【推荐1】Sam, our beloved companion over 10 years, died two months ago. It was still a big blow to my family until we finally decided to _________ another shepherd dog through the local German Shepherd Rescue.

After meeting with the host family to see if we met the _________ for adoption, we were allowed to take a 2-year-old female Shepherd home. She was a _________ dog, loving, gentle and smart!

One day on a walk, a neighbor’s dog crossed the street in a(n) _________ manner and attacked her as she stepped in front of me. After that, she immediately _________ a fierce animal whenever she saw any other dog! When I _________ with the previous host family, I was told she’d also been _________ badly while at a dog park with them!

Quickly I searched and found a(n) _________ woman with her own dog—a team who would help Sam remove her terrible _________ . The other dog was an Australian Shepherd. We were __________ to walk to the end of the street. Once there, I saw the woman and her obedient (顺从)trained __________ ! As we slowly approached them, I __________ as soon as my dog became anxious. Her dog was __________ sitting, simply watching for directions.

As weeks passed, these two dogs __________ walked side by side because of this quiet, steady and careful __________ A calm Australian Shepherd erased the fear of a German Shepherd and finally healed her invisible scars.

【推荐2】When I was a young girl, my mother made the same dish for supper five nights a week. She boiled potatoes, carrots, and _______ small amounts of the roast beef. She called it stew (炖菜).

I would often hear other children at school _______ about the delicious meals they had for _______. Many of them ate in fast food restaurants, which were popular and expensive at the time. They got hamburgers and fries. I _______ we could eat like that once in a while, but my parents couldn’t _______ it. We only had takeout (外卖) food once or twice a year for special _______.

Now when I _______, I think how blessed I was. My mom took the _______ to cut up and prepare those _______ every single night. Her ________ were right-focusing on the vegetables but not on the ________.

I had ________ head colds and flus than my classmates. If I did get ________, I’d be home for a day or two, not a whole week like many of them.

When I was in my thirties, I became ill and was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I have to ________ I had been eating a lot of fast food, ________ not getting it as a child. But when I went back to preparing home-made meals, I started to feel ________.

Today I often find myself ________ a bowl of my mother’s stew. I realize how ________ I was to have a mother who took the time to prepare a healthy meal for her family five evenings a week. That stew was made with ________ and it has left me with a(n) ________ that will warm me forever.

【推荐3】During my second year at the city college, I was told that the education department was offering a “free” course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I _______ the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn’t want to save few dollars? More than that, I’d always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t _______ enough about free credits, news about out _______ was appealing enough to me. He was an international grand master, which _______ I would be learning from one of the game’s _______. I could hardly wait to meet him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this _______ was no game for him; he meant business. In his introduction, he make it _______ that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to pass the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to _______ what we would learn in class to our culture profession and, _______, to our lives, I managed to get an A in that __________ and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the __________.

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I’m still putting to use what he taught me. “The absolute most important __________ that you learn when you play chess is how to make good __________. On every single move you have to __________ a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and __________ the best move from among all your options.” These words still ring true today in my role as a journalist.

【推荐1】I always knew that I depended too much on my phone. But I didn’t know how much, so I decided to do this _________ to find out.

Every morning since I got a smartphone, I’ve used The Weather Channel to find out what to _________. On the first morning I had to dress without guidance, but _________ I was able to guess that the day would be cold and foggy by looking out of my window.

I couldn’t tell what time it was. I hadn’t worn a _________ for more than a year, because my phone showed the time. So I was late for _________ friends who had been on the bus for two hours from Santa Monica to Rancho Palos Verdes. I was also late for my part-time job. And _________, I couldn’t call people to tell them that I was running late. Getting somewhere was hard, too. I got _________ because I couldn’t use the GPS on my phone. My driving, though, got a lot _________ because I no longer had my phone in one hand checking directions while _________ with the other.

But the number one trouble was not having my contact list. I forgot to write down my friends’ and family members’ phone numbers before I __________ the challenge. It was sad to realize that I couldn’t remember my brother’s and my mom’s cell phone numbers. Oh, how I __________ to turn on the phone for just a second to look up phone numbers!

Even with all the problems, however, I found __________ not worrying about missing a text message or an e-mail.

This challenge was a(n) __________ learning experience. It surprised me how I’d taken no notice of even the __________ things like remembering phone numbers. We all should __________ some time to think about how we can depend less on our cell phones.

【推荐3】When I was a child, my father taught me five words: stand porter to your mind. I’ve used it all my life - in my acting career, as a mother, and in my _________ activities.

Nowadays this phrase might seem old-fashioned, but it still _________ A porter is a gatekeeper, someone who stands at a door letting people in or out. Dad would _________ me to picture myself stopping _________ things - such as fear - at the door, but saying “Come in” to faith, love and confidence.

As an actress, before I went on camera, I’d make sure anxiety stayed out and confidence in my ability _________. And as a mother, when I was _________ about my children, I would try not to let worry in but would fill my mind with trust in them.

Of course, there were always times when I’d _________ those words. I remember one time _________. In 1972, my husband and I opened our own _________. This was a new business venture for us and it was more __________than we had figured. Something was always going wrong. Once, a flu epidemic (流行病) suddenly left us with no maids. Then there was the __________ crisis. The price of gasoline doubled, and tourism in California __________. How could we fill our beds? What if we kept losing money? Here I was at the front desk of the hotel and those old uninvited guests, fear and worry, were slipping in. But I __________ them just in time. I stood porter. I stood in the door of my mind and sent fear __________.

These days at the hotel, whenever fear tries to __________, I just smile and point to the sign that reads No Vacancy (客满).