【推荐1】At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断) with a kind of attention disorder. It made school ________ for me. In my first ________ class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I ________ my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it.” she glanced down at me through her ________, “You are no different from your classmates, young man.”

Not finishing the ________ when the bell rang, I had to ________ it home. In the ________ of my bedroom, the story ________ all became clear to me! Louis Braille lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much ________. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he ________ a reading system of raised dots, which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “________” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to ________. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no ________ from other; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?

I didn’t ________ anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a ________ when it came back to me the next day — with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: “See what you can do when you keep trying?”

【推荐2】During my second year in high school, I got sick and missed a few days. When I ______, I was greeted with two essays，three days of math and history homework, plus several tests. ________ I went home from school that day exhausted, I had to stay up really late to finish them all.

The next day at school, I got a shock: I’d totally forgotten to prepare for the ________ on Romeo and Juliet, which I’d take ________ my lunch hour! Worse still, I had ________ the in-class discussion and all the notes. When lunch came, I went to the English room to face my certain doom(厄运). All I could do was try to ________ on the questions I didn’t know.

As it turned out, I didn’t know the majority of the questions. I was just about to give ______ when my pencil accidentally fell and broke. Standing by the blackboard sharpening my pencil, I ________ down and there in full view lay the answer sheet for the test! What good fortune! I can kiss good-bye to all my ________ of failing the test! My heart started beating, and my brain _________, Yes! Read over the answers — quickly! This was quickly followed by another voice, No! You’ll get caught! My mind turning back and forth, Yes! No! Yes! No! …This went on for ten of the ________ seconds in my entire life.

Finally, I decided to finish the test on my own, without ________! I was satisfied with my decision but pretty ________ I had failed the test.

The next day when I walked into the English room, my great joy of having been an ______ soul changed into a wave of doom as I saw my test paper lying face down on my desk. I knew what awaited me. I stared at it a few seconds before I took the _________ to turn it over.

You can only imagine my ________ when I learned that I had passed the test! I have never in my whole life been so happy to see my ________, a C-.

My mom says the victories that ________ the most courage are won within. Now I know ________ what she means. Now not only can my conscience (良心) rest easy, but I don’t have to worry about getting caught and meeting a sad ________ like Romeo and Juliet.

【推荐3】When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could take tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he _________ in class.

When I took the first exam, I was _________ to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained _________ .

I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that _________ because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I _________ with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his _________ .

One more test before the final exam. One more _________ to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time _________ the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my _________ did no good and everything went as before.

The last hurdle (障碍) was the final. No matter what __________ I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the __________ goodbye.

I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even treated myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have fun with a test.

A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into Professor Jayne’s office. He __________ to be expecting me. “If I gave you the grade as you __________ , you wouldn’t continue to work as hard.”

I stared at him, __________ that his analysis and strategy (策略) were correct. I had worked my head off, as I had never done before.

I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I __________ my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: You alone must set your own standard of excellence.

【推荐3】My 9-year-old daughter cornered me in the kitchen. "Daddy, I want a pet rat." Barbara held on with reasonable ________ about how she would take care of the ________ herself and how she would ________ responsibility by doing so.

I didn’t want a rat, yet that didn’t seem to be the right ________ for this situation, given the way Barbara had so maturely made her strong ________ . So I gave her the classic parent ________ . "Let me talk to your ________ about it." My wife didn’t let me down. She came up with the idea that Barbara could prove her ________ and responsibility by researching some basic ________ we had about rats: How much do they cost? What care do they need? The task might ________ her and we could move on to ________ pets, such as goldfish.

________ , she searched out the answers and even took detailed notes. My wife _______ . I drove Barbara and her 6-year-old brother, Edvin to the pet store and Barbara ________ picked out a baby rat. "I can’t believe I have a rat of my own after a year of ________   !" She said.

"It wasn’t your begging," I told her. "You made a ________ case for getting a rat. We wanted to ________ that."

"Dad?" Edvin immediately ________ . "Can I get a pet lion?" He quickly ________ five reasons why a lion would make a good pet.

I may have learned something about flexibility with the rats, but I had not ________ my ability to reason. "No."