【推荐1】Evelyn Glennie was the first lady of solo percussion (独奏打击乐) in Scotland. In an interview, she recalled how she became a percussion soloist in spite of her disability.

“Early on I decided not to allow the________of others to stop me from becoming a musician. I grew up on a farm in northeast Scotland and began________piano lessons when I was eight. The older I got, the more my passion for music grew. But I also began to gradually lose my________. Doctors concluded that the nerve damage was the________and by age twelve, I was completely deaf. But my love for music never________me. 

“My________was to become a percussion soloist, even though there were none at that time. To perform, I________to “hear” music differently from others. I play in my stocking feet and can________the pitch of a note (音调高低) by the vibrations (振动) I feel through my body and through my imagination. My entire sound world exists by making use of almost every________that I have. 

“I was________to be assessed (评价) as a percussion soloist, not as a deaf musician, and I applied to the famous Royal Academy of Music in London. No other deaf student had________this before and some teachers were against my admission. Based on my performance, I was________admitted and went on to graduate with the academy’s highest honors.” 

“After that, I established myself as the first full-time solo percussionist. I wrote and arranged a lot of musical compositions since________had been written specially for solo percussionists.” 

“I have been a soloist for over ten years.________ the doctor thought I was totally deaf, it didn’t mean that my passion couldn’t be realized. I would encourage people not to allow themselves to be________by others. Follow your passion; follow your heart. They will lead you to the place you want to go.”

【推荐2】The other day a big, ugly, black bat (蝙蝠) found its way to my bathroom. I am what is known as “the man of the house”, so it was my_______, in fact my manly duty, to free the house of the _______ living thing.

Being a man does not   _______ the fact that I am extremely _______ of bats. All men, I think, sometimes have had that feeling of being _______ in some male role. Sometimes it is something as simple as having to _______ that you know something about car engines when the car won’t start. But sometimes the trap is a(n) _______ one. Many men prefer to be something different from what society regards men _______. What these men want is the freedom to be _______ they want to be.

As I came towards the frightening bat, I ________ what would happen if I had simply told my wife that I wouldn’t do it. But I couldn’t do that! I am the man! I ________ opened the window and closed the door. Then I carefully lifted a broom over my head and swept the bat out of the ________.

My wife was so ________ and my son thought I was a ________. They asked me how I had got rid of the bat, I started to tell them — but then ________. A man doesn’t talk of such things.

【推荐3】A few years ago, I was working in a small office. I noticed that even though the ________ of the organization was not huge, we often worked in different teams. While everyone was friendly, there was a(n) ________ atmosphere in the workplace culture.

One week, I ________ to make people smile, but I wanted to do it quietly, perhaps in the hope of inviting a sense of trust or playfulness in the office ________. So one evening, I wrote a few quotes that had encouraged me over the years. The next________ . I went to work a bit early and ________ posted them by the sinks and ________ in the office restrooms. Maybe someone else would enjoy the ________ as much as I had, and perhaps they might just brighten their day, I thought.

For the next few months, some of the quotes got ________ but I noticed that some remained. So perhaps others ________ them, too. Finally, I finished my job with that organization and went to work in another ________.

A few years passed, during which I got ________ from my former boss and ________ every so often. A few months ago, I was ________ to a meeting with my former team to hear how the project I had worked on was going. ________ I no longer worked in this office, I had really ________ working with them, and was happy to see them all again.

Toward the end of the ________ I went to the restroom, and the quote that I had written was still up in the same spot by the mirror! What a ________! It read “The real ________ of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new ________.”

【推荐1】I was cleaning out a cupboard the other day when I made an amazing discovery. Inside I _________ the manuscript (手稿) of a novel. It included an outline of the _________ and a pile of typed pages telling a story. It was written, to my _________, by my father who has been dead for more than 50 years. It isn’t _________, as novels go, perhaps fifty or sixty typed pages, but without my _________ it has somehow accompanied me through my years of _________, several jobs, a marriage, the birth of my children and grandchildren, retirement and even the relocation across the country where I live.

Yet there it was, resting under a lot of paper to be recycled. I might have _________ my father’s legacy (遗产). I was truly _________ by my discovery.

I’m in the middle of reading another book _________ my dad’s novel has a place on my bedside table. I intend to __________ enough time for it, but I haven’t __________ examined it yet. I’m going to spend a whole afternoon giving it the __________ it deserves. As yet I don’t know what the storyline is about and I don’t even know if it is complete but I __________ a highly emotional process of finding out.

I find it fascinating to think that this could happen: After more than fifty years my father could __________ his only son through the mists of time. It’s those things that we don’t see coming that make life so __________.

【推荐2】I learned how to accept life as it is from my father.________, he didn’t teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was________and ill.

My father was________a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness________all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day, Even talking is________One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started________about life, and I told them about one of my________. I said that we must very often give things up________we grow — our health, our beauty, our friends — but it always________that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father________up. He said, ”But, Peter, I gave up________! What did I gain?“ I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say.________he answered his own question, “I________the love of my family.” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also________by his words. After that, when I began to feel angry at someone, I________remember his words and become________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be________to give up my small anger. In this________, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I________what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this________.

【推荐2】She is over a hundred years old, but she hasn’t let that stop her from working. At the age of 102, Romay Davis ______ drives herself to the grocery store each day for ______.

Now, during Black History Month, Davis is honored for her ______ with a grant (拨款) named after her. Through the Romay Davis Grant Program, charities will receive ______ in the fight for racial equality and social ______. Davis is ______ of he grant in her name as she is a pioneer herself. She served in the first all-black Women’s Army ______ overseas during World WarⅡ. Then after the war, she started her ______ in fashion as a designer in New York for 30 years. Throughout her life, she’s also ______ other milestones including a master’s degree, a black belt in Taekwondo (跆拳道) and more.

She ______ for the first time in 1982. After her husband died in 2001, she ______ to go back to work and was ______ by a grocery store in 2001. In 2019, Romay ______ her birthday. “As for Romay, we are all moved by her life-long ______ and strong work ethic (职业道德), which ______ others to be their best,” said her boss.

【推荐3】Like most young couples, my husband and I didn’t have money for expensive gifts on our first wedding anniversary, but we were content to exchange thoughtful anniversary cards. We boxed each other and no _________ on the earth could even represent our love for one another.

So when the _________ knocked on the door, I was very surprised to see a package from my mother. Eager and _________ to see what in it, I quickly tore open the box and _________ my eyes filled with tears. Inside the box was a neatly folded _________ my mother had made by hand. It was white with rose _________ , gold thread and its backing was made up of beautiful purple flowers. Together with the quilt was a note from my mother _________ : “Stephanie and Corey, Happy Anniversary! Enclosed is your Wedding Ring quilt. May this quilt keep you warm when times are cold and ___________ you of the promise you made at your wedding.”

I was touched ___________ words. I knew my mom surely had sacrificed to be able to make it. I could ____________ in mind my mother coming home from a long day at work and staying up piecing (拼接) the quilt together. My husband and I both knew that with each stitch (一针), a part of my mom’s ____________ was sewn right into the quilt. Many years have passed ____________ we celebrated our first anniversary together, but neither of us has ____________ the quilt. My husband always ____________ that the best anniversary gift I have ever ____________ wasn’t from him but from my mother, and I agree.

Mother’s love is the beautiful emotion of human beings, which is not mixed with heart of profit and wealth.