【推荐2】I’m a professor teaching people how to think more creatively. Interestingly, this lifetime passion was _________ by a casual contest when I was a child.

At a family picnic, children used to have the handkerchief-throwing contest, which I realize now, was not _________to show any real skill, but simply for laughs. But is stirred my love of thinking _________ the box.

The host gave each child a cloth handkerchief and told us the winner would be the one who threw it the farthest. The first little throwers took mighty _________ , but the cloth opened and fell to the ground. So it annoyed me to see the kids throwing _________ when the handkerchief always opened. The secret was not to throw harder but to keep the cloth from _________ . Suppose I hid a rock in the cloth without tying it. The rock would drive the cloth at least farther than the others, and when they _________, people might not notice a small rock _________ in the grass. I had a good chance of _________ with it, but I didn’t want to win by cheating. I had to make the handkerchief fly like a __________. I began tying the handkerchief around itself to make it small. When I approached the line as the final contestant, people were already laughing. I took a long wind-up, and the balled handkerchief __________ off maybe 60 feet away. The laughing __________ suddenly. The host stared at me and then ran to __________ how I’d cheated. “It’s just the handkerchief,” he declared. The adults __________ and I felt proud.

This is how I learned the secret to creative thinking. I wanted to continue looking __________ what.

【推荐3】While Sam Bloom was on a vacation in Thailand, a balcony railing (栏杆) collapsed, sending her falling 20 feet to the ground. The________left her with numerous injuries, including a broken spine. Her life was________changed.

In the many months that followed, she fell into a deep________. Before her accident, she spent her time________her family, surfing, exploring the outdoors, and traveling the world. Her________sense of self disappeared overnight – as she________it in her piece in a Time article, “I was no longer a(n)________woman, and I no longer_______ myself as a wife and mother.”

A few months after returning home, her son Noah________an injured baby magpie that had fallen from high in a tall pine tree. After no veterinarian (兽医) would rather________her in, the family decided to try and________her back to health themselves.

Due to its wobbly (摇晃的) walk and black and white________, Bloom’s three boys decided to________the baby bird Penguin. And so, this________new creature became a member of the Bloom family. This new addition required constant________, needing to be fed every two hours and kept warm constantly. This new________fell on Sam, and soon, Penguin became a form of________in soul to Sam.

“I didn’t feel as____anymore; my instincts as a nurse and mother came to life when I was________to this tiny, feathered soul. I didn’t________it at that time but, in a way, we were keeping each other alive.”

【推荐1】In her 102 years, Sally Lepis has been known for helping her family, friends and neighbors. So when the old lady couldn’t _______ to replace her decades-old hearing aids (助听器) and it became increasingly difficult to _______, a local non-profit was happy to give a _______. Last month, Lepis was presented (赠予) with hearing aids, worth about $7,500, through Senior Dreams Come True, a non-profit program _______ by a law firm.

“Mrs. Lepis has _______ so much of herself over the years to friends, family and those _______ in her community,” said Jennifer Cona, a managing partner at the law firm. Lepis has long been the _______ that’s kept her family together, her niece, Olivia Schmidt, 73, said. When Schmidt was a teenager, her mother, Lepis’ twin sister, died at age 42. Lepis _______ jumped in and raised Schmidt in her Westbury home.

“It’s _______ that she has done so much for so many people and thinks ________ of it,” said Schmidt, who ________ to recommend her aunt for Senior Dreams Come True over the summer.

In July, Schmidt and her cousins wrote letters to the non-profit, ________ Lepis for her lifetime of ________ deeds. Later that month, Lepis learned she would ________ new hearing aids, replacing the ones she had used for the past 25 years, and it is ________ that Lepis will again be a lively presence at her family’s Thanksgiving dinner.

【推荐1】When I was young, I struggled with body image and disordered eating. I used disordered eating to deal with my _________ and feel more in control of my life. Afterwards, I’d over-exercise to _________ my body for what I’d eaten, especially if I thought the _________ too much.

But later I realized how unhealthy my _________ were. A happier life was possible, in which I’d hang out with friends and join in enjoyable exercises in my free time _________. I wanted to have a wonderful life filled with amazing _________. In response to it, I stopped punishing my body and began to _________ it right. My body and I had done nothing _________ in eating and enjoying food, but my life would be happier once I was healthier.

Once I became healthier, I dove back into _________ I attended Zumba classes with an old roommate. I __________ how cool it was and how privileged I was that my body could do so many fancy dance moves. I even became one of the __________ of the technique award.

We live in a world where feeling okay about our eating and body image is close to __________ sometimes. But a life free of diet culture and body __________ is the one that everyone should fight for. I’m so __________ that I’m able to exercise my body through dancing, and here I want to __________ other particular body’s abilities.

【推荐2】Hundreds of people have formed impressions of you through that little device (装置) on your desk. And they’ve never actually_____ you. Everything they know about you came through this device, sometimes from hundreds of miles away. _____ they feel they can know you just from the sound of your voice. That’s how powerful the_____is.

Powerful, yes, but not always_____. For years I dealt with my travel agent only by phone. Rani, my faceless agent whom I’d never met _____, got me rock-bottom prices on airfares, cars, and hotels. But her cold voice really_____me. I sometimes wished to find another agent.

One morning, I had to_____ an immediate flight home for a family emergency. I ran into Rani’s office for the first time. The woman sitting at the desk, _____ my madness, sympathetically jumped up. She gave me a_____smile, nodded while listening patiently, and then printed out the ticket immediately. “What a wonderful lady!” I thought.

Rushing out______ I called out over my shoulder,   “By the way, what’s your name?” “I’m Rani, ” she said. I turned around and saw a ______woman with a big smile on her face waving to wish me a safe trip. I was______ ! Why had I thought she was cold? Rani was, well, so______ .

Sitting back in the car on the way to the airport, I figured it all out. Rani’s______— her warm smile, her nods, her “I’m here for you”______ — were all silent signals that didn’t travel through wires.

【推荐3】As a child, I was fascinated by the theater and began taking classes at the age of seven. Throughout my teenage years, I _________ in plays, television shows, and movies. Acting gave me a chance to _________ things that I wouldn’t have had the courage to try in real life. I was able to step outside of myself and become someone else, _________ and bold(无畏的) on stage. _________ , in real life, I was often nervous and hesitant.

Acting also allowed me to explore different time periods and places, as I _________ and lived in different eras and worlds. I played a variety of _________ , from aliens to ringmasters, and _________ new skills along the way. Performance was a great way to _________ my shyness and inhibition(拘谨). I gained confidence in myself and learned to be more _________ and daring.

Despite the fun and __________ of acting, I eventually decided to move on. I had grown tired of living inside someone else’s story and was ready to be my own person. I was grateful for the __________ and guidance of my family, who had always __________ me of the importance of my education and __________. Looking back, I realize that my time as a(n) __________ actor was a time of self-discovery and __________. I learned a lot about myself and the world around me, and I will always be grateful for the experiences and lessons I learned through acting.