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.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . A China plane struck a bird after taking off in Chengdu, Sichuan, and had to immediately return to the airport last October, and it wasn’t the first accident between an aircraft and a bird last year.
In fact, more than 20,000 wildlife strikes with aircraft were reported worldwide in 2023 — the vast majority of those animals being birds. The strikes can also include run-ins with bats or creatures on the ground, such as deer or turtles. Expanding wildlife populations, increases in number of aircraft movements, and a trend toward faster and quieter aircraft all have contributed to the increase in wildlife strikes.
Bird strikes are a hazard not just to commercial airplanes, but to all sorts of aircraft. However, historical data shows that damage is reported in a small percentage of incidents. Last year, 95% of the global strikes involved some kind of damage — and only 5% of those caused “substantial” damage.
Some of the most disturbing types of strikes can happen when one or more birds go into a plane’s engine, which might cause a lot of damage to the aircraft. The pilot would need to return to the airport or find a safe place to land.
In last October’s China plane incident, the Beijing-bound flight was able to land normally in Chengdu after taking into account what the airline described as security concerns. Senior captain Chen Jianguo said pilots are trained on how to respond if they have a bird strike in flight. The pilot in this case did exactly what he was trained to do.
“There are lots of things that are being used by airports to try to manage the habitat and birds around the airport,” said Chen Jianguo. Airports need to manage bird habitats to reduce or get rid of trees and plants that shelter birds, or address wetlands that can attract birds. Collecting data on what kinds of birds are involved in strikes is equally important so the risks can better be managed. Many airports also use audible signals to scare birds away, such as the sounds of fireworks.
1. What is a cause of the increase in wildlife strikes?| A．The poorly designed aircraft. |
| B．The growing number of birds. |
| C．The destruction of wildlife habitats. |
| D．The absence of environmental awareness. |
| A．Danger. | B．Delay. | C．Accident. | D．Reminder. |
| A．They are a rare occurrence. |
| B．They usually damage engines. |
| C．Most of them cause slight damage. |
| D．Most of them involve one single bird. |
| A．Ways to study bird behavior. |
| B．Measures to drive birds away. |
| C．Efforts to restore bird habitat. |
| D．Attempts to take care of birds. |
3 . On a hot afternoon Rhiannon was driving her old van down the highway. As she
A medical student witnessed the accident and came to her
Luckily, Rhiannon was saved. Not for the bandage, she would not have
Rhiannon also had a message for the other
| A．rolled down | B．broke off | C．turned down | D．switched off |
| A．stick | B．grab | C．touch | D．possess |
| A．handle | B．engine | C．window | D．wheel |
| A．Consequently | B．Automatically | C．Frequently | D．Slowly |
| A．awake | B．astonished | C．unconscious | D．crazy |
| A．vision | B．action | C．rescue | D．mind |
| A．bandaging | B．curing | C．pressing | D．uncovering |
| A．Without delay | B．Out of sympathy | C．For certainty | D．In despair |
| A．tidying | B．removing | C．collecting | D．checking |
| A．suffered | B．struggled | C．stayed | D．survived |
| A．searched | B．browsed | C．received | D．posted |
| A．guidance | B．gesture | C．expression | D．encouragement |
| A．tireless | B．faultless | C．nameless | D．speechless |
| A．apology | B．application | C．invitation | D．appreciation |
| A．peers | B．strangers | C．relatives | D．fellows |
1. What happened to the woman at the beginning?
| A．She lost her phone. | B．She couldn’t find the way. | C．She was trapped in heavy snow. |
| A．The car was running out of gas, |
| B．She stopped to answer a call. |
| C．The engine couldn’t work properly. |
| A．By drinking hot tea. | B．By using the car heater. | C．By having more clothes on. |
| A．They called an ambulance. |
| B．They led the woman to her home. |
| C．They helped the woman go to the main road. |
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.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6 . 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。
I was driving home, northbound on a 6-lane highway. A pickup truck crashed into a car which was switching lanes. A huge accident, involving 5 other cars, unfolded in front of me.Immediately, I ran to a car which was upside down. I got someone to help by holding pressure on a big cut above the woman’s left ear, and then, with help, got her and a large,unconscious man, both upside down, out of the car. I then went to the four other cars to check if anyone else was hurt badly. Fortunately, no one else was in serious condition. It all took just a few minutes.
In the meantime, the southbound traffic had stopped. I looked over and saw a group of 12 people, out of their cars standing in a circle about 15 feet away from a young man, bloody and wounded, lying still on the pavement. I asked a couple of different people what had happened. The young man had gotten out of his car to cross the road and help, when a car drove along the inside lane, very fast, to get around the stopped traffic. The “Good Samaritan” was hit by the car, which launched him high in the air. He lay where he dropped. Everyone said he was dead; several had checked, But a feeling inside me said, “I didn’t check him. Can they be certain he is dead?”
He was covered in blood with arms and legs hurt and his head almost to his chest. I felt for pulses(脉搏) at different spots and felt nothing. Then I checked him once again. I realized at that moment, I was feeling for a normal pulse. When I felt again with this in mind. I thought I felt a very weak and rapid heart rate of about 160. I knew I was not supposed to move his head, but I saw no other way to hopefully open his airway. I pushed his chin(下巴) upwards. He then started taking rapid, shallow breaths.
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。
By then, the ambulances were driving up.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Due to the doctors and care of nurses, the “Good Samaritan” did survive.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. When was the man called?
| A．Today. | B．Yesterday. | C．Two days ago. |
| A．She is ill. | B．She is dead. | C．She is injured. |
1. What did the woman do with the thief?
| A．She pretended not to see him. | B． She fought with him. | C．She did as he asked. |
| A．A necklace. | B．Some money. | C．Nothing. |
| A．Fit a home alarm system. | B．Call the police. | C．Keep a dog. |
| A．She is puzzled. | B．She is brave. | C．She is frightened. |
9 . Umar Fox searched his whole life to look for the firefighter who saved him and his sister from a house fire in 1978. The search
Umar was 3 when the
Umar had always hoped to
Umar said that he and his sister “wouldn’t be
As for Joseph, he considered he was
| A．finally | B．normally | C．really | D．easily |
| A．change | B．action | C．accident | D．adventure |
| A．scene | B．floor | C．surface | D．ground |
| A．speed | B．power | C．distance | D．safety |
| A．injury | B．rescue | C．loss | D．task |
| A．interview | B．meet | C．assist | D．join |
| A．related to | B．dealt with | C．resulted in | D．applied for |
| A．relaxing | B．satisfying | C．similar | D．enough |
| A．visited | B．found | C．accompanied | D．urged |
| A．attend | B．organize | C．sponsor | D．chair |
| A．listened | B．cared | C．joked | D．worried |
| A．special | B．retired | C．alive | D．delightful |
| A．explain | B．compare | C．believe | D．agree |
| A．brave | B．proud | C．suitable | D．willing |
| A．roughly | B．curiously | C．hopefully | D．simply |
I am an outdoor lover and I’ve made it a routine to explore different regions annually with a friend during our vacation. This year, in addition to beauty of nature, I’ve experienced something more.
It was late afternoon. A few hours before sunset, Darcy and I decided to hike to Acomat Falls, hidden in the rainforest.
Expecting to spend no more than an hour at the falls, we wore T-shirts and swimsuits and hadn’t told anyone where we were going. After crossing the wide river at a shallow spot and walking upstream about 100 yards, we reached the falls at around 4 pm. We dived into the green pool and floated on our backs, amazed at the canyon(峡谷) walls.
By 4:30, Darcy reminded me that we needed to head back to the car before dark, but I was waist-deep in the river trying to photograph the falls, the hanging vines(葡萄藤), and the dreaminess of the place. Darcy had to wait on a stone. I finally took a good photo—and then she screamed.
With a crack like thunder, a violent wall of water rushed over the falls, turning the dreamy swimming pool into a churning(旋涡的) monster. Flash flood! I jumped out of the river seconds before the flood crashed over the spot where I’d just been standing. Darcy climbed barefoot off toward higher ground. Darcy and I climbed up the canyon on all fours, grabbing vines to pull ourselves up. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the water had risen 20 feet in less than a minute.
Darcy led us through the dense bush, prickly trees, and ankle-deep mud. After we’d climbed 200 feet, we stopped to catch our breath. Now we had a different problem: The road was on the other side of the swollen river. We were stuck in the forested mountain.
We had no rain jackets and were exhausted from the climb. Darcy asked if I had my phone. It was soaking wet, but still blinked on. No service. We decided to move toward higher ground to get a better signal. It was almost dark. For a moment, I got through, and I heard the faint voice of Grace, our rental host. She said she’d call for help. Then the phone went silent—no signal again.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
It seemed that we were in a desperate situation.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Trapped there, we wondered whether and how rescuers could find us.
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