【推荐1】It was our first Thanksgiving in the new house and I wanted everything to be perfect. But my plan for everyone to do some preparation work had been ________ by my husband’s business trip. Even worse, a project for me that week had ________ two days of planned vacation. By Wednesday, my task of a table with fresh flowers, nice drinking glasses and various homemade desserts had already ________, I just hoped that I’d find a clean tablecloth and eight ________ forks.

In my perfect Thanksgiving, there wouldn’t be any orange in my salad because It hadn’t made the grocery list. There would be no perfect family photos to record that day because I hadn’t got the broken camera ________. Someone had brought home the wrong toilet paper, which was the last straw that made me ________.

I don’t remember what my son asked me as he was doing some cleaning, ________ I do remember twisting into that mean-and-tight mom-face before making an ________. This combination of noise and anger is a universal signal to kids everywhere that they might as well ________ me. But he didn’t.

Instead of disappearing from view, my second-grader turned ________ the cleaning machine and walked across the room to face me. He never said a word. He just wrapped his arms around me, making me feel ________ of myself until today.

It turned out a(n) ________ Thanksgiving. The people I loved gathered around my table and dined just one choice of the pie. My dad used a mismatched fork without ________. My daughter drew a picture of us where everyone smiled.

My son took a(n) ________ to teach me that sometimes we need a hug most when we are least huggable. This is the best gift you can give: One size fits all and no one ever minds if you ________.

【推荐2】A little boy invited his mother to attend his school’s first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy’s______, she said she would go. This would be the ______ time that his classmates and teacher______ his mother and he felt ______ of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar (疤痕) that______nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to ______ why or how she got the scar.

At the meeting, the people were ______ by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother ______she had the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed (尴尬) and ______ himself from everyone. He did, however, get within ______of a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

The teacher asked ______, “How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied, “ ______my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was______afraid to go in because the fire was______, so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a long piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was ______ senseless (失去知觉) but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She ______the burned side of her face. “This scar will be lasting, but to this day, I have never ______what I did.”

At this point, the little boy came out running toward his ______ with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt great ______ from his mother. He held her hand ______for the rest of the day.

I sat nervously and waited for Kathleen to speak. Being called to the human resources department is a little like being called to the principal’s office. “Annie,” she said, “A food bank in our town that serves the elderly is asking for _______. I’d like you to organize the event and see it through.” “Well, um, errr...sure. I guess so.” As I stutter(结结巴巴地说) through my _______ , all I could think was, “What? Why me?”

I walked back to my office without any idea as to where to _______. This was a time when the economy was _______. The rise in unemployment forced the families of many of my coworkers to _______ to survive. How could I ask my coworkers for more?

That evening I drove home filled with _______ . Then I remembered a time long ago when my father was out of work. Mom wrote a note to Jim, the milkman, asking him not to _______ any more milk. Two days later Jim picked up the _______ and left four liters of milk. He wrote his own message on the back side of Mom’s. It read, “Kids need milk.” The milk delivery_______ as usual and Jim left four liters of milk every other day, never collecting a cent with us.

The memory of Jim’s ________ fired my enthusiasm. Perhaps I’d be in for a pleasant surprise.

The next morning I ________ signs about our food drive all over the cafeteria and on every notice board I could find. Each sign read, “Food drive to support the elderly poor of our town! ________ of non-perishable(不易腐的)foods are greatly needed.”

Within a few days I had to locate empty office space to ________ the massive number of contributions we had ________. One of my coworkers, Maggie, made the rounds with me every day from one department to another to pick up the canned goods and other ________. Maggie was over sixty but pushed our food trolley around with the ________ of a woman half her age.

As we were making our rounds one day, I asked her where she got all the energy and enthusiasm. “Annie,” she said, “with the unemployment rate touching 10 percent, I can’t think of a better way to be ________ for keeping our jobs when so many have ________ theirs. Sure money is ________. But when isn’t it? People need food.”

As I listened to Maggie, the milkman’s words ________ in my ears, “Kids need milk.”

【推荐2】When I was younger, I was accustomed to obeying orders. Go to school. Go to play basketball. _________ the parents. One of the most _________ commands was: Be quiet.

So, I learned to stay quiet—about problems, desires and feelings. I developed a rich _________ world and my thoughts were to be _________ mostly to myself.

On the _________ side, that made me more _________. But it also caused that I didn’t experience what I wanted, as the wants and the communication both got stopped by a blanket of _________.

It was a long time before I knew it was okay to _________ about needs, desires, and feelings. As I got older, I found people _________ me to open up and share more. That was difficult to do though. I wasn’t ____________ it. When people wanted to know more about me, ____________ felt like they were shining a burning spotlight into my ____________. But this left me ____________ inside my own thought. I couldn’t talk about what I felt, needed, and wanted, no one could help me make ____________. Even if people offered ____________, it was misguided because they didn’t really know what I wanted. They had to ____________, but their guesses were wrong.

However, in order to seek for personal ____________, I read lots of books and listened to many audio programs. I liked it when other people ____________ their stories, goals, ambitions, mistakes, and feelings. Every now and then, I’d come across something that struck me as really ____________ and authentic. And I gradually found I really need to ____________ my quiet and safe area now.

【推荐3】Years ago, when we first went to Canada, we were driving through Montana to Ontario with our two children. We thought we'd find a hotel on the way without _________ ahead of time. As it was getting late, we started looking for a hotel, only to find that all the hotels were full.

_________, around 9 pm, we stopped at a gas station to fill the car up with gas. My husband told the woman at the counter that we were _________ to find a hotel. She told us it would be _________ at such late time during the busy season. Noticing that we were worried, she said we could spend the night at her home nearby.

Though surprised at her _________, we gladly accepted it. She then called her son to come and lead the way, since she had to work until midnight. Soon a pick-up truck arrived and we _________ it. When we reached their home, her husband _________ us. He invited us to have coffee and we chatted when _________ his wife. She came past 12. We asked if we could leave _________ in the morning so as not to disturb them. They said we were guests and we'd have to have breakfast with them.

The next morning, around the table were many people, and we were __________ that they would take in total __________ from a different country. After breakfast, when we were __________，my husband asked if he could offer some __________. But they said no. Then we left. We kept in __________ for many years. Later we lost contact, but over the years we have never forgotten their __________.

【推荐1】One day I was driving to the marsh (湿地) for bird-watching. The weather forecast called for the possibility of fog. As I _______ the destination, the fog began to _______. At a turning point, I lost _______ of the car and ran into the wet land.

I tried to open the door, but it was locked as the water had _______ the electrical system. I remembered I had a fire extinguisher (灭火器). I _______ it and gave the window a _______ hit. Itmerely bounced off. I hit it again, with the _______ result.

The water level had risen and soon I was swinging (挥动) the extinguisher underwater. I had to _______for air and down to take as many _______ as my breath would allow. I was nearly ________. A part of me just wanted to give up. But then another thought came to mind, “You have ________ more time. What will you do with it?” “I’m going to try ________,” I responded.

I ________ swinging the fire extinguisher as hard as I could and suddenly the impact felt different. I ________ my left hand and felt a hole in the ________. I knew I was going to live.

【推荐3】A lady wanted a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had liked a beautiful _________, and knowing her husband could _________ it, she told him that was all she wanted. On the morning of the _________, her husband told her how _________ he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He _________a beautiful gift package (纸盒). She opened it and _________ a Bible. _________, she raised her voice and said to her husband, "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" She was so _________ that she left him.

Many years passed and the lady was very_________ in business. She owned two large companies. She __________ her husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should go to __________ him. But before she could, she __________ a letter telling her that he had died, and gave all of his possessions (财产) to her. She needed to come back and __________ things.

When she arrived at his house, sadness __________ her heart. She saw the still new __________, just as she had left it years before. With __________, she opened it and began to turn the pages. A ring __________ from the Bible to the floor and a __________ could be seen. She picked it up and found it was the ring she wanted in those days. And on the card was the date of her birth, and the words "LOVE U ALWAYS".

__________ your gift is not packaged the way you want it, it's because it is better packaged the way it is! Always appreciate little things; they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched for they must be felt with the __________ .