【推荐1】It was Christmas Eve of 1881. I was 15 years old and feeling like the world was ______ for me because there hadn’t been enough money to buy me the rifle that I’d wanted that year.

Pa came back in and there was ice in his beard. “Come on, Matt, “ Pa said. “Dress warmly. It’s cold outside. We’re going to Widow Jensen’s. They are ______ wood.” Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and ______ her with three children, the oldest being eight.

I ______went out with Pa and we ______the sled(雪橇) high with wood. ______we went to the store and Pa took down a big ham, some bacon, a sack of flour and some shoes, which were put into a smaller sack. We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen’s in ______. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. I knew we didn’t have much money and Widow Jensen had ______neighbors than us. It shouldn’t have been our ______.

Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her ______. The children were wrapped in ______ and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that ____ gave off any heat at all. “We brought you a few things, Ma’am,” Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it.

She ______ and took the shoes out one pair at a time. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from ______ and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn’t ______. “We brought a load of wood too, Ma’am,” Pa said. Then he turned to me and said, “Matt, go bring some in.”

I wasn’t the ______ person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I choked and as much as I hate to______it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept ______those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much ____in her heart that she couldn’t speak. Just then the rifle seemed very______. Pa had given me the best Christmas of my life.

【推荐2】Lola Walter, a 13-year-old gymnast, is an expert at balance beam（平衡木）.

To perfect her skills, Lola ________ for four hours a day. At the state championships, she finished seventh out of 16 girls. That's especially impressive, ________ she is legally blind, she often sees double and can't ________ how far away things are.

When she was little, her mom ________ that even though she couldn't see ________, she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the ________ right away and it became her favorite.

Though learning gymnastics has been more ________ for her than for some of her tournaments（锦标赛）. She doesn't let her _______ stop her from doing anything that she wants to. She likes the determination（决心）it takes to do the sport. Her biggest   ________is the balance beam. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. "You have to ________ your mind that it'll take you where you want to go, " says Lola.

The beam is probably the most ________ for anyone because it's only four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn't ________ the beam. In fact, she got an 8. 1 out of 10-her highest score yet.

Lola doesn't want to be ________ differently from the other girls on her team. At the competitions, the judges don't know about her vision ________. Because she doesn’t tell them. Her mom is amazed by her ________ attitude.

Lola never thinks about ________. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to ________what she's learned to other kids when she grew up. Her ________ is to reach level 9.

Lola is ________ of all her hard work and success. Her ________ for others is "just believe yourself".

【推荐1】The spirits of giving

Two weeks before Christmas, two girls were walking down the street, laughing on some ice that remained from a recent snow. Merrily they shared what they hoped to ___ from Christmas.

They stopped to talk to an old man named Harry, who was on his knees ___ weeds around a large oak tree. He wore a pair of ___ garden gloves. His fingers were sticking out of the ends, blue from the ___.

Harry told them he was getting the yard in ___ as a Christmas gift for his mother, who had died several years before. He said with his eyes ___ with tears, “My mother was all I had. She loved her ___ and her trees, so I do this for her at Christmas.”

His words ___ the girls and soon they were down on their hands and knees helping him ___ around the trees. When they were finished, Harry pressed a quarter into each of their hands and said, “I wish I could ______ you more, but it’s all I’ve got right now.”

The girls had often passed his house, and as they ____ on they remembered that the house was always _______. No decorations to add cheerfulness were anywhere in sight. Harry sat behind curtain windows, looking _______.

The quarter in one little girl’s palm (手心) seemed to burn a hole of guilt ____ they walked on. The next day she called her friend and they ____ to put their quarters in a jar marked “Harry’s Christmas Present”. Then they began to seek out small jobs to ____ more. Every nickel, dime and quarter they earned went into the jar.

Two days before Christmas, they had enough money to buy new ____ and a card. Christmas Eve found them ____ Harry’s doorstep singing carols (圣诞颂歌). When Harry opened the door, they presented him with the gloves wrapped in pretty paper and a ____ pumpkin pie a mother had just baked. With ____ hands he tore open the paper from the gloves, and then to their surprise, he held them to his face and wept.

【推荐2】It was three in the afternoon. I was putting my baby to sleep ______ the phone rang. It was a little girl asking for the Goldstein family. “______,” I said, “you’ve got the wrong number.”______ the phone didn’t stop ringing. Each time it was the voice of a little girl. She was ______ one call after another, each time asking for the Goldstein family. My baby wouldn’t stop crying. I started to become ______. I left the phone off the hook(挂钩) for about an hour, ______ that this would make her lose ______. But hardly I put the phone back on the hook when she ______ again. I started to cry. After about the tenth call I told her that if she called one more time I would call the ______.

At 6:30 pm, the phone rang for about the 25th time. I picked it up, but remained

Until about 9:00 pm, the phone ______ rang from time to time. Each time, it was a little girl wanting to know what time the class was! Some girls, even after hearing they had the wrong ______, would anyway ask if I knew the time! I would just ______. It had turned into a joke now! I would never have thought that an entire ______ of girls, all with the same voice, was calling me!

【推荐3】As is well-known to us all, some people have their own principles. Of course _________ also have their own opinions. I have opinions about what I think is right or _________ or good or bad. But they’re only opinions! I won’t try to build my life around my opinions, but I’ll try to _________ my principles.

It’s said that a 15-year-old boy learned a valuable _________ about life principles. One day, he found a woman’s wallet that _________ $127 and her _________. He jumped onto his _________ and went to her house. He told her he found her wallet and she gave him a big _________. She also gave him twenty dollars.

That evening the boy told his parents about the _________ and his father said, “I don’t think you should have __________ $20 for doing what you should have done. A person shouldn’t be rewarded for being __________.”

He thought over his father’s words and __________ that he should return the money. He rode to the lady’s home again and gave the __________ back to her. She didn’t want to __________ it, but he told her she had to and that his father __________ something to him that he had __________ realized before.

In my opinion, if we are always honest and insist on the personal __________ of always doing the right thing, we __________ develop a good character. These great principles shape our lives and make us into persons of __________. They teach confidence. It’s pretty obvious that the boy is fortunate to be __________ by a wise father.

【推荐1】The journey my daughter Cathy has had with her swimming is as long as it is beautiful.

Cathy suffered some terrible_________in her early childhood. After years of regular treatment (治疗), she_________became healthy.

Two years ago, while Cathy was watching the Olympics, a dream came into her sweet little head - to be a swimmer. Last summer, she wanted to_________our local swim team. She practiced hard and finally_________it. The team practice, _________, was a rough start. She coughed and choked and could hardly_________her first few weeks. Hearing her coughing bitterly one night, I decided to_________her from it all But Cathy woke me up early next morning, wearing her swimsuit_________to go! I told her she shouldn’t swim after a whole night’s coughing, but she refused to _________and insisted she go.

From that day on, Cathy kept swimming and didn’t__________a single practice. She had a __________desire within herself to be the best she could be. My ten-year-old was growing and changing right before my eyes, into this__________ human being with a passion and a mission. There were moments of__________of course: often she would be the last swimmer in the race. It was difficult for Cathy to accept that she wasn’t a__________-ever. But that didn’t stop her from trying.

Then came the final awards ceremony at the end of the year. Cathy didn’t expect any award but was still there to__________her friends and praise their good performance. As the ceremony was nearing the end, I suddenly heard the head coach __________ “The highest honor goes to Cathy!" Looking around, be continued, “Cathy has inspired us with her__________ and enthusiasm. __________ skills and talents bring great success, the most valuable asset (财富) one can bold is the heart. "

It was the greatest__________ of my daughter’s life. With all she had been__________in her ten years, this was the hour of true triumph (成功).

【推荐2】‘‘You're too small, Ginny. You'll never make an Olympic team,” said my first-ever rowing ___, way back in the late winter of 1978. I had just confessed(承认)my ____, which was admittedly outsized at that point, to somebody whose emotional ____ could play a key role.

Maybe my dream wasn't ____reality. After all, I had tried out for the national team for the first time the previous year and been cut, and I lacked the____that most Olympic rowers possess, not to mention much experience as an athlete, but____,1 was shocked by my coach's response.

1 left the gym in a panic. As I walked, I began to____my future, making room for my coach's opinion, pushing my dream aside into a dark corner. A small inner voice had joined forces with the coach's. “Maybe he's ____.”

But then, another voice ____. "What does he know? Why does he get to decide?" My coach didn't have faith ____me but that didn't necessarily mean I had to give up on myself so quickly. By the time I arrived back at my apartment,1 was ____at my coach and my dream was back on center stage.

___came easy when it came to fulfilling that dream. But l was____by my love of the beauty of rowing. I wanted to row among the best and I refused to stop____ I achieved my goal.

I made that 1980 team,____not getting to compete at the Olympics. I kept____four more years, and finally won silver at the 1984 Olympics.

Everything I have today is a(n) ____of sticking with that dream, all those hours on the water, in the weight room, and in the stadium. They got me here,____I know now that big ambitions need not just time to develop, but firm____in them. And I will not allow anyone else to____ for me what's possible.

【推荐3】Scott had always been creative. As he finished university, he decided to become an inventor. He often designed many new things. His friends thought that he was misguided. “You cannot spend your life as a(n) _______. You will _______ have a steady (稳定的) income.” Luke, his best friend, was _______ his friend’s future. “Why don’t you reconsider and get a job in the city?” Luke often asked. “This is my _______,” Scott said to Luke. “I have wanted to be an inventor since I was a small child. I am not going to _______.”

Over several years, Scott developed many ideas that _______to become a success. His first invention had many _______ and he was unable to sell it. His second idea received little support from people or companies. Scott’s friend Luke continued to encourage him to find a(n) _______ career (职业). “Scott, you have to think about your future. I think it is time to _______ something else.” “But I cannot stop now. I am so close to coming up with something huge. _______ I left my designs now, all my life would have been wasted,” he replied. Luke nodded, “I ________, my friend. Just know that I am here to support you.”

Then one day it happened. Scott _______ his design of a new wing for an airplane. He presented it to several companies who all loved his _______. After some competition, a company offered to buy his design.

“I knew that one day I would _______ it!” he said to Luke as they celebrated at his apartment. Luke felt a little guilty (内疚的) for ever suggesting that Scott should give up. “I don’t know how you kept going all these years,” Luke said. “You certainly deserve every bit of your _______.”