【推荐1】My 70-year-old mother was fighting an 18-year battle with cancer. It was a battle I knew she would someday______.Maybe soon. And it______my heart to think about that.

Mom and I had a good relationship, but we just weren’t______in the way I was with my daughter. Mom and I never______or said “I love you” like I often do with my daughter. Sometimes I felt______about Mom’s love for me. Then the pandemic hit. Our city was in lockdown to______the possible infection(感染). Therefore, I didn’t come to Mom’s place but made daily phone calls instead. We didn’t say too much, but we knew we cared about each other. “ I’ve set about quilting(缝被子), and I’ll make one for you,” my mother announced______over the phone one day. I tried to ______her suggestion as it was too tiring for her, but she insisted.

My quilt was Mom’s last one. A month later, I got a call from Dad saying Mom was gone. A great sense of_______overwhelmed me-the pandemic took away my last chance to see Mom and show my love to her.

One day, I decided to give quilting a(n)______myself for my daughter. I carefully______the fabric(面料) I thought she would enjoy, and maybe I was still trying to make a______between Mom and myself in this way. I always thought what had______her to quilting late in life. I imagined asking her for______       on how to make the right stitches(针脚). Sometimes I’d______us sitting together in the living room watching TV together.

Finally, I got the quilt Mom______ me. I opened it and what I saw caught my______.It was exactly the same fabric I had chosen for my daughter. Yet something far more difficult to______at last became clear. Mom, in her own way, had ______ said those three beautiful words “I love you” I______ to hear.

【推荐2】Five days a week I go out for a run—a short and slow run. The only way I can _______ to it is to keep it a habit. It’s a spiritual approach to making exercise a habit.

We’re meant to treat the _______ with respect, doing all we can within our power to keep it _______ and serviceable.

I have a wild heart history. I have _______ heart surgery twice in my life. After each procedure, I signed up for cardiac rehab (心脏康复) where I worked with a nurse, a physical therapist (治疗专家) and got exercise three days a week, building back my _______ and my confidence.

The last time I wanted to _______ running, the nurse and therapist urged me on, for running is _______ for my body and my soul.

Their _______ was a reminder: keep it up. _______ jogging up and down hills, I’m not out to ________ any races. Recently, as I came up the hill running with a friend, a neighbor cried out, “You look like the last two finishers of the marathon.”

“You must really ________ to run,” people will say to me. Love is a too ________ word. But I love to finish a run. That feels good.

The only way I can do it is make it a habit. Sometimes I do it ________ in the morning. As the weather gets cold, I prefer going later in the day when I won’t ________. I can learn and grow while running.

Good habits are, in turn, habit-forming. I find it ________ if I simply make it a rule, trying a spiritual approach to making running a habit.

【推荐2】A man, who had team work spirit, suddenly stopped participating in any group activity. On one ______night, the man’s leader decided to visit him. He found the man alone, sitting in front of a fireplace where a bright fire burned. The man welcomed the leader with few words. The two men only watched the dancing ______around the logs that crackled (噼啪作响) in the fireplace. After a few minutes, the leader ______ examined the logs that formed the fire and ______ one of the most brightly glowing woods and removed it to the ______. Before long, the lonely member flame became less violent, and its fire soon ______. In a short time what was ______ bright light and heat had become nothing more than the ______ wood. Before preparing to leave, the leader picked up the useless piece of wood and ______ it again in the middle of the fire. Immediately, the piece of wood was relighted, ______ by the light and heat of the burning coals around it. When the leader reached the door to leave, the man thanked him for his valuable lesson, and promised to ______ to the group soon.

This story makes us ______the importance of teamwork. Because each member that______ takes fire and heat from the rest. It’s worth reminding group members that we are all_______for keeping each other’s flame burning. And we must promote the union among us so that the fire is really strong, ______and lasting.

【推荐3】Every day, there are 25,000 flights in America. Accidents are so rare that flying is much ________ than car travel. But that doesn’t stop many people from feeling ________ when they are moving at 500 miles per hour, 33,000 feet above the ground.

That’s what ________ recently to a woman flying on a commercial airline. Floyd Dean-Shannon ________ the woman’s distress. As a flight attendant, he has plenty to do during a flight. But he paused and spoke ________ to the woman. Floyd calmly explained what the ________ was and all the other perfectly routine sounds you hear as a plane flies.

________ the woman began to calm down a bit, Floyd sat down in the aisle beside her and held her hand. He sat with her through the ________ flight. When Floyd learned it was another passenger’s birthday, he led the plane in a song to ________ — another way of making the woman feel safe by ________ her from her fears. He stayed by the woman’s side until it was time to land.

In a world where most focus on what’s happening on a screen, we can ________ occasionally and check on those ________ us. Like Floyd, we can be ________ enough to see to be there. We don’t have to be professional counselors; we just need to be ________. Having a friend when you most need it not only gets you through the ________ parts in your life — it also gives you the confidence to be a friend to others.