“Are you too stupid to do anything right?” These words — said by a woman to a little boy who was obviously her son — were spoken_______he had walked away from her. The boy returned, his eyes downcast.

Not a_______moment, perhaps,_______small moments last a very long time. And a few words — though they mean_______at the time to the people who say them — can have great_______

I recently heard a story from a man named Malcolm Dalkoff. For the last 24 years he has been a professional_______Here is what he told me:

As a boy in Rock Island, Dalkoff was terribly_______. He had few_______and no self-confidence. One day, his English teacher, Ruth Brach, gave the class an assignment . The students had been reading To Kill a Mockingbir D. Now they were to write their own chapter that would_______the last chapter of the novel.

Dalkoff wrote his chapter and turned it__________. Today he can not recall anything__________about the chapter he wrote, or what__________Mrs Brach gave him. What he does remember is the four words Mrs Brach wrote in margin（空白）of the paper: “This is__________writing.”

Four words. They__________his life.

“__________I read those words, I had no idea of who I was or__________I was going to be.” he said. “After reading her note, I went home and wrote a short story, something I had always been__________of doing but never believed I could do.”

Over the rest of that year in school, he wrote many short stories and always brought them to school for Mrs Brach to evaluate. She was__________, tough and honest. “She was just what I__________,” Dalkoff said.

His confidence__________. Dalkoff believed that none of this would have happened if that woman had not written those four words in the margin of the paper.

【推荐3】I was tired and hungry after a long day of work.

When I walked into the living-room, my 12-year-old son ______up at me and said “I love you.” I didn’t know what to say. For several ______all I could do was to______ there and look at him. My first thought was that he must need ______ with his homework or he was trying to ______ me for some news .

Finally, I asked, “What was that all about?”

“Nothing,” He said, “My teacher said we should tell our parents that we love them and sees what they say. It’s ______.”

The next day I called his teacher to find out more about this “experiment” and how the other parents had______.

“Most of the fathers had the ______ reacting (反应) as you did.” The teacher said, “When I first______we try this, I asked the children what they thought their parents would say. Some of them thought their parents would have heart trouble. “The______is,” the teacher explained, “feeling loved is an important part of ______ . It’s something all people require. What I’m trying to tell the children is that it’s too ______ we don’t all express those feeling. A boy should be______to tell his dad he loves him.”

The teacher, a middle-aged man, understands how______it is for some of us to say the things that would be good for us to say.

When my son came to me that evening, I held on to (抱着) him for a more second. And just before he ______ away, I said in my deepest, most manly (有男子气概的) voice, “Hey, I love you, too.”

I don’t know if saying that made either of us healthier, but it did feel pretty good.

【推荐2】Music to My Ears

Robby was 10 for his first piano lesson in my class. Much as he tried, he____even the basic rhythm(节奏）. However, he dutifully reviewed the pieces that I required.

Over the months he tried and tried while I____and encouraged him. At the end of each lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day."____it seemed hopeless.

I only knew his mother from a __ as she waited in her aged car to pick him up. Then one day Robby stopped coming. I was secretly____that he stopped because of his lack of ability. Weeks later I informed the students, including Robby, of the coming recital（独奏）. To my____, Robby asked me if he could be included. I told him he really did not qualify because he had____out. He said his mom had been sick and unable to take him to lessons but he was still____.

"I've just got to play!" he____. Something inside me let me allow him to.

Then came the recital night. The gym was____with parents. I put Robby up____, thinking that I could save his poor performance through my "curtain closer（谢幕）."

The recital went off smoothly. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ___. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" I thought.

Robby pulled out the piano bench and began. I was not____for what I heard next. His fingers were___ on the keys. Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people of his age. After he ended, everyone rose___ their feet in wild applause.

In ___I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you__it?"

Robby explained, "Well, Miss Hondorf…remember I told you my mom was sick? …___she had cancer and passed away yesterday. She was born deaf, so tonight she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special."

There wasn’t a__eye in the house. That night I felt he was the teacher and I was the pupil, for it was he who taught me the meaning of perseverance and__.

【推荐1】The tourist bus winded its way into a mountainous area. When it was ______to make a turn, two passengers, —a ______ of young lovers—were so attracted by the beautiful scenery that they ______ a stop to get down. They were left behind and the bus went ______. Suddenly they heard a loud boom ______ of the road. It was a huge rock rolling down in the landslide that hit the bus and fell with it into a deep valley. The lovers were greatly ______ by the news that no passengers on board ______. When they calmed down they ______ and expressed their feelings in a few words.

The above story was told by a guide when we were riding a tourist ______ to a beautiful mountain. He asked us to guess what the lovers said ______ after the disaster that they had narrowly escaped.

Often we read reports about traffic accidents, among which there were ______ ones who missed the bus and ______ the disaster. Those people usually said with a sigh of ______ “Fortunately I was not on board.” On our bus the passengers’ ______ to the guide were various.

But the answer was quite out of our expectation. “If we hadn’t got down and ______ the bus, it would have ______ the dangerous spot and all the passengers would have survived.”

The story passed from person to person as a sort of wit test, but I think ______. It actually serves as a(n) ______ of a person’s mind. I pay my heart—felt respect to the couple who, instead of feeling lucky, ______ themselves for causing the loss of lives. People all have heart for ______, but it is often a flashing thought across one’s mind that decides whether it is good or evil (邪恶的).

【推荐2】On June 23, 1970, I had just left the Army after completing my one-year duty in Vietnam. I was on plane returning home in Texas. I had been warned about the _______ of our fellow countrymen and I was worried about that. There was no _______ welcome for us when we came home from that unpopular war.

I sat, dressed in soldier clothes, in a window seat, _______ eye contact with my fellow passengers. No one was sitting next to me, which added to my _______. A little girl suddenly appeared in the passage. She smiled and, without saying a word, _______ handed me a magazine. I accepted her _______, her quiet “welcome home”. All I could say was, “Thank you.” Her small gesture of _______ was the first I had experienced in a long time.

I always believe in the connection between _______ when they reach out to help. That girl _______ has no memory of what happened years ago. She might have been told to do that by her mother. It doesn't matter why she gave me the magazine. The ________ thing is that she did.

Since then, I have followed her ________ and tried in different ways for different people, to do the same for them. Like me on that plane ride long ago, they will ________ know why a stranger gave a hand. But I absolutely know that my ________ since then are all because of that little girl. Her kindness of giving a magazine to a tired and lonely soldier has been ________ all through my life. I have to believe that my small ________ will have the same influence on others. And to that girl, now a woman, I would like to say again: thank you.

【推荐3】One day I planned to pick up a friend at the airport. That day I had one of those experiences that could _________ people’s lives.

It happened just two feet away from me when I was waiting at the airport. I noticed a man, carrying two bags, coming toward me. He stopped next to me to greet his _________ .

First of all he _________ his bags and came closer to his younger son(about six years old); they gave each other a warm, loving hug. Then the father looked in his son’s eyes with _________ , “I missed you so much, it’s so good to see you, son!” The boy smiled and said, “Me too, Dad.”

_________ the father said “Hi, baby girl.” to his baby daughter. She was shouting _________ in her mother’s arm and watching her returning father all the time. The man gently took his little daughter,_________ kissed her face all over and then _________ her close to his chest. The little girl laid her head on his shoulder in _________ .

After several moments, the man looked at his __________ and said “I’ve saved the __________ for last!” and shared with her the most passionate(激情的)__________ . They stared at each other, beaming(流露出)big smiles. They __________ me of newlyweds.

Suddenly, I heard myself asking “Wow, how many years have you been __________ ?” “Twelve years.” “Well then, __________ have you been away?” He replied with a smile on his face. “Two whole days!”

I was astonished, as I __________ that he had been away for several weeks at least. I could only say, “I __________ that my marriage is still that passionate __________ twelve years. ” The man looked __________ into my eyes and told me something that changed my life: Don’t hope, friend, __________       ! From him I just learnt “Better go home and make a net than long for a fish in front of a pond.”