【推荐1】I am a single father with two young daughters. It had been a(n) ______ year: Being out of work ______ me of a reliable income and thus was always low on money. I hated to ______ my girls. But as New Year approached, with little choice, I was ______ to tell the girls, “It looks like our gift will be the gift of our ______ for each other.” Still, I couldn’t stop feeling ______.

Then, unexpectedly, a(n) ______ occurred to me. I ______ $1, 000 in a contest. To give them a ______ I kept it a secret and went shopping on my own. Back home I wrapped presents in the basement for my girls, all the time ______, “Boy, how amazed they will be! “The next morning, to ______ the gifts, I went to the living room and   ______. There were already dozens of presents-all with my name on them. My girls had felt ______ that Dad wouldn’t be getting any gifts, so they’d ______ wrapped their favorite stuffed animals and other toys so that I would have a happy new year.

As I stared at the gifts through ______ eyes, I promised myself that this was the best New Year that I had ever had.

【推荐2】Old Love

At eighty-eight, Dad moved to be near me after living his life in New York City. I drove him to his _________ at the retirement community where he would _________. It had the same feel as the interview I went to when my daughter started preschool.

After I _________ my father into his new apartment, I left him in his _________ chair with a cup of coffee. I felt the same way I felt the day I dropped my _________ off on her first day of school—a little guilty, a little _________, and a little weepy. Would he be okay? This would be the first time in his life he would live alone.

Two days later, he called me _________ and said, "At the rate I'm going, I may never have to cook dinner for myself."

He met a lady there. He said she wasn't like the other ones; she was _________. About two weeks later, Dad called me and asked me to drive him to a _________ in town. I said, "Do you want me to go to dinner with you?"

He said, "No, I just need a __________."

I __________ at the entrance to his building, and he was standing there with a woman. They were all dressed up. Instead of sitting with me in the __________ seat, he climbed into the back seat. When I stopped at a red light, I looked in a front mirror and saw my father's hand inch across the seat to take hers.

After four years together, __________ every day together, eating their meals together, and traveling together, my father died suddenly when an aneurism（动脉瘤）__________.

It has been five years since my father's __________. I loved watching him fall in love, be in love, and have companion at that time of his life. I still see his friend, and she is now my friend. I learned from them that "old love" can also be just as sweet.

【推荐3】It was on my 30th birthday. When I came back, my mother was________herself proudly in her usual chair, with two shirt boxes ________blue paper and a pink card in front of her. “Happy birthday!” she said,________at the boxes. “Open them.”

My mom had got me________what I wanted, as she always knows me. I hugged and thanked her and________to eat the chocolate cake. “High calories, I shouldn’t have done that,” I said, not really caring. Mom waved off my put-on ________and laughed. Two weeks later, I came upon the same________:   my mom sitting in the chair; a chocolate cake next to blue shirt boxes,________, a yellow card this time. I was aware she had ________Alzheimer’s (阿尔茨海默氏病) .

Four long years passed. I now have a 15-month-old son, Ben. Lately my mother has been reading to him, the ________ character and plot every time. It doesn’t________to Ben that he’s heard the story, and he doesn’t mind her poor ________, because every minute is new for him too.

I begin to enjoy the situation and realize we are ________. My mother is in bad, but stable condition.________is better than a decline. Change will come; her remembrance may ________further, but I’ll be in the frontline.

For the last few years of college I worked as a part-time barista (咖啡师) in a cafe. As I left college, my college career came to a (n) _______, and at the same time there was a lot of _______ from family and friends to find a job which could match my degree. Therefore, I began to _______ for some positions. I searched and interviewed for months, during which I was working in two _______ to make ends meet. One was focused on coffee, while the other was a yogurt shop that served coffee as well. Gradually, I realized I grew to be _______about coffee. Three months later, I was _______ at both jobs. When I got the two promotions, I had to make a _______ because I couldn’t work both jobs full time with greater responsibilities. The yogurt shop offered me a higher monthly salary, _______ the coffee shop offered me a lower hourly wage. After _______ on it over and over, finally, I ________ my resignation letter (辞职信) at the yogurt shop and went to work at the coffee shop full time as an assistant manager. I am a firm believer in. ________ what I love, but I wasn’t confident that I had made the right decision. Six months later, I was promoted to a (n)________ manager of the coffee shop. Not only was I given a ________ but I was also given ________ learning experiences and opportunities, which have made me ________ look forward to all that I can accomplish (实现) in the future.

【推荐2】Yesterday I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the pedestrian crossing, selling toys.

Usually I would _________and hurry past such sellers before being approached to buy something. But I found this young man was _________, so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see _________he sold his toys.

_________, a young mother with a small child came by and the child was _________by one of the toys in a large box that made a noise. The young mother asked for the _________and it was charged at only one dollar. She _________a 10-dollar note from her purse and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the _________back. I was wondering how he was going to give it back. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag _________his neck and take out __________change he owed her. She then put her hand into the bag and took out the balance while I was __________her like a hawk (鹰).

I realized that this young man depended on __________people not to cheat him. There was no __________of him knowing if someone took out more than they should have done. I was so __________by how this disabled man believed in people that I bought a toy from him I didn’t __________at all.

He said it cost one dollar and I, too, told him that I had only a 10-dollar note. He told me to do the __________thing. So I put my 10 dollars in his __________. I put my hand in, but didn’t take any change. I hope he will find that he has more __________than he should when he gets home. As I walked down the street, I saw another kid walking with his father, __________I gave him the little toy. Then, I walked on, hoping that two people would have a __________smile on their faces that day.

【推荐1】This is the story of my college journey—from the very beginning to where I am today. It’s been an _______ experience so far, and I hope it can _______ others who are in the same situation.

My college journey began when I started to _______ schools (学院). It was scary, yet exciting at the same time because I had no idea what my _______ would look like. But with a little bit of research, I decided on several schools that _______ my interest. Once I was _______, it was time to start making choices. Through effort, I chose one school that offered the best _______ between my ability to pay and the good education I could get. With everything ready, I eagerly _______ my new life.

Once classes started, everything _______. It seemed like there were a million things going on at once! I tried my best to adapt to the ________ life. Step by step, I got into a ________ state and began to make friends along the way. The best part of being in college has surely been making new ________ with people from all over the world—people with different backgrounds but ________ interests in learning—this is ________ something special!

Overall, being in college has been unbelievable! Even though my college journey is still ongoing—I’m looking forward to seeing where this path ________ me next.

【推荐2】The first time I felt the impact of UCLA’s (加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校) diversity was during New Student Orientation (新生入学培训). At a brand-new campus, we are surrounded by _________. We really feel the social tension between the incoming (新来的) students, hoping to find friends in a strange environment.

_________ into a group of 10 students, we got our first chance to get to know one another. Our group sat in a kindergarten style to _________ what we’d just experienced. There were a few minutes of sparse (稀少的) conversation _________ the wall of awkwardness was _________ by a girl. She began _________ her own life. She explained that on one side, she was Filipino, and on the other, Mexican. She was not quite _________ in among Mexicans or Filipinos, feeling _________ about her place in the world. Sadly bowing her head, she stopped saying. It seemed that she was describing my _________. As a matter of fact, my parents also came from __________ countries. So I told her that I totally understood how she __________.

This year, UCLA admitted one of its most diverse groups of students yet, which means freshmen will __________ things like mine more than ever before. The diversity leads to more __________ for personal growth.

Compared to other universities, those chances are what really make being a freshman special. But to __________ from the university’s diversity, students should seek good solutions. They could __________ stories, learn from friends and compare one another’s lives in the process of studying.

【推荐3】The small college, McPherson College in Kansas, offers its students the chance to work with old cars that might one day sell for nearly $1 million. It has a study _________ in automotive restoration, teaching students who are _______ in repairing cars a little bit of engineering, history, business, communication and art. It is the only one in the country with a four-year bachelor’s _________ in automotive restoration.

The program _________ in 1976 when a local businessman gave the school part of his classic car _________. At the time, he could not find people who could work on old cars.

In 1988, the college considered _________ the program due to lack of funds. But American comedian Jay Leno, who owned many classic cars, _________ their mind when he gave some _________ to the program.

For the last six years, McPherson College’s students have been _________ a 1953 old car. They are hoping to   ________ the car next summer in the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show.

Michael Schneider, the president of McPherson College, said, “There’s an entire __________ around the classic car, and at the __________ of that industry is McPherson College.”

At a time when other colleges are __________ for students, McPherson College now has 18% more students today than five years ago.

He noted the restoration program __________ students to the college, but sometimes they decide to do __________ else when they get there.