【推荐1】Diebedo Francis Kcre is a young architect from Africa. There was no _______ school when Mr. Kere was growing up in Gando, one of the world's poorest countries. Since childhood he had alrendy had a keen sense of _______ .His family sent him away to school at the age of seven and he did not _______ them. He won a scholarship from the German government and went to study in Germany.

_______ still studying for his architecture degree in Berlin, Mr. Kere learned that the school building in his hometown was on the point of _______ . The school had been built some years previously. _______ to share with his village the advantages that _______ had given him. Mr. Kere launched the School Bricks for Gando project and _______ raising money needed to build a school.

Opened in 2001, the school now _______ more than 300 pupils. The school not only __________education for the village children, but is used to pass on new skills and __________ to the entire village.

" Africa is full of very bright and __________ young people. But only through   __________ to education will they be able to build themselves a better world. For me, Gando School is a __________ because the villagers no longer see it as a waste of time for their children to be in school __________ working in the fields."Kere said.

【推荐2】The winter after 9.11 was really a difficult one for me. I had just _________ the job in Greenville, South Carolina, and started my long-term unemployment and, at midlife, many endless _________ days. I felt empty inside. One thing that made me _________ was having my grandchildren, Sophie and Simeon, with me for Hanukkah (光明节), but when they _________ to their home, I was left with a dark state of mind and that inner _________ again.

It was then that my wife, Linda, director of the Homeless Coalition (无家可归者联盟), _________ that I pretend to be Santa for 30 children in a holiday _________ at a local hall. As she described to me how meaningful it would be, I looked at myself in the mirror,_________ that I had a full, almost white beard just like Santa’s.

Can I _________ Santa? I must admit that year, my heart wasn’t in it. “The show must __________.” Linda insisted. Well,__________ that I had nothing to do then, I began to __________ my voice and action in order to be like a real Santa.

I was not prepared for the 30 sets of eyes that __________ me when I walked in. “Santa! Santa! Look at my new shoes! Santa! I’ve been a cute girl. Santa! Can we __________ Jingle Bells together?”

They circled around me, hugged and __________ me. Each child sat in my lap and posed for a photo and I gave them all __________ — a teddy bear, a doll, a paint-by-the-numbers kit and many other things.

Their __________ and excited voices brought tears to my eyes. I felt a wave of __________. These children were most valuable gifts to a cold world. These __________ children lifted me from self-doubt and hopelessness. At that sweet moment I regained my __________.

【推荐3】There are two things I hate about this time of year: out-of-tune caroling(圣诞颂歌)and bad Christmas cards. Or rather, holiday cards—bad taste isn’t limited to Christmas.

Why? I’ll get to that. But first, a little _______ . In the winter of 1843, Sir Henry Cole, a well-known English activist who helped reform the British postal system, _______ himself with a very large stack(堆)of letters and very little time. Rather than spend his days _______ over each response, Cole _______ a new idea: Why not send a small, decorated card instead? He enlisted the help of a friend to create a(n) _______ for the front of the card and then had a London printer make a thousand copies. Cole _______ had to fill in the “to” and “from” lines, and—ta-da!—the first Christmas card was complete.

So there you have it, a tradition _______ out of laziness. And not much has changed ever since, which brings us back to my _______ with holiday cards.

I’m a bit of a card snob(自命高雅). I make almost all my cards by hand and take time to write at least a few _______ paragraphs inside each. It’s a lot of work, but there’s a big ________ . These are cards you save for a ________ day when you need a kind word. There’s a reason that it’s polite to open a card before a gift—cards should add ________ to a present. And, if you’re doing it right, the words themselves are a gift.

Here’s my ________ : Instead of sending a human-filled, photo-edited holiday card, why not mail a simple, handwritten note to those you ________ but haven’t spent enough time with in the past year? This little note will mean so much more to them than the ________ mass-produced cards.

【推荐3】I remember it was a Saturday. I was invited to my friend’s birthday party.   _______ the first time, I was the first one there. I sat on her couch and just waited _______ for the party to begin. As a flood of guests came in with warm _______, there was one short, thin girl who had a huge smile on her face. She just seemed so _______ from the other girls there. So I decided to begin a conversation with her.

I asked her “Did your mum drive you here?” She answered, “Oh, my mum was _______.” My heart sank. I continued, “When did she die?” “She died when I was seven.”

Later on, she told us what had happened the day her mother died. “I came home, _______ to tell my mum what a great day I had had. _______ I entered the room, I saw my mother on a stretcher (担架). I began _______ my sister. She just said, ‘Emma, Mum just needs to go to the hospital.’”

The girl said that she went to sleep that night with _______, and woke up to be told by her sister, “Emma, please keep ________. Mum’s dead.”

I was so ________ by this girl’s story. She lost her mother at such a young age, but she made up her mind to be strong. With such a big weight of the world on her ________, she looked positive and optimistic. She did not shed (流) a(n) ________ when telling us her story. Strength is something that can ________ pain at the worst time. She lives every day of her life to the fullest,________ with a heavy heart.