【推荐1】My brother and I were driving home together. We _________ something interesting on the way. Because of the conversation, my brother took a wrong turn.

Unfortunately, the wrong turn took us towards a bridge and we had no way to _________. Unwillingly, my brother _________ the bridge toll (通行费) and drove on. He was clearly _________ by the mistake and the needless waste of $4.

We eventually reached an exit slip-way and, as we took it, my brother _________ a young guy pulled over to the side of the road. I was busy trying to _________ which way we went next when my brother pulled over and asked the guy if he needed any _________. And he did. He had a flat tire and needed a wrench (扳手) to get it off and then get the spare one on.

My brother _________ him a wrench, and then began to help him _________ the tire. The young man said that this had been a __________ week for him; earlier he had gotten into a minor car accident, and now this flat on his way home from work. But he called us “a breath of fresh air” and kept thanking us because he really would have been stuck __________ we hadn’t come along.

After we had __________ the job he thanked us again and pulled out $20 and tried to give it to us. “No,” my brother said, “we were __________ supposed to get on that bridge, yet we took a wrong turn. But now we know __________ we did. It was to help you. Thank you for turning our __________ into an opportunity to serve.”

【推荐1】A serious defeat I suffered when I was only 10 years old helped me win the 1968 Olympic ice skating championship. It also gave me a deadly _______ — the other Peggy Fleming. Just before that, I had been roller-skating, playing basketball, and could climb _______a tree as well as any boy. So Dad _______ me to take skating lessons. And soon I _______several local figure-skating (花样滑冰) awards. Then came the Pacific Coast Championship in Los Angeles.

I, a very confident young girl, proud of the _______ of friends and newspapers, walked into the stadium _______ to add another laurel (桂冠) to my recent success. Out on the ice, I_______enjoyed myself, flying through all kinds of figures I knew so well. But when the _______were posted, I was _______— out of the 12 competitors I had finished last! The ________burned as bright as my skate knives: “You didn’t skate your best!” I knew that only one person had ________ me that day ---- myself, my own ________.

When I trained for Olympics, I would ________ the same 69 figures over and over, eight hours a day. A skater must do five figures for the Olympics, but you aren’t told ________ the last minute which figures these will be. So you must be very ________ with the 69 figures. Often in the middle of practicing a figure, the other Peggy Fleming would whisper, “Good enough — why ________ yourself so hard?” And then I would ________ my lesson in Los Angeles.

Now I skate professionally. _______ I still face this competitor, myself. I firmly believe that each of us has been given a special ________. And if we bury our talent in our own self-satisfaction, simply do not want to make the effort or fear trying, we will ________completely.

【推荐2】The House Fairy

As young parents, my husband and I felt that at age 6 and 8, our children were old enough to be cleaning their rooms and making their beds. But they thought ________. My complaints, repeating myself, even self—justified shouting were landing on ________ ears. I felt frustrated (沮丧的), and very often a whole afternoon’s scolding (责骂) would end with their bursting into tears. I realized I needed to ________ my methods of mothering”.

One day while they were at school, I had great fun tidying their rooms. On their desks, in plain ________ I left the cards: “Dear Bill (the other ________ was addressed to Sarah), your room was messy this morning and I’m sure you like it clean. Love, the House Fairy.” Upon arriving ________, the children were ________ excited to receive the little note from the House Fairy. The next day, their rooms were fairly tidy. Sure enough, there was another note from the House Fairy waiting for them, thanking them for their nice “gift” of a clean room and ________ asking them to ________ the violin for a while. Each day, thank-you notes would be worded differently to keep the ideas fresh.

Sometimes the House Fairy would suggest a little ________: “If you can finish your homework today and ________ it before dinner, I’d like to watch a particular television program with you tonight.” Sometimes some colored markers or other little items would be left in ________ of jobs especially well done the day before.

________ I can’t remember how long the House Fairy continued leaving her love notes. When they were no longer age appropriate (合适的), we used various versions of Post-Its. The bathroom mirror became the ________ centre of our home. Appointments, notices about visiting relatives, lesson schedules, and changes in plans could be posted.

We all benefited from and ________ the idea of sharing reminders and daily details of life through notes. I believe the true legacy of the House Fairy notes survives in our frequent and enjoyable communication.

【推荐3】As the night drew near, gunshots came into a pause at last, and the sun was selling on a country _______ of farm buildings, a main road and a big farm. A fierce battle had lasted a whole day _______ our soldiers made a breakthrough. _______ our army _______ to occupy the enemy's front line, _______ a mile and a half.

Now, we had taken _______ the trench that the enemy had dug as a last line of defense. We could _______ that the enemy were digging a _______ trench from where they could fight against us in the morning. They dug in the stony soil all night, and by the morning we could see only the tips of their caps and their spades (铲子) as they threw the soil out.

Our soldiers, after _______, were trying to find ____________ and games, since the enemy showed no sign of launching an attack. Some chose to drink ____________ a moment of peace and rest. ____________ soldiers decided to shoot at the enemy's caps and spades to see if they could hit any of them. Beyond our ____________, one of the enemy soldiers, who seemed to be a(n) ____________, joined us in our game. He ____________ suddenly put his spade up, ____________ it there for a few seconds to see if one us could hit it, and then pull it down quickly again. A good many of our soldiers fired at it whenever it came up, but ____________ seemed to succeed in hitting it.

However, a time came when die spade ____________ down much longer than usual. The soldier, we thought, might have left for a meal or ____________ else. We were feeling quite disappointed when the spade came out ____________ once again, for the last time, with a bandage around it.

【推荐2】Marty Verel, a 59-year-old man who had had a kidney transplant in Ohio, should have been near the top of the list to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (疫苗). Yet like millions of others, he wasn't having any _______ scheduling. Marty and his wife, Nancy Verel, would sit with computers on their laps trying for hours to book on different sites, all of which were slow and complicated. “I felt _______,” Nancy says.

Then Nancy heard about Marla Zwinggi, who was spending up to ten hours a day online trying to book appointments for vulnerable (弱势的) individuals. So Nancy _______ Zwinggi on Facebook: Can you help? Twenty-five minutes later, Zwinggi responded by asking for Marty's personal information. Nine minutes after that, Zwinggi _______ back—Marty had an appointment to get the vaccine.

Zwinggi's vaccine _______ started on February 1, when she learned that her seriously sick parents were unable to get appointments themselves. Clicking around on vaccine registration sites, Zwinggi discovered just how _______ it was to book an appointment. She applied _______ that web insiders are familiar with. “I'm determined. I drink a lot of coffee, and I'm a fast typer,” she says. Soon enough, Zwinggi had _______ appointments for both of her parents.

Zwinggi decided that helping others would be her way of _______. “I feel like I need to will us out of this pandemic,” she says. On February 10, she logged on to Facebook to let people know that she was assisting with bookings. By March 2, she'd booked appointments for 400 people, an impressive achievement that made Nancy ________, “Zwinggi is some sort of COVID angel (天使).”