【推荐1】From Disappointment to Purpose

I’m known for my determination. If I want something, I go for it. Over the years this _______ has worked well for me and helped me achieve my goals. When I wanted to be on the dance team at school, I learned all the dances and practiced until I could hardly _______.

But this year everything changed. I had set my sights on a summer _______ that I was determined to get at the Water Zone, because the employees there could go on the water rides after their work and get free food at the snack bar. It was the _______ job to have on hot summer vacations. So just as I had achieved every goal in the past, I set out to _______ the job. I was certain that nothing could keep me from my dream job.

After my _______, the manager of the Water Zone told me that he could hire only those with experience in water safety. I felt like a failure.

On the last weekend before school ended, my teacher, Mrs. Keller, asked me whether I would be interested in the kids’ summer day camp. I decided that I had nothing to _______, so I called the manager. She was _______ by my babysitting experience and employed me. In less than a week, I had completely forgotten about wanting work at the water park. Each time I comforted a little boy who missed his mother or a little girl who needed to help tying her shoes, I felt I was doing something _______. I realized that I had discovered my life’s purpose: to work with children. I now have a new goal.

Sometimes in life we don’t get exactly what we want. It’s natural to feel __________. But, occasionally, when we don’t get what we want, something even better is waiting for us around the corner!

【推荐2】We are warned by our teachers not to waste time because time _______ will never return. I think it quite _______. What does time look _______? Nobody knows, and we can’t see it or touch it and no _______ of money can buy it. Time is abstract, so we have to _______ about it.

Time passes very quickly. Some students say they don’t have _______ time to review their lessons. It is _______ they don’t know how to make use of their time. They waste it in going to theatres or playing, and _______ other useless things. Why do we study every day? Why do we work? Why do most people _______ take buses instead of walking? The answer is very ________. We wish to save time because time is ________.

Today we are living in the 21^st century. We ________ time as life. When a person dies, his life ends. Since life is short, we must ________ our time and energy to our study so that we ________ be able to work and live well in the future. Laziness is the ________ of time, for it not only bring us ________, but also does other ________ to us. If it is necessary for us to do our work today, ________ we do it today and not ________ it until tomorrow. Remember that time is much more ________.

【推荐3】The fall leaves are really starting to change now. It looks like the trees and mountains have become a canvas painted by a loving artist. The bright, beautiful reds are_________in the sunlight and the yellows look like gold. Some trees have only a few leaves changed, some are half-way and others have already completely_________. Some of the leaves are falling to the ground to turn it into a colorful_________. I am enjoying this so much because I am completely aware when winter arrives all of the trees will be_________with the leaves down. It is always a little sad to see but I know it is the circle of life. Those dead leaves will become the soil that feeds the trees and_________new life next spring.

Today I noticed a lovely little girl from our community picking up the fallen leaves from the ground. The prettiest reds, yellows, and oranges were picked up and_________in her arms. Soon she had quite a pile and carefully carried them over to her Mom and then with a smile gave them to her as if they were delicate flowers. Her Mom accepted them with a smile and together they put them out on their porch and stared at them like the priceless_________.

I watched this_________from my living room window with a smile on my face as well. The world creates a circle of love as well as a circle of life. And I am positive that the former like the latter will never end. It will_________all through this life and into the next. Take your place in the circle. Give love. Receive love. Live every day of your life to the__________with love. And your soul will shine bright like the most beautiful tree in autumn.

【推荐1】When I look back on my childhood, a mixture of happiness and sorrow floods over me. I have living memories of every past life story that has had deep _______ on my future view of life. Here is one such _______ story.

Shaking in my underwear (内衣)on the driveway, I watched the home quickly _______ to the ground. A moment ago I was sleeping _______ in my comfortable bed when a _______ woke me up. My grandma’s bedroom was just next to mine and my brother’s. A fire had _______ there and awakened her. Upon hearing her, my older brother began to take action. The house, however, was over 50 years old and made of _______ . Before we could do anything, the fire had _______ it.

I stood trembling with great _______ as the fire ruined my books, clothes, and toys. I watched ________while my mother cried and my father swore (咒骂). I wondered what would ________ ahead of us since everything was lost. However, as I looked around, I ________ something for the first time: What matters aren’t ________. I saw my older brother running across the ________ by our house to get help. I saw my oldest brother who ________ from an earlier accident standing painfully on one leg. I saw my parents gathering together and my grandma ________ our little dog in her arms. Everything that was ________ had survived the fire. Our lives would continue. And that was all that mattered.

The accident that night helps me learn the ________ we share actually means much more than materials. Live our life for the things that ________, not for the things we own. Let the ________ inside us make this world a warmer place.

【推荐2】Brittany was having one of those days when things just kept going wrong. She was tired and stressed as she left football practice with all three of her kids. With everyone worn out from the busy day, Brittany decided to _______ dinner from the McDonald’s on their way home. Wyatt was the teenager working there who took her _______ that day.

As Brittany pulled up to the drive-through window to pay, all her kids were crying for one reason or another. And that’s when it _______ Brittany: She’d left her purse at home.

She looked at the young man with tears in eyes just from being _______ and annoyed and said, “I am so sorry but I have to cancel that order. I left my purse at home when we went to football tonight.”

Before Brittany could say anything, Wyatt pulled out his wallet, swiped his card, and paid for the meal. As a teenager working at McDonald’s, Wyatt probably doesn’t _______ much. Yet, he firmly declined all of Brittany’s _______ to return and pay him back.

While Wyatt _______ shrugged off what he did, Brittany knew this is just the kind of hope our world needs right now. So, she snapped a quick photo and shared her story on social media.

“I just want his parents to know how KIND & COMPASSIONATE their son was tonight! He made me realize this is exactly what we parents are trying to do—_______ great humans,” she wrote.

After connecting with Wyatt’s mom, Brittany discovered Wyatt was saving up for a vehicle. So she started a fundraising campaign online to help the teen realize his dream. Strangers from all over the country loved Brittany’s story. The humble teenager _______ and encouraged them. Before long, Brittany collected over $40,000 from the fundraiser!

“I don’t know how to put it into words because of just how crazy it was,” Wyatt said. “It’s just a small act of ________ and everything blew up and it’s just amazing to think that something like that can get you this far.”

【推荐3】My mother looks just like many grandmothers — short and white-haired. She comes from an old, traditional family in Canada, where she now still lives. She was a civil servant. In short, she didn’t do_________things.

That all changed a few years ago. She began to_________me with what she described as “independence”. At that time, I didn’t fully understand what she was doing.

In early 2015, the year she turned 75, she informed me she’d_________a seven-night trip to Turkey, and that she was going alone. There was no way I could_________that. A little old lady not speaking a word of Turkish, with no_________of the laws and customs of the land — it was impossible!

My mother paid no attention to me. Off she went. When she returned, she told us it had been a wonderful success. As it_________, she had barely spent any time alone, after_________a taxi driver to show her around. He introduced her to a rug vendor (地毯商) — Mustafa, “a lovely fellow”, and she bought some rugs. The vendor had taken her address details and promised to_________them to Canada.

I couldn’t believe her naivety (幼稚) and explained that she had been_________. The vendor had her money. She neither had nor would be receiving any rugs.

Well, I was__________.

To my great shock, her rugs did arrive some weeks later, along with a lovely note from Mustafa. To my even greater surprise, the following year Mustafa himself arrived in Canada.

“I invited him for a cup of tea and he came,” my mother told me. I was__________because she hardly knew this man! But again, she paid little attention to me, telling me to stop being silly.

I wondered: “Is she not thinking straight?”__________I worried about her, Mum was thinking straighter than most of us.

Her__________seemed to be based on a realization that life needs to be lived, when there’s relatively little of it left. It__________me of the line “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

I don’t think Mum knows what her next big “thing” is going to be. But I am sure, she is open to any__________, which is something we all probably need right now. Live life to the fullest.