【推荐1】“This year,” my dad said, “we’re going camping!” His excitement was met with a disappointing sigh. _______, he wasn’t upset.

The views during the trip were amazing, but none of those mattered to me. My mind was on my phone. I remembered the first time I looked up was for something _______—my phone had no _______. My dad said that it would be _______ until we returned home. I would be _______ in the forest for four days with no way to contact the outside world. I went to bed angry that night. But something _______ when I awoke in the morning. _______ immediately burying my head in my phone, I _______ something else: my surroundings. As my dad and I walked the trails, I felt the weight of a thousand stressors disappear from my shoulders. I realized being _______ to nature made me focus more on myself.

That was fifteen years ago, and I carry that ________ to this day. When I received my first work e-mail, I ________ the reason why my dad ________ a campsite with no access to technology. In a world that asks for more connectivity, the need to ________ your cellphone becomes stronger. Having my own time is nearly ________ when I can be ________ at any time of day or night. So, I need to work harder at it.

【推荐2】When I was in primary school, I got into a major argument with a boy in my class. I can't _______what it was about, but I have never forgotten the ______ I learned that day.

I was _______ that I was right and he was wrong but he strongly believed that I was wrong and he was right. Our _______ decided to teach us a very important lesson and _______ a good idea. She ________ both of us up to the front of the class and placed him on one side of her desk and me on ________. In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could ________ see that it was black. She asked the boy what ________ the object was. "White," he answered in a ________ voice. I couldn't believe he said the object was white, ________ it was obviously black! Another ________ started between my classmate and me, this _______ about the color of the object.

The teacher told me to go to stand where the boy was standing and told him to come to stand where I had been. We changed ________, and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I ________ answer, "White." It was then ________ I realized I was wrong. In fact, it was an object with two _________ colored sides, and from his side it was white, ________ from my side was the color black.

My teacher taught me a very important lesson that day: You must ________ yourself in the other person's shoes and look at the ________ through their eyes in order to truly understand their view.

【推荐3】My mother only had one eye. And because of this, I never wished her to show up in my school, being afraid that my classmates would ______I had an ugly mother.

“Your mom only has one eye?!” asked some of my classmates. I was so _____.

I wished my mother would just _______ from this world. “If you make me teased(嘲笑), why don’t you just die?” I shouted at her, taking no notice of the sad look on her face. My mother just handed me some______and left without saying _______.

At that time, I felt ______ to say what I always wanted to say, and I didn’t think I had hurt her______very much. That night I saw my mom ______ in her room, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might______me. Even so, I hated her tears from one eye. I made a ______ : I must study hard and leave my mother.

Years later my dream came ______. I was quite successful and lived _______. I never thought of going back to see my “ugly” mother _______ one day I got a letter, which said, “My son… I’m sorry I only have one eye. When you were little, you got into a(n ) _____and lost your eye. As a mom, I couldn’t ________watching you live with only one eye. ______I gave you mine. I was never_______ with you and I never regretted（后悔）what I did because I_____ you…”

I cried out aloud. Only then did I_______how beautiful my mother was!

【推荐1】My family and I belonged to a country club located across the street from the Long Island Sound. Each summer, the big _______ for us was the pool. I learned how to swim and _______the swimming team. However, swimming in my _______ days was a way to keep cool, and swimming on a team gave me identity and a sense of _______. It also became _______ many years later.

Fast-forward (快进) to 1973 — I was _______, pregnant and had a home. What made our little home even more _______ was that I discovered that four _______ away was Rath Park Pool! For the next 30 years, most of our summer days were _______ around that pool. Each of my five kids took swimming lessons and learned all the __________ swimming strokes (姿势).

As much as I would have liked to have life stand __________, it doesn’t. My children outgrew their pool days and moved on with their own life. But the pool was still four blocks from my home, so I began to __________ swimming again. I got so much out of it that I joined the local pool, so I could swim year-round. Whenever I swam, I would __________ come out feeling physically and mentally__________. I often felt that if I looked hard enough, I would be able to see all of the __________and problems I’ve had in life, sitting at the bottom of the pool!

What has swimming __________ me? I’ve learned that __________ is the key to being a good__________. If you are balanced in the water, you have no resistance. Working on staying balanced made me realize the __________ between life in and out of the swim lane. If you work on keeping yourself balanced, you will be able to swim right __________ the stress and problems life throws at you.

【推荐3】Long, long ago, there was a small village. This village had a (an) _______ tradition. At the beginning of every year, any boy who had reached the age of majority (成年) was given land and money to build a home. The boy had to _______ his home before winter. If his home failed to endure (忍耐) the cold weather in winter, the villagers could not _______   him in any way.

One _______, Paul and Marc reached their majority. They _______ their land and money and decided to search nearby villages for ideas on building their homes. In each village, they found the nicest _______ and talked to the owners. Each owner gladly offered _______.

After Marc saw several homes, he _______ the best ideas and went back to his own land. Paul, _______, continued collecting more ideas. Soon he had so many great ideas that he began to __________ some of them. But he always believed he could find even better ideas in the next village.

Marc began building his home. He had several false starts, __________ his home gradually rose from his land. By fall, Marc had finished his home. It wasn’t perfect, but it was strong and he could __________ it later. Paul enjoyed all the beautiful homes and __________ with home owners. The first snow came and Paul, realizing he was running out of time, __________ back to his land. He built the best home he could in the time he had, but it was __________. The first winter storm destroyed his home and he froze to __________. The villagers mourned (哀悼) for him.

Marc __________ the winter. Each year, Marc searched for other good ideas he could use to make his own home look better. He became a leader in the village, __________ a family, and lived a happy, content life.

We all build and improve our own mental homes. It’s __________ and fun for us to search for ideas from other mental home owners, but we only improve our own mental home if we actually __________ the best ideas.