【推荐2】Kid Power

As COVID-19 spread in April. Cherry was afraid to leave her house. She had _______ three family members to the virus (病毒), and with her medical problems, she wasn't taking any chances. _______ about the difficulties in life, Cherry, aged 65, replied to a nextdoor. com _______ from a stranger offering help. That stranger was Christy in Gaithersburg. She _______ the next day with her four-year-old son, Ethan. They _______ out Cherry's rubbish and brought in her mail and kept visiting her _______ until she was well enough to do for herself.

“On our street, we have a few elders; _______, we're the eyes and ears for them. Fixing doors. doing their gardens,” says Christy, aged 32. “We said, ‘There's a grandma that _______ help.’ And Ethan was _______: ‘Great! I'm going to be a helper!’”

Gaithersburg is a young community, so it's no ________ that the city's youth are leading the way and showing their ________. Besides Ethan, area teens are also ________ in Teens Helping Seniors. Every weekend they ________ grocery (食品杂货) to the doors of the elders.

For Cherry, young people bring ________. “We were taught if you can't change something, accept it,” she says. “________ these young people's attitude is ‘I'm going to change what I can't accept.’”

【推荐3】Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches computers in the school he works in. I think it is a ________ school except for the fact that the school didn’t have ________.

Owura became famous after he posted photos of him on the Internet. In the picture, people could see he was teaching his students by ________ an entire computer on the blackboard. The photos showed the ________ level of education for children in Ghana. People were ________ that Owura made sure each button (按钮) was drawn correctly.

Owura wanted the students to ________ what life with a computer could be like someday. He would come to school half an hour ahead of the ________ every day. He drew the computer on the blackboard, but at the end of his class, it was ________ off to start the next class, so he had to ________ it the next day!

Omura’ s efforts were________ when Microsoft (微软公司) took ________ of his act. They first took him to an international educators’ meeting in Singapore. He made a ________ about his teaching methods at the meeting. He ________ a standing ovation (致敬) after the speech.

________, Owura got the thing he always wanted for his students—some companies ________ computers to the school. Not a single child in the ________ had seen a real computer in their lives. Thanks to their teacher’s ________ the world took notice and responded with ________ to them.

“Your work has really ________ the world. At Microsoft, we believe that educators are heroes. They ________ influence the lifelong skills of their students.” said Anthony Salcito, Vice president at Microsoft.

【推荐1】From Disappointment to Purpose

I’m known for my determination. If I want something, I _______ for it; I refuse to give up ___________ I succeed. Over the years this attitude has worked well for me and helped me achieve my goals. For example, when I wanted to be on the dance team at school, I learned all the dances and practiced until I could hardly _________. And when I wanted money for a new computer, I washed cars, babysat, and walked dogs for all my neighbors.

_______ 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 completed the application in my neatest handwriting, carefully prepared for my interview, and gathered a pack of _______ letters. I was certain that nothing could keep me from my dream job.

But after my ___________, the manager of the Water Zone told me that he could hire only those with experience in water safety. I was ____________. I felt like a failure.

On the last weekend before school ended, my teacher, Mrs. Keller, asked me __________ I would be interested in the kids’ summer day camp. I decided that I had nothing to __________, so I called the manager and ____________ an interview. She was ____________ by my babysitting experience and employed me. In less than a week, I had completely __________ about wanting to 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 __________: to work with children. I now have a new goal. I’m going to study to become an elementary school teacher.

Sometimes in life we don’t get __________ what we want. Our dream guy or girl may not be interested in us. The coach may not select us for the team. A certain employer may not choose to hire us. It’s natural to feel __________; I sure did. But I also learned an important lesson. Occasionally, when we don’t get what we want, something even ____________ is waiting for us around the corner!

【推荐2】My husband, Russ, and I drove through our neighborhood, the place we’d called home for 28 years. The foothills, once thick with towering pines, were _________. The ground was covered with a heavy layer of ash. The trees that _________ were burnt stumps (树桩).

Two weeks earlier, we’d gotten an early-morning call telling us to _________ immediately. The wildfire burning through Northern California had spread and was headed our way. We’d jumped in the car with our cats and a few belongings. For days, we’d moved from hotel to hotel, _________ for news. What finally came wasn’t _________. Our house had been right in the fire’s path.

Now we’d been allowed to return. Russ and I brought _________, work boots, N95 masks and gloves. We would _________ anything we could. We drove slowly through the ruins, where chimneys marked where homes once stood. I wasn’t prepared for what _________ us. Our house was _________ but broken stones, I wiped away tears as we dug through the ash.

“How will we survive this?” I wondered. “How will we go on?” It felt as if our lives had been destroyed. Later that afternoon Russ __________ what we’d found in the car. “Let’s go,” he said.

I turned to get in the car. That’s when I __________ something stuck to my boot: a bit of paper, dirtied with ash. I picked it up. The words were surprisingly __________, “If life seems difficult, I stop and reflect on the blessing sometimes hidden within every situation. With renewed belief and __________, I begin again.”

Words that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn’t recall but now said everything I needed to __________, words that rose from the ashes. I framed (给……做框) that scrap of paper. It now sits in a place of honor in our new home, a reminder that we can __________ again.

【推荐1】It was 11:30 at night in the Wesleyan village. Daisy and her sister were relaxing at home when she heard sounds from a small airplane circling the nearby airport.

She knew any time a plane flied over that late, something was _________. Daisy and her sister leaped out of the bed, ran to the window, and saw the problem: The airport’s runway _________ were out.

Daisy threw on some clothes, jumped into her car, and _________ it to the airport, where she found a local pilot trying to turn on the lights, but in vain. Meanwhile, she learned it was a helicopter there to transport a _________ ill local girl to the nearest hospital. The pilot was very _________.

Daisy had a plan. Driving her car to the end of the runway, she _________ her headlights for the plane to follow. But it wasn’t enough. More light was needed, so she called every neighbour in the village. To the pilot’s _________ , 20 vehicles arrived at the airport within 20 minutes. Many of the drivers were still in pajamas. The cars _________ up on one side of the runway.   

The helicopter made its final approach and, _________ by the headlights, landed safely. The young patient was finally saved.

In a world filled with uncertainty, the little community’s positive activity was a big deal. Not so much for Daisy. She thought coming together was kind of a ____________ deal.

【推荐2】“5 pm, madam.” “What? My baby can no longer wait for that! Can you please ask the crew a favor to make it   _______ ?”My 3-month-old baby was already very   _______ .His stomach became larger and larger in each hour that passed by.

Three days ago, we brought him to be   _______ to the hospital where I worked due to several vomiting(呕吐).I knew the danger very well because there were already _______ patients of this case that we had encountered. But it was not as simple as I _______ .It held a bigger unknown threat that needed a(an) _______surgery. But before the doctor could figure out the best   _______ ,he ordered a CT Scan of the Whole Stomach. It was scheduled at the most famous hospital of the city _______ our own hospital didn’t have it yet.

Everything about him suddenly became so _______ .I knew that his chance of   __________became very thin. So I was afraid that he couldn’t wait for another few hours if no intervention would be given.

“Madam, we’re so blessed. His __________   is moved to 3 pm.”

I was   __________   but another much bigger problem   __________ :I did not have the money needed. I had to send messages with my __________ to borrow money to the persons in my contact list. I only had few minutes left then. I asked for a vacant room and there I knelt down and cried while   __________ a miracle to provide me with ways right then. As soon as I got up from my __________ ,my cell phone suddenly rang   __________ .“Ms. Lucero, please claim your money through…”And one after another, I __________ different messages telling me to get the money they sent for my baby. I had the money then in less than an hour! Not only for the CT Scan but for our immediate needs during our whole hospital stay!

I was so awed(敬畏的)at how destiny(命运)   __________ all the incidents in our lives to come up for blessings that it has prepared ahead of us! But most of all, me first __________ that he has shown me, is that my baby shall live !

【推荐3】Milo is a dog, adopted by 20-year-old Makayla Swift from an animal shelter. One morning in November 2021, Swift opened her front door in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Milo immediately_______to the house across the street. Milo seemed _______, so he ran to the one next door, Swift on his tail. “He started scratching (抓) the front door,” Swift says. “I’m thinking, why is he insistently trying to_______her house?” She was embarrassed for not everyone wants a(n)_______dog on their property. But as she tried to drag Milo away, she could hear a voice yelling “help” coming through an open upstairs window. Hours_______, around 4 a.m., Sherry Starr had risen from her bed. “All of a sudden, standing there between the toilet and the tub, I_______,” she says. “I slumped on the floor.” Starr is 85. “I could not move at all”, says Starr, who was_______between the toilet and the tub. Starr was scared and thought she was going to die there. Her best_______, she decided, was to listen for the letter carrier in the afternoon and scream. For the next few hours, Starr practiced yelling: “Help! Help! Helllp!” “Her voice was very_______,” says Swift. “You had to be right at the front door to hear Mrs. Starr yell for help________you were Milo, the dog.” It________heard Starr the instant Swift opened her own front door. Swift called 911. Rescuers thought they’d have to break down the toilet to________Starr, but they gave one last pull — and out she popped. Though injured, Starr________a trip to the hospital.

Swift has known her share of________. Two years ago, her mother died. She says Milo has helped her with her grief too. “That dog is a________,” she says.