【推荐1】“And this is me kissing the Blarney Stone”, says Carrie, my seventeen-year-old daughter. She turns the pages of her new photo album, recounting her recent ten-day _______ abroad, and my mind wanders back…way back to when she was only five.

“Someday I’m going to Ireland”, she said, holding her Childcraft book in her lap. Her blue eyes _______ as she looked at the beautiful pictures. “Well, maybe you can!” I said. However, it was _______ for our family to pay for the luxury of traveling. I was working as a secretary. My husband Charlie had to close his _______ last year due to his poor health…

Ten years later, Carrie came home from school one day, hardly able to contain her _______, “Mama, you’ll never _______ where the class is going. To Ireland!” she smiled _______. “You’re kidding!” I said. “Ireland! Where you’ve always wanted to go!”

“The trip is _______ for year after next, and the $2,100 can be paid in installments (分期付款).” Then she added, “But that’s too much… isn’t it?” Her voice was _______ yet doubting. “Well,” I said slowly, “Daddy and I can’t help much; ________, you have two years to earn the money.” “You think so?” Carrie’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well,” I ________, “maybe you could use your father’s bakery and sell baked goods.” Sell baked goods? We ________ at each other. Carrie was an excellent ________ ! This would work!

So the plan was ________. Carrie began working, making a variety of baked goods. She used dried apples, cooked, seasoned and spiced to perfection. Soon, however, fried apple-pies became the customer favorite. All ingredients were ________—real shortening (起酥油), real butter—and the crust (皮) was handmade and hand-rolled. Finally the pies were fried to a beautiful, golden brown! The finished product was an extremely pleasant treat, winning ________ from even the little old ladies in these hills who have been making dried-apple pies for decades. ________ began rolling in, and the Ireland fund grew, and well ________ the given time the trip abroad was paid in full…

Now I’m looking at her album as she proudly points out the ________ she visited: castles of Ireland, historic bridges and churches, cobblestone (鹅卵石) streets of Dublin… so much like those in her Childcraft book. My daughter will forever remember this dream come true, a dream that began in the heart of a five-year-old girl and was completely made ________ by the delicious apple pie!

【推荐2】There was once an ant that was very _______ . It ran here and there looking for some water but could not find any. Then suddenly, when the ant was almost _______ to die of thirst, a large drop of water fell on it. The ant _______ the water, which saved its life.

The water was _______ a tear from a young girl who was _______ . Because of her sadness, the tear had magical qualities and suddenly the ant could _______ the language of human beings.

The ant looked _______ and saw the young girl sitting in front of a huge pile of seeds.

“Why are you sad?” asked the ant. “I'm the _______ of a giant.” the girl told the ant. “He won't let me go_______I've made three separate heaps(堆) of grain, barley and rye out of this ________   pile of seeds in which they are all ________together.” “That will ________ you a month!” the ant said, looking at the huge pile of ________. “I know,” the girl cried, “and if I haven't finished ________ tomorrow, the giant will eat me for his ________ !” “Don't cry,” the ant said, “my ________and I will help you.” ________ thousands of ants were at work, ________ the three kinds of seeds.

The next morning, when the ________ saw that the work had been done, he let the girl go.

Thus it was one of her tears that ________ her life.

【推荐3】For the next few weeks, the team keeps moving higher up the mountain, setting up camp at greater altitudes. They _________ reach Camp 8—the highest camp for the team. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, two strongest climbers of the team, are _________ to try to reach the top of Qomolangma first.

Hillary and Norgay feel _________, yet calm, as they begin their _________ to the top. It is minus 27 °C, and they _________ eight layers of clothing and three pairs of gloves. Their backpacks _________ 18 kilograms each. The two men move slowly, _________ hacking steps into the ice with their tools. Parts of the climbs are really _________ —ridges(山脊)that are only as wide as a diving board. One wrong step could mean _________ .

Still, up they go, higher and higher, until they come to a __________ wall—40 feet high. It seems __________ for them to climb up it. But there is strong faith inside them: They haven't come this far only to __________! Suddenly Hillary sees a thin crack(裂缝)in the rock. He __________ a foot into it and begins to move up, taking hold of any handhold he can find. Norgay follows. I It takes almost half an hour to __________ up using the crack. They can hardly catch their __________.

The two men keep going up. They move from rock to __________ , and soon they can climb no more because there is no more mountain left. They have reached the __________ ! Their tiredness quickly __________ happiness as they look out at the __________ view all around them. They prove that __________ can move mountains.