【推荐2】My husband, Russ, and I drove through our neighborhood, the place we’d called home for 28 years. The foothills (山麓) once thick with pines, were _________. The ground was covered with a heavy layer of ash. The trees that _________ were burnt stumps (树桩).

Two weeks earlier, we’d gotten an early-morning call telling us to _________ immediately. The wildfire burning through Northern California had spread and was headed our way. We’d jumped in the car with our cats and a few belongings. For days, we’d moved from hotel to hotel, _________ for news. What finally came wasn’t _________. Our house had been right in the fire’s path.

Now we’d been allowed to return. Russ and I brought _________, work boots, N95 masks and gloves. We would _________ anything we could. We drove slowly through the ruins, where chimneys marked where homes once stood. I wasn’t prepared for what _________ us. Our house was _________ but broken stones, I wiped away tears as we dug through the ash.

“How will we survive this?” I wondered. “How will we go on?” It felt as if our lives had been destroyed. Later that afternoon Russ __________ what we’d found in the car. “Let’s go,” he said.

I turned to get in the car. That’s when I __________ something stuck to my boot: a bit of paper, dirtied with ash. I picked it up. The words were surprisingly __________, “If life seems difficult, I stop and reflect on the blessing sometimes hidden within every situation. With renewed belief and __________, I begin again.”

Words that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn’t recall but now said everything I needed to __________, words that rose from the ashes. I framed (给……做框) that scrap of paper. It now sits in a place of honor in our new home, a reminder that we can __________ again.

【推荐3】When my aunt, Holly, was 15 years old, she suffered from MS, a disease that attacks the central nervous system. What is scary is that it is not clear what causes MS or when it will______. When it first struck Holly, she had just finished her political science degree and held an admirable ______.Her leg weakened, and she______that she felt like she was a little child again, relearning to ______. We kept our fingers crossed so that by ______her legs regularly, she could return to normal. But soon, she lost both her job and her long-time boyfriend.

The girl, ______ happy and active, became moody and quiet, ______to go out because her hands ______so much when she held anything. It is a completely______feeling to watch a healthy relative take a turn for the ______. But we, the whole extended family, all held on ______Holly’s illness. Instead of going golfing every week, Grand father worked around the house. Grandmother, almost 70, continued to work to help pay ______bills. My parents remained ______all the time through my aunt’s worst mood changes. Even my sister and I were there just for her ______.

The hardest part was the feeling that Holly was unable to ______anything we did for her, complaining about everything and everybody. Finally came the day when we saw her. ______when we all went to cheer her on in the annual MS walkathon(a walk that MS patients take to recover). Despite the freezing wind, I ______the rest of my family. When the walk was over, Holly ______introduced my sister and me to her friends who had come along to support her, I was able to see how just a little care can mean more than physical ______.

Most importantly, I have learned through this whole ______with my family that, whatever we have to suffer, we have a wonderful support group around us that will always catch us before any of us falls.

【推荐1】My family moved into our home nine years ago. We live on a corner, and the entire side of the yard is enclosed (围住) by a _________ built rock wall. The front of the house,_________, is another story, because instead of a rock wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just randomly_________ up onto the dirt (泥土).

We did the best we could and called this area our “rock garden”. Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, I would _________ them out front, just to bring some _________ to the area.

Last summer I reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately _________ , we didn’t plant it. We decided to let it _________ growing until we could _________ what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the _________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. It was skinny. I decided to __________ it along and weed (除草) around it. As I pulled rocks to get to the weeds, I noticed something __________ . The sunflower had not started where I saw it __________ . It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to __________ the sun.

That’s when I realized that we should stand tall like the sunflower and the environment will begin to __________ us. We will find a way to go under or around our big __________ in order to reach our desires.

【推荐3】Each of us is going to be faced with obstacles and challenges throughout our lives. There will always be discouraging moments and people _______ the message to you -- you can't. There will be people that will try to hold you _________ from your achievements, from realizing your _________.

There was a small town girl that felt the same ___________ moment. Throughout her high school years she would have healthy   ____________ in academics with her fellow students. Her dream and passion was to be well educated. In her _________ year of High School, her guidance counselors told her not to ________ with getting a higher education. Just be satisfied with a common blue collar job _______ they felt that this was all she could manage. She went on to the University of Saskatchewan to _________ her Law Degree with honors. With good luck, she _________ to pay her own way through university with a ________ at a local shopping mall. Today, she is a lawyer for the government. She is _________ respected for her excellent job by her peers and co-workers. There is a wonderful _____ by Mary Kay Ash, "The bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying ________ ." Mary, a little girl from Texas did just this.

Some events in your _________ are just thrown at you. Too many are of ill winds trying to blow you off ________ . When someone that had your respect as a teacher, parent, or friend ________ out to be false, your success must come from believing in yourself. When someone is pushing you down with this ill advice, take it as a _________ to prove yourself and show that you are worthy of your dreams. You are worthy to do __________ it takes. You are worthy of your accomplishments. Hard work usually brings its own ________ .

【推荐2】It was a bad time for me. I was in low spirits and very ________ physically. Probably because of this, I hadn't shaved for a few days. _______, because I had been doing some repairs at my daughter's house, I was dressed quite ________. After getting on the bus to go home, I saw it was almost _______, so I found a rail (扶手) to lean against.

Just then, a young woman, sitting with her child, stood up and offered me her________. “Wow!” I thought. And then I said in a loud voice, “Do I ________ that old and tired?” She replied, “You look like you've had a ________ day." I thanked her sincerely and ________ standing.

A moment later, a man ________ from his seat at the back of the bus and _______ his way towards me, squeezing past several people on the way. Then he told me about his addiction problems, asked for my _______, and just chatted about life for a few minutes. Then he went back to his seat.

_____ him go, I also looked at the ________ between me and his seat. He hadn't ________ to talk to those strangers. Instead, he came to talk to me, for whatever it meant to him and whatever ________ it brought him. Why?

Then it _______ to me that I must have looked like I had been ________ he was. I probably looked like a man who would understand a difficult ________. My spirits ________ when I realized that even when we were a bit low, we could still ________ others—if we look like we might be able to meet them where they live or walk a while in their world.

【推荐3】It end to go slowly when I drive in the mountains of my home because the forest _____ is beautiful no matter what the season. This morning I was driving slower than _____ because a nearly March snow had turned the roads _____. Going up a mountain road, I had to slow down as I _____a sharp, snowy curve (弯道). That was _____I saw a majestic buck deer (公鹿) standing in the middle of the road. I came to a full _____and for a few seconds we just _____ each other. His eyes seemed wise and his composure (镇静) refined. Finally, he _____his head at me. I nodded in return and signed _____my hand for him to go on. He then _____ across the road, up the hill and back into the woods. I drove on smiling at the magic of this moment and was _____ that I had been going slowly enough not to _____this beautiful creature.

Most of us rush through this _____not knowing what we are missing. We _____get to enjoy what each day brings us. Wouldn’t it be better to go slowly through our days here? Life is meant to be favored. Moments are meant to be _____. Days are meant to be lived in love and joy, not flown through at a frantic (疯狂的)_____.

The next time you find yourself going too fast, slowdown. Take the time to watch the sunrise over the horizon and fill the world with _____. Take the time to look your children in their eyes, hug them and tell them that you love them. Take the time to smile, laugh and sing. Take the time to read, lounge (闲逛) and _____. Take the time to live your life with love and _____ in all the miracles each day brings you. If you do, your life will be so much better and more beautiful. And you might even _____not hitting a deer on your way home.