【推荐1】Whenever I felt disappointed I often thought of what my mother had said to me，“Everything happens for the best. If you _______，one day something good will happen. And you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for  that previous _______．”As  it _______, mother was right.

【推荐2】As the new year dawned, I was at one of the lowest points of my life. In the morning, I satin a park and _________ the sorrows of the past year. After so much loss, I felt a need to give myself to the turning of _________ -the snow-covered winter, _________ by the unfolding of new life in spring. As I walked home, my New Year’s resolution (决心) took_________ in my mind. My resolution became “Less grief, more green” and I looked for ways to put it into action. Therefore, I _________ signed up for the Arnold Arboretum training program for volunteer school field guides.

Nancy, the program director, provided us with several days of _________ I buried myself into the spring curriculum on pollination (授粉) . The thick notebook was _________ with information and diagrams about how trees and flowers produce the seeds that make sure the species will _________. While in training, I felt like being a student again.

After weeks of training, it was time to be a _________. When sixty third-graders __________ off the yellow school bus for the Flowers Change class, I began to provide outdoor learning experiences for them and gave them a day full of information, excitement, and surprises.

Throughout my first spring of __________“Less grief, more green”, my senses came alive and __________. I moved beyond wonder and astonishment about nature to a better __________ of it. I learned about the workings of a child’s mind along with the workings of trees and flowers.

I went on to be a proud and enthusiastic Arnold Arboretum field guide for four seasons. I __________ carry all that understanding and curiosity about what I don’t know each time I’m out in __________. And I still look at a flower through the eyes of a third-grader.

【推荐3】Good Heart to Lean on

More than I realized, Dad has helped me keep my balance.

When I was growing up, I was embarrassed to be seen with my father. He was severely disabled and very _______, and when we walked together, his hand on my arm _______ balance, people would stare at us. I would feel uncomfortable at the unwanted _______, if he ever noticed, he never _______ that he knew.

It was _______ to coordinate(协调一致) our steps—his hesitant, mine impatient—and because of that, we didn’t say much _______ we went along. When we started out, he always said, “You set the pace. I will try to _______ you.” Our usual walk was to or from the subway, which was _______ he got to work. In my memory he went to work in spite of _______ or bad weather, and he never missed a day and would ________ it to the office even if others could not. He never talked about himself as an object of ________, nor did he show any envy of the more fortunate. What he ________ for in others was a “good heart”, and if he found one, the owner was good enough for him.

Now that I am older, I believe that his idea is a proper ________ by which to judge people, even though I ________ don’t know exactly what a “good heart” is. But I know the times I don’t have one myself.

He has been gone many years now, but I think of him often. I wonder if he ________ I was unwilling to be seen with him during our ________. Now I’m sorry that I never told him how sorry I was for feeling ________ to be with him in public. I think of him when I complain (抱怨) about something unimportant, when I am ________ of another’s good fortune, and when I don’t ________ a “good heart”. At such times I put my hand on his arm to ________ my balance, and say, “You set the pace. I will go behind you.”

【推荐1】It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to _______ his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 _______ of labor, he returned to find his bike _______.

The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only _______. Trevor used it to get to work, working 60 hours per week to _______ his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries (食品杂货), saving us from having to walk _______ distances from where we live.

I was so _______ that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our _______. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger _______ bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It’s really ________ that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.

People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from ________ are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives ________ it strengthened our faith in humanity (人性) as a whole. And it has ________ us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how ________ or how small, an act of ________ shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting (永恒的).

【推荐3】Mrs. Barrow, room 501, room 501, I repeated to myself as I scanned the hallways looking for the room number. It was my first day of fifth grade and I was really _______.

I came to the end of the hall and found an open door. Stepping into the room, I suddenly felt out of _______. I tried to act normal, but Mrs. Barrow saw right through me.

“Good morning, Courtni. You may _______ your seat.” I looked about the room and took an empty seat near a girl named Wendy Barber. As the year slowly _______, Wendy and I became good friends. I felt no closeness to Mrs. Barrow, _______. I saw her as “just another teacher.”

Then my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. About a month later, Grandma slipped into a coma (昏迷) and died. _______ her was unbearable for me. I missed some school because I was so sad.

At the funeral, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself when I _______ and saw Mrs. Barrow standing there. She sat down next to me and held my hand. She comforted me by _______ me that now Grandma had no more pain or suffering. It had never occurred to me that it was _______ for my grandma this way. All I thought about was how bad it was for me.

After the funeral, we went to my aunt’s house to see the flowers that had been sent. My mom ________me a pretty ivy plant in a pin pot. The ________ card read:

I’m sorry about your grandmother. Never forget, I love you. You are like one of my children.

With love,

Mrs. Barrow

I took the plant home and put it in my grandma’s old room. I am in eighth grade now and I still have that plant. I ________ thought a teacher could care that much about her students; now I know. I say this with all my heart: ________ who is lucky enough to have a teacher like Mrs. Barrow in their life is privileged (荣幸的) ________ words. She may not know it, but she means more to me than she’ll ever know. I can only hope this gives her inspiration and ________ to her a tiny portion of what she has done for me.

Marshall Helm had been _______ his granddaughter to the bus stop early in the morning when the smoke and _______ arising from the house next door _______ his attention. Helm _______ to the endangered home and threw open the garage door only to find flames climbing up one of the building walls. _______, at that very moment he did not _______ to charge past the flames and into the house so he could make sure his neighbors were _______.

Gary and Kathy Benjamin had been _______ upstairs when they awoke to hear Helm shouting about the fire. Although they were confused by the _______ and had no time to figure out what had happened, they __________ to run into the hallway and escape with Helm through the back door just as the flames were swallowing the __________ through which he had come in only a minute before. Thanks to Helm's quick __________ , the Benjamins suffered only __________ smoke intake—and even though they lost their home in the fire, they are simply __________ to Helm for saving their lives.

“Lifesaver-lifesaver is all I can say,” Mr. Benjamin said. His wife added, “Hero, he's our __________”.

【推荐2】The pandemic has greatly changed the landscape of education. But that never ________ one brilliant girl’s resolve to reach for the stars.

While most teens are tackling the challenges of middle school, Alena Wicker, has already ________ her high school diploma at the age of 12. And after learning in a long-term online program, she is ________ to attend Arizona State University this summer. There, she ________ to major in both astronomical science and chemistry to ________ her dream of working at NASA where she hopes to ________ her extraordinary skills to build spacecraft after graduation. ________, she wanted to be an astronomer, but then she switched over to engineering ________ her love of building things.

Alena’s space journey began with her early ________ for Lego (乐高), with which she’s always played around since she was 4. So far, she’s built ________ of everything from the Taj Mahal to NASA rockets.

“She would _______ the Lego pieces by color and size,” her mother McQuater said. “She was always ________ at her Lego pieces, and if you ________ her Lego pieces, it would be easy for her to put them together.” Besides bringing her visions into reality, this genius had remarkable ________ in other aspects of life.

Seeing the ________ of opportunities in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields for women, Alena wanted to make a change. With her mum’s encouragement, Alena ________ a website to encourage other girls with ________ interests to focus on fields which had been ________ inaccessible to women.

Alena hopes to set an example for other girls--never let the long-established concept keep us from ________ the course of our life. “It doesn’t matter what your age is or what you are planning to do,” she said. “Go for it, and then ________ it.”

【推荐3】“Are you going shopping today?” my husband, Roy, asked when I answered the telephone. “I ____ to,” I said. Thanksgiving was only a couple days away. My money was ____ and I knew I had to be creative in my shopping that day.

For a few seconds, Roy sat ____ on the other end of the line. The nervousness gradually increased under the wordlessness, which I couldn’t wait to break through. “Why do you ask?” I whispered, ____ what he might say.

“Nancy, there’s a family with six kids that will not have anything to ____ for Thanksgiving. The little one is only five years old. While you’re at the store could you ____ buy something for them?” My head began to spin when I was thinking about the fifty dollars I had ____ for our family’s Thanksgiving dinner.

In the back of my mind I ____ the hungry guests who would be coming to our house for dinner. I put my head down on my desk, already feeling ____ There’s no way possible, I thought. But the compassion (怜悯) I heard in my husband’s ____ struck a nerve inside me.

I replied, “ ____ but only if God helps.”

I finished my work and ____ all the way to the nearest grocery store. I entered the parking lot and noticed a big ____ in the grocery store window: Turkeys---29 cents a pound. “Thank God!” I said to myself.

I went inside, but when I read the sign my heart ____ “Limit one.” But I needed at least two so I decided to find the manager. I ____ the problem. He made an exception. To my ____ , I had enough money. I was even able to purchase a package of cookies for the five-year-old child who had ____ my heart, even though I had never met her.

Later that afternoon, Roy and I made a special delivery to a home ____ with children of all ages. I will never forget the ____ on the six kids’ faces.

By far, that was the greatest ____ of my life.