Since Anna fell on the mattress from the horizontal bar(高低杠) four days before while doing a somersault (空翻) , she had kept her beautiful and once proud head bent. Now she was back at the Capital Airport from abroad. Upon entering the lobby, Anna wished she could hide her head under her collar. She was ashamed to face the people who had come to welcome her right at the airport, to be interviewed by the reporters, or to meet her sister and brother-in-law. She was even afraid to see the warm-hearted stewardess—one of her admirers. Each time she went abroad from the airport, this stewardess would rush up to help her with her luggage. What a shame that she had absolutely failed!
Two years before, Anna had gone abroad to take part in an international competition for the first time. Among so many girls who had already won fame abroad, she attracted little attention. Yet because her mind was kept free of her anxiety about failure, she unexpectedly won two World Titles. When she returned home that year, she was given an enthusiastic welcome in the same lobby. Many hands stretched out to her, many camera lenses focused on her. A reporter in glasses kept pestering her with the question, “What do you like best?” She was wondering how to respond when she caught sight of a bouquet of flowers. Then she said, “Flowers!” Following her remarks, bunches of flowers were at once presented out to her, too many for her to hold.
This time when Anna was a little off balance on the horizontal bar, she became so worried that she lost self-control and fell off. This failure was followed by several more in other events.
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。
Afterwards in order to avoid people at the airport, Anna dragged behind the team.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________All of a sudden, she saw a familiar figure.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Swimmers, take your marks!”
A beep signaled the start of the race, Tara dove into the pool, beginning her first IM (个人混合泳).Despite being a strong swimmer, the thought of the IM had made her nervous all morning. Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke (蛙泳), and freestyle. She’d been repeating the order in her head all morning, but had messed it up several times in practice.
Tara burst through the water, starting with the butterfly stroke. Soon, she touched the wall and made a swift turn, pushing off hard. She did one frog kick and drew her arms under the water for the breaststroke, then quickly turned over to her back. Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle. She knew the order, but she’d messed up again. Had the officials seen her mistake?
Tara smoothly completed her backstroke lap, then the breaststroke. She moved ahead, and kept the lead through the freestyle lap, scoring a comfortable win. She looked up at the scoreboard. The results listed her as the winner. Would that hold up after her mistake?
A few minutes later, the announce r read the results. Tara had been disqualified, meaning she’d scored none for her team. “Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, I knew the order” Tara muttered as she prepared for the final relay.
Each of the four relay members would complete one lap of the 25-meter pool, and all would swim freestyle. As the final swimmer, Tara had an opportunity to make up for the disqualification.
The first swimmers for each team were lined up at the end of the pool, shaking out their arms and legs as they loosened up. Tara reached her arms to the sides and gently swung them. All set, she thought.
Tara’s teammates swam well. After two lengths of the pool, they had a small lead. But the third swimmer fell back a bit. As the leader approached the wall, Tara’s teammate Hannah was slightly behind. “Come on, come on!” Tara whispered. She leaned forward, ready to spring as soon as Hannah touched the wall.
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:
Soon after the leader dived into the pool, Tara did too.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Tara looked at her teammates, who were celebrating their second-place finish.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My aunt Helen is an expert on baseball. She is the one who taught me how to play well either as a pitcher (投手) or a batter (击球手). Also, she has always kept me spellbound by her stories of playing baseball as a batter in the 1940s — she was really good at swinging the bat. I love listening to her baseball story over and over. She always says, “Go after what you want. Don’t be afraid of failing. That was exactly what I did when I was young.”
And this is how her story goes.
In 1943, she was one of the young women trying out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which was created to entertain baseball fans because many of America’s young men were fighting in World War Ⅱ.
Aunt Helen had heard rumors that a team would play right in South Bend, Indiana. She dreamed of what it would be like to win a championship for her hometown! She imagined a large flag hanging at the baseball field, and on it the name Helen Baker would be there for all to see.
On the day of the tryouts, Aunt Helen played baseball for hours with many young women. For this new league, some of the rules were different from the rules for regular soft ball. They still used a standard soft ball, but the bases (垒) and pitcher’s mound (投球区土墩) were placed at longer distances, for example.
About a week later, Aunt Helen collected the mail and found an envelope with her name written in blue ink. The envelope was postmarked from Chicago, in which the letter was from the leaders of the girls’ baseball league! Wild with joy, Aunt Helen tore it open and learned that she had been invited to the league’s main tryouts!
But as the days went by, Aunt Helen became worried about traveling to Chicago. “What if I went all that way and failed?” She asked her father as usual, hesitation clear in her tone. When the day of the tryouts was drawing near, she was too afraid to go.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: She locked herself in the bedroom for most of the day.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: “Helen Baker!” Her name was called and it was her turn to try out.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At Piedmont Middle School, a kid could run track or play tennis, but everyone wanted to be on the soccer team. Laura had dreamed of earning glory for the Falcons ever since the first grade, when her older brother Toni scored the winning goal in the county middle school championship. The day she joined the team as a sixth-grader, she felt like she could fly.
But, unfortunately, her joy didn’t last. She spent most of the season on the bench. It was all because of the huge mistake she made in her first game. She passed the ball in the completely wrong direction! Straight to an enemy in blue, who quickly shot it into the corner of the net, scoring. The coach benched Laura for the rest of the game. When the Falcons lost 1-0,she was crushed.
Now that the season was over, she just wanted to forget about soccer. She clearly wasn’t good enough to play with the Falcons, and that was that.
A few days later, Laura’s mother found her lying on the sofa, watching music videos on her . phone.
“You’d be better off praticing,” her mother said.
“What for?” Laura said, rolling her eyes. “It won’t help me. I need someone to watch me and tell me how I can improve. I can’t get better by myself.”
Sighing, her mom sank down on the sofa. “Laura, for every lock, there is a key. We just have to find it.”
After a moment, she added, “What if I film you during practice to help you find ways to improve?”
“But the season’s over, Mom. No more practice, remember?”
“The best players keep practicing even when the season’s over,” her mother said. “You remember Toni spending all summer bouncing a ball off his head in the driveway. He used to run ten miles a day in the Arizona summer sun. You think he did that for fun?“
“But to practice plays I need at least one other person,” Laura protested.
Her mother patted her on the knee. “We’ll find that key, too,” she 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。
The next morning, Laura’s mother shook her awake early, “Come on, Laura; it’ s soccer time.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When the next season came around, Laura was ready.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Before seven o’clock one Saturday morning, a large crowd had already gathered at the stadium. David sat at the starting line, his gloved hands holding his wheelchair. With his heart beating, the boy wondered if he would be able to complete the race. His classmates were all there to support him. From a distance, he could see them holding up big banners (横幅) which screamed: WE ARE WITH YOU! ALL THE WAY, DAVID! Heartened, he smiled and waved back. He was not going to let them down.
Born with a severe condition that left him paralysed (瘫痪) from the waist down. At six, he underwent several surgeries to improve his condition. As a result, he was able to attend school and even took up sports to help strengthen his bones and muscles. Then, he fell in love with wheelchair racing. Unfortunately, he did not have a lot of coordination (协调) or strength but he had a will to keep going. Once, without warning, his condition took a turn for the worse and it almost destroyed his pursuit of his passion.
One day, David’s teachers encouraged him to compete alongside his non-wheelchair schoolmates. Unsure and yet grateful for the opportunity, he thought he should give it a shot. By the time the race was about to begin, the sun had risen. David was glad that he was well prepared. Adjusting the cap on his head and his gloves, David was all ready to protect himself from the heat and the strong strokes to his wheelchair. David’s eyes followed the starter who was waving a red flag. As soon as the gun was fired, David was off. The entire stadium erupted into thunderous cheers.
David pushed forward with all his strength, his hands holding the wheels the whole time for the long-distance race. His wheelchair rolled steadily out of the stadium, passing the shop houses. Despite doing everything he could to keep up with the other competitors, David fell behind.
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。
Overhead, the sun continued to burn in the cloudless sky.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________He was determined to overcome every single challenge.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was the first swim meet of the year for our newly formed middle-school swimming team. The atmosphere during the three-hour bus journey was filled with anticipation as the group of forty-eight young teenagers thought of nothing but victory. However, the excitement turned into shock as our kids got off the bus and stared in disbelief at their muscle-filled Greek-god-like opponents.
The coach checked the schedule “Surely there has been a mistake,” he thought. But the schedule only confirmed that this was the right location and time.
The two teams formed a line on the side of the pool. Whistles blew, races were started and races were lost. Haifway through the meet, coach Huey realized that there were no participants for one of the events.
“Okay kids, who want to swim the five-hundred-yard freestyle?” the coach asked. Several bands shot up, including Justin’s “I’ll race, coach!” he shouted. The coach looked down at the youngest boy and said, “Justin, this race covers twenty lengths of the pool. I’ve only seen you swum eight”.
“I can do it. Coach. Let me try,” Justin insisted . Coach Huey hesitantly agreed. ”After all, “be thought,” it’s not the winning but the effort and determination that build character.“
The whistle blew and the opponents rushed through the water and finished the race in just six minutes and fifty seconds. The winners gathered on the sidelines to socialize while our group struggled to finish. After three more minutes. the last exhausted (筋疲力尽的) members of our team came out from the water-except for Justin.
Justin was stealing breaths as his hands slapped against the water, pushing i: aside to push his thin body forward. It appeared that he might go under at any minute, yet something seemed to keep pushing him forward.
“Why doesn’t the coach intervene?” the parents whispered among themselves. “It looks like he’s about to drown, and the race was over four minutes ago.”
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右：
2.请按如下格式作答。
Approaching Justin, the coach noticed the determination in the young swimmer’s eyes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Touched by the scene, members of the opposing team also cheered Justin as he continued to swim.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As a journalist, I have had the chance to meet some remarkable people in different fields, but no one has impressed me more than Austin Riley.
Austin Riley is a race car driver. He has been attracting crowds to the race track for years. But his claim to fame isn’t just being fast on the speedway. He is overcoming difficulties on the track for those with disabilities. Riley has autism (自闭症). Simple tasks like tying his shoes are extremely complicated for him, but when put in a race car—a complex, delicate piece of machine —he will take you by surprise.
I first met Riley and his father Jason in 2014, in Uxbridge, Ontario, at the local go-cart track. I still remember how excited Riley was to have me and my cameraman there filming his every move. He was a go-cart racer then. He could barely talk to me, let alone look at me. No matter how quiet and shy he was, I knew this kid was going to be something big.
The go-cart track is where Riley’s racing career began. His dad, Jason, just wanted to give him something to focus his energy on. Riley has always loved cars. He has been crazy about them since he was a very young child. He also loves speed. The minute he hit the gas, his mind began to move fast and everything felt in sync(同步).
Riley’s journey on the track soon took him from fast go-carts to really fast cars. He became the first person with autism in Canada to get his race car licence. It opened up the track for Riley to drive in the big leagues — the Radical Motorsports circuit. Riley is now racing across North America, putting him on the podium(领奖台) almost every time.
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。
However, behind every success for Riley and his family is a story of hardship.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Riley has also made a difference off the track.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The basketball court was filled with eager students and cheerleaders were waving their pompoms at the stands. Excited cheers could be heard from all sides of the court. My teammates and I got fully prepared for our basketball competition. Our hearts were pounding in expectation of the competition ahead.
“And let’s all welcome the Blue Team!” the emcee (主持人) announced through the microphone. All of us marched in proudly as everyone cheered at the top of their lungs. “And welcome the Red Team!” the emcee announced, and the Red Team came in. We were astonished to see that the Red Team was filled with tall and strong members! We were trembling with fear as we walked slowly towards the centre of the court. As we were short of teammates, our confidence in winning wavered (减弱).
The judge threw the ball and the other team quickly caught it! The ball danced between their hands. Our defence seemed to be in slow motion compared to the Red Team’s swiftness. Soon, the other team scored!
We were losing the match as time passed. To make matters worse, our star player, Tom, even tripped and fell, hurting his ankle! We were losing hope as our best player was gone. Just then, our captain called for a time-out. On the bench, our captain announced that this would be his last match. “Come on! Don’t give up! I want to win one last trophy (奖杯) before I quit. Let’s do it!” he insisted, giving us a wide smile. Hearing this, our team held our fists tightly. We were focused on winning this match and making our captain proud! The judge threw the ball once more. I jumped as high as I could and caught the ball. I ran as fast as lightning and scored. Our opponents were nervous but they still scored a few goals to catch up. A few minutes later, we were neck to neck, locked in a tie.
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。
Whoever scored this one goal would win the competition!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The crowd erupted into deafening applause.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Running has always been a big part of my life. It was an easy and cheap way to stay healthy when I was a teenager and at university. As I got older, I kept running though I took on the responsibilities of being a mom, having a job and other hobbies. Running was a fun activity that I could do quickly and then get back to my busy day.
When I moved to a new city, I was excited about trying new foods, visiting new places, meeting new people and having new experiences. But, I also felt lonely and really wanted to make new friends. I joined a book club and a dinner group. But after a few months, I still felt like I hadn’t made any close friends.
One day, someone asked me if I wanted to run in a half marathon. Without thinking, I said, “Sure, count me in!” A half marathon is 13.1 miles, which is a lot longer than the three miles I usually ran. I was a bit scared, but also excited.
After the shock wore off, I started to learn everything about running a half marathon. I even bought my first pair of really good running shoes. They were the most expensive shoes I’d ever owned. I was ready to start training with them.
My new running friends picked me up at my house, and we started to jog together. I took it slow at first, running one mile, then two. They taught me how to run properly and how to drink enough water. I learned new words like chafing, carb loading, strides, and electrolytes. I slowly built up to running three, four and five miles. Running seven miles straight felt like climbing a really high mountain, and I started to love the feeling I got after a long run.
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 day of the race finally came.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________All the training I had done was now paying off.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jumping Over Boundaries
When I was in elementary school, we had an annual sports day. Girls could do many things like hopscotch, jump rope, tetherball, and dodgeball, except high jumping. Only boys could do high jumping.
That’s what I wanted to do — high jumping. So I went to the coach.
“Girls don’t do high jumping,” the coach said. “Girls have all these other things they can do.” He excitedly described how much fun it would be.
I’d been high jumping in the backyard with my five brothers for years. Although I am a girl, I did high jumping pretty well. My brothers could rarely beat me. Whenever my back crossed the bar, that feeling is extremely wonderful. I went home and told my mother what the coach had said. My mother, a small, thin woman only four feet eleven inches tall, said, “I think we should go visit him.”
“Visit who?” I asked confusedly.
“The headmaster.”
“Visit the headmaster?” I was terrified. Would I get in trouble? Would my mother and I be crossing boundaries we shouldn’t cross?
My mom and I went to Mr. White’s office. “Linda wants to do the high jump,” my mother said.
“Mrs. Martinez, you don’t understand. This is the tradition of our Annual Sports Day,” he said.
“But Mr. White, I don’t know where it says that girls cannot do this.”
The headmaster couldn’t find any rules that said girls couldn’t do the high jump. “I have to think about this,” he said at last.
When we got home, my mom told me something I would always remember: this wasn’t just about me. “Maybe other girls want to do this, too,” she said.
My mother waited a week, but still didn’t get the headmaster’s reply. So she walked over to the school again. “Mr. White, please. I ask you this not for me and not for Linda, but let’s just see how it works.” In the end, Mr. White agreed.
I stood on the field of the high jumping competition.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________To my surprise, some of the cheers I got were from boys!
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