【推荐1】A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer’s hair. The golden red sun was_______. She was on the beach, looking up at the fiery (火似的)ball. She was_______by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the_______and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.

The atmosphere_______her. After all she had been through, this was what she needed. “It’s getting_______,”she thought, “I must go home. My_______will be wondering where I am.” She wondered how they would_______, when she got home after the three days she was_______. She kept on walking, _______herself to the bungalow where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and________. Just in a few hundred meters she would be safe in her house.

It was really getting dark now. The sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold, too. She________she had her favorite sweater on—it kept her really warm. She imagined having it________her. This thought disappeared when she finally saw her front door. It seemed________. The outside garden seemed________. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy.

She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a________written by her father. It said, “Ellen, there is some coffee________.

I went looking. Ellen was her mother but—where was she? She entered her parent’s home. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed,________. Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up, something was different. She was in her cozy________in her pajamas(睡衣).

It felt so good being back home.________she heard a voice, “Are you feeling better now?You know you got us very, very________.”

【推荐2】My father brought home a sailboat when I was ten, and almost each Sunday in summers we would go sailing. Dad was quite skilled in sailing, but not good at   _______. As for me, I _______ both before twelve because of living close to Lake Ontario.

The last time Dad and I set sail together is really   _______. It was a perfect weekend after I graduated from university. I came home and _______ Dad to go sailing. Out we set soon on the _______ lake. Dad hadn’t sailed for years, but everything _______ well with the tiller (舵柄) in his hands.

When we were in the middle of the lake, a _______ wind came all of a sudden. The boat was hit _______ . Dad was always at his best in any _______ , but at this moment he ________ . “John!   ________ !” he shouted in a trembling voice, with the tiller still in his hands.

In my memory he could fix any ________ . He was the one I always ________ for strength and security. ________ I could respond, a wave of water got into the boat. I ________ to the tiller but it was too late. Another huge wall of water ________ the boat in a minute. We were thrown into the water, and Dad was struggling aimlessly. At that moment, I felt fiercely ________ of him.

I swam to Dad ________ and assisted him in climbing onto the hull (船壳) of the boat. Upon sitting on the hull, Dad was a little awkward about his flash (瞬间) of ________ . “It’s all right, Dad. We are safe now,” I comforted him.

That was the first time Dad had relied on me in a moment of emergency. More importantly, I found it was my turn to start ________for my father.

A Father's Love

Daddy just didn’t know how to show love. It was Mom who_______ the family together. He just went to work every day and came home; she’d have a list of things we’d done wrong and he’d scold us about them.

Once when I stole a candy bar, he_______ me take it back and tell the man I stole it and that I’d pay for it. But it was Mom who _______ I was just a kid.

I broke my leg once on the playground and it was Mom who held me in her arms all the way to the _______ Dad pulled the car _______ up to the door of the emergency room and when they asked him to move it saying the space was _________ for emergency vehicles. He shouted, “What do you think this is? A tour bus?”

At my birthday parties, Dad always seemed sort of _______. He just _______ himself in blowing up balloons, setting up tables, and running errands. It was Mom who carried the cake with the candles on it for me to blow out.

When I look through picture albums, people always ask, “What does your Dad look like?” “Who knows? He was always running around with the camera taking everyone else’s picture. I _______ have a thousand pictures of Mom and me smiling together.”

I remember when Mom told him to teach me how to ride a bicycle. I told him not to __________, but he said it was time________. I fell and Mom ran to pick me up, but he ________ her off. I was so ________ that I shouted at him, got right back on the bike and rode it myself. He didn’t even feel embarrassed and just ________

When I went to college, Mom did all the writing. He just sent checks and a little note about how ________ his lawn looked________ I wasn’t playing football on it.

Whenever I ________ home, he acted like he wanted to talk, ________ he always said, “I’ll get your mother.” When I got married, it was Mom who cried. He just blew his nose ________ and left the room. All my life he said, “Where are you going? What time are you coming home? No, you cannot go.”

Daddy just didn’t know how to show love, unless…

Is it possible he showed it and didn’t ________ it?

【推荐1】Backpacking through Africa, I always carried some food with me_______I couldn’t find something to eat.

I was______through a local market one day when I chanced upon a jar of_______jam. I could find tins of apple and strawberry in every corner store but this was the ______time I had seen peach. I took it.

For the next few weeks, when I was feeling the need for a little_______, I would carefully_______the lid and spoon a bit on to a biscuit. Mmm, delicious. I didn’t______it with anybody. It sat safely in my_____, taken out on only special_______.

One cold and cloudy afternoon, while I was waiting for a local bus, it started to rain. Everybody scattered for_____and so did I. But I was already wet through so I quickly searched through my pack for some______clothes.

In my hurry to________further discomfort, I forgot that the jar of jam was_______in my clothing. One forceful yank(猛拉) and my_______jar of jam crashed to the concrete ground, smashing into pieces.

I was so sad that I almost cried. And then, in the corner of my eye, I noticed an old woman in rags________.Without hesitating, she bent down and picked up the half of the jar that still looked ________.

Still________,she stuck two fingers into the jar, scooped(舀) out the________jam and placed it into her toothless mouth. Carefully, like fish bones, she_______the pieces of glass. She studied the broken container_____she was certain that there was nothing left. Then she left.

My bus arrived shortly after and, as we drove off, I wondered if the jam would taste the same to me.

【推荐2】As a medical student, I was absorbed in studying and hardly spoke with real patients in a hospital. Then I started visiting local hospitals to gather _________ for my essay (论文)．

One cold evening, I was “hunting” for the final three patients I needed to _________ my study. The records showed a 43­year­old patient, Ms. A, was in the ward (病房) still _________ from her recent stroke (中风), no relatives or friends with her. When I sat down on a chair next to her bed and told her my _________, she agreed. The questionnaire (问卷) was made up of three simple questions. Before I could _________ after finishing it, Ms. A spoke up in her weak voice, “Doc, do you think I can get back to my _________ life?” Deep in my heart, I wished I were her doctor. I replied that _________ I didn’t know much about her case, I could tell her what I had learned about the recovery of stroke patients.

Ms. A then talked about herself. She told me that her husband died and her pay as a cleaner was _________ enough for her kids. I didn’t know what to say. Looking into her eyes, I _________ to remember the lessons from a communication skills class a few years earlier, but my mind was __________. Without realizing it, I had begun holding Ms. A’s hand. Since I didn’t have anything to say, I just sat __________ while she talked. That’s when it __________ me that she was not expecting any __________ from me. She just wanted me to listen. All I did was nodding my head as a way of showing my __________. Finally, Ms. A stopped talking. “I’m very __________ for keeping you here, but I feel __________ now.” Finally, I knew what to say. “It’s OK, Madam. It’s part of my __________.”

Ms. A taught me one of the most important __________ a doctor can learn. Sometimes patients do not need expensive medicine. They just need someone with __________ and willingness to lend an ear and __________ a little of their time.

【推荐3】It always seemed like having traditions was a good thing. They create _________ that will last a lifetime. So when our children David and Darla were preschoolers, we _________ a family Christmas tradition. It was our tree-decorating party and it would be complete with eggnog and pfeffernűsse cookies.

The kids were excited as we pulled the freshly _________ tree into the house. It smelled so good. We would turn on the Christmas songs _________ the tree decoration began.

Our hearts seemed to _________ to the merriment of the Christmas songs. The kids’ eyes twinkled with _________. It was a heartwarming evening. When finished, we would sit drinking the eggnog and snacking on pfeffernűsse cookies as we _________ the beauty of the Christmas tree.

Years later when my daughter Darla was home from college she _________ to help decorate the tree. I was so _________. Before we knew it, the tree decoration was finished. It was a beautiful tree and its ____________ smell filled the room. As we had every year before, I brought out the eggnog and the pfeffernűsse cookies for our traditional ____________.

Then during the laughter Darla suddenly got very ____________ and said she had something to tell me. From her hesitation and body ____________ I learned that she was fearing it. She sat down next to me. Then very ____________ and caringly Darla looked me in the eye and said “Mom I’ve ____________ liked pfeffernűsse cookies.”

Then I ____________ the importance of what she had just said. Why didn’t she ever tell me? All those childhood years rather than ____________ Mom’s feelings and spoil Mom’s tradition, she had stood the cookies ____________. From a child’s heart year after year she had given me the gift of ____________!

My daughter taught me life’s very important ____________: The best gifts aren’t always found under the Christmas tree.