【推荐1】My father, a soldier, was ordered to move again. It came as a _____________   because we had     just moved into the present duty station a few weeks before.

It was the fourth time we’d got to move to a ___________   place in just two years, which was truly our “home” in Hawaii that we’d only _________________   through my father’s music with ukulele     (尤克里里)._________ was the thing that connected my father with Hawaii, a reminder of his home and_______.

Everything was   _________________   this time. We   were just arriving,   but he was already   ___________ to   leave again   without   us. Our father,   the person who could make   us _________   the “new”   family, was gone.   Suddenly, we   were surrounded   by cousins who ___________   knowing each   other, joining in   a cultural   __________________   of which we   only knew the surface. We   were   __________   in the family.

One day, I ________________   my father’s ukulele that I had watched him play was   ________________   in the corner. When I tried to play it, though unskillfully, I felt closer to him and our Hawaiian roots. Then   I picked up an old   song   book, and ____________   myself   to play. I would play   and sing, __________   my   father had been here. Finally   my   father______________with   a newly-bought ukulele, and we had a mini concert. He was________ that I had learned so much.

What I really ______________   was that   music   has the ________________   to do truly extraordinary things________ us with our culture and each other, our past and our present.

【推荐3】Night fell. Doug Falter came back home, teary-eyed and _________. The professional photographer had just run from one end of Hawaii's Waimea Bay to the other, scanning the water _________ his "baby", a custom-made blue surfboard.

On arriving home, Falter _________ his search online. "Was surfing tonight and _________ my baby, " he wrote on social media. He hoped it would be washed ashore in the coming days and that whoever _________ it would have also seen his post. But instead of pushing Falter's surfboard to _________, the currents of Waimea Bay swept it out to sea, _________ the Hawaiian Islands.

Weeks passed with no _________ of the surfboard. Then _________. Lyle Carlson, who had made the board for Falter, comforted him with the possible reunion but nobody knew when.

But Falter never completely __________ about the board. It __________ on a remote island of Sarangani in the southern Philippines --- six months after and over 5,000 miles away. A local fisherman sold the unusual __________ to Giovanne Branzuela, an elementary school teacher, for $40. For Branzuela, riding the big waves had been his dream.

The once-blue board had __________ to a pale straw color during its journey, but its __________ markings were still there: two elephants and the words " Lyle Carlson Surfboards, Oahu. Hawaii. "

On realizing how far the surfboard had traveled, Branzuela __________ Carlson online, who, in turn, contacted Falter. Falter __________ the board was his and was __________ to learn his " baby" had floated across the world's largest ocean and __________.

He was thrilled, but not only for himself. Knowing someone ocean away shared the same interest with him __________ a lot to Falter. He couldn't imagine a better __________ to the story.

【推荐1】Labor is important and necessary for everyone. I am glad that I learned the ______ of work when I was a child.

I grew up on a farm. We had to care for ______ such as cows and sheep from morning till evening, seven days a week. ______during school vacations and on weekends we still had ______ work to do. I was paid for my work. From the age of 10, my parents ______ me ＄1 an hour. Because of this, I learned how to ______ money. When I was only 11, I saved enough to buy a ten-speed bicycle. In high school, I ______ a job in a nearby town during the summer to save money ______ college. I learned how to manage money at an   ______ age.

I also learned the satisfaction of work well done. The young animals were my responsibility. Most   ______ often had problems with their young cows getting sick. I was proud that my young cows were usually ______ . I loved it when the whole family ______ together to get in hay (干草) before a rainstorm. It was exciting when we jumped out of bed in the middle of the night to ______ the cows in the field after they had escaped through a broken fence (栅栏). Doing hard work at an early age ______ me how valuable it can be. And from these ______ I learned to be confident and self-disciplined (自律的).

【推荐3】At age 14, 15 and 16, the way we looked was the most important thing in the world to us. My friends and I wanted nothing less than perfection.

In high school, we joined the gymnastics team, and our _________ became even more important to us. We had no fat, only muscle. On the weekends, we would go to the beach, _________ of our flat stomachs.

One summer day, all my friends were at my house swimming. At one point, I was running back to the pool. I _________ on a bee, and while it was dying under my foot, it stung (蛰) me. I immediately started to feel _________. That night, I began to run a high fever and my leg and foot were red, hot and swollen. I couldn’t walk. I could hardly _________.

When my foot started to go numb (麻木), everyone became more _________. My foot was not getting enough blood. I had to go to the hospital, and my leg hurt as if it were _________. I couldn’t move. All I could do was think about how soft my waist (腰部) was becoming. That _________ me more than any concern over my leg.

That all changed when I heard the doctors mention possibly _________ my foot. It was still not getting the ____________ supply it needed. The doctors would have to speed up their treatment.

Never before did I have such great appreciation for my foot. And walking seemed like a ____________ from the gods. Less and less would I want to hear my friends talk about ____________ and who was wearing what. More and more I expected visits from other kids in the ____________, who were quickly becoming my friends.

One girl came to visit me ____________. Every time she came, she brought flowers. She was recovering from cancer and felt she should come back and ____________ the other patients.

She still had no hair, and she was swollen from medications she had been taking. I would not have given this girl a second ____________ before. I now loved every inch of her and looked forward to her ____________.

Finally, I was improving and soon I went home. My leg was still swollen, ____________ I was walking, and I had my foot! When I went back to the hospital, I often saw my friend. She was still visiting people and ____________ encouragement. I thought if there was a(n) ____________ on this earth, it had to be her.

【推荐2】As everyone grows, they realize there will always be someone who is better. I learned this _______   in the second year in high school. The shock this experience brought was so great that I felt my _______ was left on the side of the road for dead. That was all it took; one year and one person   _______   everything.

Her name is Jenny. She was the girl who _______ raised her hand and had useful comments about everything. When teachers needed challenging problems answered, they _______ her. And if students needed _______ , they went looking for her. I didn’t _______ her, but I admit her presence annoyed me. In the first year, as a model student, I was the person everyone   _______and all the teachers trusted. Then she came out of _______ ! We also had two classes   ________   . There I got to see what everybody thought of her. When an exam finished, it became a   ________   that she got the top grade and it didn’t ________ to my classmates whether I was right there,   ________   I also got excellent grades. They would cross a desk and ________ her! I was left being denied my presence.________, I felt like not trying anymore.

I stopped trying to put on a show because no one was ________ anymore. Later, I volunteered at the graduation ceremony. She was called to make a(n) ________ and discussed their difficulties. I realized all her hard work got her there, not her desire to ________ . It finally hit me that Jenny ________ the attention she got. She showed me how big the world is and how ________ a world I used to live in. I’ll do my best because I know it will pay off.