【推荐1】It is widely believed that inner beauty is the most impressive in the world.

On the outskirts of a town in England lies a nice cottage with a large garden where there lives an old man. The old man is _______ pruning (修剪), watering or fertilizing his flowers all the time. The garden _______ bees and butterflies dance and colorful flowers blossom all year around is so well-tended that every passer-by cannot but stop for a _______ with admiration.

One day a young _______ went by the old man’s garden. He stopped and gazed at the splendid garden and the special cottage, totally _______ the admiration at the beauty of these sceneries, _______ how happy he could be _______ he lived in such a beautiful place. Then, all of a sudden he found the old gardener was _______.

Greatly shocked, the young painter _______ that old man, asking “why are you busy ________ these flowers every day which you can’t see?” The blind gardener gave a wide smile, explaining “First, I was a gardener when I was young, and I ________ like this job. Second, while I can’t see these flowers I can ________ them. Third, I can smell the sweetness of them. And ________ the last one, that’s you.”

“Me? But you don’t know me.” responded the young painter.

“Yeah. But I know flowers are angels which everyone knows and would never ________. I know a great many people who show ________ for life would stop by and the beauty of my garden will get them into a good ________. In the meantime, it also gives a ________ to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

The old man can’t see the beauty that he’s created. ________, every flower has eyes ________ which they can see the beauty and kindness of the old man’s heart and the sweetness of his soul.

The blind man grows flowers in his heart. Failing the sight of the beauty of blossoming, he surely can ________ the voice of it, I suppose.

【推荐2】On a bright afternoon, Jordan, Mahir and Mahir’s father gathered at the foot of a mountain. “Hey, Jordan, over here!” Jordan’s best friend, Mahir, waved his hand, pointing to a crack in the side of the mountain. “We could _______ this!”

Jordan tied his safety harness (系带) and checked his rope. He weighed one of them in his hand, determining its weight. Then he looked for _______ locations, considering the difficulty of the task. “That crack is _______ narrow. I don’t think we’d get up very high.”

“At the time of a test, a person rises or falls.” said Ghanim, Mahir’s dad. Shaking his head in _______ over the foreign proverb (谚语), Jordan examined the crack. It was nothing more than a sliver in the solid face of the cliff. He shifted in his harness as Mahir gave the proverb his own explanation: “If you’re not reaching the _______, you’re not trying hard enough.” Jordan recognized the bit of advice from a previous climbing lesson.

His own father’s voice resounded in his thoughts, as if in a half-forgotten dream. “Climb a mountain, son, and you climb the insecurity in your own life. You climb over your shadow, climb over your _______.”That was five years ago, before the automobile _______ that took his dad’s life. Jordan’s father swiftly turned his car and effectively _______ a car from going over a cliff (悬崖). The sudden move had saved the people in that car. But his father’s car went off a cliff. _______ with the difficult situation, Jordan’s dad had never hesitated before making the decision.

And now Jordan wouldn’t either. ________ on his balance, he took a deep breath and began to climb. Finally, they made it to the peak of the mountain.

【推荐3】I always knew that I depended too much on my phone. But I didn’t know how much. So I decided to do this _______ to find out.

Every morning since I got a smartphone, I’ve used The Weather Channel App to find out what to _______. On the first morning I had to dress without guidance, but _______ I was able to guess that the day would be cold and foggy by looking out of my window.

I couldn’t tell what time it was. I haven’t worn a _______ for more than a year, because my phone showed the time. So I was late for _______ friends who had been on the bus for two hours from Santa Monica to Palos Verdes. I was also late for my part-time job. And _______, I couldn’t call people to tell them that I was running late.

Getting places was harder, too. I got _______ because I couldn’t use the GPS on my phone. My driving, though, got a lot _______ because I no longer had my phone in one hand checking directions while _______ with the other.

But the number one trouble was not having my contact list. I forgot to write down my friends’ and family members’ phone numbers before I ________ the challenge. It was sad to realize that I couldn’t remember my brother’s and my mom’s cell phone numbers. Oh, how I ________ to turn on the phone for just a second to look up phone numbers!

Even with all the problems, however, I found ________ not worrying about missing a text message or an e-mail.

This challenge was a(n) ________ learning experience. It surprised me how I’d taken no notice of even the ________ things like remembering phone numbers. We all should ________ some time to think about how we can depend less on our cell phones.

【推荐1】The year I went to college was a very difficult transition(过渡期)for me． _______is probably true with many people，I got quite homesick and_________thought about going home．

Although the_________time for many students is getting_________from home，my mailbox was frequently _________．One day when I went to the mailbox，there was a postcard_________out at me．I sat down to read it，_________a note from someone back home．_________I became increasingly puzzled as_________ postcards were like this：It was a full news report about a woman named Mabel and her newborn baby．I took the card back to my room and__________about it．

Several days later I__________another postcard，this one__________news about Maybelline，Mabel’s cousin．Soon after，another card arrived and then another，__________full of news of different people．I began to __________ look forward to the next one，__________to see what this author would come up with__________．I was never__________．

Finally，the cards__________coming，right about the time I had begun to feel__________about college life．They had been such a happy distraction(调剂)that I have__________all the postcards and still bring them out to read whenever I need a lift．

【推荐2】I did very badly at school. My headmaster thought I was _______ and when I was 14 he said, “You’re never going to be _______but a failure.”

After five years of _______jobs, I fell in love with a very nice middle-class girl. It was the best _______that could have happened to me. I _______I wanted to do something positive (积极地) with my life because I wanted to prove to _______that what people said about me was _______. Especially her mother, who had said to me, “Let’s _______it, you’ve failed at everything you’ve ever done.” So I tried hard with my _______and went to college. My first novel (小说) ________while I was at college.

After college I taught during the ________in high schools and attended evening classes at London University, where I got a ________in history. I became a lecturer at a college and was thinking of ________that job to write full time ________I was offered a part-time job at Leeds University. I began to feel proud of myself — ________was a working--class boy who’d ________school early, now teaching at the university.

My writing career (职业) took off when I discovered my own style. Now I’m rich and ________, have been on TV, and met lots of film stars. ________what does it mean? I ________wish all the people that have put me down had ________: “I believe in you. You’ll succeed.”

【推荐3】I will never forget one summer in my childhood. While walking in the attic (阁楼), I stepped on something and ______ down, with my hand landing on a floorboard that popped up and almost hit me in the head. When I ______ and looked inside the open space, I could not believe my eyes: There was gold in there! I ______ a handful of shining gold cubes, an to the bottom stair and ______,” Mama. I found gold up here under the floor!”

Back up the stairs I dashed. ______ my brothers almost knocked me back down as they ran right by me. When Mama opened the door and ______ her head m, she ______ said, “Honey, that’s insulation (隔热材料). Now put it all back.”

I felt really disappointed. I had thought I made a real ______.

When I ______ inside to put the fake gold back, my hand touched what felt like a book. I pulled it out. It was old and small: Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, which I’d never heard of. And ______ I was bored, I decided to see what was inside this little book. To my ______, it was a book of passages, phrases, and proverbs and I could tell that this was going to be ______.

So I spent quite much time on it and found ______ in these pages, As I didn’t know how to express things clearly, I often ______ to talk about them. This book helped me ______ that I didn’t need to feel ashamed or ______, because other people had similar experiences.

When I went to college, Bartlett’s came with me. Over the years, I’ve kept my original ______, which to this day I often ______. Although it was a ______ to find the book, it liberated me in a way. It helped me see more than my young mind and heart were able to understand.

The book discovered under those floorboards was, ______, gold.

【推荐1】My history with music was not good. I still remembered when I took my short-lived piano lessons, my grandfather said _______ to my grandmother, “Why didn’t he make any progress with much practice?” I _______ to make my piano performance attractive. However, my efforts were _______.

So I gave up playing any musical instrument until my old friend Leroy _______ me to play the violin with him when I was 57. It made me enjoy the joy of playing music again. One day, Leroy sent a text _______ me that there was a music performance and he wanted me to join him. Thinking of my past, I _______ his invitation. I expected to hear his words that I would become _______ with practice on stage. But he said, “OK, only play if you want to.” I was totally _______ by the unexpected answer and made no reply except to tell him goodbye.

No one was _______ me to participate, but I faced a special ________. Should I play on stage or just watch a movie? I had chosen the “movie route” too many times and this time I was ________ to grasp the opportunity. After a long and careful ________, I played my violin with Leroy. Though I didn’t lose all my ________, it was enough for me to overcome my fear. Finally, I ________ a full performance in front of the audience.

A short time later, my friend Leroy passed away, but his ________ stayed. It helped me not only in music but in all aspects of life. When I focused on what I wanted to do, fear will be replaced with joy.

【推荐2】My name is Miranda Gibson. I have been at the top of a tree for five months now. Some people might wonder________on earth I would choose to do that.

I have walked through this forest many times. On December 12, 2011, ________rolled into the forest and the destruction (摧毁) began. I couldn’t________the thought that these forests would be________ forever. So, on December 14, 2011, I packed up my life, ________of my job plans, and climbed 60 meters to the top of this tree. I have been here ever since.

Life in the tree top can be________at times. I have times when I feel frustrated (沮丧的) and wish I could________, to anywhere, just have a ________of scenery for a minute! There are times too, when I feel terribly________.I miss my friends and family.________these times, I find myself loving the________.

Living on the tree has been inspiring. I am willing to________ here for as long as it takes,________I honestly hope it won’t be too________before I can put my feet on the ground below and stand in a forest that will never be________.

【推荐3】When my daughter was born, she started screaming and crying as all babies do. But the next thing she did I will never _________ —she squeezed my _________and smiled. It was a _________ that instantly turned me to a one hundred twenty-five pound pile of mush. Babies _________ this world with more to teach us than we can ever teach them. They teach us _________, a new more beautiful kind of love, fear, self-control and happiness. The meaning of _________ is right there, in their smiles. They can’t talk very well. But they can smile, a beautiful _________ smile.

It might seem _________ to carry a smile all the time, but if I take a _________and just think “I’m happy.” Even when I am __________ overwhelmed with my school work, job and my family, __________ that, I can start to feel the corners of my __________ turn upward. Positive thinking can go a long way in helping to __________ my goal in life, so I smile more.

I remind myself of a ________ I was told by my mother. It was about two boys who were __________ put in a barn __________ a shovel (铲子) and told to shovel an enormous pile of horse manure. One boy was disgusted and didn’t want to do it. The other smiled and started shoveling like there was no tomorrow. The disgusted boy asked, “How can you be so __________? Isn’t this horrible?” The boy still smiling __________, “With all this horse poop there has to be a pony somewhere!”

As long as you can find anything __________ to turn something bad into something you can enjoy, you have started to __________ the true meaning of life.