【推荐1】Failing Successfully

Two years ago I took part in a speech competition. It was a hard time for me when the judge______ the winners. At last, the moment of truth came. I got the worst.______ not being placed in the competition, I really wanted to _______ again. I realized that finding the right topic was the most important part of the whole _______. It needs to be motivational and inspirational to the _______. So I reworked my speech for the following year,______ a different topic and spending countless hours _______ the speech, line by line, word by word to make it _______better.

The next year I participated in the _______ again. As was expected, my speech ______down well and I was hoping to do that a bit better this year._______, my wish didn’t come true. The competition was so fierce that again I didn’t _______it.

I was deeply disappointed, since I couldn’t accept the fact that I had _______ twice in something that I had worked so hard on. However, I knew that losing is _______ and part of life. One of the judges said to me that my speech was quite good,_______ it needed to be better if I wanted to go any further. He advised me to struggle to_______ something like some of the empty gestures. He said that I would surely succeed some day.

While I didn’t earn _______ in the competition, I did gain a new viewpoint. I discovered that I could fail successfully. I think I’ll _______ to work hard and enter the next competition. Now, whenever I’m faced with a defeat, I _______ myself of what a famous person said, “The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself that it’s a slip and not a_______.”

【推荐3】Mr. Glen is a millionaire. Years ago, after returning from abroad to his motherland, he ___his company. Speaking of success, Glen often tells us a story about his extra expensive “school” fee. He always __ his success to it.

At that time, Glen, who already got a Ph.D．degree, __ to return home, starting a company. Before leaving, he bought a Rolex watch with the __ made through years. At the airport hehad to accept the routine customs(海关) check. The watch on his wrist was also required to be taken down for __. Glen knew that carrying such goods out had to pay the tax, and he worried about paying __ for his watch. So while checked, he told a lie that his watch was a __ fake(假货). When he was __ of his “smarts”, immediately, in the presence of Glen, the officers hit the watch, __ cost nearly 100,000, into pieces __ hearing Glen’s words. Glen was __. Before he understood why, he was taken to the office to be examined __. For many times of entry-exit __ he knew that only those people in the “blacklist” would “enjoy” this special treatment. The officers looked over everything carefully, and __ him no matter what time of entry and exit he must accept the check and if__ reusing and carrying fake goods, he would be __ by law! Suddenly, his face turned red, and he had nothing in mind after __ the plane for long.

After that, he often told the story to his family and his employees. He said that this made a deep __ on him, because the additional high “school” fee that he had ever paid made him realize the value of __, which he would remember as the __ of his success forever.

【推荐1】I had worked for long at the same dead-end job with no pay increases. So I was considering ______ the profession when being offered the job of Office Manager for a company that had been ______ for long. My job would be to change the situation, which meant organizing the office and turning the company profitable.

The ______ knew that would be no easy task, so he offered me a good salary. And I ______ it. Later, my husband joined me and became my ______. With our efforts together, our company became profitable. So I was ______ becoming State Manager with a big salary increase. As our income increased, so did our ______. My husband and I moved into a large, beautiful home with great furniture and ______ two beautiful cars. To all appearances, we were living the American Dream.

Later, ______ the downturn in the economy, the company reorganized and my ______ was removed, and so was my husband’s. ______, we got new ones, but made minimum wages. We had to move into a tiny apartment. It was ______. I measured personal success by how many expensive things I ______. Without them, I felt unimportant and unsuccessful.

Unexpectedly, our loss later turned out to be a(n) ______. It forced us to come to a complete stop and ______ what we really wanted out of life. We realized that to keep that company afloat, we had been so ______ every day that we had sacrificed time that should have been spent with our family and friends. We had ______ important births, graduations and weddings. We knew we needed a change. Now — years later — we are living a more ______ life. Our home is modest; ______, it’s fully paid for. We don’t have many things that need dusting -- only the necessities. Now we are truly living and ______ the American Dream.

【推荐2】Most people hold several jobs throughout their life. Some _________employees hold jobs for decades. But one man in Brazil has stayed at-________-one company longer than anyone else in the world. Walter Orthmann, 100, set the world record for ________ at the same company for 84 years and nine days.

As a child, he would walk barefoot to school and was an ________ student. He has always been ________ about learning, but started working to help his family, who lived in Brusque, due to financial hardship.

Orthmann’s ________ started when he was just 15 years old. He worked at the weaving mill (纺织厂) in 1938. There, Orthmann continued to love leaning and got ________ to a sales position, then a manager.

The ________ has changed over the past 84 years, which taught Orthmann the most important part of the business: Stay up to date and ________different contexts (环境). To the young people, his professional ________ is to work in an area where you feel _________.

His 84-year-long career was perhaps achieved by his ________ to live in the present. “I don’t do much ________ nor care much about tomorrow,” he said. “All I care about is that tomorrow will be another day in which I will wake up, get up, exercise and go to work; you need to get ________ with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what ________ .”

【推荐2】You need to send a quick text to your mom to tell her soccer practice is canceled. In an effort not to get _________, you reach slowly into your backpack. You are _________ about not pressing the wrong button that will make your task known by the teacher. With the phone on your lap, you try not to _________ as you text: “soccer canceled!”

Send. You slip it into your pocket. But wait . . . your friend Lucy’s hair made her look _________ when you passed her in the hall. It’s _________ to wait until lunch. So, you repeat the secret process of texting: “Fix _________. It’s ugly!” Now, not only have you just _________ two whole possibly important minutes of your teacher’s lecture, but you have also furthered the _________ of your spelling and vocabulary.

The way we type when we use virtual communication devices _________ the way we spell — not just when we’re in a __________. Have you ever caught yourself writing “u” instead of “you” in an essay for school? We have become accustomed to the __________ use of non-standard abbreviations (缩写词).

In a world where instant satisfaction is everything, we simply do not take the time to __________ the few extra letters, __________ unfamiliar words. Seldom do we see the word “overjoyed” for “happy”, “morose” for “sad” in a text. We must __________ our vocabulary and learn to use advanced words if we expect to make a __________ of exams relating to our future and get job opportunities.

【推荐3】Our family enjoyed a beautiful house plant for over thirty years. It had stayed with us through _________ years and good times, pain and joy. I had never thought of _________ it.

However, two weeks ago, we _________ some changes in its leaves, which began to lose color. We watered and looked after it _________, but it just showed no sign of _________. We finally picked a few almost dead leaves and _________ replanting them in another small pot.

What _________ us was that these leaves planted in the new pot grew strong. In order to know the reason why the house plant died, we dug the dead plant out of the pot. Then, it became _________ to us—its roots（根）were in disorder, completely tangling up. Our once-beautiful plant died because it grew out of its environment—it became root-bound（根满盆的）.

People can become root-bound, too. Those who _________ personal growth or development often want to make __________ that can lead to greater achievements or much more happiness. However, they more often find they outgrow their environment and want to __________. Their view becomes larger and they need __________ environment to live in. They need people who will make __________ for their growth. If they cannot be __________, some problems are sure to appear.

So if your new-found growth causes you to abandon the old ways, you may need to __________ you are bigger now.