Sophie had to move to a new school in the town from her own village with her family because her father got a new job in a company. At the beginning, she used to sit alone in the class and then one day a girl, Nia, from her class talked to her, hoping that they could be friends. Nia was a modern girl born and brought up in the town. She was kind and a loving girl.
Nia never really had many friends because she used to choose her friends very wisely. When Nia came to Sophie with the hand of friendship, Sophie did not think even for a second and accepted her friendship as she needed friends. As the days passed by, Nia and Sophie had already developed a good friendship. They then promised that they would focus on the better things they would do for each other if they made mistakes.
Soon Sophie made many friends like Stephen, George, Josh and Ernie. She spent a lot of time with most of them as close friends and almost forgot about Nia. One day Sophie along with all her friends decided to do something adventurous: to light up firecrackers (鞭炮) behind the office building.
As word spread very fast among teenagers, Nia heard about it and told her to be aware of her real friends but Sophie paid no attention to it. Nia then knew that Sophie would not be so careful so she decided to look out for Sophie without her knowledge.
When they were pushing Sophie out to light up the crackers with a candle, Stephen saw a teacher coming out of the office room. He waved to the others to run away but left Sophie alone there.
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 teacher noticed Sophie and shouted, “Stop!”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the headmaster’s room, Nia pulled out her phone.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was never “that girl” — the one who had charming appearance, and who enjoyed a colorful social life. I was another girl entirely, one who was considered “nice girls”, and the top student in class. Not that I didn’t care about friends or fun, I just didn’t think it was worth putting lots of time and effort into changing how I looked, how I acted, even as I started high school.
Marissa was “that girl” — fun to be around, good to know. We are different, but our friendship began the first time we met at an exciting soccer match, on the second day of freshmen year. The excitement of the game and our shared interest in soccer connected us, I was deeply impressed with her enthusiasm, while she admired my calm. Our conversations went smoothly, and our relationship quickly turned into a close bond.
However, as the school year progressed, Marissa’s outgoing personality began to conflict with my reserved nature. She stood out in social situations, constantly asking me to attend parties and social events. While I appreciated her efforts to include me, I felt awkward and uncomfortable to be forced into unfamiliar surroundings. Our once harmonious friendship started to crack, I tried to turn down her invitations, but in vain.
One evening, Marissa persuaded me to attend a large party at a classmate’s house. Surrounded by loud music and strange faces, I felt uneasy and upset. Marissa was the queen of the party, leaving me feeling extremely lonely. Her personality attracted others to her, creating a barrier between us.
注意:1.续写词数应为150个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
At that moment, I realized the growing divide between us.
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Since then, we worked together to find a balance of our personalities.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It Takes at Least 200 Hours to Make a Close Friendship, and More to Maintain It
Many of us worry that we don’t put in enough time to maintain close friendships. But how much is enough? Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula (公式) for how much time you need to spend on your friends to keep them. Each friendship and friend are unique and develops or ends depending on how we interact.
Forming a friendship in the first place takes a certain number of hours of being together. We need between 40 and 60 hours together for a person we know slightly to become a casual friend. In order to move from casual friends to close friends, we need to spend an additional 140 to 160 hours together for a total of about 200 hours.
However, deeper interactions can quicken that timeline. We can form a close bond in less than 200 hours with meaningful conversations. Contrarily, spending 200 hours together doesn’t necessarily mean a person will become a close friend. They have to want to be your friends. Some co-workers can spend 300 hours together and never become close friends.
When it comes to maintaining friendships, it’s not just the number of hours spent together, but what we do that matters. Engaging in passive activity with friends — like watching a TV series — is fun and enjoyable, but it doesn’t do as much to maintain friendship as having deep conversations, sharing feelings, and being a good listener. And routinely checking in with people we choose to connect with, through calls and texts or in person, helps maintain relationships and leads to higher scores of positive feelings, like happiness.
The key point is that sharing things about ourselves can lead to close friendships. Once that closeness is established, some ways to maintain closeness are supporting friends when things go wrong for them and celebrating their achievements.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . 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。
Donna is my sister, and I had always considered her beautiful. Our father called her his princess, and in high school, she was known as the school babe. Our parents were protective of us, particularly our father, who kept close watch over the friends she made.
One Saturday in April, a boy invited Donna to a park with four other friends. Unfortunately, on their way to the park, their car crashed into a guardrail and flipped over three times before it came to a stop on its roof. Donna was pulled from the car and rushed to the hospital without delay.
Donna was in the hospital for two weeks. Many of her friends went to see her, especially Claudia, who was there a lot. However, Mom and Dad never liked Claudia. I don’t really know why. They just didn’t like her being around.
Donna returned home with the entire top half of her head shaved. She had hundreds of stitches (缝线), some of which came across her forehead and between her left eye and eyebrow. Knowing Donna’s concern for her appearance, Mom found her a human hair wig (假发) that perfectly matched her hair.
Donna finally recovered and went back to school. But she never felt good in school. There was a very loud-mouthed, self-centered girl in Donna’s class who took great pleasure in teasing her. This girl, seated behind Donna, would pull slightly on Donna’s wig and mockingly said, “Hey, Wiggy, let’s see your scars (伤疤)”. Then she would laugh.
Donna endured this mistreatment in silence until the day she told Claudia. From then on, Claudia kept a close eye on my sister, preventing anyone from bothering her. There was something about Claudia that was frightening, even to the worst kids in school. Nobody messed with her. Unfortunately, though, Claudia wasn’t always around, and the teasing and name-calling continued.
One day, Claudia came to our home with a special surprise.
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Donna and Claudia wore their wigs for over a year.
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Judy and Wendy were at the same school. They had been best friends since they were little kids and did everything together. Judy enjoyed taking risks, while Wendy preferred to be cautious.
Last summer, Judy’s family decided to take a trip to Europe. Judy invited Wendy to go with them, but Wendy was too worried to leave the country. Judy went on the trip without Wendy and had a great time. She saw all kinds of new things and met all kinds of new people.
When Judy came back home, he couldn’t wait to tell Wendy all about her trip. But when she did, Wendy felt left out and jealous. She couldn’t help but feel like she had missed out on something interesting.
Judy didn’t understand why Wendy was unhappy. She thought that they would always be best friends no matter what. Judy tried to include Wendy in her stories and show her photos, but Wendy just couldn’t shake the feeling of being left out.
Wendy started to distance herself from Judy. After that she stopped answering her phone calls and texts. Judy was heartbroken that her best friend was no longer close to her. She tried everything she could think of to get Wendy to talk to her again.
One day, Judy decided to write Wendy a letter. She opened her heart to Wendy and told Wendy how much their friendship meant to her. She felt really sorry for not understanding how Wendy felt and promised to always include her in her adventures. Judy also comforted Wendy by saying that no matter how many new people she meets or new things she experiences, Wendy will always hold a special place in her heart.
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。
After reading the letter, Wendy actually also wanted to mend fences with Judy.
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Therefore, Judy and Wendy were together again.
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One day many years ago, 60-year-old Gladys Hankerson picked up the phone to give her sister, who lives in Maryland, a call. But she accidentally called the wrong number, dialing a 401 area code instead of 410. Mike Moffitt, in his 20s, was the one who received Gladys’ call. He politely let the sweet lady from Florida know she’d called the wrong number. “I’m so sorry, child!” she exclaimed and quickly hung up.
But then, sometime later, Gladys misdialed Mike again. It happened several times more, with Gladys apologizing each time for calling the wrong number. Mike didn’t mind a bit. And he eventually stopped Gladys from hanging up to ask who she was and where she lived.
It turned out that Gladys’ 30-year-old son had just died. And she was also going through a divorce. And though she’d called the wrong number, the kindness from this absolute stranger was just what she needed. The time this young man took out of his day to chat with Gladys meant the world to the woman. And she eventually told Mike about the struggles she was facing in her personal life. After that, this sweet woman was calling specifically to chat with her new friend. It wasn’t just Gladys who felt the special connection. Mike enjoyed the chats, too.
For Gladys, Mike was no longer a wrong number. Instead, she began intentionally dialing him every couple of weeks to check in on him. And these two people who started out as absolute strangers, separated by age and many miles, grew to become friends.
“When I’m talking to him, I can feel the love,” Gladys explained. And for Mike, the wrong number put another motherly figure in his life. He pointed out Gladys would sometimes call when Rhode Island got snow. “She would watch my weather, almost like my mom does,” Mike said.
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。
For over 20 years, the two had only ever spoken on the phone.
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So a week later, Mike turned up unexpectedly at Gladys’ house.
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Juju was the star dancer at school. She had a smile that would light up the room and movements as if she was creating the music. But when she was away from her high school dance class, she was more quiet, a little bit cautious — something the group of girls in her class noticed.
In fact, Juju’s real name is Julie. Raised up as an orphan (孤儿), she experienced a lack of familial support, which contributed to her sense of loneliness. More often than not, she hid behind the nickname, creating a bright character that covered up the pain she was experiencing. Julie kept schoolmates at a distance but let Juju out when the music was on. Though as an excellent dancer, her biggest regret was that none of her family ever came to watch her performances. She would watch sadly as other students were greeted with flowers and hugs from parents after the performances.
Observing Julie’s closed nature outside of the dance room, Corrina, one of the other dance students, sensed her need for companionship. When she found her at lunchtime sitting alone, Corrina would invite Julie to join her table with other dance kids, including her as a member of their extended “family”. At first, they talked about dance and music. As the conversation turned to family, Juju would quickly shift the subject back to dance.
Despite this initial hesitance, trust between the girls gradually developed, and then a sister-like bond. They started spending more time together, not just in dance-related activities but also in their personal lives.
As their high school years ended, the closing night performance for graduation was around the corner. While everyone was filled with excitement, Corrina sensed Julie’s anxiety as curtain time approached. She knew Julie feared the post-show loneliness of having no family to celebrate with. So she took it upon herself to ensure that Julie didn’t feel alone on this important night.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为 100 左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Determined to plan a surprise for Julie as a “family”, Corrina gathered other girls.
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“Let’s welcome the new arrival!” said Mrs. White. When Kevin went straight to the blackboard, he overheard his new classmates’ comments. “Look at his shabby and wrinkled sneakers!” He felt his face flushed (脸红). “My name is Ke … vin!” The whole class burst out laughing except one boy in red.
At the thought of the sharp remarks, Kevin felt depressed. All the heartbroken memories crowding in, he was about to sob when he felt a gentle pat on his back. “Hey, my name is Mike,” he said and shook hands with Kevin. Kevin’s face lit up immediately. Soon the two boys became good friends. They found they had a lot in common — both of them liked soccer. From then on, they played soccer every afternoon after school. Unable to afford a ball, Mike made a ball out of old socks bound together with plastic tape.
The sun was shining and the ball was spinning across the grass as the two friends laughed and shouted with joy. Suddenly, the ball stopped when a new sneaker pinned it to the ground. It was Steven. “A stupid ball,” Steven said scornfully (轻蔑地).
The next morning, Kevin received an envelope from his uncle, in which there was a 100-dollar bill. He bought a pair of brand-new shoes and a new soccer ball. The next day, Steven invited Kevin to play soccer on the playground. When Kevin saw Mike sitting on the old bench waiting for him, he hugged his new soccer ball to the chest and ignored his friend. Mike sat there silently, tears rolling down his cheeks.
注意：
1. 续写的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
One day as Kevin walked past the old bench, he saw the home-made ball under it with a note.
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Holding the home-made ball, Kevin sat on the bench and waited.
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Jane and I were college roommates, and our first meet was far from friendly. I, an outgoing and passionate girl, found Jane, a quiet and shy person, difficult to get along with. Our conflicting lifestyles became a headache for both of us. Jane enjoyed early mornings at the library, absorbed in reading, while I preferred my sleep-ins. The sound of her early morning routine, from washing up to organizing the room, really got on my nerves. Jane would actively tidy up our shared space after study, while my desk remained in constant disorder.
One morning, I was unexpectedly awakened by a loud crash, only to discover that Jane had accidentally broken my favorite cup. Imagining all the disagreements, I was getting mad. I lost my temper and yelled a bunch of angry words at her without thinking. “What on earth, Jane! That was my favorite cup!” “I’m so sorry! I’ll clean it up.” “Clean it up? You’ve got to be kidding me!” After my outburst, Jane’s eyes welled up with tears. Silently, she began to clean up the broken pieces before leaving the room with her bag.
That night, as the bell signaling the end of study hours rang, I returned to the room only to find it empty. The roommate, who usually hangs around the room, was nowhere to be seen. It felt a little strange like something wasn’t right. I thought maybe she was still upset about our argument in the morning. I started worrying. Did what I said hurt her feelings? Is she avoiding me now? I kept thinking about our argument. It was then that I noticed the cleanliness Jane had left behind — a dorm so clean you could eat off the floor. I was filled with regret as I became aware of the consequences of my morning outburst. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Feeling bad and wanting to fix things, I decided to go to find her.
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 was about to walk towards the door when it suddenly opened.
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With care, I opened the beautifully wrapped box.
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One sunny morning, the sun began to rise, casting a warm golden glow over the park. Two young men named Tom and Jerry, who was lost in their own books, found themselves siting on opposite ends of a bench. The air was filled with the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the distant sound of children playing. Their eyes met for a brief moment before they both bent down to pick up their pens. It seemed as if they had known before. They quickly became friends and then began to spend many happy times together. They played basketball, watched movies, and spent many unforgettable days together. However, as time went on, their lives changed, and their friendship was put to the test.
A few years later, Tom became a successful lawyer, while Jerry chose a different path and became an artist. Despite different kinds of changes in their lifestyles, they still kept in touch and would gather together every once in a while to recall the good old days.
One day, Tom received a letter from Jerry. The letter said, “Dear Tom, I hope you can come and visit my art exhibition. I know you may not be interested in art, but I think you will like these works. They are all paintings I made during the days we spent together. I hope you can feel the friendship between us.”
After reading the letter, Tom immediately decided to attend Jerry’s art exhibition. He bought a bunch of flowers as a gift and arrived at the exhibition site. When he walked into the exhibition hall, he was shocked by what he saw. The walls were filled with Jerry’s works, each painting full of life and emotion. He saw scenes of them playing basketball in the park, watching movies together, and walking in the rain. These paintings made him feel the deep friendship between them.
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:
At the exhibition, Tom met many old friends.
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With the bunch of flowers, Tom still kept looking for Jerry.
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