【推荐1】A group of class friends, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon ________ into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and a couple of ________ —porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some delicate—telling them to ________ themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, ________ behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to choose only the best for yourselves, that is the ________ of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself ________ no quality to the coffee. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you ________ went for the best cups. And then you began ________ each other’s cups. Now consider this: Life is the ________; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor ________ the quality of life we ________. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we ________ to enjoy the coffee God has ________ for us. God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee!”

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just ________ the best of everything.

【推荐2】It’s “BABY DAY” at die Chartwell Riverpark seniors1 residence（住所）in Ottawa. Eulah Johnson, 90, never   _________ the twice-monthly event.

Today, Johnson sits on a sofa and smiles at a baby sitting on the seat of her walker. After a few moments, the girl _________ to play with the dozen or so other small children _________ together with 20 of Johnson’s fellow residents. As the _________ eat snacks and drink tea or coffee, their young guests crawl（爬行）around, draw in colouring books, bat balloons back and forth or sleep in the arms of _________ residents.

Babies Who Volunteer, bringing these _________ together, is the inspired idea of Jessica Turner. During a（n） _________ with her baby daughter Amelia to a friend’s mother, who was living in a long-term-care center, people gathered around Amelia, _________ to play with her. She was most _________ by the response of her friend’s mother: she hadn’t spoken in two years, but with Amelia in her lap, she __________ singing.

Turner went home and immediately put out a __________ on a moms’ Facebook group: would anyone be interested in__________seniors’ residences with their babies? One hundred women __________ said yes. A year later, there are now 1,500 volunteers.

Everyone benefits from inter-generational programmers. This playgroup is __________ for the mothers too. They’ re giving something to the community which provides a __________ of purpose and belonging. It can really __________ someone who is feeling alone.

Local __________ is growing: the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Foundation, __________. has donated $25,000. With the help of charitable donations, Turner hopes to __________ programming from baby visits to having school kids communicating with __________ pen friends, and seniors teaching kids how to bake.

【推荐3】Many people have a love for adventure because the excitement they experience is addictive. Gurbaz Singh is only 16 and yet on Monday he led a group of _______ up Mount Hood in Oregon. The climb is a hard one, and requires _______ adventurers — but Singh already has climbed 97 mountains. By all appearances, he was well _______ to make the climb.

Conditions on the mountain are _______ in the winter. Hikers know that one misplaced step can be the beginning of the _______ — but that doesn't stop them from _______ . When approaching the highest top, Singh _______ and fell for roughly 500 feet. Later several teams came to _______ him, making the 10,500-feet climb to where Singh was located.

On hearing about the _______ , Singh's father drove from Canada to Portland. He was glad his son is ________ , and he knows the injury won't keep him from trying again. “He thought he was going to ________ somewhere and he was trying to prevent the ________ with his tool but it just didn't happen because he was ________ so fast that he couldn't do it,” the father said, “My family and my son want to ________ everyone who helped save him. This was to be his 98th summit (峰顶).We will be back soon to finish the __________ .”

【推荐1】People once went hungry. A rich man who made bread and cakes sent for twenty of the _______ children in the town，and told them to take a loaf(条) of bread from a _______ every day till the hard days passed.

The hungry children came together _______，and argued for the bread，because each wished to have the largest one. Finally they went away without even thanking the good gentleman.

But Gretchen，a poorly-dressed little girl，did not argue or _______ with the rest，but remained standing quietly far away from them. _______ the bad-mannered girls left，she took the smallest bread，which alone was left in the basket，kissed the gentleman’s hand，and went home.

The next day the children were as bad-mannered as before，and poor，shy Gretchen _______ a loaf hardly the size of the one she got the first day. When she came home，her mother cut the loaf open. Many new shining pieces of _______ fell out of it.

Her mother was very surprised and worried，and said，“Take the money back to the good gentleman at once，for it must have got into the dough(生面团)_______ mistake. Be quick，Gretchen！Be quick！”

But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother’s _______，he said，“No，no，my child，it was no mistake. I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf to give you. Always be as satisfied，quiet，and ________ as you now are. Go home now，and tell your mother that the money is your own.”

【推荐2】My First Job

I was six when I joined my father and two elder brothers at sunrise in the fields of Eufaula, Okla. By the time I was eight I was helping Dad fix up old furniture. He gave me a cent for every nail I _______ out of old boards.

I got my first _______ job, at JM’s Restaurant in town, when I was 12. My main responsibility (职责) were _______ tables and washing dishes, but sometimes I helped cook.

Every day after school I would _______ to JM’s and work until ten. Even on Saturdays I worked from two until eleven. At that age it was difficult going to work and watching my friends run off to swim or play. I didn’t necessarily like work, but I loved what working allowed me to have. Because of my _______ I was always the one buying when my friends and I went to the local Taste Freeze. This made me _______.

Word that I was trustworthy and hard-working got around town. A local clothing store offered me credit (赊帐) _______ I was only in seventh grade. I immediately charged a $68 sports coat and a $22 pair of shoes. I was making only 65 cents an hour, and I already owed the storekeeper $90! So I learned early the danger of easy credit. I paid it _______ as soon as I could.

My first job taught me self-control, responsibility and brought me a _______ of personal satisfaction few of my friends had experienced. As my father, who worked three jobs, once told me, “If you ________ sacrifice and responsibility, there are not many things in life you can’t have.” How right he was!

【推荐3】The town of Paradise has suffered a fire which lasted 17 days and caused a loss of $16.5 billion. As a result, the beautifully named place _______ is beauty.

Shane Gram, the director of Disney’s theme parks in Los Angeles, paid close attention to the news of the fire’s _______ path. In fact be he felt powerless to help when seeing the picture shared by his friend, in which only a white chimney of his house _______ after the fire.

“I’ve got to _______ that chimney,” he said. “I’m not trying to say anything. It’s just that I’m an artist. And it was a(n) _______ for me to express myself and be an artist, wasn’t it?”

Gram spent three hours spray-painting the image of a woman on the chimney in black and white, which was _______ mysterious. Perhaps it served as a(n) _______ of the beauty of life or just life itself.

Then Gram put its picture on social media. On seeing it, the victims of the fire/could not _______ themselves. “Beautiful and impressive,” one of them remarked. And another said, “You bring beauty and _______.

At this time, Gram became aware that something deeper had been transformed by a purely artistic ________. “When the first mural moved so many people, I knew I had to ________ back,” he told the journalist. Gram returned to Paradise eight times in three months, during which he ________ 17 murals of victims and other figures.

Today, Gram’s efforts have ________ into a movement. He has also painted murals in dark places around the world that seriously need some light.

Ironically, the first painting, on the chimney in Paradise existed for just several months, ________ the bulldozer (推土机) was a merciless art critic. But Gram couldn’t be more pleased with it, which means the spirit of Paradise is ________ again.

【推荐1】I think I’m one of the luckiest people in the world because of the time I’m able to spend with young people who are not afraid to show their excitement and zest for life. _______ , I would prefer a person with passion and enthusiasm to a person with _______ and talent any day of the week. You can teach and develop skills, _______ you cannot develop a love of life and an optimistic attitude. These are _______ of a person and appear at all times during work or play. Furthermore, they are traits that one is born with and they will never _______ them.

As a _______ and an Independent Education and Career Planning Advisor, I _______ too many children and young adults who are on a road to despair unless someone can find a way to change their attitude towards _______ and indeed life itself!

_______ , society has turned out too many children and young that are unwilling to put much __________ or thought into their work. Whenever I come across such people— __________ or old, I’m reminded of a boy who went with his mother on a blueberry picking hike into the __________ . The boy filled his __________ mostly with moss(苔藓) and then covered the moss with a thin layer of blueberries so that it looked __________ . But the next morning, he found the blueberry pie which his mother __________ for him was moss.

So __________, whether you are in school or __________, if you have enthusiasm and if you are__________ to put in consistent effort along with passion, you will receive the __________ . If, on the other hand, you are __________ and prefer to take short-cuts, you should not expect to achieve the same results.

【推荐2】One day, a professor entered his classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited ________ at their desks for the exam to begin. The professor ________ the exam papers with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to ________ the papers.

To everyone’s surprise, there were ________ questions — just a black dot in the center of the paper.

The professor, seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces, told them the following: “I want you to write about what you see there.” The students, ________, got started on the very task.

At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams, reading each one of them loud in front of all the students.

All of them, without ________, described the black dot (小圆点), trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom ________, the professor started to explain: “I’m not going to grade you on this; I just want to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the ________ part of the paper.”

“Everyone focused on the black dot — and the ________ thing happens in our lives. ________, we insist on focusing only on the black dot — the health issues that trouble us, the lack of ________, the complicated (复杂的) friendship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend. The dark spots are very ________ when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that ________ our minds. ________ your eyes away from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be ________ and live a life filled with love!”