Two years ago, homeless Minnie was adopted by a single rich woman. Life did get a bit easier ever since she was taken in by her foster mom, but the little girl was still not happy. How she wished she could have a father!
One morning in class, Minnie’s teacher, Mr Thompson, made a surprising announcement, making Minnie frown (皱眉) again.
“Kids, tomorrow is Father’s Day! And at school, we’re all celebrating it by having breakfast with Dads! All of you get to bring your dads or anyone you look up to as your dad to school tomorrow. We’ll all sit in one circle, share funny stories, and have breakfast together.”
“What a terrible idea!” Minnie muttered (咕哝) under her breath.
For the rest of the day, most kids were talking up their fathers: businessmen, policemen, engineers, and even an actor. Everybody had somebody who was a father figure, except for Minnie.
After school, Mr Thompson spotted the sad little girl sitting alone by the school gate.
“Are you all right, Minnie?” Mr Thompson asked. Suddenly, the child hugged his legs and cried. Minnie told her trouble to her teacher and Mr Thompson comforted her.
After getting home that evening, Mr Thompson couldn’t shake off the sadness he had seen on Minnie’s face. Suddenly, he had an idea. He opened his laptop, and as the keys on the keyboard clattered, Mr Thompson began to smile.
He was putting out a post on social media, sharing Minnie’s story and asking for a dad to volunteer for Minnie and show up to school the next day as her father figure. Thirty minutes later, his phone buzzed.
And it buzzed again and again. By the time the teacher checked his phone, he was shocked to see the number flashing across the screen.
“50 volunteers? Am I reading this right?” Mr Thompson gasped. He put on his glasses and read through all the responses on his post. He was so surprised. These 50 volunteers all wanted to come and help Minnie.
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 next day, Minnie went to school sadly, not knowing the surprise was waiting for her.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Minnie was confused at first, but when she saw those “dads”, she was obviously happy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The school picnic day was on Sunday, and on Saturday morning I decided to ask Mum some questions. As soon as Mum took the last bite of her toast, I decided I couldn’t wait for her any longer and asked, “Mum, where is Italy?”
My mum pushed up her glasses and looked at me with her head to one side. Then she said, “Italy is an European country which is very far away from here, my love. Why do you want to know that?” I shrugged (耸肩), “That’s where Mike, the new boy in our class is from.”
She nodded and invited me to go to fetch the geography book. The book was big and Mum always kept the very big books on the bottom shelf of our bookcase. I watched as Mum flipped to the index and then to a page near the middle. “Here we go,” she said, turning the map around to show me. I let my finger meet hers where it said the word “Italy” in capital letters. According to the introduction to the country on the page, Mum helped me know more about the country.
“You know, Mum, Mike’s parents are extremely busy working in the downtown. He seldom eats regularly let alone (更不用说) have his native foods. I really want him to be very happy for his first picnic with us…” I paused and observed Mum, worried that Mum would think that it was silly and maybe a waste of money buying food only to give it away. But she didn’t. Instead, she said, “I think that’s a brilliant idea! Go and get ready, and we’ll head out on a big shopping.”
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 got ready so quickly that morning that I thought I must have beaten a world record.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We gathered on the grass on Sunday morning and I saw the Italian boy immediately.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the first and second grades, I was extremely shy. I had friends, but it just wasn’t in my personality to be very outgoing, even if I knew someone well. I was even quieter with strangers, and so I wasn’t very good at meeting new people. I was afraid that I would do or say something wrong.
So in our school’s annual grand play, I usually sat in a secluded (僻静的) corner to watch the performance alone. I hoped to sit in the background and watch the actors sweat in front of all those pairs of eyes.
One day in the third grade, my teacher Mrs. Sally called me into her office and said, “Oh, Mary, you re great at memorizing things, and you have such a sweet personality. Perfect for Jenny! ‘ But I bowed my head and dared not speak. The teacher saw this and then said, “Of course, plenty of girls would love the role, and I could find somebody else. But I hope you could try it for me. I had you in mind for Jenny while writing the play! If you really don’t want to, I won’t force you. It’s your choice.”
My mind was spinning (快速旋转) faster than the windmill (风车) on the school playground. Mrs. Sally, whom I loved and admired, wanted me to play this role. She believed in me. My eyes moved across the room to a poster I had never noticed before. It showed a shooting star and read, “If you reach for the stars, you might at least grab a piece of the moon.” I looked into Mrs. Sally’s shining blue eyes and said, “Okay, I’ll try.” I realized it was time to throw off my shy mask and show the world who I really was.
In the following five months, the teacher taught me how to set, put on makeup, memorize lines, create costumes and so on. Gradually, I mastered (掌握) my lines and songs.
注意：1、续写词数应为150左右；
2、请按如下格式作答。
The big day came at last.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At that time, Mrs. Sally came backstage for her final check-up and noticed my nervousness.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was the last day of the month-long summer camp. All the camp leaders and volunteers were preparing for the grand wrap-up event that evening. Some were setting up chairs and tables outside; some were preparing water balloons for games we would play later; and some were cutting fruits and veggies for snacks.
One of the leaders, George, came to me, handed me a small broom and a dustpan, and asked me to sweep the gym. Alone. While the others were chatting and laughing outside. While the gym was dusty and stuffy (不通风的) after weeks of camp and crafts.
I didn’t have a choice. I was sixteen, and George was my elder. I was a staff member at camp, and George was my employer. I put on as cheerful a face as I could and began to sweep the floor of the gymnasium.
Every time I made a decent (合宜的) pile of dust and scraps (残羹剩饭) to push into the dustpan, I had a nice little part of the gym cleared. But I would look up and see the rest of the gym and realize how big the job was. The whole situation felt so unfair.
I wasn’t really happy then. I’m not proud of it, but I was angry as well. I could hear the sounds of people talking, laughing, and generally having a great time outside. There was silence in the gym, except for my sweep, sweep, sweep.
During a break between sweeps, I looked up. George was quietly and matter-of-factly moving the speakers and cleaning the stage at the front of the gym. I noticed he worked alone as well. He didn’t seem particularly excited about what he was doing, but I noted the calmness and joy in his eyes as he went about his work, doing what had to be done because he was there and he was able to do 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。
I watched him silently for the next ten minutes.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Thanks, Laura.” he said and nodded as if acknowledging the small sacrifice I had made.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
