burden with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die. But after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days.
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。
Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now, I am also working at the nonprofit organization.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nick was a 10-year-old boy. He was the only son to his parents. Nick’s father was a very busy businessman who could not spend time with his son. He came home after Nick slept, and was off to the office before Nick woke up in the morning. Nick longed for his father’s attention. He wanted to go outdoors and play with his father just like his friends did.
One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.
“Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home,” Nick said.
“Yes, son, my meeting was cancelled. So I’m at home. But after two hours I have to catch a flight,” his father replied.
“When will you be back?”
“Tomorrow noon.”
Nick was in deep thought for a while. Then he asked, “Dad, how much do you earn in a year?”
Nick’s father was taken aback (震惊). He said, “My dear son, it’s a very big amount and you won’t be able to understand it.”
“OK, Dad, are you happy with the amount you earn? ”
“Yes, my dear. I’m very happy, and in fact I’m planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn’t that great?”
“Yes, Dad. I’m happy to hear that. Can I ask you one more question?”
“Yes, dear.”
“Dad, can you tell me how much you earn in a day or even half a day?”
“Nick, why are you asking this question? ”Nick’s father was perplexed.
But Nick was persistent. “Please answer me. Could you please tell me how much you earn in an hour?”
Nick’s father gave in and replied, “It will be around $25 per hour.”
Nick ran to his room upstairs, and came down with his piggy bank that contained his savings.
“Dad, I have $50 in my piggy bank. Could you spare two hours for me? I want to go to the beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Could you please mark this in your schedule?”
注意：1．续写词数应为150词左右。2．请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1：
Nick’s father was speechless!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2：
The appointed time with Dad was near.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once upon a time, there lived a wise man. Everyone respected him and many people came to him asking for advice.
His son, however, was very lazy and wasted his time sleeping. The years passed, and time faded the youth of the wise man. He recognized the need to give something to his son so that he could take care of himself and his family.
One day, he called his son to his room and said, ''My son , you are no more a kid now. I want you to find the real purpose of your life . ''
Then he handed his son a bag. The son opened the bag. Inside were some food, a little money and a map. His father continued, "I want you to go and find a treasure. I have drawn a map of the place where the treasure is hidden. You need to go and find it."
The son loved this idea. The next day, he set out on a journey to find the treasure. He had to travel really far across forests and mountains. Along the way, he met a lot of people. He was helped by some with food and by some with money.
Finally, after a long year, he reached his destination. He searched and searched, but found nothing. He spent two days looking and digging for the treasure. By the third day, he was so tired that he decided to leave.
On his way back, he met the same people who had helped him earlier. This time he stayed a few days with them and helped them in some way or another. He realized how nice they had been to a stranger who had nothing to offer them in return.
When he reached home, he realized it had been two years since he left the place. He walked straight into his father's room. ''Father. '' he said. The father immediately jumped to his feet and hugged his son.
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，每段的开头语已为你写好；
Paragraph 1:
The father asked, ''Did you find the treasure? ''
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
The son continued, ''But I did enjoy the journey on my way back home. ''
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At eleven years old, my main concern was money. Where could I get it? How much did I need to buy the new must-have thing my classmates either had or waned? I went to my mom. “Mom, I need more money,” I said, leaning against the kitchen counter while she cooked dinner. “You think you need a job?” Mom asked with a smile. The next day, she had an answer. “Your grandmother will pay you to help her deliver lunch each day to the elderly.” Yes! I pumped (挥舞) my fist into the air.
When my grandmother picked me up, I couldn’t wait to start my new job. “It’s simple. We pick up a large container full of hot meals in a nearby town and then we go on our delivery route.” After dozens of meals were arranged in the backseat, my grandmother drove us to our first stop. The first house didn’t look nice, but I shrugged and kept going. I didn’t have to live there, just deliver food there. This was how I would make money. I nearly jumped when I glanced over to see a tiny old woman in the corner looking at me. She sat hunched (缩成一团) over in a rocking chair and had more wrinkles (褶皱) than I’d ever seen in my life. “Who is this nice young lady?” She asked grandmother. I just stood there holding the food, unsure what to do. My grandmother guided me inside to place it on her kitchen table. The house smelled bad and old like the antique stores my mom liked to visit, but I never liked because even breathing in the dusty air made me feel dirty. I held my breath until we went out.
The next stop was much the same and the next. The houses varied in size and shape, some were nicer than others, but the same wrinkly people waited for their meals. Each person smiled at me and thanked me as I hurried to get out of there. I was sweaty and tired, and my clothes had captured the smell of the food and old houses.
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。
By the end of the day, it was obvious that I wasn’t very comfortable about the job.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My eyes widened, and I turned to her. “Their only meal?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
