【推荐1】I became a gardener when I was twelve. My early _________ of gardening may not have originated from my love for nature. It was to _________ my parents.

At that time, we had a big yard in which a beautiful maple tree stood. But my mother often looked with _________at this work of natural art. Those golden leaves seemed like tons of rubbish to her, “something else to _________!” Seeing the neighbors busy with gardening, my father ever thought it a waste of time.

At that age, I always did something _________ to whatever my parents did! If gardening were something they found _________ , I would plant a garden!

I planted some lily (百合花) seeds in the yard. But they failed to _________ to sunflower seeds and roses. Wild _________ joy, I found the first rose bloom (开花). One by one, the flowers bloomed their heads off. _________, I was touched by this land of wonder. I kept on planting my garden and continued to enjoy the pleasure gardening. Plants make such good companions: they breathe, they bloom, they __________ to care and love.

Today I become known as Mrs. Greenthumbs, and now I could say it is my affection for nature that makes me a real gardener.

【推荐2】When I was a child, my mother often worried about her age and complained about growing older. I struggled to ________ answers about why she lived in such ________. When I first ________ that I wouldn’t live forever, I went to Mama for answers and for ________. She provided the answers I feared, but instead of comforting me, she only added, “At least you have ________ time left than I do.”

Her ________ didn’t comfort me then or in the years that followed. I worried about death, ________ that my life would eventually ________.

At the age of thirty-six, Mama was diagnosed (诊断) with cancer and was ________ six months later. It was years before I let myself ________ her diaries, but when I did, it was these two sentences that ________ my attitude towards life and all I believed.

“I don’t know why I spent my life ________ my age. Now I just wish I could grow old.”

The one thing that Mama feared the most became the thing she most ________ — simply to grow old.

________ was no longer a thief stealing days from my life but was, instead, a ________ of how many days I’d been blessed (有福气）to live.

When I turned forty-five, I was asked if it ________ me to turn another year older. I responded, “ Why would I be ________ over the fact that I was allowed to turn forty-five? I’m ________ another year that I got to live and experience the things I enjoy and to be with the people I love.”

I believe that my life should not be defined (界定) by ________ but by what I have experienced and what I have given of myself. When I’m gone, the number of years attached to my life will not ________. What I have given of it to others will.

【推荐3】One year after Tom was born, his parents had a car accident. They never _________. Tom’s 85-year-old grandmother was too _________ to take care of him. As a result, he was put up for adoption (领养). He was adopted by a middle-aged couple who had no _________ of their own. They were not rich and received little education, but they were kind-hearted people.

As Tom was growing up, he _________ a lot of problems at school. He didn’t learn _________ and had difficulty in reading. His _________ sometimes laughed at him. What they said made Tom _________.

As he couldn’t _________ the other students at school, he dropped out of school and came back home. But he didn’t stop learning. He had big dreams. Though he didn’t learn fast, he kept teaching himself at home.

After many years of learning at home, he _________ overcame his difficulties. Today he is a very __________ speaker and author. While he was growing up, his self-esteem (自尊) and __________ were low because of others’ making fun of him. It took him many years to realize his dreams.

When listening to his videos and tapes, he shows confidence. He tells about his story and how he got over the __________ in his life. He has a very __________ sentence: “You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present situations __________ you change.”

For those who have low self-confidence, I suggest you start reading about Tom’s world. Many people have their own talents to be discovered. If you have a dream, then start today to move yourself towards it. If someone like Tom who has __________ in learning can be such a success, why can’t you succeed?

【推荐1】Draper, the owner of a secondhand bookstore, was sorting through a pile of old books when an envelope fell from one. Inside was an undated ______ and a faded photo of a woman holding a little girl on her lap. The letter said if Bethany was ______ it, it meant the author had died.

Tears were welling up in Draper’s eyes. These were a ______ woman’s last words to her child. He had to _____ Bethany. “Whoever it is will ______ this,” he thought. “You wouldn’t ______ a letter like that.”

He supposed if the ______ ended up in his shop then Bethany was likely from around Bishop Auckland. And he thought he ______ recognized the little girl’s face. Even if she’d since left the area, there might be someone in town who would recognize the ______.

He started with the local newspaper. The Northern Echo ran the story of the _______ letter.

____, Bethany Gash, now 21 and a(n) ______ herself, was on Facebook about 10 miles away when a close friend messaged her to check out the ______. As she read her mother’s ______, which she thought had been lost forever, she said she thought she must be ______.

Gash was only 4 when her mother ______. Five years later, her family moved to a new home and the letter, put away in the pages of a book for safe keeping, was unintentionally ______.

She remembers unpacking and looking for the letter, and then ______ searching through everything in the hope that it was there. “That’s when I realized it was ______ gone by now and I’d never see it again,” she said.

Draper ______ the letter in person. He also brought her a children’s book for her son. Gash was greatly moved to have the letter back, and also touched by the stranger’s kindness.

【推荐2】After work one day, I grabbed a pizza for dinner at the mall. As I was heading home, I saw a girl sitting in a corner of the mall. Her hair covered her face and her body was________. I determined to walk past her________that’s what we often do. But something made me turn________. I learned her age, and why she begged (乞讨) for money and lived on the streets.

Her parents died years ago and she suffered from a serious skin disease. She was_________to work because of her disability and had to live in the safest place she could_________. She had stayed in shelters in the past, but was treated ________. She had to seek shelter from the mall to keep ________on cold days, but even the mall she said wasn’t safe because security always threw her out.

I’m one of those people who used to believe there was a system of ________to help her. Ideally, I would like to believe in that and I used to think maybe one day I would help “them”. Maybe one day I would win the lottery (彩票). But when I ________that girl, I thought to myself, what if no one ever helped her? What if this so called___________system that I believed in didn’t even know or ________her existence? What if I didn’t ________any money? What if she was not going to be around long enough to see that “one day”?

I didn’t really think about what happened next. I ________my dinner with her and gave her all the money I had. When security came, I talked them into helping her _______driving her away like they usually did.

Don’t wait for one day to come before you help someone. Now is that one day—not tomorrow, not next week. If you can do something to ease someone else’s _________, don’t wait for that distant one day. Be the one day. Be it now.

【推荐1】Years ago some salesmen ran to catch their flights. In their ________ , one of these busy salesmen ________ over a table, where baskets of apples were. Apples flew everywhere. Without ________ , they all tried to reach the planes quickly, all but one. He paused and told his friends to ________ without him, asking one of them to tell his wife that he would take a later flight.

Then he returned to the place where the apples were. The girl at the apple table was totally ________ ! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly ________ for her apples as the crowd walked around her. No one stopped or cared for her ________ .

The salesman gathered up the apples, put them into the ________ , and helped set the table up once more. As he did this, he noticed many had become broken; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he ________ out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 for the ________ we did. Are you okay?” She nodded   ________ her tears.

He continued, “I hope we didn't spoil your day too ________ .” As the salesman started to walk away, the girl who couldn't see anything called out to him, “Mister...”He turned to look. She ________ ,“Are you angel?” He stopped and wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch his flight with that ________ in his soul: “Are you angel?” Do people mistake you for angel? Try your best to ________ those in trouble and you would be the angel all the time.

【推荐3】It was the night before the composition was due. As I looked at the list of topics, “The Art of Eating Spaghetti (意大利面条)” caught my eye. The word “spaghetti” brought back the _________of an evening at Uncle Alien’s in Belleville___________all of us were seated around the table and Aunt Pat_________ spaghetti for supper. Spaghetti was an exotic (外来的) treat in ___________days. Never had I eaten spaghetti, and   _______of the grown-ups had enough experience to be_______ it. What laughing _________ we had about the _________ respectable method for moving spaghetti from plate to mouth. ___________, I wanted to write about that, but I wanted to ________it down simply for my own__________, not for Mr. Fleagle, my composition teacher. ________, I would write something else.

When I finished it the night was half gone and there was no __________left to write a proper composition for Mr. Fleagle. There was no choice next morning but to __________ my work. Two days passed before Mr. Fleagle returned the__________papers. He said, “Now, class, I want to read you a composition,   ‘The Art of Eating Spaghetti’.”

My words! He was reading my words out____________to the whole class. __________ laughed, then the whole class was laughing with open-hearted enjoyment. I did my best not to show ________, but what I was feeling was pure happiness, __________my words had the power to make people ________.