【推荐1】When I was a boy, we lived right next to a forest. I spent a lot of time ________ alone. I would spend hours every day playing in the ________ with the oak trees (橡树).

That was why it was so hard for me ________ I worked in a lumber mill (木材厂) as a young man.It wasn’t just the ________ work and the low pay. It was also seeing day after day beautiful oak trees being ________ and made into flooring (地板). I thought they looked more ________ as living trees reaching up to the sky than as dead flooring lying under my feet.

One afternoon after a long day’s work, I was feeling particularly ________, thinking I should be out somewhere. I then decided to take a ________ in the forest in the hope of lifting my spirits.As I walked along with my aching body I longed for those ________ days again. Suddenly, I saw a single acorn (橡子) that had somehow ________ the hungry squirrels all winter long. A ________ flashed through my mind, “Eventually an acorn becomes a forest!” I smiled, bent down, dug up a handful of dirt, and ________ that little acorn. My heart was filled with joy.

In this life we all start out as an acorn, but whether we ________ a forest or not is up to us. We have the ______ to grow, learn, laugh, love, smile... Don’t just be an acorn. Embrace this gift of life.________ it to your everyday life to stretch your soul towards the sky and create a large forest of love.

【推荐2】Love is blind: the magic of Tabby

In October, 2003, I started my work at my local animal shelter’s adoption department. Over the years, more than 50,000 animals have______the door of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are special animals, which touch me so deeply that I could never possibly______them. Tabby was one such animal.

Tabby was an ancient cocker spaniel, probably 14 years old. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances of being adopted seemed______. After all, there weren’t many adopters coming here asking, “Can you show me all of your really old dogs that are also______?” We had all thought that Tabby would live out the rest of her life at the shelter.

One day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, had______Tabby’s picture and stories on the shelter’s website at home. They were interested in meeting her! It was the only______we ever received about Tabby. What could a young child possibly see in a 14-year-old dog that was both blind and deaf? Most boys would want a dog that could grow with them and______through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would never be able to do that. But after meeting her, Loretta and Gary thought that she was the right dog for their family. They adopted Tabby!

If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her______adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed. ______, it was what happened after her adoption that people might regard as “magic”. Gary______from seizures(癫痫). Since Gary and Tabby met, they had become______. They did everything together. They became so “in tune” with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary’s seizures______they occurred, giving his family a warning that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures because of Tabby’s______.

How could it be? Nobody could explain______Tabby did it. But we were fortunate enough to know they had______the magic, the kind that has its roots in love.

【推荐2】Joe Eitl, 37, was horn with cardiac defects(心脏缺陷). When he was a kid, he experienced the first of many operations to improve his________. Since then, he has experienced other________and has been treated with medicines.

However, he's created a________life in the process. In fact, he's been a bit________in his community. Joe has always had lots of friends, is a Special Olympics multisport athlete and has________a local rock band. And a local bakery even________a sandwich in his honor: The Joey.

But a year ago, Joe went into heart failure. He was________and his heart problem also caused stress to his organs. His parents started the________, complex process of having him________for a possible heart transplant(移植). Even the ever-lively Joe some days found it hard to gather any energy.

So his mother, Peg Eitl started________on Facebook about his long medical journey. Friends and family members posted Facebook________for people to send Joe cards and notes of________because he loves receiving________mail. Others then shared the post, which________even more shares.

And the mail started coming. One card came with a hand-drawn picture from a little girl and a note that________, "You don't know us, but we wanted you to know our family are________for you."

The Eitls couldn't________all the mail Joe has received, even if they tried. "We have thousands of cards," said Peg________. "Whether he gets a transplant or not, we don't know, but the cards, the letters and the gifts from strangers have literally made a________between a day he didn't want to get out of bed and a day he bounced out of bed. It's been________!”

【推荐3】Martin Folsom was well-known in his school this summer. However, he had a ______ start in life. Living on and off the streets for much of his youth, Martin experienced years of ______ . Yet,he didn’t stop his footsteps. This summer, Martin ______ high school in Florida with a high score, which made him ______ stand out of his class and enabled him to make a(n) ______ at the graduation ceremony.

Martin and his mother had nowhere to live after his father deserted them. As a result, they had to ______ a lot. More than two years, they lived in a number of ______ across five different states. But throughout these ______ years, Martin remained determined and never _____ his goals. He never missed school and was the highest-ranking student in 2020.

Martin also experienced life in and out of the classroom. He was the president of several programs and ______ the class monitor in the last four years. “He’s such a special guy and ______ leader, Principal Cathy Bures told the reporter.” He has a big heart for his classmates, ______ them that they’re a promising generation.” ______ Martin’s efforts and excellence, he has been admitted to Valdosta State University in Georgia with a full scholarship.

Martin’s ______ to students is to make goals early and work hard towards them. He said. “You never know whether you’ll make it, or what you can end up achieving. But you need to ______ big. And once you succeed, you will feel really fantastic.”