【推荐3】For weeks the students had been engaged in careful preparation for the Parents' Night program. Now everything was ______. The walls were filled with displays, the students with ______ and the tables with good things to eat.

The host was well under way. Then Jimmie Davis ______ to give his speech. This was the ______ he had looked forward to for many weeks. As he was on the stage, he caught a glimpse of his mother's beaming face and his father's ______ appearance. He started with a great burst of enthusiasm. He was ______ that his listeners were thinking highly of him by their careful attention. Then ______ happened. The world seemed to swim before him. He slowed down and stopped. His face flushed (变红), his_______ sought each other crazily and in desperation he looked ______ towards his teacher, Mr. Smith.

And ever prepared, having heard the boyish masterpiece ______ again and again applied the missing words and the boy ______. But somehow it was different now. Jimmie ______ again-and the teacher reminded him again. For the ______ two minutes, the speech seemed more the teacher's than the boy's.

But Jimmie finished it. There was a heavy ______ in the heart of the boy, knowing that he had failed. Embarrassment was clearly ______ on the face of the boys father and mother. The audience ______ in a perfunctory (例行公事的) way, sorry for and pitying the boy who they thought had ______.

But the teacher was on his feet, saying: "I’m ______ to see a boy making a glorious victory out of what might have been a miserable failure. And I’m confident that you will never see a ______ demonstration of the spirit of playing the under difficulties!”

The crowd exploded into thunderous now. The old ______ of assurance (确信) was back on the face of the boy's father.

【推荐1】Poor lame (跛的) Jennie sat at her window, with a look of pain and ______ on her face. “Oh, dear,” she said “________ a long day this is going to be!” and she looked hopefully up the dark, narrow street.

Suddenly she came forward and got her pale face ________ the glass, as a rosy-cheeked boy, George, came running down the ________, swinging his schoolbooks by the strap. Looking up to the window, he________ his hat and bowed with a bright, pleasant ________.

“What a nice boy he is,” said Jennie to herself, as he ran out of ________. “I am so glad he goes by here on his way to ________. When he smiles, it seems like having the sun shine. I wish everybody who ________ would look up and smile.”

The next morning, as Jennie sat with her head against the ________, watching the ________ dropping down the glass, she noticed George with a handful of beautiful ________ carefully picking his way across the street. He stopped in front of her window, and, smiling very ________, said, “How shall I find the way to your room?”

Jennie pointed to a ________ nearby, and with some difficulty he found his way to the dark and dirty room. ________ the door to Jennie’s gentle “Come in,” he said, “I have brought you a handful of flowers to look at this rainy day.”

“Are they for me?” exclaimed Jennie, clapping her hands in ________. “How kind you are,” she continued, as George ________ them in her lap. “I have not had a flower since we live in the city.”

“Did you use to live in the countryside (乡下)?” asked George. “Oh, yes.” answered Jennie, “we ________ live in a beautiful cottage, and there were trees and flowers and green grass, and the air was so sweet.”

“Do you have to sit here all day?” asked George. “Yes,” said Jennie, “because I am ________; but I would not care for that, if I could only help mamma.”

“Well, I must rush for school,” said George, and he was soon out of Jennie’s sight. But he did not know how much ________ he had done in making a pleasant day out of a boring one for a little sick girl.

【推荐2】Renee William and her friend were totally excited on the way to a football game. But when they arrived at the stadium, they got some _______ news.

As it turned out, the stadium had _______ on the size of bags allowed into the venue (活动场所). And Renee’s handbag was too _______. She was about to throw it away when a couple in the line suggested Renee have a nearby _______ man watch it.

The suggestion sounded_______ to Renee, but no crazier than throwing away a perfectly good handbag. She decided to put her_______ in the homeless stranger. So, she gave the homeless man five dollars and asked him if he would kindly_______ her handbag until she finished watching the game. The homeless man was glad to help. Then Renee went in the stadium with her friend. The game was thrilling, and people were_______ and screaming loudly. While Renee’s friend was attracted by one of the footballers, Renee was kind of _______. The minute the game finished, Renee stood up, eager to________ her handbag.

Renee admitted her expectation of ever seeing the homeless man again was________. And yet, when she and her friend came out, there he was. The man had spent three hours staying in place, watching her handbag, just as he ________.

Renee had not expected the homeless man to keep his word. And her________ came from the general judgment people make about the homeless. And Renee’s encounter taught her a ________ that’s worth more than the handbag: you can’t really tell what’s inside a book just by looking at the________!