【推荐1】I’ve noticed that conversations with my children have started to turn into something I don’t like. It could be my _______. I don’t always _______ before I open my mouth. For example, my kids would call to tell me about something that’s been _______ them. As soon as they’re finished, I go into mom mode.

“You should...”, “You need to consider...”, “If I were you, I’d...” “Mom!”

The tone is full of _______ and annoyance.

When I get one of my adult kids on the phone, I become a(n) _______ on everything, which I’m obviously not. I want to be part of their lives and _______ them from making mistakes that seem so obvious to me.

I’m hardly _______ in this. Over lunch the other day, a friend told me that her son _______ listened to anything she said. “It’s like talking to a wall!” I know that feeling well. But I’m learning slowly that talking at is not the same as talking with.

Giving advice to children can be full of problems. Though we may see ourselves _______ the wisdom of our years, they see something else. They see a ________ parent who hasn’t accepted the fact that they’re adults with their own thoughts and feelings. They’re not ________ any tips. They may not even want a(n) ________ solution to a difficult problem. What they’re hoping for is a safe place to talk with a person who loves and ________ them no matter what.

Because of this, I’ve given myself the ________ of becoming a better parent by being a better listener. It’s not an easy task for parents like me but I’m ________.

【推荐2】A daughter was tired of fighting. She thought about _________. It seemed as if one problem was just solved before a new one _________.

Her father took her to the kitchen. He _________ three pots with water and placed each on a fire. He placed carrots, eggs, coffee beans in each of the pots. He let them boil, without saying a word.

The daughter _________ waited, asking repeatedly what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned _________ the burners. He pulled the carrots and the eggs out and placed them each in a bowl. Then he spooned the coffee out and placed it in another. _________ her he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she _________. He asked her to feel the carrots. She did so and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After _________ off the shell, she found the hard-boiled egg! Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich flavor (香味). She _________ asked, “What does it mean, Father?”

He explained that each of them had faced the same __________, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot had been hard. But after __________ the boiling water, it softened. The egg had been easily __________. But after sitting through the boiling water, its __________ became hardened. The coffee beans were different, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the __________. “Which are you?” he asked. “When challenge knocks on your door, how do you __________? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

【推荐3】After over a decade of faithful service, my old desktop computer finally died. With no computer repair places open, my daughter talked me into _________ a new laptop to replace it. What followed was two days of pure frustration. It was like going from driving an old car to _________ the space shuttle.

I looked for the old e-mail _________ I used to use only to find that it wasn’t on this model. When I tried to download the _________ version again it wouldn’t work. Then there were the difficulties of transferring all of my old stories that I had _________ on a USB drive. The laptop computer’s _________ new programs were an icon(图标) minefield that I had to find the way. Each time I accidentally _________ one of them, it changed everything on my screen and I had to work hard to figure out how to change them back. Finally after two days, I think we have _________ the new computer to do the few simple things I need it to do so I can _________ the thou-sand other functions that I have no use for.

What I did learn from all of this is that when it comes to computers and __________, I want to keep things simple. I don’t want to wake up in the morning and __________ to my devices. __________, I want to pet my dogs, take them outside, and watch the sun __________ rise over the mountains here. Life is simple. It is we who make things __________. I want to spend my time and my talents making this world better not __________.

【推荐2】Star Athlete

My name is Edward, and at one time I was the star athlete at my school for four consecutive (连续的) years. Soccer was my life for as _______as I could remember. For at   _______six times a week, you could find me at the fields training. Within those past four years, I had________sixty goals for my team. I even starred in our local newspaper.

Most athletes asked me how I did it. How I _______to go out once or twice a day to train. Most athletes would be_______out, but not me. I asked them how they just naturally breathed. Football had been my life ever since I was five years old. Having two parents that played the game_______me to become the best athlete I could ever be. My whole family played, not ______was like not eating at my grandma's house, not acceptable. When I was three, my parents taught me how to kick the ball, and that was when I_______fell in love with the game.

But that was past.When I was working up to the state championship,I got injured and the trainer told me I could never play again. I cried and my _______was torn into pieces. Later, I________myself back up and went to Vanderbilt University on an academic scholarship.I might not be a super star, but I________to let my life slip out of my hands. Now, I'm on my way to becoming a doctor to help________like me. Sometimes I wonder who I would be without my injury, but then I realize I would not have had this opportunity. Things change________,and you have to learn to ________it. Stop living in the past and live in the future. Everyone has a story, but you have to make your own ending. It's up to you to persevere and fight for yourself. Be your own________.

【推荐3】My daughter was only one year old in 2009—tiny and______, the master of a few basic words, but still mostly the baby we'd welcomed into the world,______all her first times.

Now my honey has grown into a（n）______—tall, strong, slim, and smart, a（n）______of science fiction films.

A______from now, in 2031, she will be an adult. I expect the next 10 years to fly by, and be filled with______. As 2021 begins, I am thinking about the kind of world my daughter will______and experience. I______for her, and for all the young people of her age. So I have several______for the world my daughter and her generation will live in:

I hope we finally get______about climate change. Polar ice is melting. The oceans are______. The question is______whether we can stop climate change, but whether we're willing and able to do anything we can to______it.

I'm not sure what a warming planet will mean for my daughter's life. I______it means she will live in a world where nations and groups______limited resources like clean water and food, which means that the danger of climate change won't come just from warmer climate, but from other humans competing for control over what's______.

The world is always going to be full of______about how to solve the challenges we face. I hope, too, that my daughter's generation learns to______justice—but to do so with big heart and humility, recognizing our common humanity（人性）even with people who______us.

The world of 2031 won't build itself. We are______it now, so my final wish is that we build the kind of world we actually want our children to live in.

【推荐2】A few weeks ago, I called an Uber to take me to the Boston airport for a flight home for the holidays. As I slid into the back _________ of the car, the warm intonations (语调) of the driver’s accent washed over me in a _________ way.

Then I _________ that he was a recent West African immigrant with a few young children to _________. As the daughter of two Ethiopian immigrants who made intense effort to _________ my success, I feel naturally close to him. I told him I was on a college _________ and headed home to visit my parents. That’s how he found out I went to Harvard. His _________ eyes glinted at me in the rearview window, and quickly we crossed the boundaries (边界) of rider and driver, I seemingly becoming his _________.

And then came the fateful question: “ _________ do you study?” I answered “history and literature” and the pride in his voice __________, as I knew it might. I didn’t even get to add “and African-American studies” before he cut in, with a voice thick with __________, “All that work to get into Harvard, and you study history?”

In his view, I knew, I was __________ the biggest opportunity of my life. He went on to deliver the age-old __________ that all immigrant kids know. We are supposed to become doctors or lawyers to make money and send money back home. Contained in his plain words, the unspoken lesson, taught across __________, is simple: Fulfill your role in the story of __________ mobility along the social ladder so your children can do the same.

I used to feel __________ and backed into a corner by the questioning, __________ now as a junior in college, I’m grateful for their support more than anything. This holiday season, I’ve promised myself I won’t get annoyed at their __________. And I won’t defensively respond with “but I plan to go to law school!” When I get unrequested __________. I’ll just smile and nod, and enjoy the __________ of the occasion.

【推荐3】The story is told about what happened on a flight between a passenger and an air hostess. The passenger rang and told the air hostess (乘务员) that he needed a cup of _______to take his medicine when the plane just took off. She told him that she would_______him the water in ten minutes.

Thirty minutes later, when the passenger’s ring for_______sounded, the air hostess was in a hurry. She was kept so_______that she forgot to deliver (送) him the water. As a result, the passenger was_______to take his medicine.She_______over to him with a cup of water, but he_______it.

In the following hours on the_______, each time the air hostess passed by the _______ she would ask him with a smile__________he needed help or not. But the passenger__________paid attention to her.

When the passenger was going to get__________the plane, he asked the air hostess to__________him the passengers’ booklet (意见薄). She was very__________ She knew he would write down__________words, which might result in the loss of her job. __________with a smile she handed it to him.

Off the plane, she__________the booklet, and cracked a smile, __________the passenger put it, “On the flight, you asked me whether I need help or not for twelve times__________ How can I refuse your twelve sincere (真诚的) smiles?”

That’s__________! Who can refuse twelve sincere smiles from a person?