【推荐1】It was a rainy day, and I had no desire to drive up the winding mountain road. But my daughter Carolyn had ________ that I come to see something at the top of the mountain. So here I was, ________ making the two-hour journey through fog. By the time I saw how thick it was near the peak, I’d gone too far to ________.

After parking the car, we walked along a path that was ________ with pine needles. Gradually, the peace and silence of the place began to fill my mind. Then we turned a corner — and I gasped (倒吸气)in ________. From the top of the mountain were ________ of flowers flowing across valleys. A mass of color — from the palest pink to the deepest yellow to the most vivid red — shone like a carpet before us. It looked as though the ________ had spilled gold down the mountainside.

Who ________ such beauty? How? As we ________ the house in the center of the field, we saw a sign that ________: “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking.” The first answer was: “One ________ — Two Hands, and Very Little Brain.” The second was: “One Plant at a Time, Started in 1980.”

I was so moved that I could scarcely speak. “She started over 40 years ago,” I finally said, “probably just the beginning of a(n) ________, but she kept at it.” The ________ of it opened my eyes to the world of the possible. “Imagine,” I said, “if I’d had a vision and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have ________?” Carolyn smiled. “Start tomorrow,” she said, “________ yet, start today.”

【推荐2】Yesterday, our teacher asked us when a man could be referred to as an old man. David stood up and said people with wrinkles could be called old people, However, Mary didn’t _______ for some people may gain wrinkles at an earlier age owing to their. _______ life. Then Lily expressed her idea that those reaching their 60s or more could be called old people. However, Emily expressed her _______ and said some old people may still be energetic and trying to pursue their dreams, which makes them appear _______. The class was over and we still didn’t reach any _______, so the teacher asked us to think about it after class.

The _______ has reminded me of the saying of J. Barrymore that a man isn’t old as long as he is _______ something.

My grandma is such a woman who pursues her dream _______ when she’s 70 now. She has _______ her dream of being a painter since she was a little child. ________, because her family was poor, she had to ________ her dream and stepped into the ________ to raise money so as to support her family. Though she has ________ abandoned her dream, she could hardly find any ________ to realize it because of the tough work. ________, chance came when she retired from her work. She began taking her painting lessons ________ she had all-white hair and lots of wrinkles. At first, I was ________ her idea of attending school at so old an age, but after seeing her paint happily and enjoyably, I ________ feeling it a good choice. She seems ________ and looks fine.

So if we have our dreams and seek for them, we aren’t old. It’s when we don’t know what we want and let ________ be the center point of our lives that we can finally be regarded as the old.

【推荐3】A group of graduates, successful in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Before offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and a variety of ______ porcelain(陶瓷), plastic, glass, crystal(水晶), some plain-looking and ______, some delicate(精致的) and expensive—telling them to ______ themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you have ______, all the nice-looking and expensive cups have been ______, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is ______ for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the ______ of your problems and stress. It is definite that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. ______, all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you all went for the ______ cups. And then you began ______ each other's cups.”

Now consider his: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and ______ in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and ______ life, and the type of cup we have does not change the ______ of life we live. Sometimes, by ______ only on the cup, we fail to ______ the coffee.

【推荐1】The owner of the gas station near my house posts daily quotes on a board, such as: “When you forgive, you heal. When you let go, you ________.

Most of the quotes are ________, but one quote was, for me, an ________ new thought: “Be who you needed when you were young.” Is the quote ________ we should be the kind of person we needed when we were young—for ourselves? Or that we should do it for our children and grandchildren and other young people we meet? Maybe we should do it for all, young and old ________? Why would I give so much ________ to a quote from a gas station board? Sometimes when my train of thought leaves the station, I just have to ________ on board and see where it takes me. I’ve been ________ this train for days, thinking about a person I needed when I was young.

My mother worked at a mill (面粉厂). One day when I was 12, I came home from school and found her drinking tea with the prettiest lady I had ever seen. “Hello, child!” said the woman, ________ my face in her hands. Her name was May. She was my mother’s friend, but she became ________ role model. I watched how she listened and encouraged and never ________ any one, even if they ________ it, and how she was always ________ to everyone. She was a woman of faith,________, and wisdom. I wanted to be like her.

After I left home for college, May moved away and I never ________ her again. The best reminders come from ____________ places sometimes.________ a quote from a gas station board, I thought of my friend May, someone I ________ when I was young and still hope to be like. We don’t always ________ people we admire. But remembering them ________ us to keep trying.

【推荐3】Life is meant to be lived, No excuses. No holding back.

An inspiring story about violinist Fritz Kreisler tells how he once ________ a beautiful violin he wanted to acquire. When he finally ________ the money for the violin, he returned to buy it and learned that it had been sold to a(n) ________.

He went to the new owner’s home to try to ________ him to sell the violin. But the collector said it was one of his ________possessions and he could not let it go. Disappointed Kreisler turned to leave,but then ________ a favor. “May I play the instrument once more?”

________was given and the great musician began to play. The violin sang out apiece of quality music, so ________ that the collector himself could only listen in wonderment. “I have no right to keep that to myself. The violin is yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into world.”he said.

William Arthur Ward said, “If you believe in prayer, pray; if you believe in serving, serve; if you believe in giving, give.” For you and I are fine violinour music is________ to be heard.

I want to live my life that way — to take it into the world and live it ________. I’d rather burn out than rust out.

I’m not talking about ________ ourselves out on over-activity. Happiness is________ found in excessive (过度的) busyness. But it is found in ________ our lives in others. Say yes when asked for a hand.

In the end, I know that my ________is not only about my ability or my inability. It is about my ________ . My life is meant to be lived.