【推荐1】When Olivia was five, she found out that her two-year-old cousin, Zach, had leukemia, a type of cancer. She listened as her family ______ how to help Zach and his parents. Olivia ______ to help, too. Her birthday party was ______, so Olivia wrote a letter asking her friends for donations（捐赠） ___________ gifts.

“I just need a donation for kids in ______,” she wrote in her letter.

______, Olivia’s birthday donations came to more than $600. Some of the money went directly into a special bank account that helped Zach’s family _____ his medicines, and some went to a charity（慈善）.

The following year, Olivia had another ______ birthday party. Because she ______ all of her pets, she ______ this time to donate to the local branch of the Humane Society, an organization that helps ______.

“We had a jungle-theme (丛林主题) party because it was for animals,” Olivia said. This time, friends donated money and pet supplies, ______ her living room with food, bowls, and other pet-care things. “It was fun to see all the animals when we ______ the donations in the local branch of the Humane Society. The workers were really ______, too,” said Olivia.

Olivia’s ______ of birthdays for charity has continued every year.

Joan Reigner, Olivia’s first-grade teacher, was ______ by her student so that she still sends a yearly donation to Olivia’s ______. Olivia has “the ______ to see beyond herself to the greater good of ______ others,” Mrs. Reigner said.

“It makes me feel ______ that I am helping other people,” Olivia explained.

【推荐2】Freshman year of college. World History class. Our professor had announced that 30 percent of our final grade would be based on an _________ — completing at least twenty hours unpaid community service. “It is only for twenty hours, but I _________ you will be surprised at what can happen in those twenty hours,” he added.

After doing some research, I found an after-school _________ program and was paired with a fourth-grade boy named Steven. He was a little quiet but obviously _________. He didn’t need a tutor as much as he needed a friend. It seemed that most of his classmates _________ him.

We met twice a week for two hours, so it _________ took me five weeks to complete the necessary hours for my class. But when the hours were done, we _________ our twice-a-week appointment as usual. I enjoyed the time with Steven, and I could tell he’d grown _________ to me as well.

_________, as the school year came to an end, the moment of final parting came. That day, when I was heartbroken by Steven’s tearful eyes, I suddenly __________ I had a young boy in my life about the same age: my own brother. I had been so busy being an adult that I didn’t make time to __________ him.

It was time to change that. I started going on weekly dates with my brother. Even if it sometimes meant playing Pokemon, which seemed __________ to me, the sight of the __________ on my brother’s face made me feel it was worthwhile.

I still think about Steven and I am grateful that even though we didn’t get to continue our__________it was the interaction with him that reminded me I was __________ the relationship with my brother. My professor was right: A lot can happen in just twenty hours.

【推荐3】Their five-year-old daughter, Elissa, is about to be brought out of the operating room (OR) after receiving a new heart. Outside the OR, Patrick and Marie are _______ with joy. “Thank you to the donor’s family,” _______ Patrick. “We don’t know you, but you saved our child’s life.”

The year she was born, Elissa _______ two heart surgeries. She’d led a _______ life until four, when she was _______ by a virus that damaged her heart. Confined to (被困于) the ICU, she spent seven nightmarish months waiting for a _______.

In the five weeks leading up to the transplant, she was kept _______ by a mechanical heart. “She couldn’t leave her hospital bed, _______ the blood clots(血栓) that formed in the tubes of the machines could have killed her at any moment,” says Marie. _______ only a miracle could save their daughter, Elissa’s parents spent their days by her side.

Then on May 28th, just as it seemed all ________ was gone, a doctor summoned them to a small lounge next to their daughter’s room. Their ________ had been answered: A donor heart had ________ been found. Elissa would be getting it the very next morning. Following cheers of ________, Marie and Patrick spent the hours before Elissa was taken into the OR ________ by anxiety. “It was her last chance,” says Patrick.

Eight hours later, the transplant was considered ________. The little girl is going to live again.

【推荐3】A foreigner was sightseeing in a city of South India. He entered a temple that was under ________. There was a sculptor busy making an idol (神像), with a(n) ________ idol lying nearby him.

In ________, the foreigner asked the sculptor,“Hey, why are you making two identical idols?”

“Sir, while I was creating the first idol, my hand ________ and the idol got damaged. That’s why I’m creating the second idol,” the sculptor replied.

The foreigner thoroughly ________ the first idol and again got confused. In a (n) ________ tone, the foreigner again asked the sculptor, “I can’t see any ________ on the surface of the first idol. Where is it? Can you please let me ________?”

The sculptor replied, “Please see, the nose of the first idol was damaged and it cannot be ________.”

“Okay, ________ will it be installed (安装)?” the foreigner asked.

“At 200 feet above the temple building,” the sculptor answered.

The foreigner ________ and said, “Since this idol will be installed so ________ then obviously no one would be ________ to see the damaged nose. Why are you creating this second idol? You’re ________ your time!”

The sculptor returned the smile and said, “Yes, you are right ... but I know it and every time I see that idol, the ________ of building a damaged idol will haunt (萦绕于脑际) me.”

Excellence means ________ and you should be perfect in everything you do in life, no matter what. Excellence is not something that you want to ________ ; it should be from your inner self. No matter what you do in your life, you should feel satisfied inside. If you don’t do it with complete excellence, don’t do it at all ________ if it is not excellent then it won’t be ________ or fun. We are what we repeatedly do, and excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a ________.