【推荐1】A conversation with a Stranger

Last Sunday I sat on the bus talking with excitement and so ready to spend time in London with one of my best friends from college. As I took the window seat and wore headphones over ears, I almost didn’t _______ the elderly man sitting beside me.

Half an hour passed and I was still absorbed in my own world.______ the elderly man asked me a question, a simple question ________ the bus’s Wi-Fi connection, which turned into a two-hour ________.In fact, it directly ________ my personal life.

We talked much about my dreams, my fears and my life. I ________ more with this stranger on the bus than I have with any friend or family member in months. Maybe it had something to do with me just being _______ to let anyone I know close to me. I was _______ that the stranger was not only so deeply interested in getting to know me, but also just as willing to ______ me to my greatest abilities. He listened carefully to every word I said and gave some useful________ at times. Instead of politely_______ his head when I mentioned my major, he told me that my strong liking seemed to be psychology, but not the one I was studying. He said that he knew I would face difficulties if I studied psychology and that he fully understood my__________ for the failure.

The elderly man made me _______ the plans that I had laid out(安排) for my life with just that simple statement. He helped me realize that my neatly ________ plan for the next five years of my life wasn’t all that neat, but actuallycomplex and filled with ________.Most of all, he helped me _______ the anxiety and told me not stay away from it because of my fear for the unknown. I ______ a lot from talking with the elderly stranger.

Several days later, he emailed me, saying, “I think you’re ________ for great things no matter what you decide to do.” The email was filled with words of _______.In a few hours a stranger showed me a sense of kindness that made me realize that life is sometimes ________ but it is going to be okay.

【推荐2】One day about ten years ago, we were walking in the Giant Mountains, Czech Republic, when it suddenly rained heavily. We found _______ under the roof of some ski lifts (缆车) and prepared for the night. The kind-hearted elderly man who worked there, in a _______ of languages, gestures and drawing pictures, _______ that we could stay at his home that night.

Being penniless students, we eagerly, took up his _______ naturally, for we saw he was a _______ person. His wife _______ us to a big meal. The couple was quite lovely and we had a great evening, though _______ was a bit difficult. That night we slept well in a clean room.

The next day, our host _______ his long cape (斗篷) and stuff that was part of his clothes as “Guardian of the Mountains”. The children there called him that or “Krkonos” , _______ he looked like the giant in the local ________ with large figure and long flowing white hair and beard. ________ , he was quite a ________ in his village because of that. He drove us through the mountains, ________ at nice locations where we could take some photos.

We ________ him and his wife again last month and Krkonos hadn^’t changed a bit! There is ________ in the mountain.

【推荐3】For a period of a month some time ago, I became a vegetarian. Some people won’t eat meat because they think it is cruel to animals, or because of health _____. My reason is a little ____: it is love.

I simply wanted to honor my grandmother by not eating meat. My grandmother spent a large part of her life as a vegetarian, and some of my happiest childhood ____ in Vietnam were of sharing a meal with her.

In fact, as a child, I learned how to ___ food not from dishes my mother often cooked, but from the simple meals my grandmother ____. Often, dinner with   Grandma would come with interesting stories she had known from her childhood.

Grandma ____ more than a decade ago. Now I am an adult living in San Francisco, and Grandma’s vegetarian suppers and stories have become a ____ past. But one morning it occurred to me that I could no longer hear the sound of my grandmother’s voice, because she had left me forever. So I ___ to become a vegetarian for a month. It is something Grandma would do as a way to ____ those who had died before her. And I could do no less.

In a city famous for its dining experience, this was ____. I turned down several dinner parties for fear of offending(冒犯) the hosts. I ___ walking by restaurants where the ____ of good cooking wafted(漂浮) in the air. My best friend wondered ___ I was going through a mid-life crisis.

In truth, I wanted to change my ___ many times. What got me through that month-long diet was this particular memory of my grandmother. Now, I followed her ____. I invited friends who wanted to taste vegetarian food. And as we ate, I told them stories I had known as a child.

【推荐2】Christmas was near a season that we took seriously in our house. But a week or so before the 25th， my father would give each of his children ＄20. This was the 1970s， and ＄20 was quite a bit of money.

But I saw it___. My father trusted me to have the___to spend money wisely. Even better， he gave me the means to get it. On a very basic level， my father was giving me a shopping spree（狂欢） every year. But he was also giving me___over my own fun， trusting my ability to___money and making me feel like a（n）___. He didn't buy me Sherlock Holmes， but he gave me the means to walk into the bookstore and___it for myself， so it felt like a gift from him.

My mother had （a）n___for giving me what I needed， usually___at the moment I needed it most. This was when I was 25， I___at being an adult on my very first try. I had quitted my___job but had no new one. But when my mother paid me a visit， I___a good show， telling her I had started my own company.

My mother knew that I was trying hard and failing at that time. It wasn't until she___that I noticed at the foot of my bed an envelope thick with___. She knew how___I needed it. She knew that had she just shown up with groceries， or___to pay my rent， she would have made me feel much___. The cold， hard cash meant she was helping me. And， funnily enough， the___with which she gave the gift felt like she was giving me space to___my life and preserve my dignity （尊严）. My mother and father both did the same thing. One was giving me the means to make my own___，and the other was giving me a second___when those decisions had cost me dearly.