【推荐1】Many years ago, my teaching colleague Margie and I just finished reading the last book about Midwest pioneer life to our third graders. We started to ________ what project to do next with the students. But then she said to me, “Why don’t you ________ all those places we read about?”

I was a homebody and ________ didn’t possess any of that pioneer spirit of taking off into the ________. Besides, that long ________ would take much money. Unless someone paid for all those necessary items, Margie’s suggestion wasn’t ________ for me.

Not long afterward, by the teacher mailboxes, I noticed an advertisement for a teacher creativity ________ for the summer holiday. I read over the application form and the ________ for the program, each of which would be funded with $7,500. One of the examples ________ the visits to many locations to study literature and history. Not expecting any success, I ________ and mailed my application. Two months later, I learned I was one of the eighty ________ from hundreds of applicants.

With a smile on the outside and ________ on the inside, I waved goodbye and hit the road with the books my ________ had read with me. I eagerly ________ a notebook that Margie had given me before I started. On the front cover, she had written, “For the teachers and students at school, you are our feet, and we will go with you in ________ wherever you go!”

【推荐3】Over the years I’ve spent living in Beijing, I can _________ the number of truly outdoor experiences I’ve had on one hand. But a road trip to Nanshan Skiing Village in February 2021 provided me with some _________ memories.

As my friends and I sat together in the ski lift chair, I finally felt for the first time that I had _________ left the busy city life of Beijing. Up in the air a few dozen meters off the ground, I _________ the wide view of the countryside and appreciated the peaceful quiet.

As the ski lift reached its _________, I _________ slid off from the chair and almost did a face-plant into the snow. “So much for the peace and quiet”, I _________ to myself. _________, I gathered myself together and made my way as _________ as I could to one of the several starting points.

My buddies had already started making their way down the hill, and I was about to join them but suddenly fear __________ me as I noticed how easy it was to __________ speed. I __________ to swerve (突然转向) to the side to slow down, but ended up tumbling (摔倒) down into the snow.

Not wanting to become __________, I awkwardly reattached the ski. Although I still felt nervous, by accepting the risk I was able to ski more confidently and at last managed to make it down the whole ski slope (斜坡).

By the day’s end, I had relearned what it __________ to take risks and get out of my comfort zone. By accepting what seems __________, you can find both confidence and peace within.

【推荐1】I received a rejection email after interviewing for a postdoc position. When I read it, I felt ________ and angry—and not just because I hadn’t gotten the job but because I’d spent hours preparing for the interview and in the end, I didn’t even ________ why I wasn’t successful. “How can I ________ my job search approach if I don’t know what went wrong?” I thought.

Later, I applied for another job but failed again. “Would you like to hear ________ from us?” they asked. The representative told me why I was ________ . From then on, I decided to improve. Soon the effort started to ________, as I got an offer for a position that I was truly excited about

A few years later, I ______ myself on the other side of the interview table. As a freshly hired group leader, I was ________ candidates in my lab. I was particularly looking forward to talking with one candidate because his application looked great—a nice CV, good ________ and a strong cover letter. But the interview went badly. When I called to tell him I couldn’t ________ him the position, I asked him if he wanted to know where he could improve. It’s never pleasant to listen to constructive ________ . But as the conversation went on, I got the sense that he was ________ for what I had to say.

For each recruitment (招聘), I’ve made a point to treat every interview as a _____ :Candidates invest time and effort to prepare for our conversation—and if they don’t get the position, the least I can do is ________ their effort with pointers about how they can improve. If no one tells us where we are _______ , we are likely to make the same mistakes over and over again.

【推荐2】That night, I felt like a child who’d lost her way. Shall I write to her, such a famous lady? Why would a busy woman like her ________ to me, just a nobody? Finally, however, I called up all my courage and put pen to paper.

I wrote about myself and my ________: I hoped to touch people’s hearts through my ________. I wrote a few drafts, and then the most ________ part came: Should I send it or not? It was 2:00 a. m. by then, and my finger kept ________ the “Send” button. The fear of ________ seemed much bigger than it should be. I finally told myself ________ I never heard back from her, I couldn’t live with the ________ of not trying. At 2:48 a. m., I finally ________ “Send.”

The next day, I ________ an e-mail from Arianna Huffington! She wanted me to become a blogger for her website, and she connected me to the ________!

It’s been over three years since that ________ night that was filled with the fear of rejection but ________ changing my life. Today, I’ve published three books and written many articles for websites. And, most _______, I learned rejection only means I tried to do something outside of my ________ zone.

【推荐1】Last summer, our group of 16 American students reached the elephant conservation camp deep in the jungles of Thailand. We were to give our _________ to elephants’ lifelong trainers called mahouts(象夫). By helping them, we’d take out some jobs from their _________ schedule.

On my first day _________ with my elephant Yom, I was asked to wear a strange-looking suit by her mahout. I was also instructed not to _________ it under any circumstances so that my personal _________ would enter the suit and stay strong.

It was remarkable how _________ Yom was．After a couple of days, Yom flapped(拍) her ears in _________ every time she smelled me coming. She reached out her long trunk and gently _________ me from the ground. Her flagging ears acted as a (an) _________ , always holding my legs against her neck to make sure I didn’t fall off.

Every morning I rode Yom to a lake to give her a bath and then to the ____________ , where Yom had her fill of leaves. Next I rode her to her daily activities. In an obstacle(障碍) course, I led her through poles and ____________ her to bow her head and walk backwards. Yom was exceptionally ____________ ! She had had over 48 years of training at the camp! Yom performed these ____________ in shows for tourists to raise money for her own upkeep.

Time flew by! We had to ____________ . Yom sensed it. She pressed her head against mine, tears welling up. How I ____________ seeing her again!