【推荐1】Christmas was always a very special time because I could receive many wonderful gifts. There was one particular Christmas _________ all I wanted was a pink car for my Barbie doll. I had _________ all of the commercials (广告) and seen how cool Barbie could look in that car. _________ that time, I had known that Santa Claus was really my parents, so no surprise there. I didn’t _________ who bought me the car as long as I got it.

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived. I could not fall asleep that night, just _________ for it to get late enough for me to slip downstairs and open my gifts. Well, I must have fallen asleep at some point, _________ when I awoke it was Christmas morning. I ran _________ to a ton of gifts, but I didn’t see the Barbie doll car. I was very _________ for what I had received, but I was still wondering where my car was. After a while, my father _________ what looked like a garbage bag and handed it to me.

Before I could opened the bag completely, I saw the pink color. I jumped for __________ and Dad’s face lit up. Of course there was __________ what I wanted. Then I noticed a price tag (标签). I asked Dad why it was on my new toy. He sweetly said that Santa went to a special store for the gift and he was probably short on __________ and had forgotten to take the price tag off. Hearing this, I just smiled and said, “Oh, cool!” I was happy with my car and my father was happy knowing that I still __________ in Santa Claus.

To this day, that is my very favourite Christmas __________, because it was sweet that there was __________ who cared about a little kid and the joy and spirit of Christmas.

【推荐2】A lot of people admired our neighbor. One day a delivery truck unloaded a large ________ system at their house. And the kids discussed the new music equipment my neighbor had just bought. Meantime, we were living in a house decorated ________ and dressing our kids in second-hand clothes. We lived a ________ life.

My poor mother-in-law, in town for a visit, got to hear my complaints that night. “I feel so ________ sometimes,” I told her, as we ________ the table after dinner. “I know we’re doing the right thing, living frugally (节俭的), saving money, but it feels so hard. There are so many things I’d like to ________, so many things I’d like to do, but we just can’t.”

She ________ as she folded a cloth napkin in silence. Then she turned to me and said, “When you make a comparison between yourself and others, it’s easy to ________ what you don’t have. But there’s one thing you two do that many other couples may ________ to do. You two often go out together and take time to focus on your_________. And that’s a very important thing.”

I stopped wiping the table and ________ for a minute. I thought of the movie my husband and I had seen a week earlier. I ________ the bike rides, the hikes and the picnics. Most of all, I remembered how ________ we were together, even after twenty years. How many people can say that?

I looked around my home in a new ________. Our refrigerator was too small for a family of six, but it was ________ filled with delicious food. Our kitchen was small and we had no big TV, but we’re happy! And that’s enough!

【推荐3】This incident occurred during our trip to the US in 2013. We had a great time in Cape Cod and _______ to Boston at six in the evening. We thought that the Boston commuter rail station was _______ to the last but one stage and so got off the bus at that stage. My husband has a keen sense of direction and so I _______ followed him, without knowing where we were _______ . We found ourselves _______ with the station nowhere in sight! Being a Sunday, the roads were _______ with not many people walking around. We did find a few but _______ were a bit hesitant to ask strangers for directions.

Finally, we saw a young guy coming from the opposite direction. Having no other _______, we approached him. On hearing our problem, he _______ took us to the station, which was just a few blocks away.

Another guy who was standing near the machine told us that the machine was out of order. He ________ the train timings and told us to hurry up in order to catch the train which was ________ within the next few minutes. We both were very much moved by his ________ and thanked him and shook hands with him.

On reaching home in Boston, we wanted to ________ his help through Boston Globe, a local leading newspaper. But we had ________ to get his name in the great hurry and ________ at the time of our departure!

【推荐1】Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank-you note expressing _________ for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and _________ me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She _________ to be right.

A study showed that it took most volunteers less than 5 minutes to write the thank-you notes. Just 5 minutes to make another person feel “overjoyed”! _________, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is _________ for us — a quick text or an email.

It’s easy to use the _________ of being busy, but even very busy and successful businessmen find time to _________ thank-you notes. For example, when Doug Conant became CEO of Campbell’s Soup, the company had _________ half of its market value and morale (士气) was at an all-time low. He _________ fixing that by doing some simple things that are probably not taught in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every __________. He gained their confidence and __________, turned the company around.

In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It’s __________ not to ask how he did it. __________, he had many other things to do __________ writing a thank-you note. Conant made time for it because he knew the impact each one would have. An expression of __________ in this fast-paced world still makes a difference.

John was 20 years old. He was a handsome and gifted _______. But he stopped talking as much as he usually did after he graduated from high school. This year, his_______reduced to nothing. His parents knew he was _______, and continually told him that they loved him. Everyone was _______about his well-being and wondered what they could say or do to help him, since saying “I love you” _______wasn’t enough to improve his situation.

John finally made a(an) _______. He locked himself in the cellar(地下室)and stayed there for three days without food. _______he continued to acknowledge his parents’ love for him and his love for them, his depression_______. His loved ones were _______that he would even kill himself one day. Healthcare professionals were________, but the advice, care and kindness did not ________. On the fourth day of John’s isolation(隔离), the local high school football________, who didn’t know John’s situation, happened to call him. John’s mother told him John was not________and took a message at the coach’s ________. Then she went to the cellar door and called down the stairs, “John, Coach Ivers just phoned. He said that his players ________last night on who they wanted as their assistant coach. They said you were the greatest football athlete they had ever had and they thought they could ________the state championship if you helped to coach them. Coach Ivers said they need you! He said if you are interested, you should be at the football practice________at 14:45 this afternoon.” Hearing the message, John eventually came out of the cellar. He accepted the coaching job. ________the time he came home from his first ________, he had walked out of his depression. He once again found the great feeling of being ________, and he was back to his old self.