【推荐1】I will be the first to admit that my German skills are quite poor. I decided to minor in German because I _________ the language. However, I was not particularly good at_________it. The grammar and word order confused me. All the nouns have genders, and it is hard to_________which noun is which. After two years of study, I still communicated in _________German, so I signed up to_________in Germany to complete my degree. It was the_________term I would ever have.

Once in Germany, I found the German I’d learned in university wasn’t _________for everyday conversation. My book knowledge fell by the wayside and I was always on edge at school and _________whether the professors would call on me in class. I only relaxed a little around my eight roommates, who were willing to speak German_________ to me and didn’t seem to __________my mistakes.

All the classes were in German and__________, and history was the worst. The professor spoke rather __________ . I sat in the front, took notes and even recorded the lectures, but nothing__________ I had no idea what the class was about.

At the end of the term, it took all of my__________to ask my history professor for a form saying I’d attended the class. He said yes and told me to__________at his office at a certain time. I’d like to say I got the form and took it back to my university to get my credit , __________I didn’t. I was too afraid to be in his office and let him see how __________ I could really understand. I was sure I was the only one in the class at such a__________level. So I gave up the meeting. Years have passed, but I still remember how it felt to__________so hard to learn another language. I think my __________ that term taught me just as much as my successes.

【推荐3】One spring morning, my husband was in the yard cutting down an overgrown tree.

He then __ it across the front yard and put it on a pile of wood.

I was inside the house tending to some things, when suddenly he came into the house, looking __ and said, “I’m not sure if I should tell you this. ”

“What?”I said, totally expecting the very worst.

“Just come with me, ” he said. I __ him out to the yard. He pointed. “There, ” he said.

In front of us were four baby birds in the tree branches, having fallen out of their nest (巢) during the terrible ride, __ amazingly all still alive.

I immediately picked them up and made a “nest” in the front of my T-shirt. My husband just looked at me and said, “You won’t be able to keep them ___. You have never nursed a bird back to health before. ”

Luckily, we were able to find the nest in the center of the tree. I placed the baby birds inside the nest. They had no feathers (羽毛), so these tiny birds had no protection __ the sun. I thought they wouldn’t make it through the day. As we stood far enough away from the nest, I wondered if their mother would ever find and __ them as her own.

I couldn’t believe it! Within a few minutes, a Blue Jay flew in and was jumping around the nest. She then flew up to the nest and __ herself on her babies, spreading her wings to __ them. And soon, the father joined the __ and continued his task of bringing food to the family while she warmed and kept the baby birds safe.

On one rainy day, I remember seeing her wings were spread especially wide across the nest. It was a __ sight, to see how a bird with a tiny brain, the size of the tip of my little finger, still had the will to so deeply __ her babies.

Then one day, all four baby birds jumped out of the nest and were gone. The parents had done their job and now the youngsters were __ to go make nests of their own.

I ended up __ that nest. Whenever I look at it, it reminds me to never give up no matter how bad things look, and be inspired by the inner___ of the Blue Jay parents to provide for their family.

【推荐1】I never really saw myself as a person with a bit of enthusiasm. After leaving school, I got married and went into the family business. I spent most of my time at work, or at home, still thinking about _________. I felt I was as _________ as a bee.

When I was 38, however, my father died from a sudden heart attack. That _________ event was enough to make me _________ on my life. My dad was only 63 — that’s no age at all. His death made me realize how little _________ we have available to do the things we want to. It also enabled me to see my life through a _________ pair of eyes, and I didn’t much like what I saw.

Having no real _________ or focus, I turned to Annie, a life coach for guidance. Annie allowed me the opportunity to _________ my concerns. Then she assisted me to set goals and _________ plans that would help me __________ what I most wanted to. Annie also __________ me to expand my ideas and think bigger and better thoughts. __________, I set myself relatively small, easy tasks, but because I always __________ them in no time, I began to think up tasks that felt a lot more __________.

Happily, my self-esteem (自尊) and confidence levels __________, and I took part in health, fitness, and general well-being exercise __________. For one hour a week, over 8 weeks. I rid myself of __________ and worries, and returned home with great __________.

We should be enthusiastic, find our purpose, and make our life more meaningful. It took me a long time to __________ that. But for everyone else, it’s better to __________ now.

【推荐2】I fell in love with the wallet immediately when it was gifted to me by a close friend. But the wallet was not only beautiful, it had a _________. It loved to run away. I lost it almost weekly. Fortunately the most _________ place for me to lose it was in my own house, so of course I would finally find it.

One day, _________, as I was leaving a football stadium, the wallet once again _________ from my pocket. I discovered the _________ and searched the house as usual. Nothing. But a week later, a complete stranger was calling with news of my wallet. This man, in a(n) _________ to find whom the wallet _________, looked inside of it, and found a check which happened to have my phone number on it.

But a short while later, my wallet once again went missing. I took the subway to the gym, and _________ a station in downtown Oakland. When I got to the gym, I _________ for my wallet only to find it wasn’t there. This time I got really scared and __________. There was no way I would find my wallet. __________, it was lost on the busy, __________, traffic-filled streets of downtown Oakland. But it was too __________ to give up without a search. I had to find it, so I looked for it __________ the whole station, and ran down the street asking whomever I encountered if they had seen a small elephant wallet. No luck. I knew that I had __________ lost it for good.

A few weeks later, I got an email saying that a man __________ my wallet, when he walked the same route I was on. Why was I so lucky?

I don’t know if I have faith in __________ or opportunity, but I do know I __________ humanity and the selfless acts of __________. Every day my hope for the world is __________ when I remember all of the people who go out of their way to help whomever they can.

【推荐1】I will never forget the day when I won the bicycle race for the third time. It was special for me because I set a new _________ . But what made it more special was that I had _______ a tough time getting ready for the _______ .

About three months before the final race something _______ happened when I fell off during practice and broke my left _______ . All I could do was _______ for the injuries to recover. The _______ was that the doctors suggested bed rest for at least two months. A close friend of mine who had just recovered from his leg injury _______   that even if I was able to stand on my feet, I wouldn’t be able to ride a _______ for a few more weeks. It was safe for me to ________ because my leg was likely to be injured again during practice or the ________ .

It was very difficult for me to just ________ like this. My father felt bad, too. He tried to keep my ________ up during my bed rest. My parents gave me nutritious (有营养的) food to keep me ________ . They showed me lots of videos of cycling events to ________ my riding skills. Thus, they were preparing me for the day when I ________ to the track. The most important thing they taught me was that while there could be a chance of   ________ the race, never giving up in such a situation was an example of good ________ .

Two months passed quickly. The doctors were ________ at my complete recovery and supported my participation. ________ , I broke the record.

【推荐3】Cody Wilkins sat on the bench, while his soccer teammates were scoring goals on the field. It had been a(n) ______ high school year for him. He was the only freshman on the team. He most never got to play, and he felt like a______.

“My confidence was shot. I thought maybe I wasn’t as good as my coaches thought I was during tryout. I thought maybe I should ______.” Cody says.

Cody suffered once he discovered he wasn’t a good soccer player. But he ______ to keep going. “The struggle I______made me want to work harder,” he says. “However talented you are, you can always ______ in sports.”

Then Cody took advantage of his ______ on the bench to watch his more skilled and experienced teammates play the game, and by the time he was a junior, he had improved so much that he was ______ captain of his team. He is now a senior and is being ______ to play soccer for several colleges.

If you base your ______just on whether you win or lose, you will never be happy. Winning is always ______ because there is always another ______ waiting for you.

No one is______. But you should learn about your strengths and weaknesses and know how to______ from failure. Once you accept that losing something isn’t the end of your world, you can get on with the business of living your life and learning from it. In the long run, this is _______.