It was our turn to open our presents this particular Christmas morning. The living room was already covered with torn wrapping paper. Obviously, the children could hardly wait to discover the hidden treasures, which they had expected for nearly a month. Now we adults sat around the room with our presents at our feet, slowly removing the paper, trying to maintain our dignity in front of the children.
My wife Brenda, and her family have a tradition of getting each other gag(恶作剧) gifts. This always makes me a bit uneasy at Christmas or my birthday, never knowing what form of embarrassment lies waiting for me under the thin borders of the wrapping paper.
Recently, my six-year-old daughter Christy seemed to busy herself with something while I was playing computer video flight games. Now she was standing directly in front of me. The excitement of the moment just beamed across her face. It was everything she could do to keep herself from helping me rip the paper from each present. Finally, I came to the last gift and with my natural Sherlock Holmes ability, I concluded that this had to be the gag gift. With everyone looking on, I decided to go ahead and got it over with—just let them have their laugh—and I tore the paper and there it was. . . a toy airplane about two inches long. Our holiday guests started giggling to themselves as I looked up to my wife with an unpleasant smile on my face and blurted out, " A toy airplane?Are you kidding me?"
Brenda gave me a look—the look that always tells me I have just said something wrong and should have given it a second thought. I had failed to look at the name tag(标签) before I opened the present to see who it was from. As I picked up the paper from the floor and read the name tag, my heart sank.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
On the tag were the letters that read, " To Dad, Love Christy" .
Staring at the gift, I suddenly thought of a way to lift her up.
Growing up, my family always had cats—but by the time I got to college, I wanted one I could call my own. So, I visited Animal Home in Michigan, looking for the perfect cat.
There was a black kitten I nearly ignored. He was skinny and small and not even cute, but he stuck his paws through the cage, trying to play with me. He was clearly interested in me, so I asked to hug him. He curled up on my shoulder and began purring(发出咕噜声).Our connection was immediate. I adopted him, named him Adam, and brought him home.
Over the next 16 years, Adam and I were so close. He was gentle, sweet and playful. But one night last year, everything changed.
It was as if one day Adam was still acting like a kitten, and then the next day he was vomiting(呕吐) all the time and no longer acting like his usual self. He' d lost weight and I knew that he was sick. I took him to the vet(兽医) and the diagnosis was sad: stomach cancer. Worse yet, the vet thought he was too old for operation. All I could do was give him medicine to help make him more comfortable.
A month later, Adam got worse. I took him to the emergency vet, where they kept him overnight to administer fluids(输液).When I went to pick him up the next morning, on Christmas Eve, the vet said it was time to end his life. It was the best thing to do for him. With deep sorrow, I said goodbye to him.
Once I got back home, reality hurt me much. Usually, Adam was there to wait for me at the door. But he was gone, leaving an aching emptiness in my life and at my home. I suffered from huge pain. I told my husband I didn' t want another cat.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
Few weeks later, my friend Amy who rescued homeless cats called me.
After I brought the new cat home, my huge pain gradually disappeared.
That December, with Christmas approaching, my mother was out at work when I let myself into her bedroom one afternoon in search of a safety pin. I took the key hidden under the carpet, unlocked the door and stepped in. Standing against the wall was a big, black bicycle with balloon tires. I recognized it instantly. It was the same second-hand bike I' d been admiring in a Baltimore Street shop window. Somehow my mother must have scraped together enough for a down payment and meant to surprise me with the bicycle on Christmas morning.
I was deeply moved by the discovery and yet sickened by the knowledge that, bursting into her room like this, I had robbed her of the pleasure of seeing me astonished and delighted on Christmas day. I immediately backed out, put the key back in its hiding place, and thought over what to do.
I decided that between now and Christmas I must do absolutely nothing to reveal the slightest hint of my terrible knowledge. Nothing must deny her the happiness of seeing me completely amazed on Christmas day. I even started practicing my surprised face in front of the mirror, testing exclamations of delight:" Wow! "" A bike with balloon tires! I don' t believe it. "
The day finally came when Christmas arrived. My mother woke me and my sister early in the morning." Go and see what Santa Claus brought to you. "
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
Heartbeat racing, I came out of my bedroom.
I was about to go into my room disappointedly when my mom cried behind me," Wait! There' s something in my bedroom I forgot all about. "
Kumar was a hard-working and ambitious student in Academic Magnet High School, who had a preference for the engineering design. One day he was walking home from school. Nothing pleased him more than to walk along the busy street and look at the glass doors of the shops. When doing so, he never failed to stop to look at the latest laptops in the computer shop. He was thinking, " I would love so much to own that laptop. But nobody will buy it for me. "
So Kumar thought hard of what to do. The school holiday was coming up next week. An idea struck him. He would do odd jobs to earn some money. Yes! That was what he would do.
His house is next to East Lake shore Drive in Chicago, where there stand varieties of cottages with beautiful gardens. It follows that he designed a plan of working in his neighbors' gardens. First, he would approach them and ask them to let him clean up their gardens. After his finishing the job, each owner would probably pay him $50 or $60. Working in more than ten gardens would enable him to accumulate enough cash to buy his beloved laptop. Making up his mind triggered a feeling of joy and a brisk walk home.
The next day, he went around his neighborhood and asked the residents if he could clean their gardens. He asked them politely, " Excuse me, can I work in your garden during the school holiday? " Many of the owners were kind of curious about what Kumar was requiring and asked why. Having known about his thirsty for a laptop, they all replied " Yes" .They liked the courteous(有礼貌的) boy.
So Kumar started working in his first house. He woke up early that morning. He took three hours to clear the rubbish and cut the grass. It was not easy work. He had to mow the grass. After that, he had to pull the weeds. Then, he had to arrange the flowerpots. This arduous(艰巨的) work went on for a week. Consequently, he had no time for games or even watching television.
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
After that week, his parents and friends had different voices.
At the end of November, he had saved up enough money.
They' d been planning this forever. From her birth, most likely. Mya' s mother, Helena loved hosting parties. And Aunt Beatrice loved birthdays. Together, they' d make her Sweet Sixteen a hundred times bigger, bolder, and brighter than it needed to be. They selected a theme every year and stuck to it. Her fourteenth had been the " Snow White" and her ninth had been the " Frozen" . They never told her what the theme was the day before. She' d just wake up her birthday morning, a brand-new birthday outfit(一套服装) laid neatly on her dresser (an outfit related to the theme, of course) and she would open her door to see the adventure that lay ahead of her that day.
Mya had a few guesses as to what this year' s theme would be. A play on the words " Sweet Sixteen" was likely—a candy themed party, perhaps? But she' d had a baking party a few years before—and Helena was anything but repetitive. Mya didn' t have any interest in cars, so she doubted a sports-car party was on the menu. She' d tried to look through her mother' s purchase history online, but her mother had been careful enough to delete everything recent. So the only clue left was the birthday outfit she would receive the next morning.
May 1st, Mya woke. The bright sunlight begged her eyes to open and she loved the day that her birthday took place. It was always nice out on May 1st and it never rained. This morning was no different than her previous birthdays. She sat up in her bed and looked to her dresser before slipping out of bed and inspecting the outfit. She unfolded it and held it against her body, seeing how it was like. It reached down, just above the ankle. Mya dressed, eyed herself in the mirror and found it was not so much a pretty outfit as she had received before. It was totally one for blue-collar workers!
注意:续写词数应为150左右。
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a knock
With everything done, her face shone with a sweet smile.