【推荐2】I was cycling and noticed a person, about a quarter of a kilometer in front of me. I could tell he was cycling a little slower than me and decided to try to _________ him. I had about a kilometer to go on the road _________ turning off.

So I started cycling faster and faster and every _________ I was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes I was only about 100 yards behind him, so I really picked up the pace and _________ myself. You would have _________ I was cycling in the last section of London Olympic triathlon.

_________, I caught up with him and passed him by. On the inside I felt so good. I beat him, of course, but he didn't even know we were _________.

After I passed him, I _________ that I had been so focused on competing against him that I had _________ my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around and go all the way back.

Isn't that what happens in life when we __________ competing with co-workers, neighbors, and friends, trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and __________ chasing after them and we miss out on our own __________ to our future.

The problem of unhealthy competition is that it's a never-ending __________, because there will __________ be somebody ahead of you, someone with a better job, more money and more education, etc.

Therefore, just take what life has given you, your height, weight and personality. Stay focused and live a healthy life. There's no __________ in life. Run your own race and wish others well.

【推荐3】An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his tuition fees. As an orphan, he didn’t know whom to ______ to for money. So he decided to host a musical concert at Standford University to ______ money for his education.

He reached out to the great ______, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Paderewski ______ a fee of Us $2,000 for the piano concert. A deal was ______. And the boy began to ______ to make the concert a success.

The ______ day arrived. Paderewski performed at Standford University. But ______, the boy hadn’t managed to sell enough tickets. The total ______ was only US 1,600. Disappointed, he went to Paderewski and ______ his plight (困境). He gave Paderewski the entire US $ 1,600, plus a cheque for the ______ of US $4,00. The boy promised to ______ the money as soon as possible.

Paderewski tore up the cheque, ______ the US $1,600 and told the boy, “______ the money for your tuition fees, and just give me whatever is left.” The boy was very ______, and thanked him sincerely.

It was a small ______ of kindness. We all come across ______ like this in our lives. And most of us only think, “If I helped them, what would happen to me?” The truly ______ people would think, “If I don’t help them, what would happen to them? They don t do it ______ something in return. They do it because they feel it’s the ______ thing to do.

【推荐2】When I was three, Connie, my new sister, was born on December 17, 1993. Eleven months later, this smiling child was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). The doctors at John Hopkins gave her an 8% ________ of survival. With the help of our ________ parents, Connie was able to fight against the disease and ________ went into remission（缓解期）. Months later, Connie had a relapse（复发）. After a (n) ________ second relapse in 1996, with a survival rate now at only 1%, the doctors ________ a bone marrow transplant（骨髓移植）was the best route to take. After ________ our blood types, the doctors found an exact ________. Me. I was honored to be able to help my sister.

After the bone marrow transplant Connie spent her summers in the neighborhood pool. She could always be ________running around the house in bathing suit. Staying in the remission for five years would mean Connie’s cancer would be ________. But before Connie could ________ year three, cancerous cells started to ________ her body once more; she relapsed.

Connie ________ during this relapse. becoming progressively ________. During the summer of 1999, she was not able to ________ in the pool or ride her bike. She spent her summer days in hospital.

When November ________ around, Connie hit rock bottom. The doctors said it was her ________. When I was nine years old, on November 19, 1999, my family and I said our goodbye to a child who did not live ________ the age of six.

Connie is a ________, to my family and me. She is a role model to people who knew her. Her bravery and courage was greater than ________ I know. Connie has taught me by example: it is hard to ________ a person who never gives up.

【推荐1】Every day on the way to work I drive down a street lined with pine trees.One tree in particular_______ my attention. It must have suffered some _______. Part of its trunk grew nearly parallel to the ground, and then in an effort to _______ its own course of life, the trunk took a 90 degree turn _______ to stand tall and stretch toward the sun.

This tree became a_______ for me. Each day as I drove by, I saw this bent but determined tree and I would be_______. It was a reminder to me that _______ I may not have had the best start in life, I could change _______ in the parts of my life at any time.

I was planning to stop one day to get a perfect_______ of my kindred-spirit (志趣相同的) tree. But that week I was ________. After that busy week, I still didn’t take any action. Every time I drove by the tree I would ________ myself, “Tomorrow, I’ll stop tomorrow to take one.” Then one day, as I ________by “my” tree, I glanced over, and much to my ________ found a sawed-off stump (树桩) where that symbolic tree had stood. Gone. I had ________ my plan until tomorrow and tomorrow proved to be too ________.

A picture of a tree gives me a lesson clearly that if you knew you would never have the opportunity to do it again? Why not do those things that you have been putting off until tomorrow?

【推荐2】John, an old man, lived in the middle of town. One day he found his watch lost in his own store. It _________ a lot to him because it was from his wife. After searching _________ in the store for a long while, he decided to ask for help from a group of children playing outside the store. He _________ them that the person who found it would be rewarded. Hearing this, the children hurried inside the store, went through and around the _________ store, but still could not find the watch.

Soon the man felt disappointed and _________. Even worse, he wanted to _________. Just at that moment, a little boy went up to him and asked for another _________. The man looked at him and thought, "Why not? _________, this kid looks sincere enough." So the man sent him back in the store. After a while, the boy _________ with the watch in his hand! The man was very __________, and he asked the boy how he found it while the others had __________. The boy replied, "I did nothing but sat on the ground and __________. Then I heard the ticking (嘀嗒声) of the watch and just looked for it in that __________."

We usually do something in a hurry and don't think about our own needs, which can't bring peace into our mind. __________, we need to think about ourselves and keep peaceful for a while, which can produce a good result. So allow a few minutes of __________ to your mind every day, and see how it helps you deal with your work and make progress as you expect to!

【推荐3】When I was younger, I was very sporty. My dad is a runner who greatly ______ me. My great hobby between the ages 11 and 14 was cross-country ______. However, when my family ______, my new school didn’t pay attention to ______, and had no after-school activities like football or running.

Over the next few years, I ______ exercising except during P. E. lessons at school. I was ______ that I could eat what I wanted and didn’t put on any weight, so it looked like I was healthy, but in reality I was very ______.

When I started university, I decided that I would try and get fit, but by then I was worried about ______ myself in front of other people. So I gave it up. ______, this year, one of my New Year’s promises has been to try to be healthy. This ______ came after I was late for a bus, and tried to run after it and was very out of ______ in under a minute! I considered ______ running again, yet my housemate wanted me to practice yoga together with her, so my New Year’s resolve was ______.

Finally, one of my friends ______ a swimming pool close to my house that she had gone to a few times. Now, I love ______, and I find doing laps in the pool very relaxing. Experts say everyone should do 30 minutes of proper ______ every day, so I’m starting with an hour three times a week and ______ every day. I hope that I will soon start to feel the ______ of regular exercise, and will become fitter and ______. In the long term, I know it will be very good for me, and will ______ all sorts of health problems that often occur in later life.