【推荐2】Like most young couples, my husband and I didn’t have money for luxurious gifts on our first wedding anniversary. We were___ to have a meal and watch a romantic movie at home. Simply being able to enjoy each other’s ____ was enough. No gift on earth could come close to___ our love for one another.

So when the mailman knocked on the door, I was very ___to see a medium-sized package from my mother. Both eager and curious to see what was awaiting us in the package, I____ tore open the box and immediately my eyes were filled with tears. Inside the box was a ____ folded quilt my mother had made by hand. It was white with rose____and gold thread. The backing _____beautiful tiny purple flowers.

Accompanying the quilt was a ___from my mother:

“Happy Anniversary ! _____is a quilt. The purple was your wedding colour and the gold thread ____ the golden rings you two exchanged on your wedding day. May this quilt keep you warm when times are cold and ___ you of the day you said your vows--Love, Mom.”

I was touched____words. I knew my mom surely had sacrificed to be able to afford this. The time alone to sew such a detailed quilt was _____to me. I just____my mother coming home from a long day at work and staying up __ the early hours of the next morning delicately____the quilt together. We both knew a part of my mom’s____was sewn right into the quilt. How could any gift ever compare to such a genuine gift?

Many years have passed since our first anniversary, but neither of us has____the beautiful quilt. My husband always jokes that the best anniversary _____I have ever received wasn’t from him but from my mother, and I agree.

【推荐2】I was checking out at the grocery store with a woman behind me. Her shopping basket held a bunch (束) of pink roses, and some food and fruits. I _________ that they were, indeed, very lovely _________. She replied, “I really do love them though they are so common. And _________ is my favorite color.”

Well, just as I was _________, I heard her saying to the cashier (收银员), “You can put those roses back. I really can’t _________ them.” I turned around and asked her if she would _________ me to get them for her. She shook her head and said, “Thank you, but you certainly don’t _________ to.” I replied that I just wanted to especially _________ she loved them so much. She still _________, so I told her that she would be ____________ me if she would allow me to ____________ them to her. Finally, she was so ____________, and said. I really do love them. “Thank you.” As I handed the cashier the ____________, I noticed he was ____________ as well. As I began to walk away, I also noticed that with thankfulness the woman was holding the roses tight, surprised and ____________!

On the way home I was ____________ of a song Bread and Roses I heard many years ago and I’ve loved it ever since. It tells us the ____________ that we all need food, but we all ____________ need beauty.

A line from this song fits this ____________ perfectly. It reads: “Hearts go hungry as well as bodies. Give us ____________, but give us roses, too.”

【推荐3】I work for a non-profit organization that serves children with disabilities. A particular _________made me appreciate it even more.

Last Friday we took them to an amusement park. I was _________ with three girls who all had Down’s syndrome (唐氏综合征). They were having a great time, _________ the stares and looks from people around us.

The girls were _________ and screaming in excitement on a roller coaster ride, when a young woman patted me on the shoulder. She _________ told me that she recognized the girls had Down’s syndrome. I told her yes.

I couldn’t _________ what she next said to me. She _________ me that she had just had a baby who was diagnosed (诊断) with Down’s syndrome, and that she had been most worried if her baby would be able to experience joy and live a life full of _________. She then went on to say that watching these girls made her relieved, because she saw how happy they were. Then, she _________me for talking to her and giving her the best gift she could have asked for: __________.

I am so __________ that these three amazing girls were able to make this mother feel a sense of __________ — that they gave her the hope and __________ that her baby will experience a happy life. Every time I think about this, I can’t help but __________. These kids that I am so __________ to work with and their smiling faces are major reasons why I smile.

【推荐2】On a trip back from Boston, my two little guys and I stopped at a gas station. It was not until I got home that I _________ my wallet had been left there.

I tried to set aside my frustration and _________ over this and focused on taking action. First, I had to find the phone number of the gas station. Just a quick Baidu _________, right? Unluckily, the number had been recently _________ due to new ownership. So I _________ he restaurant across the street. The hostess warmly took down my _________ and had a waiter bring it to the gas station manager, who then rang me up. He told me that a regular customer had found my wallet and_________ it over to him for safekeeping. We arranged that I would drive back to the gas station the next day to_________my wallet.

My relief that the situation was heading the right direction was simple, as was my appreciation for the _________ and thoughtfulness of others — from the __________ who found my wallet to the restaurant hostess to the manager, who was willing to mail me my wallet if that was __________for me.

At every step of the way, a generous spirit was shown, which was__________ in a world where we often witness self-focused thinking and self-serving behavior.

Much good fortune __________ me after I left my wallet behind on that trip back from Boston — including a powerful reminder of the goodness and generosity of others. My world was righted and made more joyful, not just by being reunited with my wallet, but by the __________ acts of others. As Marianne Williamson wrote, "__________ is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."

【推荐3】Our church has a way of helping those who have financial difficulties without making the receiver feel shame or guilt. Money is ______ an offering box with only the name of the______on the envelope.

There came a time when my husband and I were among those ______. Just as we reached the point of despair, our church gave us a(n) ______ envelope that had been left in the offering box. We were______ to receive a very big amount of money, enough to bring us through that hard time.

A year later, our seventeen-year-old son was ______ a student loan for college. It was then that we discovered his savings account was almost ______. His father and I were surprised. We had______ him to put part of his wages from his part-time job into the bank towards his______from nine years old, and he had worked very hard for his ______ earnings. I asked him repeatedly to tell me ______ the money had gone.

______, in tears, and with great reluctance (勉强), my son admitted that the year before he had put his ______ in the offering box for his father and me. I stood there speechless, tears filling my eyes. It had taken my son ______ to save that money. He had given it to us ______ — without telling us what he had done.