On the walk home from school, my friend, Cherry, happily said, “Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I’ve been saving up for the past month and plan to buy my mother the perfume (香水) she’s been wanting for so long.” Her excitement made me realize that I hadn’t prepared anything special yet. But I only had a little money left. I began to regret spending so much on snacks every day. “See you next week!” Cherry’s voice pulled me back to reality. We waved goodbye as she went into a perfume shop.
I continued walking along the road, carefully thinking about what gift I should choose. I planned to buy something like flowers or chocolate, but now it seemed like those were way too simple. Therefore, I pushed open the door to a mall (商场) and tried to find the perfect gift. The bright lights illuminated (照亮) the collection of various goods. I picked up a lipstick (口红) but immediately (立即) put it back after seeing its price. I could never afford that! Then I walked into another shop and saw a lovely cup. This cup, besides being beautiful, would also remind my mother to drink water. It’d be a wonderful gift. I picked it up and turned it over to see the price listed, hoping it was not too expensive. But once again, I couldn’t afford it even with all the money that I had. Feeling sad, I continued to wander around the shops. Time flew by quickly, and before I knew it, the sky began to darken, so I had to go home.
Since there was no time or money for me to pick out a gift, I decided to make a simple card. When I finished, the clock on my bedroom wall struck 11 p.m. I held up the card, examining its hardcover, handwritten letters, and the tiny pictures I’d drawn of my mom and me. It’s probably never going to compare to the expensive gifts that my friends bought for their mothers, I thought sadly.
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。
Soon, morning came, and it was time to give my mother my handmade card.
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“I love this card!” My mother said excitedly.
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I stood in the restaurant kitchen, my eyes wide, arms hanging awkwardly, ready to work but unsure of what to do. “You will be trained first,” my manager Aaron said, “and do remember to check every detail!” With these words, he walked away.
A workmate threw me a dish brush and said, “Let’s get started.” He introduced me to the basics of washing dishes and demonstrated the process. This was the beginning of my part-time job, a new stage where I was both eager to learn and anxious about the challenges ahead.
On a Friday night, Aaron swiftly entered the kitchen. “Who has just bused (收拾) the back right table?” he shouted, his voice sharp with urgency. My hands, slippery with bubbles from the bowl I was washing, nearly let it slip through my fingers. I wanted to say I was guilty, but Aaron’s cold stare didn’t promise a happy reward for the guy who admitted. Finally, a mix of fear and my own conscience pushed the response out of my mouth.
“I did, Aaron.”
“What were you thinking? Get back out here and look at what you missed!” His words forced me forward. I grabbed a rag (抹布) and followed him out to table twenty-two. As we made our way through the restaurant, he said something about rags, but I didn’t hear clearly with other conversations going on around us.
I quickly realized the true issue was the mess beneath the table. A nearly full cup of beer had tipped over, creating a small lake on the floor. It was a significant mistake on my part. “Take care of it!” Aaron tuned and stormed off to the front of the restaurant.
I dropped down to clean up the beer. That was when another problem occurred. I had brought only one rag. One already wet rag. It did nothing but increase the size of the lake. “More rags,” I thought. Immediately, I rushed into the kitchen and hurriedly grabbed five dry rags, hoping Aaron wouldn’t notice my brief absence.
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。
I had just rushed out when I found Aaron standing in my way.
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After cleaning up the mess, I reflected on Aaron’s words.
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When we were finally dismissed from the last class of the day, the students streamed out of the classrooms. It was another boring day after school. I dragged my feet home as I sighed. Yet another uneventful day, I thought. Little did I know that the day would take a turn for the worse.
The lift lobby (电梯间) of my flat was old and dirty. The walls, which were painted white, had been dirtied over many years. I reached my flat’s lobby, and pressed the lift button and went in. Just then, Mrs Lim, my elderly neighbour, hobbled (蹒跚) in. She looked ancient with tissue paper white hair, wearing a faded old-fashioned dress. I held the lift door open, flashing a friendly smile, and politely greeted her. I asked her how she felt that day and pressed the buttons. She thanked me for being so polite, then we were silent for the rest of the ride.
The lift fell down increasingly fast. There were loud clanking sounds here and there while the lift grew slower and slower. My heart beat hard and fast as my hands turned cold and wet with sweat. Unfortunately, the lift came to an abrupt stop at the fifth floor. I pressed the buttons hard several times, but it was of no help. The lights on the buttons had gone out. It soon dawned on me that we were trapped. An icy fear crept up my spine. Mrs Lim was hysterical (歇斯底里).
“We will never get out!” she cried with her face pale. It had become a colourless mask. I had no time to lose. I pressed the bell in the lift immediately. The sound was surely deafening, but what other choice did I have? Mrs Lim burst into tears. I tried my very best to comfort her, telling her that everything would be all right and that we needed to find out how to get out safely. Mrs Lim began having trouble breathing, and I immediately helped her sit down and loosened her collar.
Paragraph 1: Several minutes passed, but no help came.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Bang! My hopes were lifted when I heard the firefighters on the other side of the lift door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Once upon a time, there lived a poor but cheerful shoemaker. He was so happy that he sang all day long. The children loved to stand around his window to listen to him.
Next door to the shoemaker lived a rich man. He used to sit up all night to count his gold. In the morning, he went to bed, but he could not sleep because of the sound of the shoemaker’s singing. One day, he thought of a way to stop the singing. He wrote a letter to the shoemaker inviting him over for a cup of tea.
The shoemaker came at once, and to his great surprise, the rich man gave him a bag of gold as a gift. The shoemaker took the bag and thanked the rich man. When he returned home, the shoemaker couldn’t wait to open the bag. He had never seen so much gold in his life! He sat down at his bench and began, carefully, to count it. The children watched through the window.
There was so much there that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of his sight. So he took it to bed with him. But he could not sleep for worrying about it. So he got out of bed and went to hide it in the attic (阁楼), but he was not sure if that was a good place.
Very early in the morning, he got up and brought his gold down from the attic. He had decided to hide it up the chimney (烟囱) instead. But after breakfast, he thought it would be safer in the chicken house. So he hid it there. But he was still uneasy, and in a little while he dug a hole in the garden and buried his bag of gold in 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。
Paragraph 1:
He was in no mood for singing and found it difficult to focus on his work.
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At last the shoemaker felt so unhappy that he took his bag of gold and ran next door to the rich man.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When Mike was a seven-year-old kid, his parents usually didn’t give him money because he liked to buy junk food. They knew such food would be harmful to kids’ body.
But one day Mike strongly wished to buy such food. He knew he couldn’t persuade his parents to give him money to buy it, so he was upset. At noon that day, his mom was having a nap in the bedroom while his dad was working out of the home. Mike suddenly found his mom’s wallet on the sofa in the living room. Usually, his mom would put the wallet close to her — not this time.
Mike found a good chance to get money. He thought he could secretly take some from his mom’s wallet without letting her discover it. Then, he slowly walked towards the wallet and opened it. There was lots of money. Mike took a few coins and walked out of the house, going directly to a store in his community.
He bought a bag of food that was very peppery and a bottle of iced Coca-cola. Instead of returning home, he hung around outside to enjoy the food and the drink in case his mom discovered it. When he opened the food bag, a strong, hot and sweet smell rushed into his nose. He tasted some: it was delicious. But it was too hot and his mouth seemed to be on fire. However, he didn’t take notice of it. Minutes later, he ate up the bag of junk food and finished the drink. Then he returned home. His mother was still sleeping.
In the afternoon that day, Mike began to feel uncomfortable and wanted to vomit. He felt pain in his stomach. At first, he could stand it. However, finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore and told his mom that he felt sick. But Mike didn’t tell his mom the truth that he had some hot junk food. Not knowing what was wrong with Mike, his mom was worried.
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。
She hurried to drive him to the hospital.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Mike realized he should admit what he had done.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That afternoon, I had a lot of work to do. The first stop I needed to make was my mobile phone store because I didn’t know how to download apps or find music. Luckily, Carlos stood behind the counter (柜台), helping a gentleman. Carlos was quick, so I knew the wait wouldn’t be long.
Within seconds, an elderly lady hoisted (提升) her walker onto the sidewalk out front. Without saying anything, Carlos jumped over the counter, opened the door, and helped her inside. The lady sat next to me as Carlos returned to his first customer. The poor guy had missed a lot of work because his wife had been hospitalized with cancer ( 癌症). I don’t know how he did it, but Carlos made a call and got his late fees dropped and a forty-five-day extension (延长) on his payment. A few seconds later, that poor guy walked out of the store excitedly.
Carlos started my download and then went about talking with the lady in the walker. Surprisingly, she was there to bring Carlos some cookies for being so nice to her.
I was in the store for only ten minutes. And in that small amount of time, I’d seen so much consideration and kindness. That night, I kept thinking about Carlos, how he called each customer by name, and how he made everyone feel like family.
The next day, I wrote a nice letter to Carlos’s boss. I thought his boss would be interested to know how Carlos treats people. Since I took my time and did a pretty good job, I decided to mail copies to their local headquarters, their state headquarters, and the CEO.
A couple of months later, I tried to open my music app and deleted (删除) it instead. I was mad at myself. No worry, though. I realized that I could go to the phone store and see if kind Carlos would help me.
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。
When I entered the store, there was a mile-long line and no Carlos but an overworked woman behind the counter.
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The woman said: “Carlos doesn’t work here anymore. Some woman wrote a letter and ...”
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Sandy and Jane came to see the jobo tree on the hilltop again. Jobos were their favorite fruit, but the tree belonged to a lady who lived in the house by the hill. They heard she was difficult, but that sometimes she would give fruit in return for an errand(差使)
The girls finally gathered their courage to knock on her door. An elderly woman with a fierce look answered, staring down at the girls. “We heard …”said Sandy, her voice shaky, “that you give jobos in payment for running an errand.”
The lady raised one eyebrow, then went into the kitchen and took two baskets. She pushed them into the girls’ hands.“Go fill these with jobos, and come right back.”
The girls raced up the hill to the tree and filled the baskets with the ripest jobos. Back at the house, the lady filled a bag with rice and handed it to Sandy. “Take this bag and one basket of jobos to the Brown family. And ask them for the payment,” the lady added with a tight smile.“If you return without the payment, you won’t get the fruit.”
The girls struggled all the way with the bag and the basket. When they were there, Mrs. Brown answered the door. Inside on the floor were three little children, each painting something on papers.
Mr. Brown was lying sick in bed.Times were hard.
The girls handed her the food.“This is from the lady with the jobo tree, ” said Sandy.
“She asked for the payment, too.”Jane said awkwardly.
“The payment! The payment!” The children repeated, waving the paper in their hands happily.
Sandy and Jane looked at each other strangely. With a smile, Mrs. Brown handed Sandy a large sealed(密封的)envelope so full that it was almost starting to break open. The girls said goodbye and left quickly. “I wonder,” Sandy murmured, “whether Mrs. Brown can afford to pay for that food.”
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。
Worried, the two girls discussed what was in the envelope as they walked back.
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The lady opened the envelope, took out a pile of papers, and smiled.
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Rick, a ten-year-old boy, was constantly angry at everything around him. He always fought in school with the other kids. Once he had an outburst in school. Upset by something a classmate said to him, he pushed the boy, and a fight happened. When the teacher stepped in to break it up, Rick went crazy, throwing papers and books around the classroom and rushing out. His teachers couldn’t say anything that would comfort the kid. And the parents of his schoolmates were getting concerned. Rick was earning quite the reputation. After talking with school officials, Rick’s mom tried everything she could to calm Rick down.
She tried different methods until one day she came home with a canvas (画布) and paint. “What’s this?”, Rick asked. Rick’s mom handed over the painting equipment and said, “Whenever you feel angry, paint whatever you’re angry about instead of bursting out.” Rick wasn’t that happy about it but he gave it a try anyway. Over the next few weeks, the young boy created several artworks. They mostly showed disturbing images though. So his mom took all of the paintings and called Rick over so that they could talk about them. “Tell me, Rick. What are these paintings about?”
“Well, the first painting is about how some of the kids show off their new clothes and pencil cases. The next painting is about my teacher who keeps telling me about how I’m doing things wrong. And the last painting is about how one of my schoolmate’s father suggested that I change my attitude. All of them make me so angry.” Rick’s mom, in a calm voice, took Rick by her side and told him: “Don’t you see it, Rick?” “See what?” Rick asked. “You’re so angry at all of these things but not once did you try to understand why you’re getting so angry. What have all these people done to you, really?”
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。
Rick was lost in thought.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rick knew it was time to change.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I yawned (打哈欠)as I got off the last step of the bus. I had woken early that morning, and had not been able to sleep on the long ride from Riverside High, thinking about that day’s race, the Eye Opener. I had never raced in a state-wide race before. Over thirty high school teams ran, along with quite a few colleges. The rest of my team and I unloaded the bus, and we relaxed and waited for our race patiently.
“Start warming up,” our coach told us, roughly forty-five minutes after we arrived. After finishing our stretches, we headed over to the starting line, eager for the race to begin.
The starter walked to the middle of the field. “There will be two commands,” his voice boomed, ‘‘Runners set, then the gun. If you hear another shot, return to the starting line to start again. ” My heart raced as I got my legs ready to race.
“Runners set!” the starter shouted Bam! The gun fired, and he rushed out of our way. Adrenaline (肾上腺素)rushed through my body as I raced through the mass of runners. As I rounded the first turn, my schoolmates greeted me with heartening shouts. Then, in what felt like only one minute, I arrived at the one mile mark.
“6’10”, a man declared as I ran by. I tried to ignore him, but my legs began to burn as I realized I had run a mile and still had two to go. I slowed down my pace, for I knew the second mile was the worst of all three. Minutes later, I felt horrible. My legs ached, feeling like lead blocks. My vision was clouded as sweat dropped down into my eyes, and my arms felt as if they would fall off if I swung them one more time. Just as I almost reached my limit, a boy passed me. He also seemed to have lost strength but soon he was a little ahead of 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。
I gathered up my strength to speed up but suddenly fell to the ground.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the last mile, seeing the athletes passing us one by one, I asked the boy to run without me.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Some people are just doomed (注定) to be failures. That’s the way some adults look at troubled kids. A bird with a broken wing will never fly as high. David was made to feel this way almost every day in school.
David was the most famous troublemaker in high school. He wasn’t confident and didn’t answer questions. From time to time he skipped classes and got into lots of fights. Teachers didn’t want to have him again the following year. However, things gradually changed during a weekend leadership meeting. All the students at school had been invited to sign up for ACE training, a program designed to have students become more involved in their communities.
At the start of the meeting, David was literally standing outside the circle of students, against the back wall, with that “go ahead, impress me” look on his face. He didn’t readily join the discussion groups. But slowly, the interactive games drew him in the discussion. David started to join them and he really had great ideas. The other students in David’s group welcomed his comments. All of a sudden David felt like a part of the group.
The next day, David was very active in all the sessions. By the end of the meeting, he had joined the Homeless Project team. He knew something about poverty, hunger and hopelessness. The other students on the team were impressed with his passionate concern and ideas. They elected David co-chairman of the team.
The very first community service project organized by the Homeless Project team was to collect food for the homeless in the charge of David. But a group of teachers doubted whether this crucial beginning should be in the hands of David. The principal reminded them that the purpose of the ACE program was to uncover any positive passion that a student had and reinforce (加强) its practice until true change can take place.
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。
Two weeks later, David led 20 students in the team to collect food for the homeless.
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After David’s picture appeared in the newspaper, everyone saw great changes in him.
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