【推荐1】Throughout the junior-and senior-high mornings I watched my father go to work, I _______ told him how that affected me . I simply _______ about his ability to do what he did; keeping the _______ filled with food, paying my tuition fees and _______ Christmas gifts under the tree, taking me to Boston to buy new clothes, dragging me to church on Sundays… Perhaps it was because these scenes seemed so _______ that I never spoke of them.

And then at college, away from him---when his _______ became merely the voice over the phone---I thought other men were more _______ than Daddy. Those men who taught my classes and _______ complex theories.

Then, I entered society. I looked forward to _______ home, talking with Daddy, sharing a ball game, watching an old Western movie on television, drinking a beet, listening to the ________ about his childhood days. I ________        Daddy again-not as a boy in awe(敬畏), but with respect as a man. And I ________ that he was my father, a man who committed himself to a thankless job in a society.

And now, when I spend precious moments with my own son. I wonder what he thinks of me. At what point will I ________ in his world of important men, and will there be a point when he’ll return to me with a nod of ________? Will he treat me with love and ________? How will he measure my weaknesses and strengths?

Sometimes the ________ lessons are the most difficult to teach. Sometimes the most essential truths are the difficult to learn. I hope my son will one day value all the ________ and truths that have passed to him, through ________, from his grandfather. And as my son grows older. I believe that he, too, will measure his steps by the strides(大步) I have made for him, just as I have ________ my goals because of the strides my father has made for me. When my son does this, perhaps he will feel the same ________ and fulfillment that I do when I say, “I am father’s son.”

【推荐2】My dad was a farmer. He never regarded anyone as a ______. He could really talk to any person, and his favorite thing to do was to ______ their income. Once we were at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and my dad was sitting with me as I was waiting for my ______. A Russian woman who could not speak a word of English sat next to my dad, but that did not ______ him. At last, he found out her business, how many children she had and of course how much she made.

I was a shy person and used to be somewhat ______ by this. My mom was a very ______ person as well, so she was ______ by this too. But my mom told me a story about how she was in the doctor’s office with dad and ______ he was his usual self-talking to others all the time in the waiting room. My dad even started talking to a young man in a wheel chair who could neither ______ nor move his arms or head. He ______ could do nothing. But my dad still kept asking him questions and finally got the young man to smile in ______. And he carried on like that with the ______ man until he was called back to the doctor’s office. Then the father of the young man came over, ______ my dad’s hand and said, “Thank you for ______ to my son, most people just turn away when they see him.” Hearing that, I realized that my father’s ______ of talking could make a difference.

【推荐3】My daughter and I were swimming in our pool one summer day. This day was like any of the other days,   so I had no way of knowing that this one would go down in our family history as a ________ we cherish（珍惜）and still talk about from time to time.

The sun was setting and the night was quickly approaching. My daughter ________ it first-a spider（蜘蛛）was spinning her web at the bottom of the freshly painted blue fence that ________ our pool. It surprised me that she saw this, and it surprised me even more that she wasn’t ________ of the spider.

Instead, she ________ watched as the spider busied herself in the cycle of life. As we both watched this ________ of mature, a very simple thought ________ me. I had lost the track of ________ I honestly didn’t know how long we had been just staying there. But, the truth was that we were ________ having fun. We hadn’t saved the world or _____ the newest most expensive toy. However, I believe that by ________ this experience of the spider building her web, we were both just quite happy.

What we had done was to spend time together and ________ the simple things in life. We laughed and talked about the ________ of life, and what it means to die and what it means to really live. We talked about how precious our ________ amount of time is on this planet and how we should ________ to enjoy the simple things in life like the flight of a bird. The simple things are the best things in life, even when they include spiders and webs.

【推荐2】One afternoon years ago, when my family were walking into an ice cream shop, I Saw an old woman sitting outside the shop with _______clothes, Minutes later, she struggled to_______and walked, but it seemed quite _______, hers legs shaking and her yes showing deep sorrow.

I didn’t_______an ice cream, so I watched her while my family went in. Her _______were weak. I came to her with a 10-dollar note and_______it to her. Receiving the money, she was _______and started blessing me instantly.

I talked with her. I asked her about her______. She said there was no one and all of them had died with tears in her eyes. “Where does she live?” I _______myself. The answer was quite_______. I noticed her “luggage”— two plastic bags, containing her belongings. I gave her my_______stole (披肩). It was bright: yellow and new.

But she was worried about my feeling cold, I insisted and she finally_______the stole and put it on. She blessed me even more. I kept giving her things I thoughts he could use. I saw the change in her. At that time, she seemed calm and _______. And so did I.

Her look of hopelessness was_______. She looked at people with more _______. I realized my small act of kindness had made a big difference on this poor lady.

【推荐3】My Papa Joe is 85 and has been faithfully married to my grandma for 60 years. But now his memory is _______ and he’s really starting to slow down. Yesterday, he asked me to take him to the _______ because he wanted to get out of the house. I was _______ he asked because he shouldn’t be driving by himself. It would also _______ grandma to have the _______ to herself for a while, not having to worry about grandpa for a few hours.

I watched him, cane (拐杖) in hand, taking the tiniest _______ all around , searching through the shelves. I had no idea what he was _______; but, as I observed each item he put in the cart, I noticed a _______. They were some of my grandma’s _______ things.

He got the type of soda she liked. He ________ picked out a bag of seedless grapes she had talked about several days before. He even ________ her a small lemon pie! And then, ________ filled my eyes as I watched him hobble (蹒跚) over to the fresh ________ and pick her the bouquet (花束) that had the most purple, her favorite color.

On our way home, he ________ we stop and grab a sandwich to take home for grandma’s lunch. May we all take a lesson from Papa Joe: Never stop ________ for our loved ones.

【推荐2】My two kids and I were at Dunkin’ Donuts, meeting my grandfather for a cup of coffee. My boys were 2 and 4 then. When the naughty little kid ______ his ice cream in the middle of the store, I turned to my grandfather for ______ . I was surprised to find him laughing. When I tried to talk to him about how ______ life with two young boys was, his reply was short, “Little kids, ______ problems.”

At the time, I felt a little angry. The ______ of raising my two boys didn’t feel little. I sometimes felt overwhelmed(不知所措的)by their problems and needs. Still, I knew how to ______ them. I could calm my elder son down with his favorite CD and smiled at him. Back then, “fixing their problems” seemed like my ______ . I did it every day. And, in general, I could solve most things that annoy them.

Those boys are 24 and 22 now. ______ my grandfather said, their problems are bigger than they were 20 years ago. And one thing I’m ______ at this stage of parenting is how to be a mom who doesn’t help them. Worried about my elder son recently, I repeated my ______ to him, but he told me to stop—told me that I wasn’t being ______ and that I needed to let him. be.

Honestly, I miss the days when I felt so helpful. But I also. feel ______ that I’ve raised an adult healthy enough to ______ his own life. And so, in a ______ exchange, it is my son who now calms me down, ______ me and then smiles at me.

【推荐3】There is a fine line between a parent who is active and open-minded and one that doesn’t know when to let go. As my daughter, Nicole, prepares to leave home for college, I’m discovering how hard it is to stay on the ______ side of this line. One day, it was time to prepare for dinner. When I held ______ the apron strings (围裙带) connecting us, Nicole, eager to ______ independence, tried to loosen my grasp (掌控). What resulted was a (an) ______ mother-daughter, push-me, pull-you kind of tango.

For the past two years, it’s gone like this:

Mother’s question: “Have you thought of taking an advanced class (大学预备课程) so that you can earn college credit (学分)?”

Daughter’s ______: “No, I’m not interested in that.”

…

Two months ago, she was ______ into a great university. However, I was still the mother having a ______ time letting go. The night before the introductory meeting of the university, I had read the course catalog (目录) carefully and ______ the courses which I thought looked good. We met on the campus the next afternoon, and Nicole’s face ______ with excitement. “I have had all my timetables of courses ready,” she said. “Already?” I was astonished, ______ she should have discussed it with me. I examined what he chose. Nicole hadn’t taken a (an) ______ one of the courses I had suggested. Every course she had chosen ______ suited her interests. Just then I saw a mature, strong young woman with a ______ mind and the ability to shape her future. She no longer needed her mother ______ every decision she made. I felt proud, though still a bit ______.

I ______ the lessons carefully. Nicole has struggled to learn over the past 18 years the following things: ______, sympathy, and hard work. There have been a few holes along the way. ______, she is well-equipped and eager to ______ the future. The next step, I recognized, was mine to take: giving my daughter and myself the ______ we both needed.