【推荐1】As we slowly ________ down the street on that cold December evening we spotted the porch (门廊) light. “This must be the house.” I told our “Positive Teens In Action” group. We ________ in front of an older home ________ the porch light glowing. We ________ our song books, walked up the steps, and ________ the door. We heard a faint voice from inside say, “________ in. The door is open.” We opened the door.

There in a rocking chair sat an elderly woman with a big smile on her face. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said ________. Ruth was one of our Meals On Wheels stops I had ________ along with the usual church members who ________ carolers. We ________ Ruth all the goods ________ the teens had assembled to Ruth earlier that evening. Then I asked Ruth what carols (颂歌) she would like to ________. Ruth’s face was beaming (面露喜色) as she ________ singing each song.

________ we hugged Ruth good-bye she said to me with ________ glistening in her eyes, “The day you called I was still in bed. I had just finished praying. I asked God if it would be ________ to have some Christmas Carolers come to my home and ________ this year. Thank you for being the ________ to my Christmas prayer.”

Wow, what a(n) ________ experience to have the opportunity to be the answer to someone’s Christmas prayer.

Bible Text: When you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. And your Father, who sees ________ you do in private, will reward you.

【推荐3】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 job at the local lumber mill (木材厂) 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 and duct tape than I ever thought 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 worked there longer than I had. Every morning I would __________ myself out of bed and go to work knowing it was going to be another __________ day. I tried my best to keep my __________ up but many times during those years I found myself saying, “Why me? Why am I having to __________ this? Why has my life not turned out the way I dreamed it would?” I never got an __________.

It is only now many years later that I have a hint of why 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1】Coast Guard Zac and his wife Cindy were having fun posing for wedding photos on the sands of Shell Beach, Alabama last week when a disaster occurred. Someone was ______ screaming for help.

A young boy was ______ in a rip tide (离岸流) fifty meters out from the seashore, and it was ______ that he was struggling to stop sinking. ______ there were lifeguards on duty, they were busy saving other drowning swimmers from the current. Cindy immediately ______ Zac to save the boy. He took off his wedding shirt and was about to take off his pants when his wife said there was no time. So without further ______, he dived into the sea, grabbed a boogie board (冲浪趴板) and ______ his way out to the teen. Zac helped the boy onto the board and started helping him back to the shore. As they continued swimming, ______, Zac began to get ______ and slightly panicked.

“I eventually ______ him but we were about half a football field away from the shore. He just kept saying he had much difficulty breathing.” said Zac. “The current was really strong, and the ______ were making it hard to kick, too.”

______, a team of rescuers arrived in time and pulled them out of the water. The boy was shaken but ______. He was able to go to school as usual. He and his mother were ______ to Zac for the rescue, ______ Zac said it was all in a day’s work.

【推荐1】The thing happened last year. The ________ was conducted compulsorily during the COVID-19 outbreak. Most people were forced to stay at home and many lost their jobs. But one day I had to ________ to the company because of an emergency conference. And that was when something memorable came into my eyes. It was the ________ of a boy standing on the road with a ________ in his hand. He seemed to be from an educated family from the ________ words on the large notice. It read, “ I need money badly for my mother’s ________ ! Thank you for your attention, dear friends! ”

I was anxious to catch up with the conference. Therefore, I didn’t stop the car. Unemployment and poverty were a ( n ) ________ sight in the large city. No wonder we motorists drove by without offering assistance. We were taught that giving money helped ________ a dependent lifestyle, or it made many people unwilling to earn their living.

As I ________ away from the boy with that large notice, I was extremely ________ . Could it be a shame? What should I do? Turn back or move on? As I ________ with these questions, I saw a car ________ in front of the boy. A man got off his car and went to talk to the boy, “ Take the money and wish your mom a successful operation. ” ________ , the man lent the boy a hand. As I ________ , somebody else sprang into action and did what I could have done. Since then I’ve been ________ that it is important to do something for someone in need, whether it is big or small, because something is better than nothing!

【推荐2】My son just turned 14 and does not have a smartphone. When he graduated from Grade 8, he was the only kid in his class without one. He asks for a phone ____ he’s going to high school. I say no, he asks why, I explain (yet again), and he pushes back.

“You can choose to do things ____ when you’re a parent，”I told him. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m being too stubborn or unfair. However, the more researches I do, the more ____ I feel in my decision. Many studies ____ the current mental health crisis among adolescents to fundamental changes in the ____ from in-person to online interaction.

But other parents ____ my idea. “He must feel so left out !” Then there are the parents who tell me with ____ that they wish they had put off their teenager’s phone ownership longer than they did. They urge me to ____.

If teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 are truly spending an average of 8 hours 39 minutes per day on their devices, then what are they not doing? Kids ____ in their devices are missing out on real life, and that strikes me as really sad. I want my son to have a childhood he feels ____ with and proud of. I want it to be full of ____, imaginative play and physical challenges which he must sort out himself without asking for me at the push of a button. The easiest and simplest way to achieve these goals is to____ giving him a smartphone.

Some think my son is missing out or falling behind, but he is not. He does well in school, hangs out with his friends in person, and moves around our small town ____.

He swears he’ll give his own 14-year old a phone someday, and I tell him that’s fine. But recently, he ____ that he missed the beautiful scenery on a drive to a nearby mountain because he had been so abandoned to his friend’s iPad. If that is his version of admitting I’m ____ I’ll take it.

In my early childhood, my parents and teachers taught me to be persistent (执着) in every task I devoted myself to. I was _____1_____ that persistence is the only way towards success. But a small incident made me change my mind.

One day my two-­year-­old son, _______2____ at a dozen of “stood” color marker­pens, cheered excitedly, “Mummy, look! I did it.” Afterwards, he collected some ball­pens, ____3______ to do the same. Hard though he tried, the ball­pens just lay ______4_____. He turned to me for help. Noticing they had either sharp or round ends, I said ____5_____, “Mummy can’t help you.” To my ____6_____, he wouldn’t listen and continued trying. I was struck by his persistence.

My son’s behaviour reminded me of George who was always _____7____in his work and rarely talked to anyone. To him, _____8____, there was no such thing called weekends or holidays. Our boss praised _____9_____ about him and _____10_____us to look up to him as a role model.

One day I met George. “Gonna work late again tonight？”

“Probably can't leave till midnight,” he said.

“How many hours have you put in here each week, eighty or ninety?”

“____11______.”

“Don’t you have time to be with your family at all?”

He shook his head slowly and ____12______ a sigh. “It’s not what I wanted. But I have worked on it for so long. It’s much too ____13_______ to even think about letting go.”

A year later I resigned. The _____14____ thing I heard about him was that his wife divorced him. Since then I’ve never seen him. But occasionally his aged ____15______ would come to my mind.

Until that day, _____16_____ knowing why the ball­pens couldn’t stand up, the two­year­old had ____17_____the impossibility after many failures. He put aside all the ball­pens and kept only those water markers for his “game”. _____18____, he already learned to let go of his previous ______19_____ attempts.

In our daily life, many headaches can be avoided if we know how to _____20____ them and then let go of them immediately.