【推荐2】“And this is me kissing the Blarney Stone”, says Carrie, my seventeen-year-old daughter. She turns the pages of her new photo album, recounting her recent ten-day _______ abroad, and my mind wanders back…way back to when she was only five.

“Someday I’m going to Ireland”, she said, holding her Childcraft book in her lap. Her blue eyes _______ as she looked at the beautiful pictures. “Well, maybe you can!” I said. However, it was _______ for our family to pay for the luxury of traveling. I was working as a secretary. My husband Charlie had to close his _______ last year due to his poor health…

Ten years later, Carrie came home from school one day, hardly able to contain her _______, “Mama, you’ll never _______ where the class is going. To Ireland!” she smiled _______. “You’re kidding!” I said. “Ireland! Where you’ve always wanted to go!”

“The trip is _______ for year after next, and the $2,100 can be paid in installments (分期付款).” Then she added, “But that’s too much… isn’t it?” Her voice was _______ yet doubting. “Well,” I said slowly, “Daddy and I can’t help much; ________, you have two years to earn the money.” “You think so?” Carrie’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well,” I ________, “maybe you could use your father’s bakery and sell baked goods.” Sell baked goods? We ________ at each other. Carrie was an excellent ________ ! This would work!

So the plan was ________. Carrie began working, making a variety of baked goods. She used dried apples, cooked, seasoned and spiced to perfection. Soon, however, fried apple-pies became the customer favorite. All ingredients were ________—real shortening (起酥油), real butter—and the crust (皮) was handmade and hand-rolled. Finally the pies were fried to a beautiful, golden brown! The finished product was an extremely pleasant treat, winning ________ from even the little old ladies in these hills who have been making dried-apple pies for decades. ________ began rolling in, and the Ireland fund grew, and well ________ the given time the trip abroad was paid in full…

Now I’m looking at her album as she proudly points out the ________ she visited: castles of Ireland, historic bridges and churches, cobblestone (鹅卵石) streets of Dublin… so much like those in her Childcraft book. My daughter will forever remember this dream come true, a dream that began in the heart of a five-year-old girl and was completely made ________ by the delicious apple pie!

【推荐3】I never really enjoyed running. But my _________ with running has changed. I’m a _________ living in London. When my mom became ill with cancer and there was no _________ of her living much longer, I decided to move back to Harrogate. My work as a musician didn’t _________ and I just wanted to be with my mother.

I have been _________ psychotherapy(心理疗法) for more than three years, which has helped with my anxiety, but back in Harrogate, I _________ to do something else positive for myself, as looking after my mother _________ me. I wanted to do something physical and running _________ that need.

Getting up before six was _________ for me. But I made myself go running three times a week. After starting last summer, I would run with __________ members and talk about my mom with those I’d known better. It helped me put my __________ in the right place to face another day. And it helped me process my feelings after my mom __________ in October.

Although therapy has been the __________ for all the positive things in my life, running has added to that. Together, they have changed my __________ to life and I’m now less anxious than I was. While running, I feel grounded and I live in the __________.

【推荐1】Learning to Accept

I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. _______, he did not teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was _______and ill.   

My father was once a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness_______all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is_______. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started talking about life, and I told them about one of my _______. I said that we must very often give things up as we grow—our youth, our beauty, our friends— but it always_______that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father _______ up. He said,“But, Peter, I gave up _______! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. _______, he answered his own question: “I ________the love of my family,” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.   

I was also________by his words. After that, when I began to feel irritated (愤怒的) at someone, I would remember his words and become ________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be ________to give up my small irritations. In this way, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.   

Sometimes I________what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this one________.