【推荐1】I believe listening is powerful medicine. Studies have shown it takes a ___1___ about 18 seconds to interrupt a patient after he begins talking.

It was a Sunday. I had one last patient to see. I __2__ her room in a hurry and stood at the doorway. She was an old woman, sitting at the edge of the bed, __3___ to put socks on her swollen（肿胀）feet. I crossed the threshold（门槛）, spoke quickly to the nurse, and scanned her chart noting she was in stable condition. I was almost in the clear.

I ___4___ on the bedrail（床的栏杆）looking down at her. She asked if I could help put on her socks. Instead, I launched into a monologue（独白） that went ___5___ like this, “How are you feeling? Your sugars and blood pressure were high __6___ they’re better today. The nurse mentioned you’re __7__ to see your son who’s visiting you today. It’s nice to have family visit from far away. I bet you really look forward to seeing him.”

She __8__ me with a serious, authoritative voice. “Sit down, doctor. This is my story, not your story.”

I was surprised and embarrassed. I sat down. I helped her with the socks. She began to tell me that her only son lived ___9___ from her, but she had not seen him in five years. She believed that the stress of this __10__ greatly to her health problems. After hearing her story and putting on her socks, I asked if there was anything else I could do for her. She __11___ her head no and smiled. All she wanted me to do was to listen.

Each story is different. Some are detailed; others are vague. Some have a beginning, middle and end; others wander __12___ a clear conclusion. Some are true; others not. Yet all those things do not really matter. What matters to the storyteller is that the story is heard without ___13__, assumption or judgment.

Listening to someone’s story costs __14___ expensive diagnostic testing but is key to healing and diagnosis.

I often thought of __15_ that woman taught me, and I __16__ myself of the importance of stopping, sitting down and truly listening. And, not long after, in a(n) ___17__ twist, I became the patient, with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis（多发性硬化症） at age 31. Now, 20 years later, I sit all the time in a wheelchair.

For ___18__ I could, I continued to see patients from my chair, but I had to resign when my hands were affected. I still teach medical students and other health care professionals, but now from the perspective(角度) of physician and patient.

I tell them I ___19___ the power of listening. I tell them I know firsthand that immeasurable healing ___20___ within me when someone stops, sits down and listens to my story.

【推荐2】Ever since I was a boy, I have been an avid (热衷的) reader. I have read and been _________ by so many books from so many authors. I think it may be one of the reasons I started _________ myself. I even enjoy hearing _________ about other authors, because they can _________ me a lot as well.

I heard one such story the other day that really made me stop and _________. The two famous authors, Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller were invited to a(n) _________ given by a billionaire at his home. As the host _________ his luxury house to his guests and bragged about the rare works of art he had collected, Vonnegut _________ to his friend Heller that their host had probably made more _________ in a single day than Heller had earned from his most popular novel, Catch-22 over its entire history. Heller smiled back and said, “Yes, he probably has __________ I have something he will never have—ENOUGH.”

What is enough? Our society tells us that __________ is ever enough. The messages and advertisements bombard (轰炸) us every day, attempting to __________ us to spend all the money we have and all the money we don’t have to __________ more and more stuff. However, what is really enough for us? If our bellies are full, then we have enough. If we have clothes to keep us __________, then we have enough. If we have a roof over our heads to __________ us from the cold, wind and rain, then we have enough. If we have people we love and people who love us, then we have enough.

【推荐3】A little boy almost thought of himself as the most unlucky child in the world because a disease made his leg lame (跛的). He_______played with his classmates. When the teacher asked him to answer questions, he always_______his head without a word.

One_______the boy’s father asked for some young trees from the neighbor. He wanted the_______to plant a young tree each person in front of the house. The father said, “Whose young tree grows best, I will buy him or her a favorite _______.” Seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees, however, the boy had an idea. He hoped that the tree he planted would   _______ soon. So, after watering it once or twice, he never _______ it.

A few days later, when the little boy went to see his tree again, he was _______to find that it didn’t fade but grew some fresh leaves. _______ the trees of his brothers and sisters, his tree was even greener. His father kept his ____________, bought the little boy his favorite gift and said that from the tree he planted, he would become an outstanding ____________ when he grew up.

Since then, the little boy slowly became____________. One night, he lay on the bed but could not sleep. Then he got up and came to the ____________. To his surprise, his ____________ was splashing (喷洒) something onto his tree. ____________ he understood — his father had been ____________ fertilizing (施肥) his small tree!

He returned to his room, ____________running down. ____________ passed. The little boy didn’t become a botanist (植物学家), but he was elected President of the United States.

His name was Franklin Roosevelt. Love is the ____________ nourishment (营养) of life. ____________ it is just a drop of clear water, it can still help the tree of life thrive (茁壮成长).

【推荐1】During my second year at the city college, I was told that the education department was offering a course for free, called Thinking Chess, for three credits(学分). I____the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to____a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren't____enough about free credits, news about our____was attractive enough to me. He was an international grandmaster(大师), which____I would be learning from one of the game's____. I could hardly wait to____him. Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this____was no game for him; he took it seriously. In his introduction, he made it____that our credits would be hard to earn. In order to____the class, besides other requirements, we had to write a paper on how we plan to____what we would learn in class to our future jobs and, ____, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that____and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the____. Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he____me: “The most important____that you learn when you play chess is how to make good____. On every single move you have to____a situation, understand what your opponent(对手) is doing and____the best one from among all your possible moves.” These words still make a difference today in my____as a news reporter.

【推荐2】I used to hate running. It seemed too hard, and expanding my comfort zone was not something I like. In fact, I wouldn’t have become a runner if it weren’t for my husband Charles. He had been a serious competitive ______ for many years. After our marriage, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he ______ it. So he picked it up again, and after about a year, I started to ______ him at the track. Just a few weeks later, Charles signed us ______ up for a five-kilometer race. I ______ about doing it because it was too soon.

The ______ sent a signal. Thousands of runners pushed forward. The first kilometer was ______. I was already breathing heavily and painfully aware of the group of runners ______ me. Charles was trying to ______ me, to get me focused on something _______my discomfort.

After another minute I saw the three-kilometer ______. “Painful” couldn’t _____describe how I felt. And there was pain, so much pain. I rounded a ______, and saw both sides of the street ______ with people watching the race, all ______ the runners up. I tried to keep my ______ going. I knew that if I actually ______ this race I would have achieved something. So, I ______ up and went on.

Finally I passed through the finish line. A volunteer put a medal around my neck. I ______ held my medal, walking to the post-race celebrations with Charles. My lungs and my ______ zone both expanded.