【推荐3】Throughout my high school career I've made a point of doing what many people fail to do on a daily basis：reflect and assess my life and decisions. I'm a（n） _______ and I analyze and contemplate （沉思）,sometimes too much, but always with the intention of _______ something new about myself. You might be _______ to learn that I do my best thinking not in the classroom, not in the bedroom, but in the bathroom.

The bathroom has always been a place where I can sit in _______. The closest thing to a（n） _______ is a polite knock on the door, and quiet is _______ maintained. Bathrooms are always kept clean, and _______are provided for sufficient self-inspection. _______, the bathroom is the ideal place for reflection.

My bathroom, which is situated a brief _______ down the hall from my bedroom, is a wonderful place where I can take comfort. ________a long day of hard work, I ________for my bathroom to reflect on the past day and the days ahead. I think about my friends and family, and what they ________ to me. I even realize the numerous ________ that I have recently made, and ________ to put them right.

The thinking I do in the bathroom — whether it is a ________ about my future as a rock star, or the realization that my mother was in fact correct - is important to me. Taking the time to think and reflect has ________ me to make good decisions. And then I will ________ what is important to me. Instead of living my life ________ , I've made a choice to think deeply and keep things in perspective.

To me, the bathroom is not a place to________ the challenges of reality, but rather a place to________   those challenges through the power of human intelligence.

【推荐1】During my quiet moments, I often think back to the days when my children were young. Life was busy and very _________ for me then, because I had a (n) _________ and challenging job. I worked from morning to night.

Then I was ill in hospital. After I _________, I went back to work, only to be told I would be _________. The company was making _________ cuts, and decided to lay off some workers. I was one of them. My boss handed me an envelope. I was _________ when I opened it and saw the check I had received. It was large enough to help us _________ the difficult time. I was _________, though, and left the company.

Every coin has two sides. Then my children and I had the _________ of our lives as a result of my getting laid off. I __________ a great deal of money on childcare, and we discovered how much __________ we could have on a small amount of money. We did all kinds of activities and led a __________ and happy life together.

The week before my unemployment __________ ended, I found a part-time job at a local pharmacy (药店). I worked during the hours my sons were in school. I kept the job for eight years. The __________ I got there enabled me to find a similar job __________ I moved to another town.

When I think back to the days I __________ my job, I realize that as sad as I was then, it was the __________ thing that had ever happened to me. __________ being laid off, I had the __________ to spend quality time with my children, and even to find a more suitable job to __________ my role as mother and employee.

【推荐2】It had been a few weeks into lockdown because of the COVID-19. My father’s ________ had become in desperate need of help. So I ________ to work part-time as a tea lady.

_________, I also wanted to keep an eye on my father. Ever since he __ from dementia (痴呆), I had become concerned about his well-being. So I _________, wheeling a teapot around the ground floor.

It was a peculiar kind of ________ at first. I saw how we were ________ every day. I would often come away sweating. And then saddened, for the home lost a lot of ________ to COVID-19 in a short span of time and seeing the suddenly empty beds was _________.

But it was also surprisingly good _________. Joking and stories made time easy. I began to ________ to see the old lady who would say “Thank you” and give me a ________ every time I left her a cup of tea. And my father, who was almost paralyzed like a stone, ________ looked cheered up at seeing me around with the tea trolley (推车).

The figures I had ________ so often taught me that sitting by a sunny window drinking a cup of warm tea held its value. It is simple, meaningful, and brings clarity and _________, helping me handle everything peacefully. To me, this has been lockdown’s greatest gift.

【推荐3】Todd and Donna woke up early one day to take pictures of the sunrise. While walking along the shoreline and enjoying the sights, Todd suddenly _______ down. Donna thought her husband was _______. However, she quickly realized this was no laughing matter. Todd’s heart stopped beating and he turned _______. Immediately she screamed for help.

Tyler Volpe, a _______, was in the water when Todd came down. Volpe is also a physician assistant. He heard Donna’s cries for help. “I knew it wasn’t a _______ scream,” he said. “I came flying out of the water.”

Volpe started chest compression (按压) while Roy, another surfer, breathed into Todd’s mouth. Then, they switched _______ with each other. “I really thought he was _______,” Donna said. _______ Roy and Volpe performed CPR, Todd breathed deeply a few times.

The tide was starting to come in. Other surfers used their boards to form a _______ between the rescue effort and the water. “They kept him ________ until the ambulance got there,” Donna said. “It could have been two minutes or 10 days. I was watching my life ________ with his.”

Doctors used a defibrillator (除颤器) to shock his heart and ________ his heartbeat. On the second shock, he regained his feel.

Todd and Donna planned to drive back home to New Jersey that morning, but decided to first take a walk on the beach. “It is lucky we didn’t ________ because it would have happened while we were driving home,” Donna said.

Donna ________ a message asking if anyone knew the surfers who helped her husband—they wanted to ________ them.

【推荐1】The Queen’s Gambit is a TV series about a chess genius inspired by a doorkeeper. Now, a(n) _________ version of The Queen’s Gambit is playing out at a school in Maine.

David Bishop _________ the school day as a full-time doorkeeper, but after work, he grabs his chess boards and begins his second _________: part-time chess coach.

The 61- year- old doorkeeper has _________ both elementary and middle school teams to state championship titles this year. One of his players, 11-year-old Avery Zhang, _________ the state champion for grades K-5 this year.

_________ Mr. Bishop enjoyed chess and was good at it, he didn’t join his high school chess club, _________ he would be labelled as a nerd (呆子). These days, thanks to the growing _________ of chess after The Queen’s Gambit, those stereotypes (刻板印象) no longer apply.

But unlike the TV series’ doorkeeper, Bishop is _________ not just one girl but dozens of kids of all skill levels and backgrounds. His one worry is that there aren’t as many girls ____________ chess. There’s only one female on his middle school champion team right now. He’s hoping to ____________ that situation by getting kids into the ____________ at earlier ages.

Bishop also emphasizes to his young players that chess is about ____________ winning. “I tell my kids that chess ____________ your life,” he told the Daily News, “Whether in life or in chess, if you work hard, if you’re not discouraged by failure, you will be ____________.”