I’ve always known that I’m very quick with my hands. If someone throws something, I catch it almost before I’m aware it has been thrown. When I was young, I had no idea how useful this skill would become.
Last week, I was going to visit a friend with her newborn and was on my way to a toy store to buy a gift. I’d once lived in the neighbourhood and I decided to head back to my old cupcake shop for a coffee. Sitting alone at a table outside with my drink, I was approached by an older man, who in a calm and very matter-of-fact way told me to call 911, because there was a baby on a fire escape.
I jumped up to see where the baby was. I was so surprised to see it, wearing a little onesie (连体衣) and lying on the fire escape railings (栏杆) between the second and third storeys. I was nervous, so the baby boy became my only priority.
As I was on the phone to the emergency services, I made eye contact with the child, keeping him calm, telling him to stay there. Some people were going up the stairs to find the parents, who were apparently sleeping through the whole drama.
I just wanted the child to feel safe. I hoped he’d stay there until somebody could rescue him. Apparently he had slipped through pieces of cardboard placed next to an air-conditioning unit in the window, and without bars to protect him he’d crawled (爬) out and up the fire escape towards the next storey. He was only 16 months old. For him to even climb up and balance in that position was incredible.
Then he slipped. Instinctively (本能), he grabbed on the railing as he fell, hanging by his arms. I knew he couldn’t hold on, 25 feet above the street, for long. I sensed people had gathered behind, but my attention was purely focused on my intention to catch the baby.
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 made sure I was positioned to catch him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The moments after he was saved were exciting.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It’s the Saturday, 1:00 am, and Stormy, my dog, and I were going on a pre-dawn bird-watching adventure. The weatherman predicted fog, but as we hit the road, it’s clear. Along our journey, I stopped at a petrol station, ensuring Stormy was safely locked in the truck.
“Stormy, hang tight,” I whispered, stepping out into the night air.
Back on the highway, as we were near the marshlands, a heavy fog began to swallow everything. At a sharp bend, my truck hit soft ground, and I lost control. “Oh, no!” Panic set in as the vehicle slid off the road with a bang, falling down a steep bank and into the water.
In the strange silence that followed, I was floating inside the car, gently carried downstream by the canal. “Come on, door,” I said, switching uselessly at the handle. It won’t move; the electrical system had shorted out due to the water. “I’ve got a glass breaker,” I reminded myself, reaching for the tool in the center part.
With each failed attempt to break the window — the glass bouncing back at me — I felt a growing sense of urgency. Water moved over the floorboards, cooling my feet. “Stormy, stay calm,” I said, lying down to kick at the window with all my strength. But my efforts only met resistance.
As the water level rose threateningly close to the ceiling, fear clawed at my heart. In a last effort, I dived behind the seat for my toolbox. “Got to find something solid.” My hands brushed against the cold metal toolbox, then the fire extinguisher (灭火器). “This might work.”
“Here goes everything,” I thought, holding the extinguisher and hitting it against the window. The impact resounded through the car, but the glass holds firm. “Not yet,” I begged under my breath, as the extinguisher bounced harmlessly away.
The water kept rising, and so did my fear. A voice inside me screamed to give up, but another thought pierced through — Stormy. “For Stormy, I can’t quit.” Just then, I sensed a pause in the water’s rise.
An unspoken sound said, “You have more time. What will you do?”
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’ll fight harder,” I promised aloud.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Exhausted, we caught the now flooded vehicle, waiting for daylight.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rescue in a Bottle
Curtis Whitson had rafted (v.乘筏) down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, several times before.
This year, Curtis Whitson knew the water-fall was coming. He figured he would get out of his raft into the shallow water, get down the rocks along ropes on either side of the falls, and continue on his way, as he had on a previous trip.
But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson’s companions were his girlfriend, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrowing canyon(峡谷) that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to get down the rocks as planned.
“The water was just roaring through there with tremendous force,” recalls Whitson, 45.
They had no smart phone service, and they hadn’t seen a single person in the past three days. And Whitson knew that they’d be sharing the ground there with rattlesnakes and mountain lions.
As he was thinking what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck---he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.
“We have to get these people a message,” Whitson thought.
He grabbed a stick and pulled out his pocketknife to carve “Help” in it. Then he tied a rope to it so the people would know it wasn’t just any stick. He tried throwing it over the falls, but it floated away in the wrong direction.
“We’ve got to do something!” Whitson yelled to his son. “Have we got anything else?”
Then he spotted his water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!”on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper in his backpack.
Whitson knew it was a slim hope. But he wrote “6-15 19:00 We are stuck here@ the waterfall. Get help please” and pushed the note into the bottle. This time, his throw over the waterfall was perfect.
“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段开头语已为你写好；
Paragraph 1:
It took 30 minutes to get back upstream to the beach where they’d had lunch.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
The next morning, the helicopter returned.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4 . Recently, research on how a new virtual (虚拟的) reality (VR) experience educated primary children about the fire disasters was done. It was developed by the University of South Australia, aiming to educate children to learn how to be safer in a fire.
Focusing on children aged 10-12 years old, the new VR experience presents a situation where children are tasked to look after a friend’s dog just before a fire event begins to spread. They participate in a series of problem-solving activities to help save and protect themselves and the dog.
The findings showed that more than 80 percent of children reported that they felt more confident to calmly assess the situation and make wise decisions to protect themselves from a fire. This isl especially important considering that 91 percent of participants originally lacked any knowledge of fires, and that 67 percent had said that they were too young to make safety decisions in a fire.
The researchers believed such immersive (沉浸式的) VR experiences had real potential (潜力) to attract and educate the young. “As children born in digital times, they are interested in such technology and they can experience events realistically yet within the safe environment.” said Delene Weber, one of the researchers. “Well-designed VR can provide a chance for children to apply newly-acquired knowledge, strengthen their learnt concepts, and enable immediate reaction—all incredibly valuable learning tools.”
Meanwhile, because children have fewer life experiences, aren’t as physically strong, and are less likely to have learned much about fire safety, they’re often most at risk. Yet the ability for children to contribute to fire safety at their household should not be underestimated (低估).
“Children do not need to be passively attacked by disasters and with purpose-built virtual reality experiences such as these, we can help children understand the risks and realize they can help,” said Weber.
1. How does the new VR experience try to educate children?| A．By introducing a virtual friend to them. | B．By finding the causes of a fire event. |
| C．By letting them solve virtual problems. | D．By guiding them to ask a dog for help. |
| A．Many children found it hard to adapt to them. |
| B．They helped children deal with fire postively. |
| C．They benefited children with knowledge of animals. |
| D．Most children had a misunderstanding about them. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Disapproving. | D．Supportive. |
| A．VR experiences educate kids to survive a fire | B．VR experiences make learning easier for kids |
| C．VR education appeals to the young generation | D．VR technology makes no sense in fighting a fire. |
5 . Imunek Williams drives a school bus for the Milwaukee Academy of Science. While driving her usual route recently, she smelt a strong smoke smell. Among the
While they had only a few blocks to go before
With no
When Imunek first
Firefighters arrived on the
| A．victims | B．audiences | C．employees | D．passengers |
| A．selecting | B．reaching | C．touring | D．recommending |
| A．fame | B．comfort | C．safety | D．calmness |
| A．switched off | B．picked up | C．turned down | D．handed over |
| A．time | B．need | C．plan | D．wish |
| A．instantly | B．nervously | C．casually | D．frequently |
| A．alarmed | B．remaining | C．killed | D．starving |
| A．station | B．academy | C．vehicle | D．road |
| A．explanation | B．discussion | C．refusal | D．thinking |
| A．described | B．detected | C．stored | D．removed |
| A．continued | B．risked | C．fancied | D．delayed |
| A．tough | B．bad | C．wise | D．easy |
| A．coast | B．platform | C．stage | D．scene |
| A．escaped | B．complained | C．volunteered | D．insisted |
| A．challenging | B．aggressive | C．heroic | D．slow |
6 . A four-year-old dog named Kob became a hero in its neighborhood by discovering a possibly life-threatening gas leak (泄漏) in its owner’s front yard.
This dog’s actions not only
The story began when Kob,
After
Finding gas coming out of the hole, Bell
“If it wasn’t found, the
During the repairs, workers
Throughout the repairs, the workers
| A．matched | B．beautified | C．saved | D．explored |
| A．admitted | B．owned | C．trained | D．cured |
| A．behavior | B．effort | C．appearance | D．responsibility |
| A．disappointed | B．encouraged | C．confident | D．concerned |
| A．fearing | B．avoiding | C．recording | D．experiencing |
| A．bought | B．repaired | C．shared | D．researched |
| A．decorate | B．mark | C．fill | D．examine |
| A．secretly | B．obviously | C．immediately | D．regularly |
| A．oil | B．gas | C．air | D．water |
| A．serious | B．extra | C．special | D．similar |
| A．injury | B．trouble | C．death | D．failure |
| A．looking into | B．turning on | C．fixing up | D．breaking down |
| A．missed | B．changed | C．doubted | D．discovered |
| A．services | B．design | C．equipment | D．places |
| A．praised | B．inspired | C．held | D．protected |
It was a typical Monday morning. My form teacher, Mrs Tan, was going through our exam questions. I pot down some notes and did my corrections.
“Riiiiiiinnnngg!” A high-pitched sound pierced through the air like a knife. Covering my ears in annoyance, realization dawned on me. It was the fire alarm! While I encouraged others to remain as cool as a cucumber, it was in vain. My classmates were all screaming and running around like crazy.
“Calm down, everyone! Please queue up in an orderly manner! We have practised this in the fire drills!” instructed Mrs Tan , sounding anxious.
The class ignored her and continued screaming at the top of their voices. One student even broke down in a fit of panic. I rushed around the class, asking all my fellow students to settle down while waiting for further instructions.
A serious voice soon announced from the speakers in every class, drawing our attention. “All students are to follow their teachers and evacuate(撤离)the building in a calm and organized manner. The fire may have been caused by a gas explosion in the canteen; do not go near there!”
Mrs Tan finally managed to calm the panicky class down. In a strict voice, she told us that we were to use the evacuation route to Gate 6. She arranged the pupils quickly in neat straight rows and led us out of the classroom.
Upon taking my first step out of the classroom, I took a deep breath instantly. The surroundings were hazy(模糊的) as thick smoke came from the canteen. Choking, I unconsciously covered my nose. To make matters worse, the ash from the smoky surroundings hurt my eyes. Coughing anxiously, I tried to see my teacher in the lead, but the air was too hazy for me to see anything clearly. Within less than a minute, I lost sight of my class and was left alone.
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。
A wave of anxiety washed over me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Just then, the figure of Mrs Tan waving a torchlight appeared from the smoke.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was a bright May afternoon along the Maryland coast, and Jonathan Bauer, 51, an expert doctor at a hospital, and his 13-year-old daughter, Ava. were taking full advantage of his professional knowledge to help others. They were driving with the windows down as they headed home on the 1.4-mile-long, two-lane Route 90 bridge, which stretches across the shallow waters of Assa-woman Bay. Suddenly, the calm was disturbed by the high sound of tires.
Not far ahead of them. a black pickup was sliding from one lane to the other. To the Bauers’ horror, it ran into a concrete barrier, turned over the SUV directly ahead of them, and came to rest hanging over the railing(栏杆) of the bridge. Bauer hit the brakes in time to avoid the vehicles in his path.
Bauer stopped the car. “Ava, are you OK?” he asked. She was shaken, but otherwise unhurt.
And then a scream. It came from the pickup. The driver’s door threw open and a man climbed out. He dropped to the ground, then ran to the railing. Bauer ran up beside him. Fhe span pointed down, saying something in Spanish. In the water was a car seat. Fastened to it, a girl, abort two years old. looked terrified, floating on her back, kicking, and splashing and streaming.
Matters quickly went from bad to-frightening when the girl rolled over onto her stomach. Bauer waited for the pickup driver to-do-something, but he didn’t move. Maybe he was in shock.
“Ava!” Bauer shouted, bending to remove his shoes. “Stay by the car!”
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。
He climbed onto the railing and jumped into the water without hesitation.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A moment later the pickup driver pulled Bauer and the little girl ashore and the ambulance arrived.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. Where does the conversation take place?
| A．In a bank. | B．At an airport ticket office. | C．At a police station. |
| A．Near the bank. |
| B．On the moving stairs coming up from the underground. |
| C．Around the police station. |
| A．Doing a business. | B．Paying a visit. | C．Having lessons. |
| A．About 10 dollars. | B．About 4,500 dollars. | C．About 4,200 dollars. |
1. What was wrong with the woman’s car?
| A．It was on fire. | B．It gave out a terrible noise. | C．Its engine smoked. |
| A．In a car park. | B．In a garage. | C．On the road. |
| A．Hire a car. | B．Drive a truck. | C．Ring her friend. |
