【推荐3】Take an Option

Jerry was a natural motivator. He was always in a good mood and always had something _________ to say, which really made me curious. One day I went up to ask him how he did that. “Well, life is all about _________. It’s your option how you live your life,” Jerry replied.

Soon I moved to another city. Several months later, I heard that Jerry was seriously injured in the chest while skiing. _________, he was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 8 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he left the hospital.

Later, when we met again, I asked Jerry what had _________ his mind during the accident. “As I _________ in the snow, I knew I had two options: One was to live, the other was to die. I chose to live.” Jerry said. “The paramedics (急救人员) were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they _________ me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors, I got really _________. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action. I told them, ‘Operate on me as if I’m alive, not dead.’ You see, I just tried to _________ their confidence.” Finally Jerry lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing _________ to live.

Jerry has taught me a lot. I learn from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Your __________, after all, is everything.

【推荐1】A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspaper. “Last week,” he said, “my _______ was stolen from a London church. _______ it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising, but didn’t get it _______.”

“_______ did you write your advertisement？” asked one of the _______, a businessman.

“Here it is,” said the man, taking out of his pocket a slip (纸条). It was cut from a _______. The other man took it and read, “ _______ from the City Church last Sunday evening, a black silk umbrella. The gentleman who finds it will _______ ten shillings on leaving it at No. 10 Broad Street.”

“Now,” said the businessman, “I often advertise, and find that it _______   me well. But how you   ________   in an ad is very important.” The businessman then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and   __________: “ A man was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening. ________ he doesn’t wish to get into ________, he will return the umbrella to No.10 Broad Street. He is well   ________.”

This ________ in the newspaper, and on the following morning, the man was ________ when he opened the front door. At least twelve umbrellas had been ________ in, and his own was among them. Many of them had ________ tied to them, saying that they had been taken   __________ mistake, and begging the ________   not to say anything about the matter.

【推荐2】My husband and I have little money lately. We haven’t ________ out for a while, so we went to a ________ last night.

When we saw the ________, we knew we could only afford to get a small pizza, so we would have enough money left for ________. Before long our pizza that was cut to 4 pieces arrived. My husband wanted to act like a ________, so he would like to put a piece of ________ on my plate. Unluckily it dropped onto the ________. I knew he would be ________ about others’ opinions on him. I told him, “Honey, don’t let other people ________ us. We still have three pieces left.”

The manager ________ this and came over with a broom (扫帚). He ________ the pizza and said he was ________ that the oven (烤箱) had been turned off, or he would have ________ another pizza for us. At the end of our meal he ________ to our table again to thank us for being here. Then he ________ us one coupon (优惠券) for a free small pizza. We were ________ because he could have chosen a ________ attitude when he saw the pizza we dropped during their closing time. Instead he chose to make sure we could left ________. My husband was going to give him tips for our meal that we had prepared, ________ the manager didn’t take them. To some people it might not be important, but to us it meant a lot. Our rare treat of enjoying a night out was made more ________ .

【推荐3】He was 11 years old and often went fishing with his father in their boat.

On the day before the bass (鲈鱼) season _________, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish and perch with worms. When his _________ doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. He very carefully _________ the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had _________ seen, but it was a bass.

The father lit a match and looked at his _________. It would be two hours before the bass season opened. He looked at the fish and then at the boy.

“You’ll have to _________ it, son,” he said.

“Dad!” cried the boy.

“There will be other fish,” said his father.

“Not as big as this one,” cried the boy.

He _________ the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy could tell by his father’s firm voice that the decision was not _________. He slowly worked the hook (钩子) out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water, and it _________ soon.

That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He had never again caught such a __________ fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish — again and again — every time he comes up against a question of __________.

As his father taught him, morals are simple __________ of right and wrong. It is the practice of morals that is difficult. Do we do right when no one is __________?

We should learn to follow the __________ as the father taught the son. It is a story we will proudly tell our children and grandchildren. It is not about how we had a chance to beat the system and took advantage of it, but about how we decide and how we do the right thing. The __________ to do right will live fresh in our memory.