【文本】高考英语读后继写The Scholarship Jacket.docxVIP

The small Texas school that I attended carried out a tradition every year during the eighth grade graduation; a beautiful gold and green jacket, the school colors, was awarded to the class valedictorian, the student who had maintained the highest grade for eight years. The scholarship jacket had a big gold S on the left front side and the winners name was written in gold letters on the pocket. My oldest sister Rosie had won the jacket a few years back and I fully expected to win also. I was fourteen and in the eighth grade. I had been a straight A student since the first grade, and the last year I had looked forward to owning that jacket. My father was a farm laborer who couldnt earn enough money to feed eight children, so when I was six I was given to my grandparents to raise. We couldnt participate in sports in school because there were registration fees, uniform costs, and trips out of town; so even though we were quite agile and athletic there would never be a sports school jacket for us. This one, the scholarship jacket, was our only chance. In May, close to graduation, spring fever struck, and no one paid any attention in class; instead we stared out the windows and at each other, wanting to speed up the last few weeks of school. I despaired every time I looked in the mirror. Pencil thin, not a curve anywhere, I was called “Beanpole and String Bean and I knew thats what I looked like. A flat chest, no hips, and a brain, thats what I had. That really isnt much for a fourteen-year-old to work with, I thought, as I absentmindedly wandered from my history class in the gym. Another hour of sweating in basketball and displaying my toothpick legs was coming up. Then I remembered my P.E. shorts were still in a bag under my desk where Id forgotten them. I had to walk all the way back and get them. Coach Thompson was a real bear if anyone wasnt dressed for P.E. She had said I was a good forward and once she even tried to talk Grandma into letting me join the team. Grand