【推荐1】My husband, Russ, and I drove through our neighborhood, the place we’d called home for 28 years. The foothills (山麓) once thick with pines, were _________. The ground was covered with a heavy layer of ash. The trees that _________ were burnt stumps (树桩).

Two weeks earlier, we’d gotten an early-morning call telling us to _________ immediately. The wildfire burning through Northern California had spread and was headed our way. We’d jumped in the car with our cats and a few belongings. For days, we’d moved from hotel to hotel, _________ for news. What finally came wasn’t _________. Our house had been right in the fire’s path.

Now we’d been allowed to return. Russ and I brought _________, work boots, N95 masks and gloves. We would _________ anything we could. We drove slowly through the ruins, where chimneys marked where homes once stood. I wasn’t prepared for what _________ us. Our house was _________ but broken stones, I wiped away tears as we dug through the ash.

“How will we survive this?” I wondered. “How will we go on?” It felt as if our lives had been destroyed. Later that afternoon Russ __________ what we’d found in the car. “Let’s go,” he said.

I turned to get in the car. That’s when I __________ something stuck to my boot: a bit of paper, dirtied with ash. I picked it up. The words were surprisingly __________, “If life seems difficult, I stop and reflect on the blessing sometimes hidden within every situation. With renewed belief and __________, I begin again.”

Words that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn’t recall but now said everything I needed to __________, words that rose from the ashes. I framed (给……做框) that scrap of paper. It now sits in a place of honor in our new home, a reminder that we can __________ again.

【推荐3】Twenty years ago, Mark Thatcher, the son of Mrs. Thatcher, was reported missing in the Sahara Desert while competing in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from Paris to Dakar. The sad news, which was so unexpected, shook the unusually _____ and unhurried politician. Though she did her best to _____ as if nothing had happened and made her public appearance as usual, people could not fail to notice that she was no longer the old self－ assured prime minister who always had everything under _____ . Instead she had become a very sad mother who was unable to _____ from her shock.

One day when she was to speak at a lunch party, a reporter caught her off guard by bringing up the _____ of her missing son again. She was _____ mentally unprepared for the question and lost control. Tears rolled down her cheeks _____ she sobbingly told the reporter there was still no news of Mark and that she was very worried about him. She said that all the countries concerned had _____ to do their best to help her find her son. With that she _____ down completely and sobbed silently for quite a while. Gradually she calmed down and started to speak as ______. It was a very moving scene which exposed a new side of Mrs. Thatcher ______ the public do not usually see. People began to talk about the Iron Lady's ______ love, a feeling that is common to the human race.

Later Mark returned ______ to his mother's side, good-humored and all smiles as usual ______ nothing unusual had ever happened. The Iron Lady, ______, broke down again and was seen sobbing for a second time.

【推荐1】I grew up with two elder sisters. If I wasn’t courteous (礼貌) to them, they’d fix me. So courtesy wasn’t really _________ in my childhood home.

My sisters made the most of every chance to train me how to be a courteous _________. They made me open doors for them or help them into their _________ at dinner.

Years later I went away to college. The first time I walked into the library, I noticed a woman walking behind me and I _________ the door open for her.

_________, she glared at me, asking loudly, “Do you think that because I m a woman I’m not strong enough to open a door for myself?” She slammed (摔) the door shut, leaving me astonished and _________. My face burned with _________. I decided _________ that there would be no more courtesy!

As I stood there, another lady _________ the door, her arms overloaded with textbooks. Instinctively (本能地) I __________ to open the door for her. The moment I realized what I had done, I prepared myself for shouts. However, I received a warm smile and a look of __________.

“Thanks!” she said brightly. “It’s nice to see we still have a few gentlemen around here!”

Of course, if I were REALLY a gentleman, I would have __________ to help with her books. Despite this, I appreciated the good __________ I got from performing all act of simple courtesy. To do otherwise would be to __________ my lifetime of training.

Courtesy brings pleasant, refreshing light to our lives whether we are the giver, the receiver or just an interested observer. Courtesy doesn’t __________ change our lives, but it can certainly transform the way we feel about life.

【推荐3】I recently visited India to meet women with AIDS. Having AIDS is considered as a mark of disgrace and the punishment is________. Most of these women had been abandoned by their family.

What I ________ most is how much they wanted to touch me and be touched as if physical ________ somehow proved their________.

I spent time with the dying and saw rows of cots(帆布床). Every cot was ________ except for one in the corner, so I went there, hoping to provide some help. The ________ was a woman in her 30s. She had ________ eyes and was skinny.

________, I suddenly felt helpless. I had nothing to ________ her. I couldn’t save her, either.

I ________ down and reached out to touch her—and when she ________ my hand, she grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. We had been there together for a while when she pointed upward. It took me some time to ________ that she wanted to go up to the roof and sit outside. It was getting ________ and the sun was going down, and no one seemed ________ to take her upstairs.

I carried her up. She sat on a chair, facing the west and watching the________. I reminded the workers to ________ her later. Then I had to leave. But she never ________ me.

Sometimes it’s the people you can’t help who ________ you the most. Optimism isn’t a passive expectation that things will get better. It is a(n)________ that we can make things better and we can help people, if we don’t lose hope and don’t look ________.