That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theatre. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part﹣time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.
As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out except a few sad﹣looking homeless people under blankets.
About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.
Suddenly I wasn't cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I'd heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.
Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, "Alisa Camacho？" I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name？ The door opened, and out jumped a small red﹣haired man with an amused look in his eye. "Is this what you're looking for？" he asked, holding up a small square shape.
It was nearly 3 A.M. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn't get much sleep that night, but I had gotten my wallet back. I also had gotten back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn't be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.
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注意：短文开头已给出(不计词数)。
“Put ourselves in others' shoes”is what we mean by the term“transpositional consideration”,
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请根据下图内容，结合生活实例，谈谈你的看法。
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请简要描述图片，并结合生活实际谈谈你的看法。
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1. 描述画面；
2. 概述其含义；
3. 谈谈个人感想。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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Unfair Comparisons
Thanks to social media, the distance between friends is smaller than ever. But does that make us happier? Not necessarily. A recent study has found spending too much time comparing your life with the seemingly perfect lives of your friends on social media can result in depressive symptoms.
We’ve all done it ---- browsing through our WeChat friends’ updates while feeling that green-eyed monster holding its head in our minds: Are their homes bigger and more tasteful? Are their vacations more expensive and exciting? Are their careers more successful and rewarding?
Comparison is the thief of joy. The more time you spend on social media, the more likely it is for you to feel depressive symptoms, according to a new study out of University of Houston.The study, led by Mai-Ly Steers, examines the potential impact online social comparison can have on a person’s mental health.
“The underlying mechanism is social comparison,” Steers said. “The reason why you feel these feelings is that you tend to socially compare yourself with your friends.”
This social comparison theory was popularized by US psychologist Leon Festinger in the 1950s. According to an article in The Atlantic, Festinger argued that people have born tendencies to track their progress and measure their self-worth by comparing themselves with other people. That social comparison leads to feelings of insignificance and insecurity. Research has since found that making social comparisons, especially upward comparisons (to people we think above us for whatever reason), are associated with negative health outcomes like depressive symptoms and decreased self-esteem.
“You can’t really control the strong desire to compare because you never know what your friends are going to post. In addition, most of our friends tend to post about the good things that occur in their lives, while leaving out the bad. If we’re comparing ourselves with our friends’‘sharable highlights’, this may lead us to think their lives are better than they actually are, and thus make us feel worse about our own lives.”
So if you are the jealous type, maybe think about signing off of your WeChat for a while. Your well-being may depend on it.
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参考词汇:
wind-blown trees (被风刮倒的树) lift up (扶起来)
你的作文应包括以下内容:
1. 简要描述两幅图的内容；
2. 概述你对两幅图中不同做法的理解；
3. 举例说明两幅图对你的启示。
注意:
1. 短文应该包括以上所提供的主要信息,可适当发挥；
2. 词数：150左右；
3. 作文中不得提及有关考生个人身份的任何信息，如校名、人名等。
Many Hands Make Light Work
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My friend Maria and I got our degrees at the same time — hers in Engineering, mine in Mathematics. These subjects, in case you aren’t aware, are tough! There were classes we really had to struggle with, fight to get through, and survived only by digging our fingers in with everything we had. Along the way, many of the people who started at the same time dropped out, changed majors, etc. They quit. Maria and I didn’t and we have degrees to show for it.
Maria and I came up with a saying, ＂We’re not quitters. We’re failures！＂ We’d rather fail a class three times and eventually pass it than quit and resign ourselves to the idea that we ＂just can’t get it＂. That kind of sob story defeatism has to be removed from your mind. While there are things that you can’t do — like flying via pixie dust — you can have most of the things you want in life, but only if you treat failure as a part of the learning process. If you see failure as an end, that makes you a quitter.
【写作内容】
1. 用约30个单词写出上文概要；
2. 用约120个单词阐述你对上述情况的看法，并用2 ~3个理由或论据支撑你的看法。
【写作要求】
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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Have you ever been involved in animal rescue? This is what happened to the Winter the dolphin. Winter was found off the coast of Florida in December of 2005. She was just a few months old, alone, and caught in a crab trap. The ropes from the trap were wrapped tightly around her body.
The fisherman who found her called for help, and the rescue team soon arrived. The ropes had cut off the blood circulation to her tail. She was badly hurt. Her rescuers didn't think she would survive. Hoping for a miracle and racing against time to save her, the rescuers transferred her to the ClearwaterMarine Aquarium in Florida.
The doctors managed to save Winter, but sadly, not her tail. He tail flukes were too damaged and had to be removed so Winter could live.
The little dolphin Winter survived against all odds, but she would never be able to swim normally without a tail. Thankfully the story doesn't end here. Winter was able to swim, but not very well. Because she didn't have a tail. She moved her body in a side-to-side motion like a shark. But doctors at the aquarium were worried that unconventional moment would hurt her spine.
Kevin Carroll heard Winter's story and for thought, he would could help. He is a specialist who designs and provides prostheses for people. If he could help people, why not help a dolphin? He started working with Winter and came up with a solution for the new fluke and tail section
Kevin designed a stretchy sleeve to fit winter's body and protect her skin. Then a tail made of silicone and plastic was made to tightly fit over the sleeve. Now winter can swim like other dolphins. And she is a great inspiration to people who struggle with their own injuries.
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Honesty is one of the most treasured traditional values in China. The children are taught to be honest when they are very young. At schools the students are also instructed to be honest.
However, with the development of society, we often hear complaints about dishonesty. Reports with the theme of dishonesty often appear in the media. For example, some people try to get rich and live a comfortable life. But they do not work hard honestly, instead they cheat others. They sell something quite ordinary at a very high price. Some people's delaying paying back the loan can serve as another example. Some people, including some college students, get loan from the bank, and promise to pay within, say, 3 years. However, they don't do that.
The dishonest people sometimes can get benefit from their behaviors. So some people assert that dishonesty can bring people benefit, while honesty only makes people suffer. Is that so? Definitely not. It is always true that honesty is the best policy. It pays to be honest. The cheater selling "the treasure" mentioned above will surely be disclosed and punished some day.
On the contrary, if he had been honest, neither the buyer nor he himself would have suffered. The people who do not return money in time will sooner or later become infamous, and will not get the money from others again. If he had acted differently, he would have earned respect and trust, meanwhile, the bank would not have suffered from loss.
[写作内容]
1. 以约30个词概括短文的要点。
2. 然后以约120个词就“诚实”的主题发表看法，并包括以下要点：
（1）你对不诚实现象的看法；
（2）诚实的重要性是什么；
（3）作为中学生，该如何做一个诚实的人。
【写作要求】
作文中可使用自己的亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；标题自定。
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