【推荐1】Once, on a cold day in September, when I was very little, my big sister _________ me to a beach not far from our house.

Near the beach there was a tidal(受潮汐影响)island, which _________ that when the tide goes out, you can walk to it, _________ when the tide comes in again, you can't get to it. Mum and Dad _________ let us go there.

When we _________ the beach, the tide was out. My sister _________ going to the island.

"But Mum and Dad said we couldn't. It's _________!" I said.

"Don't worry," said my sister. "I'll _________ you. Trust me."

I was a bit _________, but the island looked very nice in the autumn sunshine. We walked over the sand to the island and started to __________. We just found an old ruined building.

Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sun and it got windy. I said, "I'm __________ and I want to go home."

We walked back over the island to the __________. But we couldn't find it! It wasn't there anymore! The tide had come in and __________ the beach.

"Quick!" shouted my sister. "We have to run before it's too __________!"

The water was too deep and cold for me, and I started to __________. I was very frightened. But my sister was calm. She asked me to climb on her back. "Hold on!" she said.

The __________ was up to her middle, but my sister was very strong and ran through the waves with me on her back. She got very wet, but we got back to the mainland __________.

When we finally got home, Mum asked my sister why she was so __________.

We told her what had happened and __________ apologized to her. We both __________ not listening to their warning and learned our lesson---think twice before you leap.

【推荐2】You can’t imagine how crazy I was about football when I was young. For years, my life follow a(n) ______: I slipped out the house and played football until dark. But I was ______ infected with malaria (感染疟疾) one day. Soon enough, my mother rushed me to the hospital. And the doctor said I needed to be ______ into the hospital.

My dad often spent the night with me in the hospital while my mother ______ my sister at home. Then came the happiest moments when my father told me wonderful ______.

My father was a(n) ______ storyteller. In the hospital; he would tell me a story or two, or, sometimes, if he was not too tired, many in response to my request. He ______ bicycle sounds and the howl (吼叫) of the wind so vividly that the pictures would never ______ away from my mind. So happy were these moments that sometimes I even wished to ______ my hospital stay.

Because of my mom’s strict and careful care later, it became ______ difficult to recover slowly. No longer sick, no more stories. ______, I went into my father’s room one evening.

“Dad, you tell me stories only when I’m sick.”

My father laughed, “You are already eight and can read by yourself.”

He ______ me a book and said “Go and read that. It’ll tell you stories.”

That night, I opened the book and read what turned out to be the most ______ story that I had ever read.

What I discovered that night ______ my life. I became thirsty for books and became a voracious (求知欲强的) ______. Through reading, I felt as though I were on the magical journey to the endless.

【推荐3】Last Saturday, I decided to visit my cousin in Ithaca. It was a 9-hour journey by bus to my ________.

The first leg of the journey spanned (跨越) about six hours. Then, I had to________ to another bus, which spanned about three hours. ________, my first bus got delayed (延误) by two hours. ________, I missed my second bus and had to wait for a couple of hours until I could take the next bus. It was 6:00 pm when I waited for the bus. I called my cousin to tell him about the delay and added that it might be midnight when I reached home.

While I was on________, I did not realize that there was a lady standing close by, listening to my________. I also couldn’t have imagined that what was about to follow would have a deep________ on me.

When I________, the lady       came close to me and we got into a conversation. She asked me about my journey. When she learned that it had already been a long and________ day for me, she took out some snacks and________ them to me. This was a kind act and I felt thankful. However, that was not all that I would________ that evening.

As I________ my conversation with her, I learned that she was from a________ background. This made my heart sink not out of sadness________ out of humbleness (谦卑). I realized how true and kind an act of giving is when one gives away what another needs. As I stood beside this________ lady, I found myself feeling a lot. The strongest feelings were gratitude (感激) and the need to give up my own selfishness.

【推荐3】One day I'd had to call emergency services because I found my partner unconscious on the floor. Within minutes, a police car and an _________arrived, filled with police and paramedics（护理人员）who took my _______away quickly to the emergency department, where he received the critical _________ that he needed.

A week later, I wrote thank you notes to those helpful police and paramedics and _________ for them, for it was a small gesture with a big impact. When I dropped off brownies（布朗尼蛋糕）at the police and fire stations, they _______ me for the gifts. Thanked me? All that I'd done was bake: they'd _________ a life.

I drove away feeling _________and happy, _________because I'd done a good deed, but mostly because I was amazed that there are _______ people who do life saving work and __________nothing in turn.

I ________ my mood may have been better than it seemed. Research has shown that __________ thoughts of gratitude and performing acts of kindness can boost（提高）your __________ and have other __________ effects on your health. “We know from studies in the literature that gratitude does have a good __________on happiness, that it increases life __________," says Willibald Ruch, a psychology professor at the University of Zurich who ________ effects of character strengths such as gratitude and____________. “It’s among the top five predictors of __________” “You can make positive changes in your life by learning to __________gratitude."

【推荐2】Rehan was born in Bowie, Maryland. When he was 8, his mother ______ his father. After the divorce, the family faced ______ difficulties as Rehan's father tried to raise two sons himself.

By the 7th grade, Rehan's academics (学业) had suffered ______ under the pressure. “I wasn't eating meals every day,” he said. “Sometimes there was no electricity at ______.” Despite his struggled home life, Rehan ______ boxing for comfort.

Rehan decided to ______ academically while training to be a professional boxer. However, his ______ was ruined when he suffered a shoulder injury in the 12th grade. His hope of being a professional ______ was finished. He hurriedly applied to a number of colleges but was _____. At last, he had to work as a garbage man (清洁工).

His co-workers were trying to ______ why he was there and would suggest he go to school. They eventually spoke to Bates, the ______ of the company, about the ______ young man. Bates soon took Rehan under his ______ and brought him to Bowie State University to meet a professor. This professor was so _____ by his conversation with Rehan that he agreed to admit Rehan.

“I studied so ______. I was winning so many honors — it was ______,"Rehan said. By the end of his second year, Rehan made a ______ to go to law school. Then Rehan transferred to University of Maryland, where he became a(n) _____ in 2018.

Over the course of the _____ year, Rehan worked in downtown DC, while still ______. He was accepted to law schools this Spring, 2020 at Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, and Pepperdine.