【推荐3】The Sierra Nevada range is incomparable in scale and magnificence. There’s no better way to see it than to appreciate every spectacular view with your own hard _______. My husband, Will, our kids (Herbie, 5 and Artley, 11) and I planned to _______ the northern half of the John Muir trail in two weeks, which _______ along the backbone of the High Sierra, past lakes, and through dusty pine forests.

We set _______ before we started: this would be tough, but worth it. To get our kids more _______, we let them have the map and decide when to stop and rest. In this way, they felt empowered. This _______ also resulted in Herbie nearly standing on a 4-foot snake on our first day, though. _______, it was early morning and the snake was half asleep.

For two weeks, the boys enjoyed the _______. They built dams and bridges across streams, climbed and swam. Sometimes, they refused to carry their packs and _______ about feet hurting. But these moments were far outweighed by extraordinary bursts of ________ and enthusiasm — particularly when we’d been slogging (艰难前行) uphill for hours and a mountain top finally came into view, our kids even decided we needed to ________.

By the time we finished, we had ________ countless mosquitoes, suffered foot pain and had terrible sleep. But we were right to be ________ about our kids’ abilities. Through the ________, they will, I hope, understand what they are truly capable of, how perseverance leads to bigger ________ later on, and what it feels like to be encouraged and supported so that they can achieve something great.

【推荐2】It was reading test day, and Barbara knew she would fail, again. Why did it take her so much ________ than everyone else? She ________ to go to school. She would rather stay at home.

“________ , Barbara,” said her mum. “I know it’s test day, but just do your best, and don’t feel embarrassed if you don’t get a good ________ . After all, you always ________ on top in the maths tests. Just keep a(n) ________ attitude!”

The next day, Barbara’s mum said they had an ________ with a special reading teacher. Barbara groaned (抱怨). “Just try,” said her mum. “I think you’ll be ________ .”

The teacher was old and looked strict. “We’ll start with a little activity,” she said, and Barbara’s heart ________ . “She means a test,” she thought, “and I’ll ________ as usual. But it is OK!” At first, it was hard, but then it was even fun, and best of all, there were no time ________ and no marks.

After the test, the teacher said, “Well, I think I understand your problem. You have dyslexia (诵读困难)，which means you have ________ with reading because of a slight disorder of your brain. But we can develop ________ to help this! It will be hard, and there is no ________ of success, but I think we can improve your reading speed, that’s the ________ , really. It’s just that you can’t go ________ enough in the tests, isn’t it? Let’s see if we can get you a better outcome, shall we?”

The weeks ________ in a blur (模糊的记忆). At first, the exercises were hard, and Barbara’s head ached. But she persevered and ________ she got faster. And then, it all started to snowball!

In November Barbara got her final report of Grade 4 reading - 71%.

“You did it!” said her mum. “I am so ________ of you.” And Barbara was proud of herself, too.

“Working hard and not quitting do ________ in the end,” she said.

【推荐3】André was born into a very poor family. In Guatemala, less than one percent of kids have the _________ to receive a university education. Yet André always had this unusual _________ to go to college.

During his last year in high school, André _________ the goal to go to one of the best universities in Guatemala City. Everybody told him, “That is a(n) _________ dream.”

But André was focused. André _________ about fifteen embassies (大使馆) in Guatemala and asked if they had any scholarships (奖学金) for college students. None of them did. Then André took the entrance exams, _________ that if he did well, something good might happen.

One of the schools he _________ is Francisco Marroquín University. An officer of the university, Monica, said:

“André scored a perfect 100 in the math exam. I was so _________ with André that at the end of the _________ I told him, ‘André, you are accepted.’

“I __________ him saying, ‘Oh, thanks. Now I can tell everybody about the news __________. But you must know that I can’t __________ it, so you can use my __________ to accept someone else.’

“Don’t worry, André. You will get our scholarship, and it will __________ everything. Congratulations!”

André didn’t complain (抱怨) about his difficulties. Instead, he focused on what he could __________ — his attitude and his goal.