【推荐1】People are like potatoes. After potatoes have been harvested they have to         1    (spread)out and sorted in order to get the maximum market dollar. They are divided according to size—big,         2         and small. After the potatoes have been sorted and bagged,       3         are loaded onto trucks. All Idaho potato farmers use this method—all but         4    .

One farmer never bothered to sort the potatoes at all. Yet he made the most money. A         5    (puzzle) neighbor finally asked him, “    6         is your secret？” He said, “It's simple. I just load up the wagon with         7         and take the roughest road to town. During the eight－mile trip, the little potatoes always fall to the         8    . The medium potatoes land in the middle,           9         the big potatoes rise to the top.” That's not only true           10         potatoes. It is a law of life. Big potatoes rise to the top on rough roads, and tough people rise to the top in rough times.

Murphy     1     (lose) her parents in her early 20s. Two years ago, she was struggling with finding happiness in her career. During walks     2     the beach, she would talk to her parents in her head,     3     (seek) guidance about her career choices. “Since they weren’t with me physically, I would ask for little signs in the form of heart shaped rocks. When I would find one, I would feel     4     (connect)to something outside of myself.” These small treasures made her feel like she wasn’t alone.

Once, during a trip, Murphy was moved by the way tiny courtesies (礼貌) like a smile made her feel more comfortable in an     5     (familiar) country. She came back with the understanding that small acts of kindness could have a big impact.

One day, while walking on the beach, she suddenly came up with an idea of writing some encouraging    6     (message) on rocks. So, she did it. She soon learned her small action was already making ripples (涟漪). That night a friend texted her a picture of a rock and said, “Was this you?” She had suspected Murphy     7     she knew Murphy walked along that beach. Murphy     8     (touch) by the way her friend said finding that rock had made her day.

Murphy became hooked on the idea that she could spread happiness through something as simple as a rock with a message on it. She started leaving rocks in other places. With these rocks, she left a small sign encouraging others     9     (leave) a kindness rock somewhere else   “One rock, one person,” Murphy explains. “If a message hits a person at the right time, or they join, it’s like a huge connection. It’s    10     our world needs right now.”

Everyone would have success if it     1     (be) free. But there are few successful individuals and each of them had put in enough productive work     2     they received anything in return. While working hard on what you believe in, you're understanding its true value. You begin to respect the work itself, to build some     3     (exception) qualities along the way, and to learn important life lessons during it.

There is a popular     4     (believe) that in the beginning of your journey, you aren't ready to handle the success and all the responsibilities that come together with it. But earning it with sweat and sacrifices     5     (prepare) you for that. So the hard work, together with the time it takes, is     6     must on your journey to success. It makes you who you have to turn into     7     (live) the better life that's waiting for you. What's more, the harder you work on your dream, the more confident you become.

Hard work gives you a purpose — it helps you to be patient, to take action instead of waiting     8     (mere) for things to happen, to stop blaming yourself or others and take responsibility for anything you have or don't have in your life.

Now that you know all this about hard work, never     9     (question) its power. Instead, create your strategy, make a step-by-step plan and take the first step towards success no later than today. Your hard work will     10     doubt pay off!

Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage,     1     (locate) by the Blossom Bathing Brook of Chengdu City, is the former residence of Du Fu,     2     great poet of Tang Dynasty of China. In the winter of AD 759, Du Fu and his family     3     (flee) to Chengdu in order to seek refuge from the “Rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming”. Beside the beautiful Blossom Bathing Brook, he built a thatched cottage named “Chengdu Thatched Cottage”,     4     he lived for nearly 4 years. Of all the poems he wrote there, more than 240 are still read. These monumental poems endow the Cottage with profound cultural significance,     5     (make) it a sacred land in the history of Chinese Literature.

Covering an area of 190,000 square meters, the Cottage is the biggest, best preserved and most distinctive relic in memory of Du Fu in China. In the center of the hall, a bronze statue of Du Fu, made by Liu Kaiqu, a famous sculptor of our country,     6     (place) in the center of the hall.

Chinese critics from the Song Dynasty referred to Du Fu     7     the “poet-historian”. Both before and after the An Lushan Rebellion, Du Fu witnessed a typical     8     (politics) and social situation. The common people still lived in     9     (poor) while the emperor and his top officials enjoyed a foolishly luxurious life. He composed many poems such as “Song of the War Chariots”, “Three Officials”, and “Three Departures”.     10     he expressed in his poems are the dissatisfaction with the government and his great pity for the common people.

【推荐3】Robert Burns is the most famous poet to write in Scots, the traditional language of Scotland.

Born in Ayrshire, Scotland to a poor farming family, his parents made sure that he was well educated as a child. In 1783 he started composing poetry     1     a traditional style using the Ayrshire dialect of Scots. These poems were well received     2     (local) and in 1786 they were published in the volume, Poems, Chiefly,     3     made him famous in Scotland overnight.

    4     , his fame was not accompanied by money and he found     5     necessary to return to farming.     6     this also proved unprofitable, he entered government service in 1789.

He died at the age of 37 as a result of a weak heart, brought on by years of poor working conditions on the farm     7     (date) back to his childhood. Within a short time of his death, money started pouring in from all over Scotland     8     (support) his widow and children.

Today, his memory     9     (celebrate) by Burns clubs across the world and his birthday is     10     unofficial “National Day” for Scots and those with Scottish ancestry, celebrated with Burns suppers.