【推荐1】The day when I would go off to college was around the corner. Mom stood in her usual spot behind the ironing board(烫衣板) and said, “Pay attention: I’m going to teach you to iron.”

Mom clearly explained her reasons for this lesson. I was going to be _______ and needed to learn this _______ skill. Also, I would be meeting new people, and properly ironed clothes would help me make a good _______. “Learn to iron a shirt,” Mom said, “and you can iron anything.”

But ironing shirts was not _______ work. It didn’t make use of long muscles we used to throw a baseball, and it wasn’t a _______ operation like ice-skating. Ironing was like driving a car on a street that has a stop _______ every 10 feet. What’s more, an iron produced steam and it carried a possibility of _______. If you touched the wrong part of it, you’d get _______. If you forgot to turn it off when you _______, you might burn down the house.

As for technique, Mom ________ me to begin it, which sounded easy but skillful. Mom said it looked very simple, but you must do it with your ________. Over the years, I’ve learned to iron shirts skillfully, which gives me a sense of ________.

Whatever failures I suffer in my life, an ironed shirt tells me I am good at something. ________, through ironing I’ve learned how to find out the ________ to working out even the most troublesome problems. “________ wrinkles one at a time,” as Mom might have said, “and before long everything will get ironed out.”

【推荐3】When travelling around the world, I came across a beautiful town called Trancoso in Brazil. The people in the town were friendly and warm. What I ________ liked was that everyone gives the ________ acknowledgement（打招呼）when seeing each other ________ a wave or a stare. So as I was walking down the streets, people gave me the thumbs up. This ________ my day.

When I was lying on the beach, a man walked up to me to sell me some hats. I loved the hats but didn't have any money ________ me. He saw that I was ________ the hats, so he gave me the hat and said he would see me again to get the money and that there was no ________. This was such a(n) ________ way to sell something. Of course I accepted the ________ and still take the hat with me wherever I go because the hat makes me remember how ________ people could be.

Later on that day another man came over to me and asked ________ I wanted to eat in his restaurant. I accepted his offer ________ and followed him. It was the perfect restaurant for the town, ________ ten tables. The dishes were delicious and he paid ________ to each dish's taste and colour. When it was time to ________ he only took cash and I only had a card. With the ________ ATM about seven miles away, I didn't know what to do. He ________ to me and said, "Just pay before you leave town." This was the second time in one day that I had been given something without immediate pay. How surprising it was!

What I ________ from these experiences is that there are people out in the world ________ main focus（关注点）isn't money but making other people happy with their ________.

【推荐1】People may misunderstand what they used to be familiar with. I remember a _________ professor, invited to our school, taught stress management principles in a school hall _________ with students.

As she _________ a glass of water, each of us expected we’d be asked the _________ “glass half-empty or glass half-full” question. _________,with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How _________ is this glass of water I’m holding?”

All of us shouted out answers ranging from 8 ounces to a couple of pounds.

She then replied, “From my point if view, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all _________ how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s rather light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm _________ a bit. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel _________ numb and paralyzed, ____________ me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case mentioned above, the ____________ of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the whole class ____________ our heads in agreement, she continued, “Your ____________ and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a little while and ____________ happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to suffer a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel specially numb and paralyzed-____________of doing anything else ____________ you drop them.”

It’s important to remember to ____________ your stresses and worries. Whatever happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t ____________ them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of ____________ stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the ____________ down.

【推荐3】The story I’m going to tell you happened two years ago when I was in high school in Poland. I came to school early on a sunny day, _________ I felt that there was something wrong. Students from my class were behaving _________.

I noticed that Tom was absent from school that day. Later, I _________ what happened. Tom had got sick and he had _________ cancer, a very serious disease. It was _________ for my friends and me. I couldn't believe that this had happened to him. He was so _________ and he was good at sports.

Anyhow, he had lung cancer, so he had to have a(n)_________. It was successful. After that, he returned to school. Twice a month he went back to _________ for medical examinations just to make sure that everything was going well.

One day, the doctors noticed that the cancer had _________ to the brain. When I heard this information, I cried, “God, why do you do this. It is not __________.”

A lot of my friends __________ their faith and hope, and they even thought that there was no __________ for him to live, but they were wrong. Tom was eager to live and he said:” No way. I’m not going to __________. I will fight!”

The doctors made another operation __________ his brain. The operation went well and now he feels great and everything is fine. From Tom’s __________, I learned that whatever happens in our lives, we can’t give up or lose our faith and hope.