【推荐1】In Molly Pollak’s second-floor Manhattan apartment, the spare bedroom is filled with decades of classroom memories.

“Those are all my high school yearbooks,” Pollak says, ________ to a shelf. “Those are my middle school yearbooks. I really need to throw them away,” she admits.

But after 40 years teaching English to middle and high school students, there’s one book Pollak will never ________ . It’s a big book with an orange cover. She ________ this book a few months ago. It was the________of the school year and the students were taking off for the summer. But Pollak was taking off for, well, forever.

As news of her ________ spread, Ora Bayewitz-Meier, one of Pollak’s former students, reached out to other former students and ________ them to write in. They did eagerly.

She received 75 ________. These weren’t just a paragraph or two — many were pages long. “I don’t think it is an exaggeration (夸张) to say that you________ my life,” wrote Rebecca Rosenthal. “There are a handful of people that ________ who I am and you are one of them,” wrote Chris Ryan, one of her students in the 80s. Other letters tell of a trying moment in middle school.

When Pollak and her husband first sat down to read this book, she________ something: The ________from Pollak’s first year of teaching back in 1974, and the ones from 40 years later, are very ________. They saw the same themes over and over.

So Pollak did what English teachers do: She________those themes and found a thesis statement (中心句). “And the thesis statement is not what you ________ it is,” she says.

It’s essentially this: “Molly________ us like adults when no one else did. She challenged us to rise to the occasion.” That’s from the letter Jackson Krule wrote. He had Ms. Pollak as his teacher in 10th, 11th and 12th grade.

【推荐2】Figure skating is a vital part of my life. I can still remember my first ______ on ice. I was attracted immediately and desired to learn figure skating. However, I found it was a bit of a ______. Initially, I could only grasp the railings (栏杆) to ______ myself and walk slowly along. Despite constant ______ , I just got up again and made much commitment: I kept practicing almost all the time except school hours. Gradually, I ______ the skills.

Sometimes figure skating is ______ as an art form rather than a sport, but to me it’s both. The delicate ______ between artistry and athleticism, and the performances with only a pair of thin blades (冰刀) are ______ . Though beautiful and impressive, figure skating is physically ______ —the amount of athleticism required is fairly high.

For the majority of my younger years I skated ______ , at both local and regional levels. But ______ struck at the near peak of my career - I had a concussion (脑震荡). Though I ______ after continuous treatment, I’d missed the best age for skating. So I ______ it into a hobby.

Out of all the experiences in my life, figure skating has probably been the most ______. It taught me the importance of discipline and self-confidence, and I learned ______ , which made me accountable for my own actions and achievements.

【推荐3】On the night of the speech contest, I was worried about the shy girl. My heart _________ when I knew the boy on stage previous to her, _________, was fairly successful with his humor and personal style. The whole audience burst out a wave of _________ almost every 30 seconds.

My palms (手掌) began to _________. It was the first time that she had been on the stage, so I couldn’t blame her for any _________. The strong spotlight made her so insignificant that nobody _________ she had been on the stage.

But the moment that _________ me occurred. I clearly heard a _________ voice, “Now, your _________, please!” The whole audience fell quiet. Small and thin as the girl appeared, the __________ look on her face instantly caught everyone’s eyes. Then her speech was on, logical and well-organized. Words of power __________ freely out of the girl like magic. When her speech __________, a thunderous applause sounded from the audience. When the competition was concluding, all of us waited __________ for the winner’s name to be called. Tears of joy __________ my vision when the host announced she won first prize. Holding the medal tightly, she gave me a brilliant smile. I __________ her into my arms, too excited to say any words.

【推荐2】Linda from Florida was setting up her new home. She badly needed furniture (家具) but couldn’t _________ to buy anything new or used. So she decided to look for free furniture on the website Craigslist.

She was _________ to find a lovely furniture set that was being _________ for free. It looked _________ used and Linda knew she could make a comfortable home for her family with the furniture.

Linda then contacted the owners of the free furniture. _________ she got it home, she began to set up the house as all mothers do. But she noticed something a little _________ about one of the chairs. It looked like something big was under its cover.

To her _________, she found some envelopes full of money! Instead of keeping it, she _________ right away she needed to contact the owners of the furniture set and give the money back. She didn’t even bother to _________ it. Even though it was a(n) __________ to make ends meet, Linda never thought once about __________ it.

Much to her surprise, she later __________ there was over $36,000 in cash. The owners of the furniture had no idea! In fact, they didn’t know why their parents __________ money by hiding envelopes of money in furniture.

Linda’s __________ turned into a double blessing (好事). Not only did she find free furniture, but she also got a(n) __________ from the owners of the furniture as well! They gave her $2,200 in cash to help her buy a new fridge that she badly needed.

【推荐3】Dad was always full of advice, but one of the biggest lessons he taught me was about having a strong work ethic (职业道德). When my brother and I were growing up, we mowed (修剪) yards during the_______ to earn pocket change. Dad was our_______. He sold our service to neighbors and offered a price they could not_______. My brother and I got $ 10 per yard, I later found out our friends were_______$20 or more for the same amount of work.

Every time we_______out to mow the lawn, Dad always stood there watching our work. I used to wonder why he came with us in the_______heat of Florida.

One day we were cutting our next-door neighbor’s yard, with the high grass like a_______. To make matters worse, we had a(n)_______ lawn mower that kept turning off. This particular afternoon, I was finishing up and was_______and sweaty. I pictured the ice cream I would swallow in a minute to________ down. I was just about to cut off the lawn mower when I heard my dad yelling, “You________a piece.”I was upset, hoping he would let me go home. I________ him and kept walking.

He kept pointing and calling me out________. So frustrated, I went back to cut that piece of grass. Several days later, other neighbors________the good work we did and we soon________ more business. We started out with one client, but by the end of the summer we had five, which was all we were

The lesson stayed with me: Be ________. If you say you are going to perform a job at a certain time, keep your________. Give your customers the kind of service you would like to________. It shows how sincere you are and how much ________ you take in your work.