Lasting a Lifetime

      Sidney Wilson's watch was old and it did not work well. It was either too fast or too slow. It spent more time in the repair shop than on his wrist (手腕). So he decided to buy himself a new watch.

      He went into a jewelry shop and said to the saleswoman behind the counter.

      “I want to buy a new watch, please. Show me the best watch you have.”

      The saleswoman smiled happily. This was the kind of customer she liked.

     “Certainly, sir,” she said, and showed Sidney a gold watch.

      “This watch is made of gold and has twenty-four jewels,” she explained.

      “How much is it?” Sidney asked.

      “$5,000,” the saleswoman said.

      “Oh,” Sidney said. “I'm sorry. You did not understand me. I want to see the best watch you have for under $100.”

      The sales woman now lost interest in Sidney. She pushed some cheap watches at him. “Choose one from these,” she said rudely.       “They are all under $100.”

      Sidney picked up one of the watches, “Will it last me a lifetime?” he asked.

     “Of course,” the saleswoman said.

     “Then I'll buy it,” Sidney told her. He paid for the watch and left the shop.

      Two days later the watch stopped. Sidney could not make it work again. He took it back to the shop.

      “This watch is broken,” he said to the saleswoman. “You told me it would last me a lifetime.”

     “When you bought it, sir,” the saleswoman said, “you didn't look very well.”

Choose the best answer to each question about the story.

    When Mr. David retired（退休）, he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said, "If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, come in and look around. Price twenty dollars. "Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. "I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）, "he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

Zhu Yanjun is a migrant worker(农民工)from northwest China's Gansu Province. Recently the 50-year-old took part in the 2023 Chinese Poem Competition and won second place in the final.

Zhu was born in a family of farmers. As a young boy, Zhu would help his father do farm work after finishing classes. In 1983, as a first-grader in primary school, he met poetry for the first time in a Chinese class. Since then, he has been in love with poems. After noticing Zhu's interest, his father spared some money from the family's living costs to buy him poetry collections （诗歌集）. During junior high school, some of his classmates dropped out of school and moved to other cities to look for jobs. Zhu listened to them talking about the outside world during holidays. "I also wanted to leave my hometown to see the world. "he said.

After graduating from junior high school in 1992, Zhu stopped his schooling. He began to work as a migrant worker. But he did not stop reading poems. 

In the past years, Zhu has worked in seven cities in China. Whenever he arrives in a city, he first visits the bookstores and libraries there. Although he is busy working during the day, he spends his time at noon and in the evening reading poems. He knows around1, 000 poems by heart and the lines help him keep a calm mind. 

In 2023, with the encouragement of his wife, Zhu decided to sign up for the 2023 Chinese Poem Competition. To his surprise, he made it to the final. Under his influence, his son and daughter have developed a great interest in poetry. They have been accepted by universities away from their hometown. "I hope more people will also fall in love with poetry, "said Zhu, adding that he will continue learning poetry.

作文要求：（1）可在思维导图内容提示的基础上适当拓展信息。（2）不能照抄原文：不得在作文中出现学校的真实名称和考生的真实姓名。（3）语句连贯，词数80左右。作文的开头已经给出，不计入总词数。

Wednesday, July 26th

There is a farm. A boy is on the farm. His name is Bingo. Many animals are on the farm. They are five pigs, seven cows, ten chickens, four cats, three dogs, and five rabbits. Dogs can swim. They're white. Horses can run. Rabbits can jump. Where are the chickens? They are under the tree. What happened? A pig is stuck.