【推荐1】“Smile!” I shouted, flashing a bright yellow poster at a crowd of people in Seattle.

We were 3,000 miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness road trip. Our _______was to try out our new “Smile!” signs and see how much kindness and joy we could _______

We weren't sure how people would _______ our signs. It's so easy to walk past a busy crowd, lost in your own world, _______ to make eye contact with strangers and feeling _______ while surrounded by hundreds of people. I _______ raised up a sign and shouted, “Hi there!” to a young couple. They looked over, _______, then read my sign and broke into smiles. They even nudged (轻推) a person beside them, gesturing to our sign so their friend could _______, too.

This might _______, I thought.

Before long, our signs were ________ . Tourists wanted photos with us. Strangers stopped to ask us about our ________ and we told them the story of our Acts of Kindness road trip. The famous fish vendors (小贩) changed their ________ from “FISH! FRESH FISH”' to “HEY! SMILE, EVERYONE.”

Sometimes I'd see a(n) ________ face and feel nervous to show my sign, but I tried not to judge. I'd ________be rewarded with a big grin (咧嘴笑),as suddenly a frowning elderly woman turned into my ________ old grandmother.

Some people ________ if they could have a “Smile!” sign to take with them. One bus driver put a sign in his window; a bicyclist that ________ one of our signs emailed us several years later to say he still uses it whenever he races.

The signs are more than a(n) ________to smile — they're an excuse to connect with ________and to remember we're not alone. This world is full of ________ people we just don't know yet.

【推荐2】In Thanks for What We Have

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 stuttered (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 so to _______ to begin. 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 negativity. 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 “Kids need milk” on the back side of Mom’s. 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 kindness fired my _________. 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 __________, “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 __________ empty office space to store 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1】“Hi, Mrs. Grady,” said Mark, “Would you like us to shovel (铲除) your driveway?”

Mrs. Grady touched her hand to her heart. “That would be ___________, boys. I think the job is too much for me.”

“It will cost 10 ___________.” said Jamie.

“If that’s OK,” Mark ___________.

Shoveling was Jamie’s idea, a way to earn enough money for video games.

“Oh, dear.” Mrs. Grady sounded _____________. “I haven’t been able to get to the bank. I can ___________ homemade cookies, but I realize that’s not what you had in ___________.”

Mark was going to say Mrs. Grady could ___________ them another time, but Jamie_________. “We’ll come back later.”

As they walked through the snow off the _________, Mark glanced over his shoulder. Mrs. Grady stood at her window, __________ them.

She didn’t look like the person who’d come to his __________ last summer when Mr. Dunn’s dog, Goldie, escaped from his backyard. Goldie had __________ wanted to play, but Mark didn’t feel __________ around big dogs. Mark tried to call for his dad, but his ____________ seemed locked behind his teeth.

Mrs. Grady’s front door flew open. She ran across the street and slipped __________ Mark and the dog. She wasn’t much __________ than Mark, but she stood ____________ as a rock in front of him. “Goldie, go home!” Then she swept a broom to ____________ the dog along. “Get!” Goldie ____________.

When Mark’s father appeared, he said to Mrs. Grady. “That was very ____________! Thank you.”

Mrs. Grady laughed. “It’s nothing. Good neighbors watch for each other, don’t they?”

Until a few years ago, I had what most people would call a good life, and there was nothing much wrong in my life. _________, I was bored.

I wanted more. I wanted to live_________ and loudly and make sharp memories instead of the gray ones of everyday life. But I was _________. I’ve never had any _________ in myself. As a child, even buying something in a shop caused me a great deal of _________, and even though I did get better as I got older, I never _________ that childhood shyness.

And I tried everything, like reading books about confidence. I took tiny steps leading to my goals. But none of them really_________.

So I _________ that the small steps weren't enough. I signed up for an internship(实习期的工作) teaching English in Vietnam, an _________ huge step, one that terrified me as much as it excited me. And then the day came and I left my home and my loved ones. I was alone in a country where the food and the streets were __________. I had no idea whether I would be able to __________ everything this very strange environment would __________ at me.

I spent five months in Vietnam, teaching and exploring and laughing. I'd learned to__________myself, my skills, my abilities and my decisions. I returned home being__________, even to myself let alone to others. The__________ that had controlled my life and the self- doubt were completely worn off.

That one big chance changed everything for me, and in me.

【推荐2】Carter Ries is 16 years old and has been running the non­profit organization, One More Generation, with his sister Olivia since 2009. Together these two young change­makers are working to ________ youth around the world to stand up, be heard, and preserve the ________.

Carter said in a 2017 interview, “My sister and I have been doing this for the last eight years and not once have we ________ to quit One More Generation. There have been arguments and stress, but the reason we continue to ________ is that we motivate each other.

“Olivia and I go around the world ________ youth groups about the need to save our planet — and so far we have ________ shown many of these groups that anything is possible if you are ________ to work at it.

“We have created many campaigns — such as our Plastic and Recycling Awareness Week program — where we teach students how they can learn to help our environment. Another ________ is our Rhino (犀牛) Letter Writing Campaign, where we got over 10,000 kids from around the world to ________ letters to the South African government, asking them to ________ rhino poaching (偷猎). Not only did this show the South African government that people around the world ________, it also showed the youth that they had a voice of ________ and can use it on the go. The most ________ thing, however, is getting them to believe that.

We recently launched a global One Less Straw Pledge Campaign — highlighting the effects of global straw ________ on animals and the environment. We want to deliver a strong ________, “Anybody can make a difference ... if we can, so can you!”

【推荐3】Recently my wife and I were faced with a _________ situation while traveling by car with our hired (雇用的) driver. It was going to be a long ride, and we were _________. However, our car broke down suddenly. We tried communicating with the driver, but with little _________. He made some signs, suggesting he was going to _________ help, and then left.

It was getting colder and darker. We started to hear the cries of wild animals. What’s worse, we didn’t have much food. Would our driver ever return? Could we _________ him? We were very _________.

Two hours passed. Suddenly, the headlights from another car appeared in the dark. A man offered to _________ us. He had such a kind face, and we knew we could _________ him. We got into his car, _________ we left, he put a note on the windscreen of our car with his phone number on it. The moment we arrived at his home, his cousin spoke basic French and offered us tea and local foods. Everyone asked us questions and was ______________ to have unexpected guests.

Later that evening, the phone rang. It was our ______________. He bad kept his ______________ and repaired the car. We prepared to leave and ______________ our new friends. I couldn’t believe the ______________ from the cousin: “No, we thank you for coming into our home.”

I will never forget the ______________ we received on that day.