【推荐2】Isabella winked (眨眼) as she placed a warm blanket in my arms. It was a particularly ______ evening in this little Italian mountain village.

Her ______ was the first knock on the door of my temporary home in Campania, from my closest ______, a housedress-wearing woman in her 80s with a lovable smile. But there was one ______: Isabella spoke little English and my Italian was very ______.

I tried very hard to ______ my Italian, but my long hours of studying ______ produced less than 60 seconds of results in Isabella's living room. In ______ sentences we talked about the weather and how I liked the village. She also

Although Isabella and I speak ______ languages, we found ways to ______. One afternoon when she saw me ______ laundry she shook her finger at me, pointed at the sun, and put her hand to her forehead. I was ______ until the sun went down and I got wet clothes back into the house. After that, every time we hung laundry, one finger shake and I never again got ______ clothes at the end of the day.

When it was time to ______ , I woke early to take the train. The village was ______. But Isabella broke the silence, calling out from her balcony. I couldn't ______ every word, but I got the main idea: Italiano, Italiano!

When I next ______ , she wondered if I had improved my Italian. I didn't yet have the words to give a (n) ______, so when she blew me a kiss, I blew two back.

【推荐3】Dad had a green comb. He bought it when he married Mum. Every night, he would hand me his ____ and say, “Good girl, help Daddy clean it, OK?”

I was ____ to do it. At age five, this dull task brought me such ____. I would excitedly turn the tap ____ and brush the comb carefully. Satisfied that I’d done a good job, I would happily return the comb to Dad. He would ____ affectionately at me and place the comb on his wallet.

Two years later, Dad started his own ____, which wasn’t doing so well. That was when things started to ____. Dad didn’t come home as early and as much as he used to. Mum and I became ____ with him for placing our family in trouble. With ____, an uncomfortable silence grew between us.

After my graduation, Dad’s business was getting back on track. On my 28th birthday, Dad came home ____. As usual, helped him carry his bags into his study. When I turned to leave, he said, “Hey, would you help me ____ my comb?” I looked at him a while, then ____ the comb and headed to the sink.

It hit me then: why, as a child, ____ Dad clean his comb was such a pleasure. That routine（习惯）meant Dad was home early to ____ the evening with Mum and me. It ____ a happy and loving family.

I passed the clean comb back to Dad. He smiled at me and ____ placed his comb on his wallet. But this time, I noticed something ____. Dad had aged. He had wrinkles next to his eyes when he smiled, ____ his smile was still as ____ as before, the smile of a father who just wanted a good ____ for his family.

【推荐2】Lightning flashed through the darkness over Sibson’s bedroom skylight (天窗). Sibson was shaken by a clap of thunder _______ he knew what was happening. The storm had moved directly over his two-story wooden house. Then he heard the smoke alarm beeping.  

Sibson rushed down the stairs barefoot to _______; he opened the door to the basement, and flames _______ out. Sibson ran back upstairs to call 911 from his bedroom. “I felt _______ because the room had a separate outdoor stairway,” he explains.  

But the phone didn’t work, and when he tried to go down the outdoor stairway, he was _______ by a wall of flames. Sibson realised he was trapped.  

Sibson’s house was three kilometres _______ the main road and was so well hidden by trees that he knew calling for help would be _______.  

Up a hill nearby lived Sibson’s neighbour, Huggons. He was lying in bed when something like a smoke alarm _______ his ears. He jumped out of bed, took his phone and flashlight, and headed down the hillside toward the _______. That was when he saw the rolling heavy smoke.  

Huggons dialed 911, and the operator warned him not to enter the house. But Huggons said, “There is no way that I am going to listen to Sibson ________ and die in that fire.” 

“Anyone there?” Huggons called out. Then he heard “Help! I’m trapped!” coming from the second-floor balcony (阳台). He entered the house, but soon had to run back to catch his ________.  

After one more ________ inside the house, Huggons gave up and circled around back.  

The wind parted the smoke just ________ for him to catch sight of Sibson. But there was no way to get to him. He shone the flashlight into the woods and noticed a ladder. He took it over to the balcony and ________ Sibson down just as the second floor of the house fell off.  

Sibson is still ________ when he tells the story. “I was alone that night,” he says. “Then I heard the most beautiful sound in my life. It was Huggons.”

【推荐3】When I was a little girl, there was the magic of Mercurochrome (红药水). It was good for cuts, scratches (抓痕), or other _______. My brother and I tested and _______ the powers of Mercurochrome many years ago.

It was summer and hot. Mama was not feeling well and had become _______ tired. She told us that she was going to _______ on her bed. Only a few minutes had passed when Ronnie _______ a scratch on his knee that needed immediate _______. We tiptoed (踮脚走) into Mama’s room and asked her if we could put Mercurochrome on Ronnie’s scratch. _______on her back, Mama had fallen into a deep sleep and made no answer.

We stole into the bathroom and took the Mercurochrome and _______ Ronnie’s knee. Undoubtedly, he immediately began to feel better. _______, we tiptoed into Mama’s room to show her that we had taken care of our scratches without _______ her. But she was in sound sleep. Then we whispered that _______ Mama didn’t feel well, perhaps Mercurochrome would make her feel _______.

Twenty minutes _______, we painted every scratch and every freckle (雀斑) of Mama’s skin. She had Mercurochrome ______ her legs, arms and face. At Ronnie’s encouraging, we _________ tried to paint her fingernails and toenails.

When Mama screamed in ______, we knew that she was awake. With all the _______, it didn’t seem at first that she was feeling better, _______ she burst into laughter as she stared at her image in the mirror.

We laughed a lot the next few days. If anyone had asked us, we would have _______ that Mama had been cured by the _______ of Mercurochrome.