【推荐1】It'd _______ been climbed by local and foreign men, and local women, but a Western female, who'd _______ unaccompanied and wanted to climb the mountain, was quite _______.

I explained that I'd been _______ for some time—in research and in physical strength—and showed them the _______ I had from their government authorizing my climb. I stressed that I'd be very _______ to keep their local traditions and hire one of their villagers as a guide, but it seemed to do little to reduce their _______.

The male villagers told me that the quick mud I'd meet would swallow me. While they couldn't remember anyone this bad actually _______, they seemed convinced it was a real _______. The village women, however, smiled at me, indicating their ________ for my climb.

The men ________ relaying stories of unpredictable danger. However, I was ________ because my aunt's words kept ________ in my ears—the greatest risk is not taking a risk, and we should always ________ our dreams.

Eventually, the men agreed to an ________ that seemed to put them at ease with my climb. Besides the local guide I'd hire, they also ________ me to hire three guards with guns, for protection.

As I started walking down the dirt path toward the mountain, I was ________ not only by my new mountain support team, but also by every village woman. They danced in circles around us as if in ________ of a victory.

I knew I wasn't the first Western female to make the climb. But with the women villagers   ________ me, I felt a strong sense of ________. And I suspected they felt the same.

【推荐2】Recently we took a trip to the South of France. As my parents are both ________, they decided to take me along on their artist residency program, ________ in the charming city of Arles in the Provence region, which is famous as the town where Vincent van Gogh ________ some of his most famous works.

We ________ from Switzerland on a French train. It ran well and was ________, and we easily found taxis ________ outside the Arles train station. Our apartment was located on Rue de la Calade, a ________ street in the center of the city. It was ________—with stone floors, well-kept rooms, and friendly neighbors. Our first day in Arles was ________ walking around and just getting a feel of the area. We had ________ our apartment for three weeks!

The first day’s ________ we took outside of Arles was to St. Rémy, where van Gogh once ________ in a mental hospital while still painting some of his most beloved ________. Today you can visit all the places that he painted at although they aren’t as completely ________ as they used to be. St. Rémy is a beautiful little town, though—lots of places to ________.

My family and I took a day tour to the Camargue, a nearby nature ________, which is France’s wild west, our last week in Arles. We got the ________ we had booked through the Arles tourist office, which can sometimes be ________. The tour was, although a little long, beautiful in every way. If in the South of France, I ________ recommend visiting the Camargue.

So overall, Arles and the South of France is excellent. ________ stopping for some days!

【推荐1】It’s 6:15 a. m. on a school day, and Jocelyn Murzycki has two kids and she needs to ġet out the door in an hour. As the sky begins to ________, Murzycki doesn’t manage a few more minutes of sleep. ________ , she’s heading out in the freezing cold on her daily plog — a run to ________ litter.

First, the ________are: a litter grabber (垃圾夹具) and a reusable shopping bag, one side for landfill (废物填埋) and the other for ________. Covering herself up, Murzycki jogs ________ down Main Street, stopping briefly to pick up a plastic cup. She usually needs to stop halfway through her 20-minute run to ________ her bag. Within a few hours the street will look littered again. But she isn’t ________ — it just adds fuel to her plogging fire.

The word “plogging” comes from plogga, a ________ of two Swedish words that mean to pick up and to jog. The activity was ________ by Erik Ahlstrom. When he moved to Stockholm, he felt________at the amount of litter in the streets and began gathering friends to clean up the neighborhood while out for runs. Now Mr. Ahlstrom is traveling the world, making the ________of plogging known to the public. In the U. S. , social media and running groups are ________ people to get out and plog: the “plogging” tag (标签) alone has more than 40, 000 posts.

Murzycki has been doing this for a few years even before the trend hit the U. S. “It really is super ________ if you go out every single day and just pick up litter,” she says. But she’s figured out how to make it fun by jogging with friends and adding the ________, and she adds one push-up (俯卧撑), finding a tiny glass bottle.

【推荐2】When my sister Diane began playing the violin, she was seven. How did she sound? Terrible. But she didn’t quit. At twelve, she asked our parents if she could ___________ a fulltime music school. They said no. Actually, everyone agreed that my sister lacked talent.

I was better at my instrument. My teacher had told my parents that I had great ___________. So my parents found the best piano teacher in the area to ___________ me. But the only time he was ___________ was Saturday afternoons at 3 p. m.. Back then, I was___________ about the British TV show “The Avengers”, which was aired (播出) every Saturday at 3 p.m.. I let nothing take up my “The Avengers” hour. So I ___________ this amazing opportunity. Today, I don’t even have a___________ in my house.

My sister became an engineer, but she ___________ stopped making music. When she was in her 40s, she switched her ___________. She went back to college, got a(n) ____________ in music education, and became a music teacher. She starts kids off on their first instrument and gives them all the encouragement and support she never ____________.

Recently, she and a pianist pal (伙伴) put on a recital (独奏会). A big crowd of friends and family____________ for her. As she played, I looked around at the ____________. Everyone was ____________ enjoying the music. It occurred to me that I was the only person that remembered that 7-year-old kid making those perfectly awful sounds and knew how far she had come and she would keep going forever, despite ____________.

Talent is important. But enthusiasm is even more important.

【推荐3】My father had a union job at a film-processing lab, and layoffs — and eventual rehirings — were common during the 1960s. My mother, however, _______ the family’s finances, and each layoff was extremely ________ . She worked, but money was tight as she ______ to pay the rent and the other bills until my dad was rehired. She always managed to protect my sister and me from the financial_______, and we never knew the extent of her worries.

_____one spring, when I was 10, during one of my father’s layoffs, I could______my mother was dispirited . I decided that I would _____my mother by buying her a special Mother's Day gift. My sister had a friend whose mother owned an exclusive boutique（高档精品店） , the Agins, near San Vicente and 6th Street,______was known for its high-end fashions and style. My mother, who couldn't _____to shop there, occasionally mentioned the store in tones of _____.

One day after school I rode my bike to the Agins. I introduced myself to Sylvia Agins and told her I was looking for a Mother's Day present. I remember that she didn’t talk down to me. She   _____me like a valued customer. She asked me what my mother would like. I told her I wasn't sure.

After wandering to the back of the store, she returned with a box. She opened it,______an Italian handbag _____of supple leather. “How much money do you have?” she asked.

“Twelve bucks ,” I said.

“You're in _____, ” she told me. “It's only $11. You have a dollar left over for the card. ”

She______the purse and thanked me for my business.When my mother opened the gift the next Sunday morning, she stammered（结巴地说） in an accusatory tone, “Where did you get this?” “I bought it at the Agins,” I said.

It wasn’t until many years later, when I learned that the purse was _____ several hundred dollars, that I _____just how wonderful Sylvia Agins had been to me. My mother, who carried the purse for many years until it was _____repair, is now 90. “Do you know what really______me to this day?” my mother said. “Letting you have the purse for just a few dollars was incredible enough. But the fact that she let you leave the store with a dollar for the card was a touch of_________ that I'll never forget.

【推荐2】I usually start my day with a coffee from TODAY. Every morning a smiling young man stands at the cashier’s area, with his colorful and funny-looking ________. It seems that he works happily every day.

It was rainy last Monday. When I rushed to the store, I was wet all over, which made me ________. Just then, the young man greeted me with a big smile and ________ me, which drove away my depression (沮丧). What ________ me was that he always seems happy. At first I thought he was just pretending to smile, making the best of a ________ situation. ________, he couldn’t possibly enjoy working at a store, right?

Later I recognized from our conversation that I had ________ the most important part of his words originally: He does enjoy his job, and that is why he seems so happy. My life doesn’t always look ________ like what I want it to be. I spend weekends ________ alone in my living room when I’d rather work in a beachside office with my friends. I drive an old Toyota when I’d ________ something that doesn’t have cracked windows. But the world doesn’t make any ________ if I have more money, a different space, a better job, or a nicer car. The wrapping paper is different, but the gift inside is ________. The way I feel about myself, how often I choose to smile ________ because it feels good—neither of these things depends on my living situation as a writer. This guy shows me that you can be who you want to be, no matter ________ your situation looks like. Happiness is about how you treat the present situation, and how willing you are to enjoy simple ________, even if things aren’t perfect.