【推荐1】During my second year at the city college, I was told that the education department was offering a “free” course, 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 grand master, 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 meant business. In his introduction, he made it ______ that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to ______ the class, among other criteria (标准), we had to write a paper on how we plan to ______ what we would learn in class to our future professions 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 absolute most important ______ that you learn when you play chess is how to make good ______. On every single move you have to ______ a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and evaluate (评估) the best ______ from among all your choices.” These words still ring true today in my ______ as a journalist.

【推荐2】Years ago when Sam was nine,a television advertisement caught his attention. Procter& Gamble started an advertisement ________with “the Cheer Man”,a character who visited neighborhood around the country. If he rang your doorbell and you had a had a box of Cheer or something like “Cheer” written on a piece of paper, you’d________ten dollars.

Sam was convinced that the Cheer Man would _______his home. Many parents considered his idea________, but his mother helped him prepare for that __________.

Young Sam made a _________with the Cheer logo (标志) and hung it in his bedroom .when he was________he told his classmates his dream. They ________ him, but his mother kept_________him to dream.

Time went by and the ad was not on ________.Sam stored the sign in his closet (壁橱) — but he ________believed the Cheer Man was coming.

The next summer when Sam was ten, he________a neighborhood birthday party. While they were playing outside, they ________what sounded like someone shouting. As the noise got ________,they saw a car with a loudspeaker—and a man was yelling, “Cheer!Cheer!Cheer is here!”

Sam watched ________. The car was several blocks away, but he knew it was going to his house. Sam ran home, grabbed (抓住) his sign and ________outside holding it over his head. And just as he’d ________,the Cheer Man stopped in front of his house and said, “You get the ten dollars.”Sam’s joy was beyond________.

Young Sam learned a valuable _________about believing in a dream. He discovered that anything is possible. That knowledge paved the way for Sam Haskell’s ________as a television executive and producer in Hollywood.

【推荐1】As she approached 97, Gwen Erickson from Minnesota began raising one of America’s most popular, yet endangered, butterflies— the Monarch. Last year the grandmother managed to raise 27 butterflies and this year the ________ has gone up to 61.

While some might say that nature should be left to ________ itself, the butterflies’ population is ________ rapidly and is in need of a little extra help. ________, that love and devotion is exactly what the 97-year-old is able to provide for her little winged friends.

The whole process is a little ________, beginning with collecting eggs from the milkweed leaves that grow in her backyard. Four days after Erickson placed the eggs in jars on her living-room table, the caterpillar (毛毛虫) appeared, and then. within several weeks, formed a chrysalis (蛹). A fortnight later the beautiful butterfly ________. Erickson then released the butterflies into the wild, but a couple seemed a little ________ to leave their loving home and ________ the senior by flying around the house.

When ________ her first attempt to raise the butterflies. Erickson said she hoped it could enable her grandchildren to ________ an interest in these beautiful insects. However, it’s her who has found the pleasure in raising butterflies in the end.

Normally Erickson doesn’t like to talk about herself and what she does, but she does this time as she wants to ________ others to care for this endangered species. Happily a friend and her son have joined her in her newfound ________ and hopefully we will see a(n) ________ in those decreasing numbers.

This new ________, started so late in life, is a fine example of people caring for the smaller things in life. And it reminds us that it’s never too late to be ________ in life.

【推荐3】Pennsylvania is full of mysterious places! One of those is an old turnpike (收费高速)_________ for decades. My dad loves history, and he learned it was open to the public. Therefore, when I was 14, we took a bike trip to_________ this road! My dad chose a 16-mile_________of the road for us to ride. Part of it included an old tunnel called Sideling Hill which is over a mile long! To prepare, we checked our tires and made sure our lights had batteries. In the morning, we loaded our bikes into the car and set off. As we approached the tunnel I felt_________as it was absolutely black inside! But Dad encouraged me. He said he would be beside me. He reminded me to stay cautious and keep my light on!

When we _________the tunnel, the sound of our bikes was heard through the darkness. I shined my flash light around and saw walls covered in graffiti (涂鸦). And I felt like I was being_________. I was pretty scared, but_________ on following Dad helped me relax. After riding half-way through, I could see light coming from the other end, motivating me to keep going. And I was so delighted to ride out into the bright afternoon!

Whenever going through hardships in life, I remember this trip. It reminds me that my father is always beside me. He turns on the light of hope in my_________as well as gives me _________ to keep riding through life’s__________tunnels.