【推荐2】Table Talk

As we got out of the car, our son announced, “Phones stay in the car.”

“Why do you always have to tell us that?” complained our fifteen-year-old grandson.

Our son’s wife winked at us and then explained, “We have a family _________ that no one may bring anything electronic to the table.”

We _________ our phones in the car. Even though the restaurant was filled with families, there was little noise. All I heard were a few quiet conversations and the ding of forks on plates. The _________ unnerved me. I looked around. Everyone, even the young kids, was _________ at some kind of screen.

The silence was broken _________ the six of us sat down, and started talking. The waitress stood patiently and waited for our orders. When our food came, we continued to chat.

An elderly couple at the next table were finishing their dinners and conversing quietly. I noticed that they shot us a few glances, and _________ if our constant chatter was annoying them.

After the dessert, my son signaled the waitress for the check. She hesitated when she brought the black folder to our table. My son opened the black folder—it was _________. “You forgot the check,” he told her.

“There isn’t one. Someone else _________ your bill—and the tip too.” she said with a giggle (咯咯笑).

“Why?” asked our son, his wife and myself at once.

“They loved it that no one was connected,” she continued. “They loved watching you guys _________. The old lady went on and on about how nice it was to see a family eating and talking instead of looking at ‘electric games’.”

For a moment, everyone at our table was at a loss for __________. Then we all started talking at once. My son’s voice rose above the others. “Where are they? We want to thank them.”

“They left after you ordered dessert,” the waitress replied.

We spent the next fifteen minutes discussing this goodness and camp up with a __________. Next time we see a family eating at a restaurant __________ looking at anything electronic, we’ll pay it forward, just like what happened to us.

【推荐3】Like many perfectionists, I truly believed that self-sufficiency was a virtue. And _______ my brain was so good at finding what it was looking for, I noticed every single time that idea got proved _______, and so I always had lots of _______for why it really was better if I just handled everything myself.

This kind of thinking, friends, was the _______in disguise (伪装).

My self-reliance came in handy when I was a kid in the seventies and in adulthood when I was an independent _______.Then, in the first years of _______ the Organized Artist Company, I found myself _______ everything I could about websites, copywriting, graphic design, etc. Later whenever one of my business friends _______about how her website was being held hostage (人质) by her designer, I _______felt too satisfied. ________ if mistakes were made in my business, they were all mine.

Now this was where my false ________ showed up—in not wanting others to know I made mistakes. If I had other people ________me, they would see my errors and ________. Working alone, I could keep up a pretty good display of ________.

But as the Organized Artist Company became increasingly ________, I realized I was doing harm to the people I was trying to serve by attempting to do everything myself. I was ________ my growth and the depth of my work.

I had built a business with my own two hands, and I ________with a business that I could hold in my own two hands. Cozy, ________ limited in scope (范围).

Once I was willing to control my ego(自负) and admit that my vision of self-sufficiency was a ________, my business took a remarkable leap forward, and revenue ________. Little change, big difference.

【推荐1】I didn’t grow up in a very loving family. In fact, there are few, if any, happy ____ I have of my childhood involving my family memebers. My____ moments were spent with a few friends. My family_____alienated (疏远) all the neighbours, so the ____ came when I didn’t even have neighborhood kids to play with. So, I learned to ____ my time reading, discovering nature and ____ and achieving small goals for myself.

There was another family in town that was quite ____ to mine. They had a lot of children like my own family. They attended the same church. I always ____ what it would be like if my family were more like them. They never knew it, but I watched them and_____them. They were happy and close — everything I ____ my family could be.

Decades later I found myself back at that very same____ I had left behind. This time I was in that church for my mother’s funeral. As I ____ the church for the funeral, memories came flooding back to me. I remembered the warm, kind smiles of that ____ when I was a child.

After the funeral service, I heard a(n) ____ voice call my name. I   ___ and he was there, the ____ of that family. He was a church volunteer for my mother’s funeral lunch. We chatted for a bit. I pointed out my ____ to him and it was at that point that I ____ I was raising my boy in a way I had seen him raise his own children so long ago. He didn’t realize it, but my son’s life has been greatly _____by him.

Live your life with intergity (诚实, 正直). You never know who’s ____, who you will inspire and whose life you will change.

【推荐2】I’ve noticed that conversations with my children have started to turn into something I don’t like. It could be my _______. I don’t always _______ before I open my mouth. For example, my kids would call to tell me about something that’s been _______ them. As soon as they’re finished, I go into the Mom mode.

“You should…”, “You need to consider…”, “If I were you, I’d…”

“Mom!”

The tone is full of _______ and annoyance.

When I get one of my adult kids on the phone, I become a(n) _______ on everything, which I’m obviously not. I want to be part of their lives and _______ them from making mistakes that seem so obvious to me.

I’m hardly _______ in this. Over lunch the other day, a friend told me that her son _______ listened to anything she said. “It’s like talking to a wall!” I know that feeling well. But I’m learning slowly that talking at is not the same as talking with.

Giving _______ to children can be full of problems. Though we may see ourselves sharing the wisdom of our years, they see something else. They see a ________ parent who hasn’t accepted the fact that they’re adults with their own thoughts and feelings. They’re not ________ any tips. They may not even want a(n) ________ solution to a difficult problem. What they’re hoping for is a safe place to talk with a person who loves and ________ them no matter what.

Because of this, I’ve given myself the ________ of becoming a better parent by being a better listener. It’s not an easy task for parents like me but I’m ________.

【推荐3】I took my two daughters to a beach to play. We brought an inflatable(可充气的) _______, thinking this would make for a really_______day. And so it did. The two girls played all day in it, but the younger one got_______and was beginning to look pretty_______with too much sun. So I took her to have a_______and placed an umbrella over her as my older daughter_______to play in the boat.

I probably spent too much time with my younger daughter, not_______what was going on in the water. But as I_______, I became concerned as I saw the little boat with my older daughter in it had moved far away from the shore and was moving even_______. I called to her to come closer to the shore and she seemed to be________and doing all she could to ________. But her litter arms were too short to reach into the water. All she could do was paddle(拨水)________to one side and was just making small________.

I________as far into the water as I could － telling her what she should do but with no   ________. I stood watching her go farther. I couldn’t believe I was________this. Then I swam until I no longer knew or could________that I had legs. But I just kept an eye on her and believed I was able to save my daughter. I saw my hand catching the edge of that small boat. On the way back I was________the boat and calming her down.

We made it back to the shore and my life was forever changed by that________. I learned that if we can________ourselves, we’ll have all the strength(力量) we need.

【推荐1】Table Talk

As we got out of the car, our son announced, “Phones stay in the car.”

“Why do you always have to tell us that?” complained our fifteen-year-old grandson.

Our son’s wife winked at us and then explained, “We have a family _________ that no one may bring anything electronic to the table.”

We _________ our phones in the car. Even though the restaurant was filled with families, there was little noise. All I heard were a few quiet conversations and the ding of forks on plates. The _________ unnerved me. I looked around. Everyone, even the young kids, was _________ at some kind of screen.

The silence was broken _________ the six of us sat down, and started talking. The waitress stood patiently and waited for our orders. When our food came, we continued to chat.

An elderly couple at the next table were finishing their dinners and conversing quietly. I noticed that they shot us a few glances, and _________ if our constant chatter was annoying them.

After the dessert, my son signaled the waitress for the check. She hesitated when she brought the black folder to our table. My son opened the black folder—it was _________. “You forgot the check,” he told her.

“There isn’t one. Someone else _________ your bill—and the tip too.” she said with a giggle (咯咯笑).

“Why?” asked our son, his wife and myself at once.

“They loved it that no one was connected,” she continued. “They loved watching you guys _________. The old lady went on and on about how nice it was to see a family eating and talking instead of looking at ‘electric games’.”

For a moment, everyone at our table was at a loss for __________. Then we all started talking at once. My son’s voice rose above the others. “Where are they? We want to thank them.”

“They left after you ordered dessert,” the waitress replied.

We spent the next fifteen minutes discussing this goodness and camp up with a __________. Next time we see a family eating at a restaurant __________ looking at anything electronic, we’ll pay it forward, just like what happened to us.

【推荐3】Whenever Michael Carl, the fashion market director at Vanity Fair, goes out to dinner with friends, he plays something called the “phone stack” game: Everyone _______ their phones in the middle of the table; whoever looks at their device before the check arrives _______ the tab（账单）.

Brandon Holley, the former editor of Lucky magazine, had trouble _______ her mobile phone when she got home from work. So about six months ago, she _______ putting her phone into a milk tin the moment she walked in. It remains there until after dinner. And Mare Jacobs, the fashion designer, didn’t _______ to sleep close to a beeping gadget. So he _______ digital devices from his bedroom — a house rule he _______ with audiences during a recent screening of Disconnect, a film that shows how technology has alienated(使疏远) people from one another.

As smart phones _______ to make their way into our lives, and wearable devices like Google Glass _______ to destroy our personal space even further, overtaxed users are carving out their own device-free zones. Whether it’s a physical ________ (no ipads at the dinner table) or a conceptual one (turn off devices by 11 p.m.), users say these disconnecting ________ are improving their relationships.

“Disconnecting is a luxury that we all ________,” said Lesley M. M. Blume, a New York writer who keeps her phone away from the dinner table at home. “The expectation that we must always be ________ to employers, colleagues and family: it creates a real problem in trying to ________ private time. But that private time is more important than ever.”

A popular method for disconnecting is to choose a box for your cellphone, like the milk tin that Ms. Holley uses. “________ my phone is buzzing or lighting up, it’s still a distraction, so it ________ in the box.” said Ms. Holley. Others choose new ________. “No screens after 11 p.m.” said Ari. Melber, a TV host. “Now evenings are more ________ and I am sleeping better.” he added.

Sleep is a big factor, which is why some ________ to leave their phones out of their bedrooms. “I don’t want to sleep next to something full of photos and emails.” said Peter Som, a fashion designer, who keeps his phone plugged in in the living room overnight. “It ________ is a head­clearer and distinguishes daytime and sleep time.”