【推荐3】I love planting trees. I feel happy when I am planting since I know that long after I am gone, these trees will ________ high above the land, providing oxygen for humans not yet born and ________ the carbon dioxide from the air.

Each spring, as I am ________, my mind goes back to a ________ I have of my grandfather, walking with him on the land, listening to his ________ and learning about nature. He often told a story which has been ________ in my mind all these years.

It was in the early 1900s, a man lost his wife and daughter to a terrible disease. Filled with ________, he decided to take up the ________ occupation of shepherd in the hills. He was about 55 years of age at that time, and as he ________ his sheep, he looked around and saw the land was ________. Then the old man felt he needed to do something to help the land ________, for it had once been a splendid green forest.

He collected some ________ of oak trees from other places, ________ watered them and cared for the young trees that sprouted the next year. For the rest of his life, he planted every day. No one knew his story until he was 90 years old. Yet he ________ to plant, perhaps only five trees a day. At that time, the hill had become a green forest, ________ as far as people could see.

【推荐2】Reading didn't really change my life until saw it change the life of a child.

Marcus was a quiet boy who lived with his mother in a shelter(收容所) for the poor. Because he was the ______ reader in his class, he became one of my Reading

Help students. When explained to his mother that I was going to work with him one-on-one every day, tears filled her eyes. She ______ my arm firmly, softly repeating, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Marcus knew letters but ______ read at all. However, as we worked together, he caught on ______ and grew in ability and confidence. I gave him books to take home every night ______ he could read them with his mother

One day, Marcus didn't bring his books back. He looked so ______ that he was about to cry. When asked why, he said that he had put the books under his bed for safekeeping, but someone had taken his book bag during the night. I put my arm around his shoulder and ______ that I would give him more books to take home.

"Maybe the person who took your books," I said, "will become a good ______ just like you."

A few weeks later, I learned Marcus and his mother were being moved to a different shelter across town for safety. I began to ______ what his future would be if he couldn't finish the program. Marcus' mother was worried too; so worried that she put him on public transportation every day and sent him all the way across town, so he could continue to _______ with me.

Marcus finally graduated from the program as a strong reader. We had a small celebration and I gave him a book to keep. I'll never ______ his ear-to-ear smile. That was the last time I saw Marcus. Although I may never see him again, I'm certain that learning to read _______ his life forever. The experience certainly changed mine. Since then, I've taught many struggling readers, from ages 5 to 75. Each student has increased my _______ for teaching reading. Each one reminds me what a/an_______ it is to be a teacher working with struggling readers, and what a blessing it is to see lives changed forever by the simple ______ of reading.

【推荐3】Last year, a community theater decided to find someone to act in the production of The Sound of Music. My husband said our daughters might enjoy playing a(n) _________ in it.

“You can try out for the band,” he said.

“I’m not trying out for the band,” I answered. “I’m trying out for the show.” But there was one _________ with my declaration(宣布): I’d never sung _________.

My daughters wanted to _________, so we prepared to audition(试镜). But when the day came, I started to get cold feet. My children looked to me for courage. _________ would set a bad example. Since I was auditioning alongside them, I had to build _________.

“Whether you’re chosen or not isn’t important—doing your best is what matters,” I’d been telling them. Now I had to _________ it.

I sang my song, _________ to look comfortable and confident. My daughters _________ quite well. Then we waited. I was __________. Not only was I chosen—I was a lead and we all made it!

To __________, I sang to the cat and the dishes when I was at home alone. I knew I’d have to get over my __________ since I’d never sung in front of so many people.

I told friends and family about the __________. Everyone wanted to see it __________ I was in it with my daughters. I didn’t want the theater to be __________, but I didn’t want it packed either. __________, if it was full, I preferred to fill it myself with __________ faces.

The show went off smoothly. Friends and acquaintances(熟人) all __________ us. After that experience, I __________ more auditions and even learned to enjoy singing on stage. And I filled my life with __________.

【推荐1】It was a hot, wet summer day a few years ago. At a local gas station, I noticed two elderly ladies _________ away from their car. There was a look of shock and _________ on their faces. I looked and saw what they saw. Five wasps (大黄蜂) had started to _________ a nest around the gas cap. My eyes _________ in surprise. I shared the ladies’ fear. The nest seemed to be forming.

Wasps had never been _________ of mine. Several times wasps had _________ me while I was cutting my grass, bringing me a lot of pain _________ I was afraid to cut the grass for a long time.

The most _________ time, however, was when I was a young boy. A friend of mine and I were running and playing in my backyard. I had _________ stepped on one of their hidden nests because before we knew it, we were being run after and __________ over and over by the wasps. We ran to my mom with tears in our eyes. My mom immediately let us have a cold bath and put us in the __________water before giving us medicine to fight all the __________ in our little bodies from the stings (刺毛).

Recalling the past stings, I knew I couldn’t let fear prevent me __________ others now. I reached into my back pocket for a paper towel and tore out the nest while the __________ wasps flew around me. The ladies finally thanked me and I said “You’re welcome!” with a smile and a(n) __________ heart.

【推荐2】My daughter was reading her English composition aloud. It was titled My Mother. All of a sudden, she _____and walked to the kitchen where I was busy preparing for tea.

“Mom, what does ‘beautiful’ _____?” she asked.

“‘Beautiful’ is someone or something that is very _____to look at,” I explained.

“You mean like all those actresses you see on TV?” she said.

“That’s right ,” I said, hoping to end the _____.

“Are you, beautiful?”. She asked rather _____.

What was one to answer? She was _____my looks with those of some film stars and _____ it was I who treated beauty as good _____.

Suddenly I hit upon an idea to solve her _____. “Why don’t you ask Dad?”

As soon as my _____reached home and had his evening coffee, I saw her _____to her dad, “I have a doubt,” She said,

I couldn’t _____my curiosity and I listened to the father-daughter _____.

“Dad, is Mom beautiful?”

“Of course she is. Don’t you think so?”

Well…She began rather doubtfully.

“Let me show you our wedding _____. See here. Isn’t she the most beautiful person in the world”

“See, your mom was _____when she said beautiful is just looking good. When you _____someone, the person becomes beautiful in your eyes.”

My daughter was _____for a while. Then a smile _____climbed into her face as she _____ “Mom is beautiful…Dad is beautiful because I love you both…”

I was _____to have found someone who loved me enough to think of me as the most beautiful person in the world.

【推荐3】It was New Year time. We were travelling in a van (小型货车) distributing toys to the homeless. When we _________ the spot, something caught my eyes. Something or someone was moving in the rubbish. Soon I _________ that it was the home of a poor family. There were two _________, both of about my age at the time, and a lady I supposed to be their mother. They sat there hopelessly.

As a little girl myself I was _________ interested in the little girl. How _________ our lives were. She lived for the day, _________ through the rubbish for something to fill her stomach. I on the other hand was well looked after and never had to worry about _________. I had a good education and thus a _________ future. I looked at the little girl. The only _________ she had was the worn-out dress that she was wearing.

Seeing this little girl I made the decision to give away a doll that had belonged to me for a while. When the van came to a ____________, I stepped out, called the girl over and placed the doll in her hand. At first she looked at me with ____________ and wasn’t certain what to do, but then she smiled and I saw ____________ in her eyes. I went back into the vehicle and we started to ____________ off, and that was when we realized the little girl was running ____________. We stopped again and opened the door. The girl had ____________ with us. She looked directly at me and said two simple words “Thank You”.