【推荐1】Around twenty years ago I was living in Seattle and going through hard times. I could not find ________work although I had a lot of experience and a Master’s degree.

To my ________, I had to drive a school bus to ________my family. At the same time, I had some ________with different companies but they all________to say I did not get the job. I went to the bus barn（车库）, feeling________.

Later that afternoon, ________doing my rounds through the town I had an inner wave rise from deep ________ me and I thought “Why has my________become so hard?”

Immediately after this internal（内心的）scream, I ________the bus over to drop off a little girl. As she________, she handed me an earring saying I should keep it_______somebody looked for it. The________was stamped with words “BE HAPPY”. Then it struck me. I had been putting all of my________into what was wrong with my life rather than what was________!

One night there was a phone call for me from the________at a large hospital. She asked me whether I________do a one-day training for 200 hospital workers. I said ________and got the job.

My day with the hospital workers________very well. I got a great________and many more days of work. To this day I know that it was because I changed my attitude to life.

【推荐2】I had some rock climbing experience when I was in college. I was ready for a(n)_______ once again to escape the noisy urban environment. Then came the_______. My friend Michael , an excellent rock climber , told me he had been planning to go rock climbing in Yosemite Valley and asked me to_______with him.

I accepted his invitation. When we arrived at the destination, Michael pointed upward and said, “This is it. Get ready.” It was nearly vertical (垂直的), 2,000 feet high. “You are kidding!” I said,_______ he would tell me to cancel it._______, when he began unpacking ropes, I knew he was_______.I had to put on my climbing shoes and adjust my pack though I felt quite_______to take up the challenge.

Michael moved fast. When the rope was almost out, he_______himself and yelled at me, “Come on. Climb!”_______, step by step, I made my way straight up. About 300 feet off the ground, I looked down. I was________ in mid-air, but I still had 1,700 feet to go. Then my legs began to________. I called out, "Michael. This is beyond my________.

I had told Michael that we should be________and stick to the belief that we shouldn’t give up easily. Now he yelled to me, “Cheer up. As you once told me, you have no choice but to________.” He was right. I had to________ myself. So I gathered my________ and began to climb. I finally reached Michael.

Enjoying a good________ of Yosemite Valley at the top with Michael, I felt proud that I had________ it. Most importantly, from that________ I learned we should never give up easily whenever we meet some difficulties and that hard work will ________eventually.

【推荐3】I never imagined that an interstate trip could be so exciting. But when your world has become smaller since the pandemic hit two-and-a-bit years ago, and then slowly _________, the most ordinary experience gives new _______ to life. And so it was with me when I was _________ given the chance to take my first flight in more than two years.

I’d forgotten how it felt to be among the people coming and going. I got to the airport two hours before boarding. Time for the bar and, of course, _________.

That group of young Arab women laughing and posing for photographs by the expansive windows, aircraft in the _________ , lighting up the place with their happiness.

The man in the corner drinking alone. Just another one of the 70,000 or so stories that would pass through the airport _________.

I couldn’t be calmer as a flyer. But when the plane took off I was _________, in that moment of weightlessness as the wheels _________ Earth, leaning towards the window to watch everything below becoming smaller and smaller.

Is it possible that the denial of so much during the pandemic lockdown had added new _________to what was the ordinary? I think so. The plane ride, the hotel stay, and the social occasion all now gave me a sense of ____________ that might have previously only aroused in me nothing more than a certain nonchalance (若无其事) or even ____________.

Last June, just ahead of the long Sydney lockdown, a friend ____________ a birthday party. That experience for me would continue happily through some of the____________ months of the lockdown that would follow.____________ the repeated fear that the pandemic holds over us, the memory of that celebration still keeps its bright, warm light in my mind. That’s what happens when everything old is new again, when ____________ is rediscovered as a virtue.

【推荐1】One cloudy Sunday, a vendor came to our doorstep, selling bundles of vegetables priced at one dollar per bundle (捆). My mom’s ________ was 50 cents, exactly half the seller’s figure, but she ________ to buy four bundles at that price. Politely declaring that she wouldn’t even recover the ________ at that price, the vendor lifted the basket onto her head and walked away.

After taking four steps ahead, however, she ________ and shouted, “Make it 75 cents a bundle, and I will sell it to you.” Mom shook her head and ________ to her original offer of 50 cents. ________ for a while, the vendor came back to our doorstep. The deal was ________ at my mom’s bid. The vendor was sitting there looking ________ while my mom took her time ________ each bundle.

Finally my mom ________ four bundles to her satisfaction. She took them into the kitchen and came out with the ________ The vendor took the money without even counting. As she. ________, she swayed (摇晃) due to apparent dizziness. My mom held her hands and asked whether she had had any_________ in the morning. The vendor said, “________. I will need to buy some with today’s earnings. ”

My mom asked her to sit down, ________ inside and came back swiftly with some food and drink and offered them to the vendor. The vendor hungrily and_________ finished them all. Thanking my mom for all the food, the vendor placed her ________ on her head and went on her way.

I was ________. I asked my mom why she was so stingy (小气的) in bargaining for 50 cents but was ________ in offering food of a much higher price to that vendor.

Mom smiled and said, “There is no kindness in business, but my treating the vendor kindly is from my morality, which is different from ________. Remember, there shall never be any business in kindness.”

【推荐2】The first day at school has left a deep_________on me. I’ll never forget it.

As soon as I rushed into the classroom, the bell rang. A young beautiful woman came in, but she was_________, no smile on her face. “You are not permitted to_________in the course of class unless... ” She was speaking when I heard a voice “Lily, Lily” from outside the door. My grandmother was standing there with a pair of socks in her hand. I didn’t realize I was bare feet_________then. I wanted to_________them, but I dared not do that. I shook my hand, _________ “Don’t wait here any longer. Leave quickly.” As I did so, I still fixed my eyes on my teacher. I really didn’t want her to take_________of me, but she did. She went out to get the socks. When she gave them to me, she looked at me for a while. My face suddenly turned_________and my heart beat faster. I began to put the socks on. Unfortunately I was so nervous that my_________hands couldn’t get them onto my feet easily. Just then I heard my name called. I__________from my seat quickly. “Can you count the numbers from one to one hundred?” the teacher asked. I nodded. __________her surprise, I did very well. Finally she said, “Be__________, please. Study hard.” I looked up at her to find a smile on her face. I felt__________at last.

The first day at school has stayed in my__________as something embarrassing but__________.

【推荐3】A daughter was tired of fighting. She thought about _________. It seemed as if one problem was just solved before a new one _________.

Her father took her to the kitchen. He _________ three pots with water and placed each on a fire. He placed carrots, eggs, coffee beans in each of the pots. He let them boil, without saying a word.

The daughter _________ waited, asking repeatedly what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned _________ the burners. He pulled the carrots and the eggs out and placed them each in a bowl. Then he spooned the coffee out and placed it in another. _________ her he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she _________. He asked her to feel the carrots. She did so and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After _________ off the shell, she found the hard-boiled egg! Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich flavor (香味). She _________ asked, “What does it mean, Father?”

He explained that each of them had faced the same __________, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot had been hard. But after __________ the boiling water, it softened. The egg had been easily __________. But after sitting through the boiling water, its __________ became hardened. The coffee beans were different, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the __________. “Which are you?” he asked. “When challenge knocks on your door, how do you __________? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”