【推荐1】''You're too small, Ginny, and you'll never make an Olympic team,'' claimed my first-ever rowing coach in the late winter of 1978. I had just taken     1     extremely large risk being here, as I stood in the basement of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium. I had confessed my dream,     2     was admittedly outsize at that point. The easy road did not lie ahead for me.

    3    (defeat) not just by his choice of words, but by his certainty, I left the gym in a panic, rushing out into the cold winter weather to find comfort in the loneliness of my off-campus apartment.

As I walked, I began to reassess my future,    4     (make) room for my coach's opinion. But just because my own coach didn't have faith in me, or just because I'd heard a forceful ''no''    5    even a useless yes, it didn't mean I had to give up so quickly.    6    I arrived at my apartment, my dream was back on the center stage.

    7    (achieve) my goal, I struggled hard every day. Eventually, I made that 1980 team, despite our not beginning to compete at the Olympics. All the effort was worth the wait. And the lesson- not to give up too soon and not to allow someone else's opinion to destroy my desire     8    (stand) me in good stead since those years.Everything I have today is a result of sticking to that dream, all those hours on the water ,in the weight room, and in the stadium - they got me here, where I know now that big aspirations need not just time to develop, but a firm belief in them.     9    I am not my own champion for my dreams, no one else will. And I will not allow anyone else to decide for me    10    is possible.

From the first day I arrived in Kunming, I had my understanding of China     1    (change). Far from being narrow-minded and hostile to     2    (foreign) ，people came up to talk to me the first time I went out on the street. It happened to be all in Chinese, so I didn’t understand much,     3    it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.

As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who could help us learn Chinese to     4    (get) to know the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.

If you’re interested in other people, their culture, and their language, they’ll be    5    (friend) to you. China isn’t     6    exception.

Don’t judge a country by its media coverage,     7    (especial) some Western media, which have much prejudice.

I saw a very different kind of China with my own eyes. Kunming,     8     I lived for most of my stay, wasn’t much polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about almost everything.

Still China     9    (develop) ，but the economic growth means that most people     10     (see) their living standards improve rapidly in the last 20 years. People I spoke with were generally optimistic about the future.

I had hardly sat down on the train and opened a bar of chocolate     1     a really old man with huge bags sat down across from me. I said hello     2     him, smiling sweetly and then I suddenly thought, “Why not offer him a piece of chocolate?” So I did. He was quite     3    (surprise), but accepted and thanked me. He said that people didn’t usually do things like this for     4    (stranger) — at least that was what I understood, because he was speaking a really     5    (usual) dialect, and the train was loud.

Then he opened one of his bags and gave me     6     handful of freshly picked cherries,       7    (explain) that he had just taken them from his orchard. The cherries were really lovely, better than those in the shops, and I enjoyed them very much. It     8    (be) just an impulse (冲动)     9    (offer) him a piece of chocolate, but if I had not done so, I would never have tasted those lovely cherries, which I didn’t even know he had at the time. Life is about giving and taking, and it’s     10    (general) true that if you give, you will receive.

For those who love travel， particularly rail travel， China in 1987 was a can't﹣miss kind of place．   In1987， China was still operating steam trains on some rail routes，    1    made people from many countries amazed． Bruce Connolly， a photographer from Scotland，     2    （be） one of them．

Connolly first came to China in 1987，    3     （start）   his continuous travelling throughout China． Since then， he     4     （travel） to most parts of China except Fujian， Zhejiang and Jiangxi． Wherever he went， his camera remained by his side． During his journeys in China， Connolly found China very different from     5    he saw in photographs， which showed Chinese people very religious in the way they dressed and behaved．    6    ， what he saw was that people were     7     （friend）， welcoming and wore bright clothes． In the early years of his journey， most Chinese people were fascinated with foreigners visiting China， but now that has changed in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai， foreigners are no longer    8     （ curious）．

Another dramatic change that Connolly has felt in China is     9     widespread use of new technology． China has become one of the most tech﹣savvy（懂技术的）societies． People now do everything with    10     （they） smartphones， and use of cash is almost disappearing．

In southern China, there is a famous road     1     (build) across Poyang Lake, which lies in the north of Jiangxi Province, China and is known as China’s second     2     (large) lake. People in China also call it “the most beautiful road under the water”.

This road is sure     3     (attract) a lot of attention towards the end of May every year. A lot of people come out of curiosity. The water level of the lake is so close to     4     surface of the road,     5     makes the view ahead broad and bright when people drive along. It’s as though they were taking a boat across the lake. The feeling is     6     (simple) wonderful!

For the next few months, this road is not above the surface     7     under the water. When the water level of Poyang Lake starts to go up, the road surface becomes unseen. However, drivers can still drive across the lake safely     8     watching the guardrails (防撞护栏) fixed on either side of the road. For thrill-seeking motorists, it’s like     9     (drive) an amphibious (水陆两栖的) super car. Then in a few days, the entire road     10     (flood) with the continuously rising water. A few months later, the road will reappear.

Murphy     1     (lose) her parents in her early 20s. Two years ago, she was struggling with finding happiness in her career. During walks     2     the beach, she would talk to her parents in her head,     3     (seek) guidance about her career choices. “Since they weren’t with me physically, I would ask for little signs in the form of heart shaped rocks. When I would find one, I would feel     4     (connect)to something outside of myself.” These small treasures made her feel like she wasn’t alone.

Once, during a trip, Murphy was moved by the way tiny courtesies (礼貌) like a smile made her feel more comfortable in an     5     (familiar) country. She came back with the understanding that small acts of kindness could have a big impact.

One day, while walking on the beach, she suddenly came up with an idea of writing some encouraging    6     (message) on rocks. So, she did it. She soon learned her small action was already making ripples (涟漪). That night a friend texted her a picture of a rock and said, “Was this you?” She had suspected Murphy     7     she knew Murphy walked along that beach. Murphy     8     (touch) by the way her friend said finding that rock had made her day.

Murphy became hooked on the idea that she could spread happiness through something as simple as a rock with a message on it. She started leaving rocks in other places. With these rocks, she left a small sign encouraging others     9     (leave) a kindness rock somewhere else   “One rock, one person,” Murphy explains. “If a message hits a person at the right time, or they join, it’s like a huge connection. It’s    10     our world needs right now.”

I like taking photos very much. Once I travelled by ship     1     a cloudy morning. It was in the afternoon that the weather turned fine. Therefore, I wanted to take some photos. I was looking around and I saw next to me a lovely little girl     2     (sit) on her fathers shoulders.     3    was lucky for me to meet such a perfect moment-the girl was smiling and the surrounding view was beautiful. Without    4     (think), I took a picture of the little girl at that moment.

Her mother was surprised that a    5     (strange) was photographing her daughter. I explained that I was moved by that sight and    6     (show) them    7    photo on my digital (数字的) camera. They loved it very much. I said I could email it to them when I got home. Finally, they gave me their email address. The next day, I sent    8     (they) their daughter’s photo as I    9    (promise).

This morning I received a message     10    (say) they are grateful and that they are very happy with the lovely photo of their daughter and a lovely memory of the day.