【推荐1】One year ago, I received the most heartbreaking letter a senior high school student could read. Reading that letter brought me a mix of _________: shock, anger, stress, and sadness. Over the past year, I have thought a lot about what made the month of waiting so _________. The answer for me was fear of the unknown. How much I hope for a quick and _________ answer!

For many 17- or 18-year-olds, this may be the first time that something is completely out of your control. When you hand in your application, you are putting your hopes and _________ into someone else’s hands. That’s a feeling which is _________ to be harmed.

This was a bad time for me. I’m not going to _________. I felt so bad when seeing my _________ going to their first choice schools. However, this gave me a lot more _________ at the same time. I believe I am quite able to succeed in college. And that is what helped me to _________ this bad time. In the end, I was __________ by another university, which is as good as my first choice school.

I am so __________ that I got that rejection (拒绝) letter one year ago, because I grew more from that experience than I ever thought I would. I __________ how to be happy for people who got what I wanted. I learned how to fit in what I hadn’t __________ for.

Being rejected is a terrible feeling, but there is so much __________ that comes out of it. You can take your time to be __________, but be grateful for being where you are. Please believe the better is coming.

【推荐2】Myrtle is a small sleepy town in Missouri. There’s no bank or restaurant here, but a small stone_______right next to the state highway. Half of it is a post office. The other half is a one-room_______.Rachel Luster took over this library four months ago with the_______of connecting the community to the outside world and creating a _______center for the kids.

Her first task was_______the books she felt every library must have: The Odyssey. “I looked and looked. But we didn’t have. No library in our system had one,” Luster said. So she started to use social media to_______money from people around the state and has already _______about 1, 000 new books to the library.

“While the Myrtle library_______taxpayer money, it gets only $200a month for books and supplies,” she explained. “But the library is a _______for the community because many people here do not have ________to the Internet at home and the library is the only place that people can connect to the outside world. I want to bring a sense of ________to the community.”

Luster’s library is open only three days a week. One of her ________visitors is 10-year-old Blake Brooks.

“Before________this library, my favorite activity was watching TV,” he said. “Now, as soon as I step off the school bus, I come here to________.I like to________.I’m in the books I read.”

【推荐3】For Aaron White, his efforts to build a long-lasting connection with his daughter began well before her birth. At her 13 weeks he would speak to his wife's womb (子宫), and he knew that she could ________ him. Aaron White thought that was where the ________ began.

White himself grew up without a dad, which ________ affected him. But it did not ________ him from dreaming of becoming a ________ one day. His daughter, is now 3 years old.

“I ________ to be present,” he said. “When I'm home, my time belongs to my ________. My daughter very rarely sees me with the TV or a device that would take me away from her. Eye contact (目光接触) is ________.”

White said that he first had to do the hard work of ________ his own father.

“Forgiving my father allowed me not to live with any burdens,” he said. But, it took ________.

“I had to recognize that I was ________,” White said. “From there, I realized: Wait, I get the ________ to change this. I realized I could change the course of where my family goes.”

White believes that his daughter's ________ grows daily as she receives his love and ________.

“It builds self-esteem (自尊) by her knowing that my time and ________ are all hers,” White said. “When she walks into the room and says, ‘Daddy, look what I'm ________!’I can respond with so much ________ like, ‘Wow! You look beautiful! ’” White believes it's the small things that ________.

He also shared a message with all dads out there.

“Fathers, just be_________” White said. “When you're present, you'll get a chance to ________ your child and see what your child needs.”

【推荐2】For years, secret gifts had been a holiday essential in Stephanie Levinson’s classroom at San Fernando Elementary School in Los Angeles County. A teacher in a______neighborhood, Levinson knew that her young students led a______life—some were homeless and others lived in garages.   So every holiday season she______to bring the kids some small gifts—a pack of crayons, a pencil, or something.

Then something unexpected happened, and the district______online learning. It opened the educators’ eyes to many other______their students faced. Some attended virtual classes from motel (汽车旅馆) rooms where their families were temporarily______, and some took classes in the places where their parents worked. When the temperature dropped, Levinson began to hear a common______. “They told me they were cold,” she said.

Levinson knew she had to do something. But with her limited______how could she possibly keep all her students______? So she created a wish list on Amazon: a blanket for each of her 24 students to______the cold. She made a heartfelt______to the residents of the rich neighborhood.

Five minutes later she got a text from a neighbor. “I’m looking at your wish list,” the ______ read, “but there’s nothing there.” Feeling puzzled, Levinson______the Amazo page. Just like that, in five minutes, her neighbors had finished the______!

Christmas comes once a year, but______knows no calendar. In the days that followed, Levinson created more wish lists, and there were always generous donors.

【推荐3】Todd left his hotel around 5:30 am to drive to a funeral (葬礼). About half an hour, he _________ a terrible sound coming from his front tire (轮胎).

Todd _________ there was little chance that anyone could help so early in the morning. _________ , he took his chances at an auto repair shop. Seeing Glenn standing by the shelves, Todd asked for help. Giving Todd a quick look, Glenn asked why he was in such _________ suit. Todd explained his difficulty.

The mechanic _________ the car and told Todd what he had feared: The wheel bearing (轴承) was _________ . And fixing it would _________ a few hours. Worried, Todd thought hard for a ( n ) _________ plan. Could he rent a car? But the only rental car there wasn’t   _________ .

Todd wrote in a blog post: “I must have looked pretty anxious at this time because Glenn then __________ into his pocket, pulled out the key to his own __________ and said “Take my truck. ” The two had met just 10 minutes before, but Glenn __________ . Todd jumped into the truck and made it to the funeral. When he came back to the garage seven hours later with a thankful __________ , he stuck around (逗留) to chat with Glenn.

“The mechanic turned a terrible day into a good one with a great __________ ,” Todd wrote. “ Just be kind and __________ if you can. ”