【推荐1】I wrote a letter to my kids a few years ago. It’s three pages long, and it sums up what I’ve learned in four________of life. My kids are too________to understand now, but by the time they reach________, they will have heard most of the advice in that letter: Live in the moment, do not________yourself to physical things and follow your dreams, etc.

I sealed the letter in a plain white envelope and wrote________not to open it unless something horrible happened to me. As a police officer, I’ve seen life put to an end or irrevocably (不可逆地)________in an instant. I realized that could happen to me at________time. If something does happen to me, my children will get that________. In it, they will read about my love for them and about the advice that I want to________on to them.

Every day, when I open my locker, I see the letter. It________me to be careful at work, and to show my children and the people I come into contact with that I________understand and practice everything I’ve written. If that day comes and my children________read the letter, I hope that because of my actions, they will take my written beliefs to heart and improve upon my________.

But for me, it’s not enough to write down my beliefs. I try to be the________person I can be every day—even in very difficult circumstances, even with________people. I also get depressed, or________my kids occasionally, and sometimes I’m not as________or as considerate as I should be. In fact, I am________perfect, but I hope my children will eventually realize that________is an illusion (错觉、幻觉). What really matters is that, instead of just writing about our beliefs, we all take________to be the best humans we can be.

【推荐2】Forgiving My Father

I grew up on a small farm. My father worked in the city as a welder (焊工). He was quiet, distant. He was a man made of leather and chewing tobacco who tried to teach me useful things, including respect. He also had a _______. I did not like him very much.

One day I came home from school. Once inside, I was told by my mother that he didn't feel well. His back hurt. Multiple myeloma, I _______, is a type of blood cancer. For the last year of my father's life, his entire day consisted of rising from his hospital bed in the living room and walking to his _______to sit and think. He was _______in that chair when I came home one day during the ninth grade. I do not remember where my mother and brother were, but the two of us were alone. He asked me to sit down.

What followed still _______me these decades later. He told me about his _______: his family growing up, what it was like in the Pacific during World War II, his loves, his heartbreaks. It was as if a pipe had _______, his inner self rushing out to me in a great flood. He had been speaking for maybe an hour or more when I realized that he was doing more than _______. He was asking to be _______. All it took was understanding that that was what he________, and I forgave everything, immediately.

When he died, I didn't ________to school for a few days. My biggest ________going back was gym class. It was poorly ________, and bullies ran the show. On my first day, I was standing there when a (an) ________voice yelled, ''Lensch! '' It was a guy who had given many of us a few lumps (包，肿块) over the years. I turned to face him and said, ''What do you want? '' The other boys didn’t say a word as they waited for the ________.

''I heard your dad died, '' he said. ''Is that true? ''

I quietly replied, ''Yes. ''

He didn't ________me. He didn't even move. Instead, he said, ''I'm sorry. ''

I was________. I'm sure I cried. Those two words are how I have remembered that kid ever since. What do you do when your ''enemies'' reveal that they are also ________? I think you either forgive and move ________or hold on to resentment (怨恨)and live in the past. I'm certainly not glad that my father got________, but at the same time, I realize that if he hadn't, I might never have come to love him.

【推荐3】A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer’s hair. The golden red sun was_______. She was on the beach, looking up at the fiery (火似的)ball. She was_______by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the_______and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.

The atmosphere_______her. After all she had been through, this was what she needed. “It’s getting_______,”she thought, “I must go home. My_______will be wondering where I am.” She wondered how they would_______, when she got home after the three days she was_______. She kept on walking, _______herself to the bungalow where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and________. Just in a few hundred meters she would be safe in her house.

It was really getting dark now. The sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold, too. She________she had her favorite sweater on—it kept her really warm. She imagined having it________her. This thought disappeared when she finally saw her front door. It seemed________. The outside garden seemed________. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy.

She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a________written by her father. It said, “Ellen, there is some coffee________.

I went looking. Ellen was her mother but—where was she? She entered her parent’s home. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed,________. Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up, something was different. She was in her cozy________in her pajamas(睡衣).

It felt so good being back home.________she heard a voice, “Are you feeling better now?You know you got us very, very________.”

【推荐1】I stood up from the bench. Then I ______ my army uniform, while studying the crowd of people _______their way through Grand Central Station. I was looking for the girl whose heart I knew but whose ______ I didn’t, the girl with the rose.

My interest in her had begun thirteen months ______ in a Florida library. Taking a book off the _____, I found myself intrigued（着迷的）, not with the words of the book, _____ with the notes penciled in the margin (页边空白). The soft ______ reflected a thoughtful soul and a insightful mind. In the front of the ______, I discovered the previous owner’s______, Miss May Nell.

With time and ______ I discovered her address. She lived in New York City. I ______ her a letter introducing myself and inviting her to correspond（通信）. The next day I was ______ overseas for ______ in World War II. During the next year and one month we two _______ to know each other ______ the mail. Each letter was a _______falling on a fertile（肥沃的）heart. Then, I______ a photograph, but she refused. She said that if I really ______, it wouldn’t ______ what she looked like.

When the day finally came for me to return from Europe, we arranged for our first meeting—7:00 pm at the Grand Central Station in New York. “ You will ______ me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing in my lapel(翻领).” So at 7:00 I was in the station looking for the girl whose heart I loved, but whose looks I’d never seen.

【推荐2】My father was in the navy, which meant that my mother was married to both my father and the sea. As was often the_________, we had to pack our belongings into boxes and_________ those we had grown to love. We would arrive at our new home and find ourselves once again_________ at the pier (码头) waving good-bye to my father as his ship pulled him away from us. My mother would turn my brother and me around before the ship was out of sight, wipe our tears, and take us back home to start the process of_________ in the new environment again.

Throughout the years of changing_________, schools and friends, there remained one constant in my childhood—my mother. For both my brother and me, she was the cook, maid and teacher. She played these roles while_________some type of part-time job. Leaving a promising career is just one of the _________which my mother made for my family as we moved around the world with our father every three years or so. While she had to deal with only a small budget, my mother somehow managed to make each house the very home that is safe and _________.

This probably sounds like a depressing way to live, _________ with two small children: “single” parenthood, short-term friendships, and the inability to __________ a career or establish a home. But it was not for my mother. She turned this __________ into adventure for us all! Each relocation was a chance to __________ another part of the world. My mother__________each new culture, climate and neighborhood. Each new house was a __________ to rearrange furniture, make curtains and hang pictures. Every part-time job was an opportunity to learn something new and work with interesting people.

No matter how difficult the life was, she was always having a __________ attitude. She always had strength in the face of struggle and change. My mother was so brave all those years of my childhood—she was my island in a sea of change. She is my hero.

【推荐3】The day I met Mr. Rupp was the first day of high school. I walked into his class with a T-shirt that _______, “Supermodels Suck”. He gave me a lot of _______ over the next four years, like how I should get my eyes to Berkeley where I belonged. By the way, I’m _______ there. The same is true for him as well.

I _______ his full-sleeve tattoos (纹身), which the school made him hide _______ in the great heat of summer. However, he was more than _______ to tell us the story of each one, like constellations (星座) instead of stars.

I remember that he didn’t _______ his standards and refused to give up on us. He was strict with us. Love is _______ sometimes.

The last time I _______ a letter to him, it was 2005—four years after I graduated. I had just become a ________, like him, and it had helped me again ________ the work he did with countless high school students over the years. He wrote me back and told me that his heart sang to ________ me. That’s the kind of teacher he was—the kind whose heart sang for his ________.

It’s hard to say what I’ll miss the most about him. There are simply too many ________ to sort through from those four years, and it ________ me to think he’ll never read this letter. I want to believe that he knew how much he ________ to his students, his community, his family and his colleagues.

He changed the ________ of everyone around him. Even now, he is reminding me to love life, and to tell the people I ________ how much they mean to me before it is too ________.

As my dear teacher and dear friend, he will be ________, but he will never be forgotten.

【推荐2】After the movers had taken the furniture and boxes, once the house was empty of everything but dust and echoes, I took from my pocket a(n) _______I had found in the garden several days before. A friend had _______saying goodbye to the house with a special ritual (仪式) of the Memory Stone.

The idea is to take a stone that you like and walk through the house and gardens, projecting your _______onto it. I wasn't sure it would work, but I decided to _______ it. One of the things that _______me about leaving the house was the idea of leaving behind all the memories. Perhaps this offered a way to take _______with me somehow.

I stared downstairs. It was a beautiful day and the light was shining through the windows. At first, the memories didn't come _______. I sat there, staring at the stone, but _______ happened. Just some memories of memories--- _______I had seen in photographs, words I had read in letters and diaries.

But after just a few minutes, that ________. Suddenly, the room was crowded with people I hadn't seen for years, as well as some people I had seen just the day before. It's winter, and we're all in the kitchen, making a(n) ________ for Christmas. It's summer, and we are trying to find ________ from the heat. I'm 11, trying on my new school uniform in front of the ________. My mother is coming upstairs to say good night and give me a hug. I have come in________ for my curfew (宵禁) ；I am tiptoeing up the stairs, hoping I won't ________anybody. My father is dancing with my friend Gideon. Now my father is old and I am sitting close to him on his bed, saying goodbye to him for what would ________ to be the last time.

One moment I found myself ________; and in another, I surprised myself by bursting into laughter. But mostly, the experience was strangely ________.

It's been several months since I walked out of the house for the last time. I don't know ________this stone I have, this piece of the place, can really hold so much. ________, right now, as pick it up and gaze at it, I seem to be back home.

【推荐3】My Emotional Experience in Jaipur

I came to India in February 2012 to complete a volunteer practicum requirement with some friends. It was really an unforgettable experience!

Before we set off, I thought it would be a hard job, _______ that I could not adapt to the poor living conditions. After arriving in Jaipur, we went straight to the hotel that the Center had _______ for us; a relief to us as we were tired from the _______. During the following days we were _______ to the city and had Hindi lessons with our guide Ravi.

On our fourth day in Jaipur we were taken to the head office. There we were _______ for the Child Development Program and over the course we _______ two studies related to child work and child rights. We focused on the experiences of the children who were working and the _______ that pushed them into work. The experience was entirely new for me and I learned so much through the _______. The best part of the work, however, was _______ being in the communities and interacting with the children and their parents. I was ________ to a way of life completely different from my own. In spite of the poor living situations, people in Jaipur were ________. We found that the parents communicated openly with each other and they were always ________ to share their own thoughts and feelings with their children. I could ________ that people in Jaipur have positive relationships with their family and community members. Talking with the people there and hearing their stories was something that had a strong effect on my worldview, continuing to ________ how I understand everything around me now. I have been ________ by the people that I met through this experience.

On the weekends I spent time in Jaipur, ________ the city and shopping. We were ________ enough to be there during Holi, an exciting and colorful celebration in February end or early March in India! We really ________ every minute of the life in Jaipur!

Generally, my practicum experience with Volunteering India was extremely ________. I know that I will be thinking about everything that I saw, learned and ________ in India and look forward to the day that I can return to this amazing country.