【推荐1】The wagon train(马车队) had been travelling for weeks now. Emily was getting tired ---- tired of not having a comfortable bed to sleep in or a _______ home. She was also _______ because there was never anything fun for a girl of her age to do. Mama promised it wouldn’t be too much longer, _______ the trip seemed to take forever.

Then one day, a rabbit caught Emily’s eye. Maybe she could _______ it, and then she would have a pet! Emily ran after the rabbit into the woods behind the wagons, but it   _______ . Emily looked for it, and at last she _______ . She turned to go back, but _______ looked familiar. She started in one direction, but it was the wrong _______. Emily tried another direction, but soon found that that was _______ , too.

Emily was ________ . What if she couldn’t ________ the wagons? What if they didn’t realize she was ________ and just kept moving farther and farther away from her? What if some dangerous animals attacked(攻击) her?

Emily sat on the ground and started to cry…but wait…did she hear ________ ? She stood up and ran toward them. As she got ________, she recognized Mama’s voice and the voices of some of the men from the ________. Then she could see them. Emily ran as ________ as she could, right into Mama’s ________ arms.

Mama carried Emily back to their wagon and put her to bed. Emily was ________ that she was home. ________ was wherever Mama was. She would never ________ about being bored again.

【推荐2】I don’t talk with passengers on airplanes. My flight time is _______ for turning the pages of a good book. That changed, _______, on a flight from Tampa to Newark when I sat next to her ---the lady in Seat 26B.

After _______ my seat, I opened my book.

Then she _______me. “And where are you traveling to? Home or on vacation?”

“Heading home,” I closed my book. “You?”

“Oh, home, too,” she began, “I come from a(n) _______ family. Nine kids! I’m the oldest _______ alive---eighty-nine!” And then she laughed, joyfully. I wouldn’t have _______ she was nearly ninety, though.

“Good book?” she asked, pointing to my paperback.

“Yes. Do you read?”

“Oh, I don’t have _______ to read,” she replied.

I’m sixty years younger than 26B, yet she’s the one who’s too busy to read? What on earth could she be doing with her _______?

“Well,” she began, “I work at Costco. There are ________ nice people. There are also the ________ ones, but I enjoy them, too!” She laughed again, and I ________ her ability to not let negative energies affect her ________. I wondered how I could ________ that, too.

“What’s your secret,” I asked, “to sounding so ________ and healthy?”

“My husband died ten years ago,” she said, ________. “I thought to myself, I’m not going to just ________! That’s when I got my Costco job. I believe in being active.”

“Life is so good,” she ________, “I’m just excited every day to live it!”

I wanted that plane ride to reroute to California so I would have more time to learn about her energy for life. I became more ________ with each mile we flew.

I told myself, if someone who is eighty-nine years old can choose to live her life with such ________ and passion, I can, too. If you have the drive!

【推荐3】When I tell people I wrote a book with my dad, they usually say, “It must be nice to think of the legacy (遗产) you created with someone who means so much to you.”

This was a ____ idea, but it was not the way I, or my dad, ever thought about the cooperation. Though we created something we’re____, “nice” is not the word either of us uses to____the process.

“It was more confrontation (对抗) than____,” my dad likes to say. I agree.

When we landed a book deal, we began a writing ____ that was more difficult than either of us had ____, but also far more rewarding.

For almost three years, we met once or twice a week at my parents’ house and talked daily to plan and ____ each chapter. After these meetings, one of us would write a____ draft that the other would build on. I wanted the book to ____ on positive vices (不良习惯). ____, my dad felt the book should include chapters dealing with things like walking and spending time with family. Ultimately, I saw it his ____. He said the book was about more than just good vices. It was about ____ people to enjoy life in healthy ways.

Writing this book was a(n) ____ that our family members share not only our faults but also our strengths. My dad is smart, funny, critical and caring. He has a strong passion for the truth. I hope I share these great ____. For this book, he researched each topic with____I’d never seen from him, and he insisted that we constantly ____ and critically analyze every piece of information. He was ____ to cooperate on a book, not because he couldn’t write one on his own, but because he believed that we could create something ____ together than we could alone.

I’m not sure ____ our cooperation led to better writing, but it led to a better writing experience. Writing this book was difficult, sometimes more difficult than past projects, but it was never ____.

【推荐1】When we’re young, we don’t always know what interests us. We often learn skills or ____ hobbies to please our parents. As an adult, I wanted to develop one I ____, so I went to trade school.

I entered a cabinetmaking (家具制造) ____. I didn’t think I would be good at building furniture. I had great teachers, but making furniture is ____. There are so many steps and something can go wrong at each one. I was not even a(n) ____ person. My toolbox always looked like a hurricane had gone through it.

I didn’t fully know what I was ____ to at the beginning, but I kept going to class. Doing ____ work and giving it 100 percent of my effort had huge benefits for my mental health. I ____ my fear of embarrassment and asked for help at every opportunity.

I spent that year truly learning. True learning is a humbling (使人谦逊的) experience. I could understand exactly what was wrong with the ____ I made, but I couldn’t ____ my mistakes. And yet, I kept trying. And failing. And ____ again. Until I learned to fail better.

I finished the program — with honors, no less! My ____ were helped by my good wooden work. I also learned how to use tools. Having to ____ push beyond my comfort zone has made me a more ____ person. Maybe most importantly, trade school gave me a more realistic idea of my ____ and limitations. I’m stronger than I thought!

【推荐2】I find it humorous sometimes that even the most common occurrences can have an ________on our awareness.

My wife, daughter, and I ________ into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it ________ it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is surrounded by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because ________ a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt ________ someone were in a hurry to finish.

We did the best we could with what we had to work with and ________ this area our “rock garden”. Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some ________ to the area.

I still do all of my own ________ work, even the dreaded weed-pulling. After putting on my knee pads I assume the position to clear the yard of weeds, even in the rock garden.

Last summer I had ________ the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately ________, I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise claimed that she didn’t ________. We decided to let it ________ growing until we could ________ what it was.

Weeks passed and as I ________ my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower. It had a tall skinny stalk with only one head on it. I decided to ________ it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It ________ had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little Sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ________ of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little sunflower, we can ________ the same nourishment and nurturing as well.

First, we need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the capabilities in achieving our desires.Like the Sunflower, it knew it had the capability to overcome its obstacle because it trusted in the Universal Truth and had faith it would succeed.

Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.

【推荐3】On the first day of our science class, Mr. Whitson gave us a lecture about an animal called “Cattywampus”, an ill-adapted nocturnal (夜行的) animal that was_______out during the Ice Age, and he passed around a skull (头骨) as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.

When he_______our papers, we were shocked-a big red “x” each of our answers. We had written down exactly what he had said. There must be some mistakes!

“Very simple,” Mr. Whitson explained, “I had_______up the story about the Cattywampus. There had never been such an animal. The information in your notes was, _______, incorrect. Did you expect_______ for incorrect answers?”

“You should have _______ it out.” Mr. Whitson said. After all, at the very moment he was_______around the skull (in truth, a cat’s), hadn’t he been telling us that no trace of the animal_______? He had described its amazing night vision and the_______of its fur he couldn’t have known. He had given the animal a ridiculous (荒谬的) name, and we still hadn’t been________.

Every class was a/an________ with Mr. Whitson. One day he told us that his car was a living organism (有机体). It took us two full days to________for our clarification (阐明). He didn’t let us off the ________until we had proved not only the reasonable statement of an organism but also that we had the courage to stand up for the truth.

We put our________skepticism (怀疑) into all our classes. Teachers and textbooks are not always right. In fact, no one is. Don’t let your minds go to________, instead, speak up if you ever thought the teacher or the textbook was wrong.

【推荐1】I always come across random acts of kindness in my life. Many years ago, I was visiting Costa Rica when I found myself in an ___________ situation: my credit cards and bank cards went out of __________ abroad, and I only had $11 to my ___________.

I had no way to get money. I didn’t know anybody in this country. I only knew basic Spanish, and besides the cash the only ___________ I had was a return ticket to my country in almost two ___________. Back then, there was no such thing as mobile phones. To find help, I decided to go to the countryside. With the only coins I had, I ___________ the bus terminal and arrived at a village called Santa Rosa Abajo at midnight.

I knocked door to door, ___________ in my very poor Spanish that I was a foreigner travelling in Costa Rica with no money but I ___________ to stay here for over ten days. I begged them for a job－such as cooking, cleaning and looking after their kids, anything like that. Everybody ___________, “oh my, but so poor are we that we have no ___________ food or space. Maybe you can try the next ___________.” And they’d point me to another house.

Finally, I arrived at a Chinese restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was very ___________. She gave me food and called the Red Cross to come to __________ me. With the help of the Red Cross, I spent my___________ days in Costa Rica.

This is one of the best trips I’ve ever had, because I realized that when you’re in a position to be able to ___________, it actually makes you feel happy.