【推荐2】“Dad, can you tell me how to get rich?”

My dad _________ down the evening paper, “_________ do you want to get rich, my son?”

“Because today Jimmy’s mom _________ up in their new BMW, and they were going to their beach house for the weekend. He _________ three of his friends, but Mike and I weren’t invited. They told us we weren’t invited because we were ‘_________ kids’.”

“They _________?” my father asked unbelievably.

“Yeah.” I replied in a _________ voice.

My dad _________ shook his head, _________ his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and went back to reading the paper. I stood waiting for a(n) ____________.

The year was 1956. I was nine years old. By some twists of fate, I ____________ the same public elementary school where the rich people sent their kids. I went to this school because my family lived on one ____________ of the street. Had I lived on the other side of the street, I would have gone to a ____________ school with kids from families more like mine. After grade six, the rich neighbors would send their kids to private schools, ____________ the poor kids and I would go on to the public intermediate and high school.

My dad finally put down the paper. I could ____________ he was thinking.

“Well, son,” he began slowly. “If you want to be rich, you have to learn to make money.”

“How do I make money? I asked.

“Well, use your ____________, Son,” he said, smiling. Despite my young age, I could tell what he ____________.

He was trying to say, “That’s all I’m going to tell you,” or “I don’t know the answer, so don’t ____________ me.

As expected, dad said, “Don’t count on me to give you an answer. ____________ for yourself, son. But keep it in mind that money is not an ____________, but a means to an end.”

【推荐3】One morning a student was walking with his teacher when they noticed a pair of old shoes by the roadside. They ________ the shoes might belong to a poor man. In fact, the ________ of the shoes was working in a field nearby, and he had nearly ________ his work. The student said to his teacher, “Let’s play a trick on the man; we hide his shoes, and wait to see what he will do ________ he can’t find them.” “My young friend, we should never have ________ by tricking others like that,” answered the teacher. “________, let’s put a ________ in each of the shoes, and watch what he will do.” The student did so, and then they ________ nearby. The man soon came back to get his ________, but when he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, he felt something ________ in it. He bent down and found the coin (硬币). ________ appeared on his face. He looked at the coin for a minute, and then ________, but nobody could be seen. He then went on to put on the other shoes, ________ he was even more surprised to find the ________ coin. He then knelt down (跪下), looked up to heaven and said ________ aloud, in which he spoke of his wife, ________ and helpless, and his children without bread. The student was deeply moved (感动的), and his eyes were filled with tears. “Now,” said the teacher, “you must be much more pleased than if you had played your ________.” The boy replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I’ll never ________. I feel now the truth of these words, which I didn’t ________ before: “It is more blessed (神圣的) to ________ than to receive.”

【推荐1】I used to be extremely shy, so I wasn’t good at meeting new people. I was_______I’d do or say something wrong, so usually I just smiled and listened to other people’s_______. My teacher Mrs. Smith always_______me to communicate with others.

One day, she_______that our class was going to perform a play she’d written. “I_______someone to play the lead role. Anybody want to try?” she said. A few_______hands shot up—mine wasn’t one of them. Mrs. Smith walked up to me and said, “I think you’re_______for it. But you didn’t _______your hand when I asked who was interested in the part.”

Me, the lead? Was she_______? Mrs. Smith continued, “I had been in consideration of you for the role while writing the play! If you really don’t want to, though, I won’t force you. You’re your                           ________.” Suddenly, I realized it was time to________my shyness and show the world who I really was. I looked Mrs. Smith right in her eyes and said________, “OK, I’ll try.”

After five months of practicing, I was________nervous when the big day arrived My knees________. My heart beat like I’d just run a mile. “It doesn’t matter how you do tonight,” said Mrs. Smith, as if reading my________when she came backstage for a final________ “You’ve already shown yourself how wonderful you’re. That’s the most________thing.”

I smiled because I knew she was right. I proved I could take chances, be daring (大胆的), and have fun doing it! At the end of the play, when the audience stood and________, I knew they were not just ________for my performance that night, but for the performances they knew would come in later years because of my newly-found________.

【推荐1】One evening I was visiting my friend in the area where my school is located. As I didn’t live in the area, I never_______any of my students out of class. On this_______evening, my friend and I came to the local video store to pick up some movies. While inside, I glanced out and saw one of my third-graders. I figured she was just_______her parent to the store and thought nothing more of it. Minutes later, as we left the store, I saw her again, a pretty, little thing, still standing just in front of the_______. “Hey, girl, what’s going on? Renting some movies?” I asked. “No,” she replied_______. I looked in her hands and realized that she was standing there selling flowers,_______to earn some extra money for her family. My heart sank. She grew_______. I asked no further and made a(n)_______at pretending everything was fine. Then I said informal good-bye to her and left.  

On the short drive back to my friend’s home, a thousand emotions came and went, a thousand thoughts_______. I was extremely sad that this little girl________in such a tough life circumstances.  

The next morning, as I drove to school, I still thought about the________of the evening before. I couldn’t change the life circumstances for this little girl and her family, but as long as she was my student, I had the ________to make a difference, to affect her life________, to stir in her an endless thirst for learning and maybe, just maybe, to________her reaching her biggest dream. 

Today, I believe firmly in what I do. I believe in the great effects that a________teacher can have on a student and I try hard to leave a lasting mark on the life of every child I teach.

【推荐2】When Aiden asked me to accompany him on a camping trip, I pictured a wooden cabin with a fireplace. Imagine how my _______ image of camping became a nightmare (噩梦) when Aiden and his brother, Lebron, _______ with a truck filled with camping supplies! I did pack a backpack, as instructed, but I had no idea we were going on _______ training!

Lebron, ever so _______, hurried me to get in so we could leave the noisy city behind us. Ahead, the mountains came into view bigger; the trees were _______. At least the weather was _______ — cotton candy clouds dotted the deep blue sky.

At the trail-head, Lebron lectured Aiden and me about hiking _______. The first part of the trail (小路) looked more like a wooded road. _______, the path became narrower and steeper,   _______ me to focus on the task at hand. Finally, we reached the top. My legs aching, I dropped my pack and groaned (呻吟). “No time to __________,” Lebron said, looking up at the __________. “We need to set up camp.”

Lebron and Aiden worked __________, while I stood around and pretended to __________, thunder rumbling in the distance. Each time lightning lit up the tent, I drew back with fear. And just as __________ as the storm came rushing in, it died down, allowing us to exit the tent. The __________ was superb — I could see for miles.

【推荐1】Outside my office building, there would be a homeless man, standing by the road and waving at passers-by happily.

I would remember to _________ any spare change for him. Every time I saw him, I’d _________ roll down my window and give him the _________. Occasionally the red light would be on for a/an _________, long enough for us to _________ each other. His answer would always be “I am so happy and fine!” It _________ me that even in his situation he was so _________, and his answer would remind me of how _________ I was. A mother of four amazing kids, with a place to call _________ and with a decent job.

Then one day my boss told me that I was being __________ due to the economy. A feeling of worry __________ me, so I didn’t remember to keep my spare change like I usually did. __________ there he was as always. I’d hoped to catch the __________ light, but I missed it. Aware of my black mood, he walked over with a smile and said, “Today I will give you a dollar”. He then reached into his pocket and __________ out a dollar bill. I burst into tears.

He taught me a valuable lesson: No matter what __________ things are taken from you, no one can take away your choice to be joyful.

【推荐2】I was never a fan of football, or any sports for that matter. At primary school, my classmates spent lunch break ______ on the playground, while I was in the library getting pleasure from ______ . In Games lessons, to fit in, I ______ to be interested.

As I got older, I ______ trying to fake (假装) it. Instead, I showed off my dislike for football as a sign of ______ “It’s only a silly game!” I’d tell Dad, as he ______ me to watch a match.

But, sometimes I’d find myself ______ an opener like, “Cor, a terrible season we’re having, eh?”, or ______, “Who do you support?”, and feel my heart sink, knowing my reply would surely ______ .

And then I became a dad, and I didn’t want my boy Harvey to ______ this desirable social skill. So I bought him ______ to watch our local team, Boreham Wood. And, because he kept asking me what was going on, I stayed relatively ______ on the game.

Almost without noticing, my ______ of support when “The Wood” scored a goal were actually real, as were my sighs when “we” missed a penalty kick (罚球).

Harvey was ______ , and we’ve since returned to Meadow Park five times, each time feeling a ______ connection with the team’s supporter community.

【推荐3】I live in San Luis Obispo, California, about four miles from the beach. Every few years, the whales come into the bay for a few days. In November 2020, the whales were around, so I _________my yellow boat to watch the wildlife. At the time, I_________my friend Liz Cottriel if she wanted to watch them.

“No way,” she said. She’s _________of whales, and was terrified that the boat would overturn while we were in it. I_________her that the boat was super stable. Finally I got her to_________ to join me.

It was warm for November, so we wore T-shirts and leggings (紧身裤). For the first half-hour, we didn’t see anything. Then I _________ two pairs of whales swimming toward us.

When whales go down after breaching (跃出水面), they _________what looks like an oil slick (浮油) on the water. I figured if we moved toward that spot, we’d be _________from the whales, since they’d just left. We followed them at a distance. I later found out that it’s_________ that we keep 90 meters away. We were probably more like 18 meters away.

All of a sudden, a large group of fish started __________out of the water into our boat. At that moment, I knew we were too__________. I was terrified. Then I felt the boat lift out of the water. What I didn’t realise at the time was that Liz and I were in a whale’s__________.

Whales have enormous mouths but__________ throats. Anything they can’t swallow, they spit out. We were wearing life jackets, and soon we both popped up out of the water. The entire experience__________ only ten seconds, but to me it felt like an eternity (永恒).

There’s no way I’m getting that close to whales again. I want to__________ their space. I’m now very aware of the power of nature and the ocean.