【推荐2】(C)

There was once a farmer     1    had a fine olive orchard. He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised the farm work, and were eager to make wealth, through adventure.

When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, “My sons, there is a pot of gold     2     (hide) in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it.”

The sons tried to get him to tell them the location     3    the gold was hidden, but he would tell them nothing more.

After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold. Since they did not know where the hiding-place was, they agreed to begin in a line, at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money.

They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have stolen it, or     4    the farmer had been wandering in his wits. The three sons were disappointed     5     (have) all their work for nothing.

The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard     6     (bear) more fruit than they had ever given. When it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.

    7     (see) how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood     8    the wise father had meant in his will.

I can still remember the afternoon when we climbed the mountain     1     it were yesterday.

It was a sunny day. Eager to spend some time outside, I went up the mountain with my uncle. The mountain was hard    2    (climb) and had tough rocks and streams on it. In the end, exhausted and hot, I couldn’t go any further. So we went back down the mountain in the end.

On the way back down, my uncle asked me a question,     3     left me speechless for a second: “What’s your dream, young lady?”

“I have no idea,” I answered     4    thinking it for a while. Then he smiled and told me about his story. He didn’t perform well at school when he was a student. Although nobody thought he could succeed, he knew clearly     5    his dream was — to be a businessman. “I knew I wasn’t gifted when it came to studying, so I tried to buy snacks from a market and sell them after class,” he told me. After he left school, he started selling different items to find out which one was most attractive to customers. Of course, he often had no money in his pocket, but     6     tough life was, he never gave up.

“There is no doubt that a person who puts in a great deal of effort to reach his or her goal will have good luck at some point. The meaning of life is to chase your dream,” he said gently.

That night I     7     hardly fall asleep. I lay in bed tossing and turning, asking myself, “What”s my motivation?”

I once wanted to be a top student, but the hard work needed meant     8     (put) everything into following my passion. If I find myself lacking willpower, what should I do? Leaving home early the next morning, I climbed the mountain again by     9    . It made me think: If we don’t experience the climb, how can we get to see the scenery on the top of the mountain? In the end, I reached the top and     10     (fascinate) by the warm breeze and sunshine. Nothing could be more pleasant than that.