【推荐1】I always remember one Christmas when we_________outside of town. My elder brother had a job in a different city_________he always made it home to celebrate the holidays. During the few days before Christmas Day, we experienced a violent snowstorm with powerful winds. It was so_________that the country road was almost impassable.

The day before Christmas was more_________than I had ever imagined. My elder brother was stuck at a stranger's home where he had been_________to stay overnight because of the storm. The person was kind enough to let him stay until morning. But, the_________was that he couldn’t get his car to start and there was no assistance available.

So, my dad and I_________. We were lucky enough to make it to where my brother was_________. After his car warmed up, he thought it was much wiser to head back to his place rather than try and make it home for Christmas. So we headed in_________direction.

The drive back got even worse. We got stuck in a huge snowdrift. A(n)__________had to be made. We placed a shovel（铲子）about ten feet behind the car to__________anyone else that there was an obstruction（障碍物）ahead.

We left the cars in the snow, wrapped blankets around our heads and__________on top of the snowdrifts. We made it about a mile up the road to a neighbor's farmhouse where we__________for the next mile walk home. We all made it safely home that night.

Christmas was very__________that year. It didn’t matter if there were__________or not under the tree the next morning. We each got our gift—the gift of life, home with our family safe and sound. What better gift is there? None.

【推荐2】On 20 December, in Newdale, a series of huge waves caused by an undersea earthquake raced across the ocean near Goldshore. Worse still, it ________ thousands dead. Goldshore Beach was the only local beach to ________ the disaster without any loss of life. A 10-year-old girl, Sabrina Andron, helped around 100 people escape ________ with her knowledge of tsunamis.

The day began like any other on Goldshore Beach. People were walking, running or simply sitting on the sandy beach, ________ the warm sea air and enjoying the soft ________ that brushed their hair. Sabrina was one of the happy tourists until she noticed something ________. “The water was like the bubbles (气泡) on the top of a beer,” she later explained. “It wasn’t ________ and it wasn’t going in and then out. It was just coming in and in and in.” It struck her that these were the ________ of an upcoming tsunami, which Sabrina had just learnt about in a Geography lesson.

Sabrina was _______, but she soon kept her head. She ________ her parents of the danger though at first they just thought she was joking. However, Sabrina was certain that a terrible ______ was on its way and kept asking her parents to talk to a safety ________. To her great relief, the officer________ realized the coming danger. The beach was rapidly ________ of people, just before the huge waves ________ into the coast.

【推荐3】At an auction (拍卖会) last Thursday, Kevin Lipton paid $2,585,000 for the Birch Cent, a _______ made in 1792 that is _______ its engraver (刻版师), Robert Birch. It’s the most money _______ paid for a one-cent piece. And yes, he said, the purchase made _______. “It’s like our very first penny,” Lipton, 55, told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. “It’s such a(n) _______ coin. It’s so important, so rare.”

The coin is _______ similar coins known to exist that were _______ produced after the founding of the U.S. Mint (美国造币厂), said Jim Halperin, co-chairman of Heritage Auctions. It features a profile face _______ Miss Liberty, framed by a motto that was later abandoned, “Liberty Parent of Science & Industry.”

Lipton, who owns a coin wholesaling business (批发业务) in Beverly Hills, had been eyeing the Birch Cent _______ he saw it in 1981 at a New York auction house. That year, Johns Hopkins University consigned (拍卖、寄售) the penny for auction, and it was ________ by New York City developer Donald G. Patrick ________ $200,000. Patrick consigned the coin to Texas-based Heritage Auctions. At the Orlando auction where Lipton ________ the Birch Cent, he ________bought a quarter dollar from 1792 for $2,232,500. ________, he paid about $4.8 million for 26 cents.

Lipton has ________ coins since he was 12 years old, and his full-time coin business ________ when he was just 17. He ________ that he was nervous about spending so much money, but now he’s ________ his million-dollar coins will mature. “They are a great store value, and will only be worth more ________,” Lipton said. ‘‘They are ________ Mona Lisas of our coinage.’’

【推荐1】Walk into any bookstore, and you can hardly avoid “bumping into” Charles Dickens. Many of Dickens’s works still sell well today. And they are ________ on outstanding shelves.

As someone who teaches Dickens, the question of why we still read him is often in my mind ________. One day nearly 10 years ago, however, when I was giving a(n) ________, I was telling the students that for Victorian readers, Dickens’ writing was a “tune-in-next-week” type of thing that generated crazes. Then a hand ________ “But why should we still read this ________ ?” the student asked. The answer I gave was only ________ “Because he teaches you how to think,” I said.

The question was on my ________ about something for years, and for years. I told myself answers, but never with complete ________. We read Dickens because he is not just a man of his own times, but also a man for our times. We read Dickens because we can learn from the experiences of his ________ almost as easily as we can learn from our own experiences.

These are all wonderful reasons to read Dickens. But these are not ________ the reasons why I read Dickens. My search for an answer ________ until one day a text message came from a student of mine. “We still read Dickens’ novels,” she wrote, “because they tell us why we are what we are.” ________ as it was, that’s the explanation I had ________ for years.

Dickens shines a ________ on who we are during the best of times and worst of times. That’s why we still need to read him today. If you have time, go to ________ one of his many novels, read it and enjoy what it has to tell you about yourself.

【推荐3】Mary, 16, was suffering from cancer. As a father, Mitchell always stayed home to care for her. He said the _____ left them financially worse off. Then a group called Growing Hope _____in with $1,800 to help with his living costs.

____, he wanted to pay it back. In his youth, he had been a ______. So at age 40, Mitchell took up the ______ again, participating in two fights in Fairfax. During this time, he _____ his daughter. And for six months he did little but mourn.

One day, Mitchell ______ a Mark Twain quote—The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you ______ why. "After I read that quote, I was going to spend the ______ of my life helping kids with cancer and their families," he said.

Mitchell thought of creating a foundation, yet boxing did not seem practical anymore for fundraising due to his age. Then he found that ______ could be a source to raise money. In the

Corps Marathon he cut a striking figure on the course. ______ by this success, he set his sight higher. He ______ each of the miles of the race to a different child with cancer, and he carried their ______ with him. Years after his daughter's death, Mitchell now ______ up in the morning knowing his ______.

【推荐1】The True Story of Treasure Island

It was always thought that Treasure Island was the product of Robert Louis Stevenson’s imagination. _________, recent research has found the true story of this exciting work.

Stevenson, a Scotsman, had lived _________ for many years. In 1881 he returned to Scotland for a holiday. With him were his American wife Fanny and his son, Lloyd.

Each morning Stevenson would take them out for a long _________ over the hills. They had been _________ this for several days before the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. Kept indoors by the heavy rain, Lloyd felt the days _________. To keep the boy happy, Robert asked the boy to do some _________.

One morning, the boy came to Robert with a beautiful map of an island. Robert _________ that the boy had drawn a large cross in middle of the island. “What’s that?” he asked. “That’s the buried treasure,” said the boy. Robert suddenly _________ something of an adventure story in the boy’s _________. While the rain was pouring, Robert sat down by the fire to write a story. He would make the __________ a twelve-year-old boy, just like Lloyd. But who would be the pirate(海盗)?

Robert had a good friend named Henley, who walked around with the __________ of a wooden leg. Robert had always wanted to __________ such a man in a story. __________ Long John Silver, the pirate with a wooden leg, was __________.

So, thanks to a rainy September in Scotland, a friend with a wooden leg, and the imagination of a twelve-year-old boy, we have one of the greatest __________ stories in the English language.

【推荐3】The novel, Of Human Bondage, is considered a masterpiece of the 20th century. It is also a semi-autobiographical (半自传的) story of author W. Somerset Maugham.

At first sight, the book seems to ______ the unusual moral values of courage and kindness. ______, readers will see that the author was exploring the same kind of values. The only difference is that he delivered his ______ through a story with more ______.

The main character, Philip Carey, leads a ______ life. Besides having to live with a clubfoot (畸形足), his peers ______   him for it. Though he is ______ a scholarship from Oxford, he turns it down. He would rather study "things that matter" in Germany. He ______ helps a woman with whom he is fascinated, but this causes him to ______ medical school-he gives her all his money. ______, he becomes a hunger-stricken vagabond (流浪汉), takes a low-paid job for ______, finally gets back to medical training and settles down.

Philip's altruism (利他主义) is often regarded as a(an)______ by other characters, but does this lead to his downfall? Quite the ______. Philip's goodwill to a patient, Mr. Athelny，______ his marrying the eldest Athelny girl, who ______ him with all her heart.

Moreover, even in his unsuccessful early days, Philip's courage in ______ circumstances helps him form friendships and a support network that ______ him through tough times. This is   ______ he finds his most valued long-term empathy (共情).

As French writer Romain Rolland ______ it, "There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it." Of Human Bondage ______ that.