【推荐1】When it comes to big dreams, goals and aspirations, many of us plan out every last detail so that we feel ready for success. But sometimes, this planning which is beyond normal limits is a way of protecting ourselves from _____ and finally preventing us from ever taking action. No matter how much planning you do, you’ll never feel 100% ready to take a leap of faith into the _____   world. So the most important is that we ______ before we’re ready and we learn while doing.

When Jennifer Qiao was planning her wedding ceremony, she struggled to____ a modern version of a cheongsam (旗袍). But to her disappointment she failed. Then an idea was ____ . She wanted to make cheongsams for her wedding by herself. Neither she nor her friends had ______ in fashion or entrepreneurship. They didn’t even know if there was a (n)   ______ to make her design into reality in US. One month later, Jennifer wearing her cheongsam impressed everyone at the wedding and got a lot of ______. After that she _____a Shopify website with the dress. After a week, they ______ their first customer. They never truly felt ready to start a (n) ______ , let alone make custom wedding dresses. _____ , they have been able to ____ their team and company to a seven­figure annual recurring revenue(年收益).

“Once you get one good idea, you have to act on it because it may never ______ again. The time was ______. Even if I wasn't ready, the situation was ready.” Jennifer Qiao said.

【推荐2】One of my neighbors used to have a beautiful tree in her front yard. Her dad had planted it for her when it was ________ a little branch and several years later it started to ________ towards the sky at an amazing speed. Soon it ________ her with cooling shade in the summer and glorious, golden leaves in the fall.

When the two-day snowstorm struck our town, heavy snow fell on the tree’s branches that were still full of leaves. The weight split that lovely tree down the middle. I was so ________ seeing half of it lying on the ground after the storm. When I talked to my neighbor later, she said that the damage had been too much and that the entire tree would have to be cut down. ________ , she had saved a few seedlings from it that she hoped to replant in the future.

Still, it was a(n) ________ to drive by her house the other day and see nothing but a stump(树桩) in her front yard. I missed that tree. I missed its branches, its leaves ________ in the afternoon sun. I missed seeing its limbs reach towards the heavens. I thought that the stump would be a sad reminder of its   ________ for a long time to come.

My wonderful neighbor had another plan, ________ . When I drove by her home today I saw a tiny bird feeder sitting on that stump and a colorful songbird having its dinner. It was such an affirmation(肯定) of ________ . It was such a joy to ________ .

Life by its very nature is a ________ bag. It hands us both beauty and ________ , love and loss, pleasure and pain. What we do with it, however, is up to us. We can let it split us in two, or we can use even its ________ times to make our souls stronger and our hearts more loving. We can spend it complaining or we can ________ it to help others.

【推荐3】I learned about life from an ant farm. When I was seven years old, my family _________ an ant farm at home. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box, and then we brought some ants from the backyard and placed them into the _________ home.

Shortly after the new _________ were dropped into the glass structure, they got to work making tunnels. I was amazed that each one knew _________ what to do. After hours of staring, I realized that the ants had particular given jobs. With my mom’s help, I kept a journal of what happened each day and _________ the ants. My favorite was the biggest, Cinderella. I drew a picture of her in my journal, which I still have.

On day five a disaster _________ the ant farm. While I was observing the ants, I had put my face so close to the structure that I accidentally _________ it over. Unfortunately, my carelessness caused all the tunnels to _________. Although the ants _________ their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was __________ as I watched them give up their tunnel-building to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm. My mother explained that the ants were actually dying of “frustration”—feeling annoyed and disappointed as they couldn’t control the situation.They simply could not __________ the reality that their tunnels had been destroyed. Cinderella was the last to die; she did so while carrying a dead ant on her back.

Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world,__________ it taught me much more.__________ the years, I came to realize the ants were a study in the benefits of __________. Working together, they were able to create a(n)__________ world for themselves. I also learned that they should be __________ for their hard work. Day in and day out, each labored at their task. The ant farm demonstrated that teamwork and perseverance are indeed two key__________for success. But there was an even larger lesson that I did not __________ until recently: Disaster is a natural part of life, and must be __________. Unlike the ants, humans cannot give up when they face __________. Unlike the ants, we have to realize that if a tunnel comes down, we just have to build another.

【推荐1】“Bookshops are places to let your imagination fly high, with so many possible _________ to discover,” says Laura Iverson. She is one of the _______ at Darling Reads bookshop in West Yorkshire, England.

For Iverson, the _______ thing about working in a bookshop is suggesting new books to readers. “_______ beats that smile when they find the perfect book,” she says._________, when it comes to choosing the right one, she has some useful tips.

“Don’t feel you have to _______ a book because your friend likes it,” Iverson says. “ Stick to your own interests and choose what _______ you.”

She also _______ asking booksellers for suggestions because it could open your _______ to a new book or writer you would never have considered. “Bookshop staff are so ________ and absolutely love talking about books all day.”

Iverson says that one of her ________ books is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She remembers ________ reading it when she was around 12 years old, and not being able to put it ________. This is one of the things Iverson loves about reading. “No matter where you are, or what you’re doing, you can be ________ into another world, once you pick up a book that fascinates you, in just a few ________.”

【推荐2】It’s pretty common to feel like we’re in a position or career where we’re just going through the motions, trying to get to that next paycheck or the next vacation. Yet, it is __________ to hope for or to expect better from those we work for after we have __________ what we have been assigned to do.

St. John Properties just __________ $10 million in holiday bonuses to their employees! This incredible __________ came during the company’s holiday party where all 198 employees were __________ with a sealed envelope. Then, the company owner Edward St. John took to the stage and said each envelope __________ a bonus check based on the time with the company, at a(n) __________ of $50,000 per employee. When St. John was asked what __________ him to give away such sizable bonuses, he simply said, “They’re the ones who make the boat go.”

Sometimes, it may feel like our __________ at work or at home may go unnoticed so that’s why it’s important to __________ them on a personal level. In doing so, it helps us better appreciate our colleagues or __________ members for their own efforts. When we show our __________ , not only during the holiday season but every chance we get, we __________ to improve morale and team spirit. __________ , it helps to remind us of our potential, both __________ and collective, and leads us to the opportunities we deserve.

【推荐3】After graduation, Susan was asked to become the executive director of the Floating Hospital. She _____ at first, as it was a very big job and she didn't know if she could _____ it. But finally, she _____. While her job was rewarding, she soon got tired of it. When she sat at her desk one day, an idea _____ to her that she wanted to go down to the New School for Social Research. _____ she was learning to trust her intuition(直觉), she decided to have a go.

Without any forethought, she titled the _____ 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway'. Susan was _____ as she faced the first session of the twelve-week course. The two hours went well, but she then was _____ with a new fear, for she didn't know what to teach the next week. But every week she found she had more to say. And her _____ level grew. She realized she had learned so much over the years about _____ fear. And her students were drinking it up. At the end of the course, they were _____ at how shifting their thinking really changed their lives.

Susan _____ decided to write a book based on the course she had taught. She faced many roadblocks. And after four agents and fifteen _____ from various publishers, she _____ put the proposal in a drawer.

After three years of writing, she was going through the drawer that _____ her much-rejected book proposal. Picking it up, she had a（n）_____ sense that she held something in her hands that many people _____ to read. So, she set out with much _____ to find a publisher who believed in her book the _____ way she did. This time, she succeeded. She succeeded _____ her wildest dreams.

She was so happy she followed her heart and never gave up overcoming fears that stood in her way.

【推荐1】It was a day in late June, grey and depressing, with clouds hanging low. My husband and I were driving to Nova Scotia, Canada, _______ a vacation. We traveled silently, hoping to have a rest and dinner_______ the rain came. Suddenly, on a lonely stretch of highway, the storm struck. It shut us in, making driving _______. We pulled off onto the shoulder of the road and_______.

Then, as though someone had_______ a faucet(水龙头), the storm ended. The thin radiance, like a spray of gold, spread from the clouds. The very road shone, and a _______arched(拱起)across the sky. It was as though this beam of_______ had been built for us alone. We could_______speak for awe(惊叹) and joy.

Most of us have experienced such lighted moments, when we_______ to understand ourselves and the world and, for a single________know the loveliness of living beings.

Here, ________, is the story of a man who remembers the day when he went swimming alone and ________ “the crazy, childish joy with which he played in the water like a fish”. He was so overwhelmed by his great happiness that he shouted again and again with joy.

Apparently almost________ may serve as the motivation(动力) of such a feeling. Whatever the source is, such experiences provide the most ________ moments of life.

Perhaps we're more likely to experience a moment of joy if we can________ there is more to life than we have understood; if we can acknowledge a world greater than our own.

【推荐3】Along with a dozen boys, I made a trip to Iowa in order to see a college that I was thinking of attending many years ago. Although the trip had been fun for the most part, I felt _________ from time to time. I was missing my family and _________that I wouldn’t be seeing them much if I studied here. I was also missing the_________of my home. I loved how they _________ a thousand shades of green in the spring and then became a sea of gold, red and orange in the fall. I loved the smell of the wild flowers.

Here in Iowa everything was flat. What I could see was a wild prairie (大草原) with no trees. All that I could _________was a mixture of corn, mud and pigs. One day after a long walk, I rested with my eyes closed and _________being back home again. _________, when I opened them, I saw something that _________my heart. It was a grassland sunset. It seemed to fill the sky from horizon to horizon. Gold, red and purple clouds all _________ together in a picture painted by nature’s own hand. It was so__________that it took my breath away. It made the sunsets of my hometown seem tiny in __________. At that moment I knew how __________ and judgmental I had been. This place also had its own __________. This place was also a part of nature’s creation.

Over the years to come I learned something else. Each of us has a(n) __________beauty as well. Each of us has our own unique__________and abilities.