【推荐1】Children find meanings in their old family tales.

When Stephen Guyer’s three children were growing up, he told them stories about how his grandfather, a banker, _______ all in the 1930s, but did not lose sight of what he valued most. In one of the darkest times when his strong-minded grandfather was nearly _______, he loaded his family into the car and _______ them to see family members in Canada with a _______,“There are more important things in life than money.”

The _______ took on a new meaning recently when Mr. Guyer downsized to a _______ house from a more expensive and comfortable one. He was _______ that his children, a daughter, 15, and twins, 22, would be upset. To his surprise, they weren’t. Instead, their reaction echoed(共鸣) their great-grandfather’s. What they _______ was how warm the people were in the house. Many parents are finding family stories have surprising power to help children through hard times. Storytelling experts say the phenomenon reflects a growing _______ in telling tales, evidenced by a rise in a storytelling events and festivals.

A university ________ of 65 families with children aged from 14 to 16 found kids’ ability to retell parents’ stories was linked to a lower rate of anger and anxiety.

【推荐3】Luther Younger is a 99-year-old loving husband. His wife was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago, and doctors _________ she’d have just five years to live. _________, the couple have remained strong.

Over the last nine years, Luther takes a six-mile _________ every day to visit his wife in the hospital. He always stays by her side, encouraging her, showering her with _________ and their daily kiss. Luther could get a ride or even take the bus, but he _________ to walk the whole journey to help clear his mind and to _________ everything about his wife. Passersby often recognize Luther and stop to offer him a ride, but he _________ their kindness. His daily walk is _________ of how much he loves his wife.

Luther’s daughter hoped he could _________ accept rides, especially on extremely hot and snowy days, but Luther __________ walking himself so she just lets him have it his way.

__________ walking six-miles each day in the heat and snow would be too much, when you’ve walked through __________ with someone, what’s another six miles? Luther is always __________ to leave his love before returning home every day, but he knows that each tomorrow, __________ the weather, he will be on his way again. He can’t bear to live a single day without __________ his wife. “She made a man out of me. She made me more than I ever could have been, I love my wife.” Luther Younger said.

【推荐2】How Running Helped Me Turn My Life Around

I've never been an athlete. Aside from excelling at all academic disciplines at school, my main goal was to _______ PE at all costs. In my twenties, I went for an occasional yoga or Zumba class, but that was really the summary of all my athletic accomplishments.

That was until the end of 2016, when I was unexpectedly laid off. The _______ of getting a new job soon were not in my favor and _______ thoughts of not being good enough started to kick in. I was feeling quite depressed but pushed myself to go and _______ for the TCS NYC Marathon runners as the course was going through our neighborhood.

However, while being there, I got phenomenal _______ from all the runners, smiling, applauding and high-fiving constantly. Not a runner myself, I thought maybe I could give running a _______, just to try, to use my neglected gym membership and see where it _______ me. And so I tried. I went to my local gym the next morning and got on a treadmill （跑步机）.I was out of breath by minute five, but I _______ down, walked for a bit and then restarted. I came back the next day, hoping to _______ a few minutes longer. By the end of two weeks, I could run for 30 minutes, which was a huge ________.

While I saw my body starting to look more toned, I also noticed my negative thoughts didn't occur that ________ And it sparked a thought—what if I could set a running ________ and sign up for my first- ever race? I did and races sort of became a new hobby.

In the meantime, I was able to ________ a few freelance （自由职业的）projects. They offered me a good ________, and, most importantly, the time to work out for the big race. Also, when I was going for interviews, I started to feel very ________ in my abilities, experience and skills.

I got my full-time job ________ at my dream company just a couple of weeks before the halfmarathon. Although I got an ________ from overtraining right before the race, I still went for it and still finished within my ________ time.

I still have a long running ________ ahead of me—I'd love to work on my speed, my technique and I dream of running a marathon outside of the US. Running gives me ________ that I can do anything I set my mind to.

【推荐3】My journey to isolation (隔离) in Antarctica was somewhat accidental. I saw a(n) ________ for a position as a leader for an expedition (探险) to Antarctica and was interested. ________ , it was the picture of a penguin in the ad that caught my attention. It ________ that they were looking for someone in charge of an expedition team. I took part in a job ________ and then got a job that I knew had I not gone for it I would ________ .

________ 18 strangers around the clock for a full year, with no ________ from the cold and strong winds, I learned a lot. Being in isolation meant I had to do lots of self ________ . Every day I would think carefully of how I had operated as a leader. That discipline of ________ myself taught me how to tell right from wrong.

After returning from the silent Antarctica, the noise in the outside world seemed ________ . It took me about 180 days to ________ to the noisy life. I limited the time I spent outside and gradually ________ my tolerance to noise. Besides, the ________ of my life in Antarctica was very slow, just like everyone’s life in lockdown (禁闭期) due to the COVID-19. When I first got into my car for a ride alone, I felt like I was ________ , even though I wasn’t.

Nowadays I often think back to when I saw the ________ that inspired me to look at the ad for the job -a moment that changed my life altogether.

【推荐1】The silence was broken by the voice of a child. Out of the window, I saw my neighbor and her six-year-old daughter, Ayuni, _______in the park. Ayuni tried to climb the ladders of the slide again and again. Ayuni cried, shouted at her mother to help her, and then _______, but her mother told her to try again. Every time Ayuni fell off the ladder, her mother asked her to _______rather than helping her and wiping her_______.

I saw Ayuni shouting in _______, “I hate you! You are the _______mother.” But her mother listened to that quietly and patiently, and then she _______to tell her to try again. I was___________about why she was doing that. Even if she wanted Ayuni to learn to climb the ladders, she had to first help her by holding her and showing it practically to her. After all, Ayuni was too_______to learn this based on verbal(口头的)________ Oh！ I saw her mother trying to hide her tears as Ayuni fell for the 13th time! Then, I got ________ to know what was going on!

Later, I noticed there was a __________to my mother with the signature “Lavangi", the name of the little girl’s mother. From it, I was fully ________of the truth. Now, I extract (选取) the following：“Dear Manya, you’ve been like my elder sister，so I ____________to write this letter. I’ve been in the last stage of cancer. You’ve been a great________during my difficult time. The last favor I need from you is to keep an eye on my daughter, little Ayuni...”I closed my eyes, praying for Ayuni and wishing everything would go well with her.

【推荐2】A few days ago , my husband observed a teenager doing yardwork that his dad had told him to do. Instead of doing the task_________, he wandered around there for hours, doing a _________ job.

The person he hurt the most was himself. His dad was trying to teach him _________ and how to do a good job. As a result of his _________ attitude, he spent the whole afternoon finishing a task that should have taken one or two hours. And the yard _________ wasn’t clean enough when he got through.

He_______his day because of his attitude. In addition, his dad was _________with him, and the boy’s bad mood ended up _________ the whole family that day.

Contrast that with a sweet lady working in a fast-food_______. The minute I walked in, she welcomed me ________. She smiled as she took my order, and then as we ________the food, she talked with me. As I walked off with my tray (托盘), she said with a big ________, “I hope you have a blessed day !” I thought the food tasted better because of her________. She wasn’t making a large________, and she didn’t have a powerful position either. In addition, she stood for a long shift (当班时间) each day, often dealing with ________customers. But she chose to be joyful. I want to learn from her .