【推荐2】Traditional pet stores are somewhere you buy an animal to be your friend at home. But there’s a(n)________kind of pet store where you spend some quality time with the animals and just________, without taking anything. What really matters is the________

I visited one of these stores in the Sanlitun area in Beijing. I was________call ducks, which are famous for their cute looks and, of course, their sky-high prices-each of them can________cost a few thousand yuan. ________I was not planning to spend so much on a duck, visiting them in one of these—________I’d call “mini-zoos”—seemed to be the perfect option.

There were a________of five call ducks at the store—among other animals—and we spent a good three hours with them. We ________to learn much about them.

Call ducks are not as obedient as________ to get along with, so playing with them would include a lot of________from our side and quacking (呱呱叫)from theirs.________, don’t expect them to be house-trained, one of the ducks actually pooped (排便)while sitting on my leg. But________ of these little incidents reduced the pleasure of holding them in my hands and touching their full chests. It was like the whole world’s joy was in my hands, for those call ducks are fun and comforting-something I would hardly ever expect from work.

That’s the________ of animals: You don’t own them simply spending time with them is________enough.

【推荐2】About 8 years ago, Allen Smith, a company manager and active sport-lover, was riding his bike in Aberdeen, Scotland, when he thought about a friend’s 10-year-old son. The boy had ________ known the joy of biking because he ________ brain swelling (脑积液) that often caused ________ problem.

When he got home, Allen, now 48, went online and found a three-wheeled bike with a seat belt, ________ for a child with balance issues. Soon the boy was riding around the street with other kids, having ________ and getting exercise. But there was more, as Allen gathered from his friend’s reaction. “Seeing his son playing with other kids,” Allen said, “I’ll never forget the ________ on his face.”

That smile ________ Allen to set up the Allen Family Foundation. After receiving money by ________, the group worked with child -related clinics (诊所) to find children who could benefit from owning an adaptive (自适应) bike — and to help make each bike to the ________ needs of the child. A bike may ________ a headrest, a shoulder belt, a seat belt, and care-giver’s steering and braking system in the back. The bikes are ________—$ 3,000 to $4,000, and that’s with the foundation’s great discount. For kids who are lucky enough to ________ one, they’ re a life changer.

So far, the foundation has ________ 450 bikes, and that’s just a start. “I do a lot of things. I ________ a lot of companies,” Allen says. “But getting these kids their bikes is the most ________ thing that I do.”

【推荐3】Hundreds of community members poured into the home to express their condolences (哀悼) to Eli’s family. I walked in and ________ myself, saying I was the headmaster of a school in a neighboring city. I then told the following ________ to the family.

When I was in middle school, I was the troublemaker and always behaved ________ in class. One day, when I was bored in class, I ________ a paper ball at the teacher. With a bright red ________ face, the teacher picked up the ball and said, “I will ask only once for the student who did this to stand up and get out of the room. I won’t ________ class until that student leaves. The room was ________. I was not going to give myself up. I didn’t know what would happen next. After 30 long seconds, a boy named Eli, who was always a ________ and well-behaved student, stood up and walked out with his ________ down.”

I wiped my ________ and said, “I want you to know that Eli saved my life. Through that selfless act, he told me how concerned he was about my dignity (尊严). From that ________ on, I took my life more ________. With a lot of work, I stopped being a ________.”

When I heard that Eli ________, I had to go to let all know that if I’ve ________ people’s lives through my work as an educator, it’s all due to Eli’s protection and selflessness.

【推荐1】Many years ago, I bought a house in the Garfagnana, where we still go every summer. The first time we _________ there, we heard the chug chug-chug of a motorbike making its way down the hill towards us. It was a neighbor called Mario, coming to _________ us a box containing some tomatoes and a bottle of wine. It was a very nice _________ for him to make. But when we looked at the tomatoes, we were _________ because they were so misshapen: not at all like the nice, round, shiny things you get in a supermarket. And the wine was _________, in a funny old bottle with no label (标签) on it. These can’t be any good we thought. But we were _________ his kindness, so we tried them.

What we discovered is that it’s _________ to judge what you eat only by its _________. Those tomatoes had _________ that reminded me of the ones my uncle used to grow when I was a child. Nowadays supermarket tomatoes look perfect but taste of water. Nobody’s going to have a(n) __________ memory of those. It’s a surprise they haven’t managed to grow square ones so that they can __________ them easily. Mario’s wine may have been cloudy and come out of an old bottle, but it was __________.

It’s good to eat things at the correct time, when they’re __________, and as close as possible to where they were __________. What Mario had __________ us was the taste of the Garfagnana.

【推荐2】It has been five years. No one’s quite sure how Sasha, the 6-­year­-old black cat, ______ it from Portland to New Mexico after five years. But apparently it isn’t uncommon for cats — who are known for their ______ character — to go hitchhiking (搭便车)．

“It’s like he never left. He’s so ______,” said its owner Usov. “I guess he was on a great American ______.”

When Sasha disappeared in 2014, Usov thought the cat might have ______wolves. But not every cat that disappears meets a(n) _______ end. It’s very common for a cat to ______ on a train or the back of a truck, but for a cat to travel 1,200 miles and then go back to its owner? That ______ happens.

Sasha’s fur was matted (乱成一团的) when he was found ______ the streets by workers of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter this month. They set out to find his owner. “Sasha didn’t miss a meal,” Kirdar, a worker at the shelter, said.

The shelter reunites families with their ______ pets every day,   ______this is the first time Kirdar has done an in­person delivery. Sasha’s ______ would not have been possible if he had not been microchipped (植入微芯片)．

“The microchip is the best form of ______,” said Kirdar. However, just getting your pet microchipped isn’t enough. It’s important to ______ the microchip’s producer if there is a ______ in your contact information.