【推荐1】You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his dogs.

For many years, I enjoyed living with my dogs, Tilly and Chance. Their ________ was nearly enough to keep my loneliness at bay. Last year, I started dating, but with ________. When I first dated Steve, I ________ he had a dog, Molly, and a cat, Flora. While I was ________ he was an animal lover, I ________ that three dogs were perhaps too many, and my dogs might attack the cat.

The next week, we ________ our dogs together. It was a hot day. When we paused to catch our ________, Steve got down on one knee. Was he proposing? I liked him too, but so soon? He poured water from a bottle into his hand and offered it to my dogs. ________, I began to fall for him.

We continued to date, though neither of us brought up the future. And then in late November, Tilly had an operation on her ________. I took the dogs out four times a day, and I worried that Tilly ________ climbing the stairs could reopen the wound. Then Steve ________ his house. All worked ________. The three dogs formed a pack, with coaching, ________ Flora’s space; Steve and I formed a good team caring for Tilly. We made good housemates.

A year later, much to my delight, this man produced a little box with a ring and proposed to me. He did not kneel down, nor did I ________ him to. It was giving ________ to the dogs that brought us together.

【推荐2】Lately, I have been struggling to connect with my dad because our conversations have seemed unimportant to him. In a half-hearted attempt to find something that ______ him, I pulled out my phone and showed him a few ______ of Jay, my new pet rabbit.

“Did Mom tell you I got a bunny?” It was a strange question. To my surprise, my dad’s ______ were lifted. “A black bunny!” he called out, getting closer to ______ the photos. He wanted to know more. I hurried to find more photos, holding on to this ______ opportunity.

I shouldn’t be ______ that it was a bunny that broke through the ______ between my dad and me. Growing up, we never talked much. ______, our time together centered around animals, like catching crayfish at the river and caring for turtles and crabs. ______ animals has always been our thing.

A few months later, I came prepared with more photos and videos of Jay on my laptop so my dad could see them more ______. I had been ______ that his initial interest in Jay was a one-off event, but he ______ up again when I showed him the new stuff.

Our love for animals is the ______ that connects us. There was no ______ to start having deep conversations if that had never been our style, — just finding ______ together in a photo of a bunny was enough.

【推荐3】Where are the Bees?

Bees are essential to the production of food we eat. Bees make honey, but they also pollinate (授粉) large areas of ______, such as strawberries, apples and onions. About a third of the food we eat is a(n) ______ of pollination of the bees._______, bees have been disappearing at a(n) ______ rate.

In 2006, beekeepers started reporting about something called Colony Collapse Disaster (CCD). The main sign of CCD is the ______ of adult honey bees from a hive. In October of 2006, some beekeepers reported that they had lost between 30 and 90 percent of their hives.

There were many ______ for the disappearance of the bees. But the most convincing one has to ______ pesticides (杀虫剂) and lifestyles of bees today. Nowadays beekeepers get most of their income not from ______ honey but from renting bees to pollinate plants. This means that the life of the typical bee now ______ travelling all around the country to pollinate crops as the ______ change. That means a lot of traveling on trucks, which is very ______ to bees. It is ______ for up to 30% of the hive to die during ______ due to stress. In addition, bees that spend most of their time locked up on trucks are not ______ what they usually live on. ______, they are exposed to a sweet liquid from corn, usually polluted with pesticides.

The ______ reason for the disappearance of bees is not sure, but losing bees is very ______ to the economy. The bee pollination services are ______ over $8 billion a year. With no bees, pollination will have to be done ______, which would have effects on the quality of food and increase food prices. We hear a lot about big environmental disasters almost every day. But one of the biggest ______ well be the loss of that tiny flying insect.

【推荐2】A few minutes before six o'clock, Mr. Smith began to leave. He was about to start the car when a gun man _________up from the back seat. He _______a gun to Mr. Smith’s head, “Drive me to Paris!” he shouted.

“All right,” Mr. Smith answered. He started the engine (发动机), pulled away from the side of the street and _________down. Being 81 years old, he knew he could not _________the gunman. He knew he needed help. Where were the police? As he drove _________each crossing, he looked up and down the side streets, hoping to find a police car, but he could see _________. “Just my luck,” he thought. “If I was _________too fast, there would be a police car on every corner.”

_________he pushed his foot down on the accelerator, and the car ran _________faster. “What are you doing？” shouted the gunman. “Keeping off the police,” Mr. Smith answered. “I thought I saw a police car ____________there.”

He ran red lights, drove wrong on one-way streets. On the two-way streets, he drove on the wrong ____________of the road. No one of the policemen saw him. Again, Mr. Smith’s plan was not working. He had to try a ____________plan.

He ____________a corner and saw the police station in front. Then he drove his car as fast as he could towards the police gate. The car hit a police motorbike down and stopped. Mr. Smith shouted, “Help! Help!” Then he ____________back to grab the man’s gun. At the same time the policemen heard the ____________and quickly caught the gunman.

【推荐3】The day before my daughter, Norah’s fourth birthday, something she said forecast a remarkable event. I’d just picked her up from preschool when she cautioned me to_________the elderly person walking across the parking lot at a glacier’s pace. She went on to explain that she has a soft spot for mature people: “I_________old people the best because they walk slow like I do and they have soft skin like me. They all gonna die soon, so I’m gonna love them_________they die.” I was_________by her thoughtfulness and empathy.

The following day—her birthday—again on the way home from_________, she asked if we could stop at the_________store to buy cupcakes. How do you say no to a birthday girl? So we headed toward the bakery and picked up the cupcakes. As I was distracted by a clearance shelf, Norah was busy standing up in the cart,_________waving and joyfully proclaiming, “Hi, old person! It’s my birthday today!”

Before I could hush her, he stopped and turned to her. His expressions_________as he replied, “Well, hello, little lady! Happy Birthday!” They chatted for a few minutes. Then, Norah turned to me and asked, “Can I take a_________with him?” I told her we’d certainly ask. I__________him and asked if he’d take a photo with my daughter for her birthday. His expression changed from confused to stunned to__________“A photo? With me?” he asked. “Yes, sure, for my birthday!” Norah answered. And so he did. I pulled out my iphone, and they__________together. She placed her soft hand on top of his. He__________stared at her with twinkling eyes as she kept his hand in hers, kissed the top of his hand and then placed it on her cheek. They were chatting like long-lost________. I asked his name, and he told us to call him Dan. We were blocking other__________but they didn’t care. There was magic happening in the grocery store that day, and we could all feel it.

【推荐1】John graduated from a key university and he was very good at his major. He wished to find a good job. One day, he went to a company to ________ for a job. He got the news in a newspaper. He did some research on this company. When he was ________, everything went well. The manager asked him some questions and he answered them ________. John was very satisfied with his performances and was very ________ that he could get the job. But at that moment, the manager’s phone________. He picked up the phone, listened and nodded. And then he turned around and said to John, “Sorry, I want to get some important ________ now. Please give me the book with the red ________ on that desk.” John looked around and found 3 books on the desk, so John went to the desk, took one book and handed it to him________. Holding the book, the manager ________ the phone and said, “Sorry, we cannot give the job to you.” John was ________ and wondered why. The manager said, “There are three________. First, when you came into the office room, I found that the third button on your shirt had been missing. Second, there are three books with red covers on that desk, but you didn’t ask me which one I needed and you took one ________. Third, I was answering the call. You should ________ to the desk to save time. These details showed you are not a careful person.”________, John didn’t get the job.

We can learn a (n) ________ from John’s experience. Some people don’t ________ the details in our life. But it is the details that ________. Not only should we value what we learn but also we should pay more attention to the details. Sometimes they can even ________ our success or failure. We should form the habit of being careful and learn to keep the ________ of quantity and quality. We should keep it in mind that ________ comes first, without which quantity is of no significance.

【推荐2】One spring evening, I was extremely tired after a long day of school. I wished for ________ but I had to drag my heavy feet to the violin studio.

I was playing Moldau to Kate, my teacher. I simply couldn’t play with________, though. While I followed all the________ on the sheet music(乐谱), I still________ to make music describing spring with lively flowers sound like flowers dying bitter deaths. Kate________ attentively and then frowned (皱眉), asking me what the piece’s mood was. I stared at her, ________.

Pulling out paper and a pencil, she asked, “Can you________ an image of what you think a typical day in the forest during spring would look like?” Hesitantly, I started to let my ________ fly. Soon a scenic forest full of life was________ in my mind.

Minutes later, I completed my drawing. “Now, play the piece again with this ________ imagery (意) in your mind, ”Kate said. I closed my eyes and began to play, with exceptional expression I had never done before.

As I________ the piece, there followed a short silence before Kate said, “That’s the best playing I’ve ever heard from you. ”Her eyes were________. “Who knew painting out the scenery would help you better interpret the________? Sometimes all we need is to use our creativity and try different methods when facing difficulties. ”

The________ violin lesson taught me more than just music. I also learned a valuable________ skill, which I applied to my daily life.

【推荐3】The other day I was talking to a stranger on the bus he told me that he had a good_________in Chicago and he wondered if, by any chance, _________to know him. For a moment, I thought he might be_________, but I could tell from the expression on his face that he was not. He was_________. I felt like saying that it was ridiculous (可笑的) to_________that out of all the millions of people in Chicago I could possibly have ever came across his friend. But _________ I just smiled and reminded him that Chicago was a very_________city. He nodded, and I thought he was going to be content to give up the subject and talk about something else. But I was wrong. He was silent for a few minutes and then he_________to tell me all about his friend.

His friend’s main_________in life seemed to be tennis. He was an excellent tennis player, and he   __________ had his own tennis court (球场). There were a lot of people with swimming__________, yet there were only two people with private tennis court; his friend in Chicago was one of them. I told him that I knew several__________like that including my brother who was doctor in California. He__________that maybe there were more private courts in the country than he__________but he did not know of any others. Then he asked me__________ my brother lived in California. When I said Sacramento, he said that was a coincidence__________his Chicago friend spent the summer in Sacramento last year and he lived next door to a__________who had a tennis court in his backyard. I said I felt that really was a coincidence (巧合) because my next-door neighbour had gone to Sacramento last summer and had__________the house next to my brother’ s house. For a moment we stared at each other, but we did not say anything.

“Would your friend’s name happen to be Roland Kirkwood?” I asked finally. He__________and said “Yes. Would your brother’s name happen to be Dr Rey Hunter?” It was my__________to laugh “Yes,” I replied.