【推荐1】The first stop on my nearly 25-mile bicycle ride today was the post office. I had four packages with Smile Cards to mail out, so I was already in a pretty good _____ . Cathy, a postal worker, who seems to help me out almost every time, __ said, ''It's always good to see you. ''

I was __ a sandwich baggie with two peanut butter cookies I had made the previous night. I asked if she liked peanut butter cookies and she said, "of course!"   I __ them to her and she gladly accepted. Then it __ to me that I had some heart pins（胸针）in my bag. So neatly I took one out and gave it to her. She was so __ and couldn't stop smiling. There was a customer next to me, who __ my offer of a heart pin, too. I __ them that the pins had traveled a long way. As I __ I could even hear them, as they continued to talk about how __ that experience was.

About 16 miles into my trip I was getting really __ . Of course, I didn't bring any water and it was pretty hot out. I stopped and __ on the doors of several homes, but no one answered. _____, at the fifth house a young man came to the door. I __ his hose（水龙带），wet down my face and got a refreshing drink of water.

That brought me back to childhood when we were ____ drinking from the garden hose. As I left his home, I placed a heart pin on his car where he would be sure to see it.

【推荐2】My 14-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat at the same time at a second-hand clothing store. It had a black velvet (丝绒) collar, delightful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an) _________ price of merely $28. We looked at each other, saying nothing, but John’s eyes _________. Dark, woolen topcoats were popular just then with teenagers, but could cost several hundred dollars now. John put the coat on and _________ it. He turned from side to side, _________ himself in the mirror with a serious, studied _________ that soon changed into a smile. It’s a perfect _________.

John wore the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile. “How did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They love it.” He said, carefully _________ it on the chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, the _________came over John. Quiet, reasoned discussion _________ argument. He became more thoughtful and eager to ____________. “Good dinner, Mum,” he would say every evening. One day when I ____________ that he start on homework before dinner, John said, “You are right, and I guess I will.”

When I asked one of his teachers ____________ caused the changes, she said with laughter, “It must be his coat!”

John and I both know we should never ____________ a person’s clothes for the real person within them. But it is meaningful to ____________ a standard of excellence for the world to see, to practice a standard of excellence in thought, speech and behavior, and to ____________ what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

【推荐3】In the 1860s, John Roebling, a creative engineer, launched the idea of building a bridge connecting Manhattan with Brooklyn, New York. However, other bridge building experts thought this was _________ and told Roebling to forget the idea.

John _________ about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He then _________ the dream with his son, Washington, an up-and-coming engineer. Working together, the father and the son made a _________ of how it could be done and studied the problems they might face.

After these preparations, they hired their crew and began to build their _________ bridge. The project started well, but a(n) _________ on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of _________ damage. He wasn’t able to move or even talk.

_________, Washington did not give up and still wanted to complete the bridge. One day, an idea _________ him. All he could do was to __________ one finger and he decided to make the best use of it.

He touched his wife’s arm with that __________, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the __________ again. Then he used the __________ method of touching her arm to tell the engineers what to do. Then the project was underway again. For 13 years, Washington tapped (敲打) out his instructions with his finger on his __________ arm, until the Brooklyn Bridge was finally completed.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-give-up attitude that overcomes a terrible __________ disability and achieves an impossible goal.

【推荐2】Soon after my arrival in Luanda, I realised that I was going to have some free time available. I decided to spend it doing something useful and involving in the _________ community.

I started my search for volunteering opportunities here and a blog post _________ my eye. It was Ashima’s _________ on how she started her volunteering _________ in Luanda. Ashima has been volunteering at the Foundation for Art and Culture for more than a year. I decided to get in touch with them and soon after I got a very warm and welcoming _________ inviting me to the foundation. The next day as I _________ into the foundation little did I know it would become such a(n) _________part of my life in Luanda.

I was a bit hesitant at first as I had never worked with children before and my Portuguese(葡萄牙语) then was much _________ than now. But as I slowly started doing some activities with children, there were not any_________. All that you needed was a heart full of love and everyone __________the language of love.

I found plenty of __________ to do with kids, keeping them busy and having fun. Together we played, sang, learnt new things, __________new games and reinvented the old. The children coming to the foundation are wonderful, and full of __________ and energy. It is a beautiful place with wonderful projects. Without doubt it is the best __________ I could have found in Luanda, and I am very happy to go there as often as I can. The staff __________ there really make you feel welcome and at home.

【推荐1】There Really Was a Santa Claus

Ann worked for a big company. One of the duties of her ______ was to go to the post office every day and pick up the company mail. One day in December, she ______ a beggar (乞丐) making himself up as a Santa Claus ______ on the corner of the street. Each day she save her coins and dropped them in his bowl. He would smile and ______ her a Merry Christmas.

At night the temperature dropped below 0℃, but the Santa Claus ______ stood in the cold wind. ______ she dropped her coins into his bowl, she handed him a pair of gloves.

A week later, a (n) ______ Santa Claus was standing there. “What happened to the other Santa Claus?” she asked. He told her, “He’s very ______ today.” She prayed for his health.

Later that day, a colleague came into her office ______. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” “What’s wrong?” she asked. “It’s my ex-husband,” her colleague continued, “I don’t have any money to buy my boys anything for Christmas, ______ my ex-husband refuses to send money to them. It breaks my heart that they won’t have anything this year.” The lady comforted her colleague, “I’m sure everything will ______. It’s Christmas. Believe in miracles (奇迹).”

That evening, she told her husband about her colleague’s ______, “I know we don’t have much money to ______, but I’d like to give her fifty or a hundred dollars. We’ll just get ourselves less this year. Last year we couldn’t ______ to buy anything for ourselves but we still had a wonderful Christmas.” Her husband smiled, “Give her one hundred dollars. She needs it more than we do.”

She reached up and held him. Warmth spread ______ her body. He held her and realized that there really was a Santa Claus—and he had married her!

【推荐2】Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation in southern Italy. After climbing up a hill for a beautiful view of the blue sea, white buildings and green olive trees, I ________ to catch my breath and then ________ myself to take the best photo of this landscape.

________ , just as I took out my camera, a woman suddenly approached from behind, and planted herself right in front of my view. Like me, this woman was here to appreciate the view. ________ as I was, after about 15 minutes, I grew frustrated. Was it too much to ask her to ________ so I could take just one picture of the ________ ? Sure, I could have asked her, but something ________ me from doing so. She seemed so content with her ________ , so I didn’t want to ________ that. Another 15 minutes passed and I grew ________ because the woman was still there. I decided to take the photo anyway.

And now when I look at it, I think her ________ in the photo is what makes the image interesting. The landscape, beautiful on its own, ________ comes to life and breathes because this woman is ________ with it.

This photo, with the unique beauty that ________ before me and that woman who “ ruined ” it, now hangs on a wall in my bedroom. In some ways, she lives in my house. Perhaps we all live in each other’s spaces. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to remind us that we all appreciate beauty, that we all share a common desire for pleasure, for ________ , for something that is greater than us.

【推荐3】Darlene Leeson was in hotel isolation (隔离) after returning to Australia from a trip to Hawaii. She was calling a friend, joking about the idea of putting a sign on her hotel window as it faced offices across the road. Getting the gentle _________ of her friend, Leeson wrote some notes: “Day 4 isolation needs _________. Room 623” and then stuck them up.

The first _________ from those in the outside world was laughter. She got a few _________ and waves from office workers and workers on a nearby rooftop. “It was more done to _________ myself during the boring isolation,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking anyone would take it _________.”

Then her hotel room phone rang. “I thought it was the hotel ringing to tell me to tear them off. It was the wife of one of the rooftop workers who had rung reception asking to get _________ to my room,” she said. “The wife then asked what chocolate I _________.”

Leeson said she was in _________ when she received the call. “We chatted and she said she could ______________ an Uber delivery for me.” Within an hour, the chocolate arrived. Soon, TimTams (a brand of chocolate) arrived for her at reception. Leeson later ______________ a woman in a nearby office building made the chocolate delivery. More chocolate had arrived, and a group of workers had all ______________.

“Being in hotel isolation, I can’t ______________ my room where there are only a few short minutes when the sun can ______________,” Leeson said. “Though, the kindness of these ______________ brightened my day beyond any amount of sunshine possible.”