【推荐1】It was many years ago.I was a college ___ with a degree but no job.My substitute teaching work had dried up and I was getting ____.I had a family to feed and little money left.____，my oldest brother had been able to get me a ____ at the local lumber mill where he worked.While I was ____ ，my first day there was quite a blow to my ego(自尊).The job   ___ barely above minimum wage.The work was hard and back breaking.It was full of ___ ，lifting，and carrying heavy wood for eight hours a day.Splinters(木屑)were soon my best pals and every day I went home ____ and exhausted.

When winter arrived my gloves tore and my fingers split and ____ in the cold air.I found myself using more band aids(创可贴)and duct tape than I ever ____ I would just to keep my hands working.The turn over rate at the mill became so ____ that at the end of two years only four other people had ____ there longer than I had.Every morning I would ____myself out of bed and go to work knowing it was going to he another ____ day.I tried my best to keep my   __   up but many times during those years I found myself saying，“Why me，God? Why am I having to ____ this? Why has my life not turned out the ____ I dreamed it would?”I never got an ____ .

It is only now many years later that I have a hint of ____ I had to go through those tough times.I think that it is the“Why Me?”times of our lives in which we ____ the most.

【推荐2】The Hard Truth

One day, Marissa noticed a spiderweb, shining in the sunlight. A spider was spinning webs on it. The spider wasn’t trying to be something else, like a butterfly or a bee, Marissa thought. It was happy to be exactly what it was and to do what it was good at.

What came naturally to Marissa was _________. She could paint or draw all day long and never get bored. However, a few weeks ago Marissa signed up for high jump. Because her mother had been a high jump star in school, she thought it would make her mother happy. But now she _________ that however hard she worked, she would never be a high jump star like her mother.

One night, halfway through her homework, Marissa fell asleep. When she woke up, the clock read 1:00 A.M. Marissa got into a panic. There was still so much _________ to do, but she really needed her rest for track practice. Marissa had always been a good student, but now track was risking her grades.

Then a dark thought crossed Marissa’s mind. If she _________ some of her classes, she would be off the track team. That was one way to solve her problem.

After a week of ignoring her homework, letters had been mailed out to parents listing grades, and Marissa knew the letters would show that her grades had _________ a lot. She walked home with slow heavy steps, knowing her ugly plan had worked.

Just as Marissa had _________, her mother was waiting with the letter in her hand. “What’s happening to your grades? And more importantly, what’s happening to you?” she asked.

With tears in her eyes, Marissa admitted her _________. “I only joined the track team to make you proud of me. I hated it, but I didn’t want to disappoint you. I thought if I were failing in my classes, Coach would kick me off the team. What a _________ I’ve made of everything.”

Marissa watched her mother’s face turn from anger to concern. “Marissa, I was always proud of you. You didn’t need to do the high jump to make me happy. Now you have a lot of hard work in front of you because you made a bad _________.”

Marissa thought again about the spider. She realized she had lost sight of her purpose and twisted her web. Now she had to go back and __________ that web.

【推荐1】Music to My Ears

Robby was 10 for his first piano lesson in my class. Much as he tried, he____even the basic rhythm(节奏）. However, he dutifully reviewed the pieces that I required.

Over the months he tried and tried while I____and encouraged him. At the end of each lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day."____it seemed hopeless.

I only knew his mother from a __ as she waited in her aged car to pick him up. Then one day Robby stopped coming. I was secretly____that he stopped because of his lack of ability. Weeks later I informed the students, including Robby, of the coming recital（独奏）. To my____, Robby asked me if he could be included. I told him he really did not qualify because he had____out. He said his mom had been sick and unable to take him to lessons but he was still____.

"I've just got to play!" he____. Something inside me let me allow him to.

Then came the recital night. The gym was____with parents. I put Robby up____, thinking that I could save his poor performance through my "curtain closer（谢幕）."

The recital went off smoothly. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ___. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" I thought.

Robby pulled out the piano bench and began. I was not____for what I heard next. His fingers were___ on the keys. Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people of his age. After he ended, everyone rose___ their feet in wild applause.

In ___I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you__it?"

Robby explained, "Well, Miss Hondorf…remember I told you my mom was sick? …___she had cancer and passed away yesterday. She was born deaf, so tonight she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special."

There wasn’t a__eye in the house. That night I felt he was the teacher and I was the pupil, for it was he who taught me the meaning of perseverance and__.

【推荐3】When Walter Myers was growing up, he showed great interest in reading books. He would be the whole day _________ in books. Today, he is the author of more than 100 books, most of them _________ children.

Myers was _________ in a black neighborhood. As a boy, he loved _________   people in his community. But he couldn’t find many books about the stories of _________   people. So he chose to write the stories that reflect the lives of kids. “Some kids feel abandoned（被遗弃的）or _________ ,”Myers says, “but they’ll _________ a book of mine and find themselves or their families.”

It takes lots of _________ to write as many books as Myers does, but he loves it. He gets up early in the morning, and then begins his _________   at home. Myers first writes a (n)__________ for every book, which he calls prewriting. He imagines what the story will be, writing down ideas in a notebook. To __________   enough action and dialogue for a good story, he comes up with thirty __________ .He writes a short description of each scene in his notebook. He also __________ pictures of real people and pins（用图钉钉住）them on his office walls to get ideas for characters.__________ he knows what the story will be and who the characters are, he begins to write the whole book. He __________ five pages a day on his computer.

When Myers is not prewriting a book, he might be rewriting something he has already __________.Then he’ll send the story to his __________.They may make suggestions for the story. After these final __________ are made, the book is published and __________ its way to bookstores and libraries.

By that time, he’ll be in __________ for his next book. “I want to do the best with my writing,” Myers says. “I don’t have a need to do anything else.”

【推荐3】Annie, a neighbor’s daughter, was away for her first semester at college this school year. She is a very sweet girl but just a bit shy. When her birthday came around, I found out she was feeling a bit_______.

Her family is quite poor and _______ are tight, so there wouldn’t be any birthday visitors. I wanted to _______ her a card and maybe a small gift to _______ her day a bit. I got her school _______ from her mom and planned to pick something up. Then I got a(n) _______!

I _______ perhaps a bit more birthday cheer was needed here. I bought some balloons, birthday hats, and _______ novelties (新颖小巧而价廉的物品) at a store. I took a small _______ and asked three other people in my area at work to ________ “Happy Birthday” and send some birthday wishes to her. It was such fun making the recording! Other people ________ what we were doing and ________ their voices, so it really sounded like we had a party going on!

Then I bought her a small present and a card as ________ planned. The real fun was packing them to be sent. I ________ everything so it was like opening a mini birthday party! At the last minute I added a pack of cupcakes and a box of birthday candles ________ sending them off. I got a call a few days later. Annie said her roommates and one of their neighbors in the ________ got together with her and held a party for her the moment they arrived. She sounded so ________ and I was so glad that she had some friends to ________ her special day with.

It was such an easy and ________ thing to do. The people who helped me make the tape still laugh and talk about it. And Annie ________ me it was the most fun birthday she would remember!