【推荐1】It has been five years. No one’s quite sure how Sasha, the 6-­year­-old black cat, ______ it from Portland to New Mexico after five years. But apparently it isn’t uncommon for cats — who are known for their ______ character — to go hitchhiking (搭便车)．

“It’s like he never left. He’s so ______,” said its owner Usov. “I guess he was on a great American ______.”

When Sasha disappeared in 2014, Usov thought the cat might have ______wolves. But not every cat that disappears meets a(n) _______ end. It’s very common for a cat to ______ on a train or the back of a truck, but for a cat to travel 1,200 miles and then go back to its owner? That ______ happens.

Sasha’s fur was matted (乱成一团的) when he was found ______ the streets by workers of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter this month. They set out to find his owner. “Sasha didn’t miss a meal,” Kirdar, a worker at the shelter, said.

The shelter reunites families with their ______ pets every day,   ______this is the first time Kirdar has done an in­person delivery. Sasha’s ______ would not have been possible if he had not been microchipped (植入微芯片)．

“The microchip is the best form of ______,” said Kirdar. However, just getting your pet microchipped isn’t enough. It’s important to ______ the microchip’s producer if there is a ______ in your contact information.

【推荐2】Life is just full of surprises! Some are ________ surprises and some maybe not so pleasing. Our team had a good surprise a few days ago that is worth sharing with ________ on our blog. Our teammate Carol had gone into town for our Thanksgiving shopping and ________ coming home with a 15-month-old German Shepherd (牧羊犬) female. We usually ________ to do as much as possible on our trips to the town because the town is 45 miles one way. One of her stops was to ________ medicine for our senior German Shepherdmale, Bozwell.

Her trip to our veterinarian (兽医) takes her right by the local animal shelter. She glanced over and ________ a German Shepherd dog sitting in the corner of her outdoor enclosure (围栏). ________ we love all dogs, the German Shepherd is our first choice. She ________ to the enclosure and got off her pickup truck. One of the ________ came up and asked if she was looking for a ________. Carol said she wasn’t but wanted to take a ________ and send it to me. It ________ that Lucy, the German Shepherd female, is 15 months old and was going to be ________ to another shelter in a distant city the ________ day.

Carol took Lucy ________ to our veterinarian for an exam. We know our dogs very ________ and knew that introducing another dog like this would not be a(n) ________. We have brought many dogs into our pack family over the years and because we fully understand our dogs, ________ a new dog has never been much of a problem for us. So Lucy is now part of our ________ and has all love we can ________ to it.

【推荐3】“You’re very talented, dear. I hope everything turns out great. I’ll tell my friends about the animal shelter (避难处),” a kind old lady told Conrad, who smiled _______ as she left $20 in his hat.

Conrad was proud of what he was doing and people in the _______ loved hearing him sing and play his _______ . The 11-year-old didn’t know _______ how much money the local animal shelter needed.

His mother, Sandy, worked at the shelter and had always been a(n) _______ animal lover. Therefore, he grew to be fond of animals as well. _______ , he recently heard his mother telling a friend that the shelter was not doing well. It _______ purely on donations, and not much donations were _______ . This made the boy very _______ . So he grabbed his guitar and ________ the local town square to sing and play.

He placed a ________ to tell people he was doing it to raise money for the animal shelter, which helped greatly. People ________ and gave him mostly $1 and change, and others, such as the kind old lady, were more ________ . He was grateful to everyone and continued playing songs and ________ money.

Raise your kids to love animals, and they’ll be better people. Caring for innocent animals makes people more selfless, ________ and caring. That’s why Conrad used his skills to raise funds, knowing how vital the shelter was.

【推荐2】A woman professor walked around in a classroom while she was teaching stress management to her students. ________ she raised a glass of water, ________ expected they would be asked the “half-empty or half-full” question.

Instead, with a ________ on her face, she asked, “What’s the ________ of this glass of water?” _____ called out ranged from eight to twenty ounces (盎司).

She ________ the students down and then replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter .It all ________ how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have a ________ in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb (麻木) and paralyzed (麻痹). In each ________, the weight of the glass of water doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the ________ it becomes. Do you know why?”

All the students kept silent and listened carefully, lost in thought.

She ________, “Our and ________ in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing ________. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel ________—unable to do anything.”

It’s important to ________ to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as possible, put all your burdens down. Don’t ________ them through the evening and into the night Remember to put the glass down!

More often than not life gets ________ when we think too much. And the moment you ________ your burden, you’ll find yourself feeling so much more relaxed.

So ________ wondering around and feeling sorry for yourself, start doing something about it. After all, life is too short to devote yourself to anything that makes you ________.

【推荐2】My daughter loved dancing until she didn’t love it. After an _________ first year, I noticed her interest fading week by week. Then one day, she slowly walked to me before class and asked if she could just _________ it.

My first reaction was to advise her to “finish what you start”. _________, sticking with something difficult can teach perseverance, discipline and confidence. But watching my first grader _________ herself into each ballet position, I started to question how much _________ that “blanket advice” made. Is it really in my kid’s best _________, or even practical, to make her stick to every commitment through until she reaches a bitter end? What if there are different but _________ valuable qualities, which can be gained by _________ the things that are not right for her.

After a few days’ consideration, she decided dance wasn’t for her — a choice I _________. Quitting is never a black and white issue. Sometimes, it means __________ a barrier in your way to love something else. In my daughter’s case, ending dance made space for her new hobbies, such as horseback riding and Girl Scouts. She’s into them for now, but it is okay if that __________ changes.

As adults, we are accustomed to __________ the power of saying yes, but what about saying no? The ability to recognize when something isn’t an __________ investment of our time or energy is also important. As my daughter gets older, I want her to feel confident to __________ something that’s no longer meeting her needs. She shouldn’t be held back by the thought that she must finish something at any cost __________ because she has started.

【推荐3】When I was 16 I wrote a bucket list. This was a list of things that I wanted to do in my lifetime. One of the things on my bucket list was to do a(n) ______ .

Two years ago I spent three months traveling around South America. We ______ so many places and it was a great experience. One of the most   ______things we saw was Iguassu Falls. The day after we visited the waterfalls we were ______ in a hotel in Brazil, having breakfast. My friend then suddenly ______ an ad on the wall saying “Skydive over Iguassu Falls today!” We looked at each other and decided it was time to do something ______ . Today would be the day that we would jump out of a ______ .

That afternoon we were picked up and taken to the Skydive Center. We put on our gear (装备) and we were given some ______ . After signing a few papers we were on our way to the plane! There were 14 of us in a very small space as we took off into the ______ . This is when my heart started to _______ very fast.

Suddenly we were 3,000 meters above the ground. ______ , I was attached to an instructor so I didn’t have to worry about anything; I just had to ______ myself. He asked me if I was ______ to fall from the plane, but before I had time to ______ , I felt the wind rushing against my face as we fell to the ground at 200 kilometers an hour! Everything below me looked so small and my ______ was literally taken away.

After about 20 seconds of ______ , the parachute (降落伞) opened and everything ______ . We floated peacefully toward Earth, leaving the clouds behind us.

This was definitely one of the scariest but most ______ experiences of my life. The feeling of falling from so high is amazing. I would definitely do another skydive if I had the opportunity. I would also love to try other ______ sports such as bungee jumping (蹦极). I think that everyone should do something that ______ them once in a while!