【推荐1】When I was nine my greatest desire in life was to own a pogo stick（弹簧单高跷）. I thought that if I ______ the pogo stick surely the circus would want to ______ me for my incredible skills, so I could help my parents make our life   ______.

When Christmas season ______ around I told my mother that the only thing I wanted was a pogo stick. My mother ______ it was too expensive and that we simply couldn’ t ______ one. On a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks before Christmas, my mom and dad said to me we needed to go to the bank to pay for our ______ bill. After my mother and I were at the ______ paying the bill, my dad came walking out from a tool store with a long thin ______. I remembered wondering at that very moment ______ it was a pogo stick in that box.

The Christmas morning was great and disappointing. After all the wrapping paper was ______, I got some nice gifts but didn’ t get the one that I really wanted. Inside the box was a ______ old broom! Suddenly, my dad said he needed to tend to something in the kitchen. When he came back in, he was ______ my beautiful pogo stick. I couldn’ t believe it, how they were able to ______ the money for it and why they ______ me with the broom. I was so ______ that I couldn’ t let the pogo stick out of my ______.

That was many years ago and I still cherished（珍藏）those Christmas ______. Although we didn’ t have much ______, my parents gave me the most important gift of all, full of ______.

【推荐3】When I was a boy, our big family would sometimes gather(聚集) together at my aunt's tiny house over the summer. _______ from all over the country would come in to _______. The adults would sit together in the living room to _______ and catch up on each other's lives. The kids would be sent out into the front yard to _______ while dinner was cooking for all of us.

We would play a good old-fashioned game of tag(捉人游戏). I remember one of those times_______ I was the youngest and smallest of all the kids there so I got _______ first and couldn't catch anyone else. Hard as I ran after my brothers and cousins, they were all too _______ for me. I grew more and more _______

As I sat thinking how I could _______ this difficult game, a good ________ came to me. I aimed at one of my brothers. Unluckily, I ________ I got up with tears in my eyes. Then things started to ________ I saw one of my cousins whom I met for the first time standing there. She ________ to run but was going much slower than before. I ________ caught up and tagged her. Then she ________ to me and smiled, ''You'd better run! '' I ran off laughing ________ she turned and started to run after others.

Now I see how her act of ________ that day saved me from ________ and returned me to joy. Although we hardly ever ________ each other, we were family and she loved me. I always remember what she did for me and would try my best to share ________with everyone.

【推荐1】It began years ago, after Mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As her symptom ______, I often had a hard time figuring out what was real and what wasn’t in her ______. One day I was helping her find some pants that fitted, and she was ______ them on and looking in the mirror. Suddenly she turned and said,______ to her reflection in the mirror, “Well, I like her. She is always really nice to me.”

It caught me so off guard. There we were doing ______ things, and suddenly she was talking about her reflection as if it were another person. How should I ______? I looked closely, as if there was going to be someone else in that mirror, saying, “Great. I am so glad she’s ______ to you.”

Though still in ______, I knew there was no point bringing someone with Alzheimer’s back to ______. It wasn’t, until later that I could ______ that the lady in the mirror was real to Mom.

Another time I walked in, finding Mom ______. I was going to leave when Mom woke up. “Hi Mom, it’s me, Molly, your daughter.” Since Mom may or may not ______ me when we meet, I always identify myself to her.

That day she remembered me. She ______ my arm slightly and said, “Hi, honey. Come here, I want you to meet someone ______ she leaves.” And so I was reintroduced to the lady in the mirror. I ______ her as if someone were really there, and that was ______ for Mom.

I am glad she loves her ______, because she sees herself as a kind being. This is yet another ______ my mother has taught me: We should love ourselves and others with the kind of ______ my mom has for her lady in the mirror, even though she doesn’t know she is seeing herself, my beautiful, loving, and ______ Mom.

【推荐2】Precious family moments

When   our three children were small, and I'd _______   after baths for the thousandth time,   pick wet towels (毛巾) off the floor, squeeze water out of yellow rubber ducks and call the kids to come back and brush their____, I often thought of Someday.

Someday I'd do something____.

When I read bedtime stories, the same stories I'd read so many times that I knew them from ___, my brain froze from the repetition, and my mind wandered to Someday.

Someday life wouldn't be so____.

When I___ a pound of frozen ground (压碎的) beef, considering my two standard options of pizza or salad, trying to remember when we last had what, I thought of Someday.

Someday I'd be____.

Then one day I had an epiphany (顿悟). I wasn't___ who was going to leave   something important on the world or build an____. But I was just doing something important on this family, and I already had an empire. It was right under my nose, tucked in (盖好被子的) bed by 8 o'clock.

The Someday I often dreamed about was being shaped by all the todays and____.

I was doing something important. Caring for children, creating family and trying to make a home that is a sanctuary (庇护所) from a _________   world are some of the most important things a person can do.

Creativity? We didn't always have ground beef. Sometimes we had chicken or fish. It wasn't the food that _______; it was being together around the table, the conversation, the     laughing and the____.

As for routine (日常琐事), no routine stays the____. But even as the routine changes, basics are taught -   the fact that choices matter because choices become_______, and habits     become a way of being, and that is___ character takes root.

The things that matter are that you're_____ and knowing how to love others, being     generous, extending charity, working hard and recovering after ______   and sufferings are       learned little by little, one day at___ time.

Someday is___ than you think.

【推荐3】As a businesswoman, I care deeply about my customers. But like anyone for whom you feel affection, _______ can also drive you mad. They’ll come rushing in, _______their handbag’s been stolen. They’ll _______ that they left it in the changing room, create havoe (混乱) and then _______ it had been in their car all the time. They’ll have out half the _______ in the shop, and want the only style you don’t have left in a _______ colour. I do know how upset the shop staff can get, but I try to persuade them to keep _______.

I remember the first really _______ customer we had at Covent Garden. She was _______ absolutely everything, nothing was right and I was rather ________ that she became a “regular”. After a while, she ________ for the way she behaved at the beginning. She had split up with her husband the week before, was living in a flat ________, and since she’d found it too much to cope with (应对), she’d taken it out on ________ people.

That taught me a valuable ________ and I pass it on to the people who ________ in the market. Don’t take it ________. If a customer is rude or difficult, just think “Maybe she’s had a row with her husband. Maybe her child’s not ________.” Always water it down and don’t let your ego (自我) get ________. If you do, you won’t be able to ________ it and the whole thing develops into an unpleasant scene and that ________ everyone’s day.