Tom was a middle﹣aged leather trader whose repeated failure in career made him a depressed man，often__ that he had been cheated by others．One day he told his wife he was so__ with the city that he had to leave．

So his family moved to another city．It was the evening of a weekend．When Tom and his wife were busily__ up their new home，the light__ went out．They had to stop work．Tom was regretful to have forgotten to bring along candles and had to wait__ in a low mood．Just then he heard slight，hesitant__ on his door that sounded clear in the__ night．

"Who's it？"he wondered，since Tom was a__ to this city．And this was the moment he especially hated to be__，so he went to the door and opened it __．At the door was a little girl，shyly asking，"Sir，do you have candles？I'm your neighbor．""No，"answered Tom in anger and shut the door __．"What a nuisance （讨厌鬼）!"He complained over it with his wife．"No sooner had we settled down than the neighbor came to __ things．"

After a while，the door was knocked again．He opened it and found the same girl outside．_____this time she was __ two candles，saying，"My grandma told me the new neighbor downstairs might need candles．She _____ me here to give you these．"Tom was very__ by what he saw．When he became fully aware，he said，"Thank you and your grandmother．God bless you!"

At that moment he suddenly realized what caused his __ in life．It was his __ and harshness （刻薄） with other people．The person who had cheated him in life was __ nobody else but himself，for his life had been darkened by his unsympathetic __．

【推荐1】My aunt came to my home with her six-year-old daughter Alice this morning. While my aunt was talking with my mom, my cousin felt a bit _______. So I suggested I went out with her. My aunt happily _______. We went to the park together. There we bought two _______ and started flying them. She jumped up and down and I knew she was _______ having great fun. And I must admit I haven’t enjoyed myself like that for a long time.

Later, we sat down on a bench, looking at the gardens. As we were _______ there, Alice said, “What a great day today!” I smiled at her and agreed. I then started thinking about what we had done that day. We did something quite _______, yet we were very happy.

Many people wait for their “best days”. But I think today is our _______ day. That’s a lesson I learn today. As adults, we often make plans _______ in order to have a great day. Some people think they can have a nice day through spending a lot of _______. I think we should be more like ________. They don’t think about money or what will happen tomorrow. They ________ live in the moment and enjoy the moment!

We often hear the expression that we should live in the ________. How do we do that? We’re not doing such a ________job. Remember today is important as we are exchanging a day of our ________ for it. Yesterday is a history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a ________. That’s why it is called present. So seize the day!

【推荐2】Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials to make the light bulb. When none worked successfully, his assistant __1_, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

Thomas Edison replied very __2_, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have _3__ a lot. We now know that there are two thousand materials which we cannot _4__ to make a good light bulb.”

If you learn from your mistakes, then you are _5__. If you learn from someone else’s mistakes, then you are a genius. Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines __6__ daily and failure is nothing more than a few small __7_ repeated daily.

How __8_ the above lines are! Success takes __9_. We’ll make mistakes _10__ we do things in too much of a hurry. When we do not practice disciplines in life, we don’t build enough confidence to __11__ new and challenging tasks which are important and matter in life. Our confidence __12__ what we think of ourselves and whether we believe in ourselves. We are all born with exceptional __13__, but only a few really _14___ their true potentials and make efforts in life and the others just lead a(n) _15__ life. Do you want to be exceptional?

Success is a fruit which everyone wants to _16__, but it is not found everywhere and no one can __17_ it without serious efforts.

Those who want to succeed will find a way; those who don’t will find a(n) _18__!

Success depends on previous __19__, and without it we will end in failure.

When you are __20__, please enjoy it and give your hand to others who want to accomplish something.

【推荐3】An elderly bricklayer was ready to_________. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and _________his extended family. He would miss the paycheck(工资)each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could_________just one more house as a personal favor . The bricklayer said yes,_________over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to bad workmanship and _________building materials. It was an unfortunate way to_________a dedicated(献身的)career.

When the bricklayer finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door _________to the bricklayer and said, “This is your house.--my _________to you.”

The bricklayer was _________!

What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our__________ , a day at a time, often putting __________ than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we __________ realize we have to live in the “house” we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.

But, you cannot__________ .You are the bricklayer, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or build a wall. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your__________ and the choices you take today, help build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build __________!

【推荐1】It’s hard being an astronaut’s son, I _________, everybody expects you to be special or _________, but I’m just an average student.

I often wonder _________ my father ever had a son like me. I mean he’s so _________ and so good at everything. So I used to dream about doing something spectacular (令人印象深刻的) to _________ my father.

In one class, my teacher _________ a Father’s Day essay contest for us and the winners’ essays would be read in front of all the parents and students. After school I walked home, _________ about my father, who I would write about in my essay.

He sat with me in the _________ when I was a little kid and had a nightmare. He _________ me with a new puppy at my eighth birthday party. To me, he wasn’t a world-famous astronaut, but just my dad.

I wrote about all these __________ in my essay. One of our neighbours said, “I __________ you’ll win the contest, David. You’re the only one in town whose father is an astronaut.” I didn’t want to win __________ because my father was an astronaut.

I won the second prize. When I finished reading my essay, the __________ applauded. I saw my father blowing his nose.

Dad nodded to me, __________ his throat, and put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, this is the __________ moment of my life,” he said.

It was the proudest moment of my life, too. Maybe I’ll never be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize, but just then, it was enough just to be my father’s son.

【推荐2】In 1949, I just returned home from the war. On every American highway you could see soldiers in uniform hitchhiking (搭便车) home to their families, as was the ___at that time in America.

___, the excitement of this reunion with my family soon disappeared. My mother became very ill and had to be in hospital. The doctors told me she ___a blood transfusion (输血)   ___or she wouldn’t live through the night. The problem was that Mother’s blood type was AB-, a very ___type even today, but even harder to get then because there were no blood ___ or air flights to ship blood. All the family members had their ___tested, but none was a   ___. So the doctors gave the family no hope. My mother was ___.

I left the hospital ___to gather up all the family members, ___everyone would get a chance to tell Mother good-bye. ___down the highway, I passed a soldier in uniform hitch-hiking home to his family. Deep in sadness, I had no willingness at that moment to do a good deed. Yet it was almost as if something outside myself pulled me to a ___, and I waited as the stranger climbed into the car.

I was too upset to ___ask the soldier his name, but he noticed my tears right away and asked why. I told this total stranger ___.

It got very ___in the car. Then this soldier reached his hand out to me, in which rested the dog tags (身份识别证) from around his neck. The blood type on the tags was AB-. The soldier   ___me to turn the car ___and get him to the hospital.

My mother ___until 1996, and to this day no one in our family knows the soldier’s name. But I have often wondered, was he a soldier or a(n) ___in uniform?

【推荐3】When I was tidying out my drawers, I happened on a few diaries that I’d kept long before. The writing showed a youthful or rather __________ hand. I casually took up one to have a look.

“Today the teacher __________ the results of the term examinations. To my greatest surprise, I was ranked No.5 on the list, the first time I’ve failed to achieve No.1. I was so __________ that I wept bitterly and kept myself from supper. I must punish myself, for it is the greatest__________ I’ve suffered in my life.”

At this I couldn’t help__________. I could __________ remember what the actual situation was like. For more than a decade since then, I’ve suffered lots of failures, any one of which is much__________ than an examination failure.

Then I turned over to a new page and read the following.

“I was very upset today. I __________why Mum should have done so. Isn’t she my mum, my blood relation? I really want to __________ her. In a few days I’ll take part in college entrance examinations. I’ll apply for __________ to colleges or universities in other provinces far from home. When I go, I’ll never come home again.”

This__________ astonished me. I tried my best to recall what my mother had done __________ me so much. But however hard I tried, I still failed to call it to mind.

I glanced over several pages and the entries showed what was termed as “very painful” or “most unforgettable” things are __________ significant, or even laughable from today’s point of view. Then I picked up a new one. Opening it, I saw on its title page the following.

To the one I love most:

Your love will __________me all my life.

My love for you will never change.

It reminded me of someone — a vague (模糊的)__________ emerging before my eyes — the boy sharing a desk in class with me. I used to look on him as the whole of my life. But since we left school, I’ve never met him again. I know nothing about him: where he is now or what he is doing. All I know is that his love doesn’t keep me company __________ my love has already changed.

Having undergone so many changes of persons and things, I’ve come to realize that nothing in the world is __________. Not only nice cheerful things will go, painful and troublesome things will also __________. And you’ll find the easiest to change is none __________ you yourself, and what remains unchanged is only the childish __________ for nice things.