【推荐2】A few months ago, one of my fellow graduate students was offered an incredible career-building opportunity. His efforts on a student-led campaign to increase federal funding for basic research had _______an invitation to speak on a conference panel (专家组). It would look great on his CV (简历). I was _______for him, of course. I had been a(n)_______partner in the campaign. I felt that I deserved the same opportunity. Yet I hadn’t been_______and I wasn’t sure why.

Growing up, I had been taught that the way to _______was to put my head down and work hard. If my work was good enough, it would speak for itself and I would be _______. This view, coupled with a natural __________, meant that I ___________ worked up the nerve before to put myself forward. This time, _______, I decided that I need to take control of my life again－by becoming my own biggest ________.

So, with my ____________beating fast, I asked my colleague to ask the panel organizers to include me. My mind was flooded with a list of well-practiced ____________. Maybe I didn’t deserve it. Maybe I was being too________. But my colleague immediately contacted the organizers, who quickly agreed to ________ me to the panel. I’ve come to understand that if I’m invisible, my work, ____________, won’t get any chance to be recognized. This isn’t a revolutionary ___________ which many people are unfamiliar with, I know, but as an introvert(内向的人) this is my________ Mount Everest.

I think advocating for myself will always make me a little________. But I do plenty of other uncomfortable things to __________ I’m living my best life, like getting flu shots. I suppose I can do the same for my________.

【推荐3】My daughter plays on a recreational soccer team. They did very well this season and so ____ a tournament, which normally was only for more skilled club teams. This led to some ____ experiences on Saturday as they played against teams ____ trained. Through the first two games, her ____ did not get one serious shot on goal. As a parent, I ____ seeing my daughter playing her best, ____ still defeated.

It seemed that something clicked with the ____ between Saturday and Sunday. When they ____ for their Sunday game, they were ____ different. They had begun to integrate (融合) the kinds of play and teamwork they had ____ the day before into their ____. They played aggressively and even scored a goal.

It ____ me that playing against the other team was a great ____ moment for all the girls on the team. I think it is a general principle. ____ is the best teacher. The lessons they learned may not be ____ what they would have gotten in school, but are certainly more personal and meaningful, because they had to work them out on their own.

【推荐1】I was 17 years old. Along with a dozen other boys I had made a long ________ to Iowa in order to see a college that I was thinking of ________. While the trip had been ________ for the most part, now that I was there I was feeling down, ________, and isolated（孤独的）.I was missing my ________ and I was also missing the Appalachian mountains and the ________ of my home. I loved how the leaves turned a thousand shades of green in the spring and then ________ a sea of red, gold, and orange m the Fall.

Here in Iowa everything was ________. The grass looked burnt and brown. All that I could smell was a ________ of corn, mud and pigs. I ________ outside the dormitory of the college and sat on an old stump. I closed my eyes and ________ being back home again. When I ________ opened them, however, I saw something that touched my ________, It was a Prairie Sunset. It seemed to ________ the sky everywhere. Gold, red, purple and pink clouds all ________ together in a picture painted by Heaven's own hand. It was so huge that it took my ________ away. It made our mountain sunsets seem ________ by comparison. I realized that this place too had its own special beauty. This place too was a part of nature's ________.

Over the years to come I learned something else. In fact each of us also has a special ________. Each of us has our own ________ talents and abilities.

【推荐3】You need to send a quick text to your mom to tell her soccer practice is canceled. In an effort not to get _________, you reach slowly into your backpack. You are _________ about not pressing the wrong button that will make your task known by the teacher. With the phone on your lap, you try not to _________ as you text: “soccer canceled!”

Send. You slip it into your pocket. But wait . . . your friend Lucy’s hair made her look _________ when you passed her in the hall. It’s _________ to wait until lunch. So, you repeat the secret process of texting: “Fix _________. It’s ugly!” Now, not only have you just _________ two whole possibly important minutes of your teacher’s lecture, but you have also furthered the _________ of your spelling and vocabulary.

The way we type when we use virtual communication devices _________ the way we spell — not just when we’re in a __________. Have you ever caught yourself writing “u” instead of “you” in an essay for school? We have become accustomed to the __________ use of non-standard abbreviations (缩写词).

In a world where instant satisfaction is everything, we simply do not take the time to __________ the few extra letters, __________ unfamiliar words. Seldom do we see the word “overjoyed” for “happy”, “morose” for “sad” in a text. We must __________ our vocabulary and learn to use advanced words if we expect to make a __________ of exams relating to our future and get job opportunities.