【推荐2】When Deborah hiked cycling to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York last November, she _________ a female mute swan near the water’s edge. Deborah, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehab (康复) center, knew that mute swans can be aggressive. But as she _________ this one, it didn’t move.

She was certain that the bird needed _________ attention. Deborah covered her jacket over the bird’s head, _________ picked it up, and cradled it in her arms. And then a thought _________ her: What should I do now?

Her best choice was the rehab center, _________ that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to _________ a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some confused strangers driving by offered them a(n) _________ to a nearby subway station.

On the subway, no one seemed particularly disturbed by the _________ passenger. “One guy,” says Deborah, “was sitting right in front of me on his __________. I don’t know if he noticed the swan before him when talking with the person on the other end.” Deborah called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higginbotham, an animal-care manager, __________ her up at the subway station and drove the bird, the bike, and the __________ to the center. There, staff members determined the swan might have lead poisoning, caused by __________ weights on fishing lines.

The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet (蹼足). The swan __________ made a boyfriend at the center—another injured swan. __________, even with all that TLC (tender loving care), the swan had a bacterial infection. Two months __________ Deborah came to her rescue, she passed away early this January.

It’s a(n) __________ ending, but the real story is just __________ some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city-literally. In all, Deborah traveled two hours by foot, __________, and subway (while hauling her bike). Higginbotham says, “That’s the perfect __________ of who she is.”

【推荐1】As Cuban built the tech companies in the 1990s that would finally make him extremely rich, he never show off that. He told GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) on Wednesday. “I never, ever thought about _________,” he said.

Instead, Cuban said his desire was something else _________. “I always thought in terms of time.” he said, “That’s always been my driving force: How can I control my own _________?”

At the beginning, when Cuban sold his first company Micro Solutions to CompuServe for $ 6 million, he never thought he’d have to _________ again, he told GQ.

“It made me so _________,” Cuban added, saying he saved most of his earnings from the sale so he could live at his own _________ without worrying about future job. When he did _________, he spent on traveling with friends and partying like a rock star.

Five years later, the Yahoo stock（股票）was highly _________ at the time. Instead, he sold most of his Yahoo stock just months before the Internet bubble（泡沫）_________ in 2000, and soon the company’s share price dropped quickly. “It taught me a __________: When you just go after dollars, it never __________ well.” Cuban said.

From there, Cuban went about spending his money in ways that made him __________, including buying his hometown Dallas Mavericks Basketball Team in 2000. Cuban’s first __________ after becoming a billionaire, though, was to pay $40 million for a Gulfstream V private business jet.

“Why did I want a __________?” Cuban told GQ. “Because the most valuable fortune you can ever own is your time. And the one thing I can do is __________ time and get to places, and it was amazing.”

【推荐2】Until a few years ago, I had what most people would call a good life. I had a ________ job that paid the bills; I had a good family that I was close to, and I had a place to live and money in the bank for trips and ________ , and there was nothing much wrong in my life. ________ , I was bored.

I wanted more. I wanted to live ________ and loudly and make sharp memories instead of the gray ones of everyday life. But I was ________ . I’ve never had any ________ in myself. As a child, even buying something in a shop caused me a great deal of stress, and even though I did get better as I got older, I never quite ________ that childhood shyness.

And I tried everything, like reading books about confidence. I took tiny steps leading to my goals. But none of them really ________ .

So I ________ that the small steps weren’t enough. I signed up for an internship (实习期) teaching English in Vietnam, an impossibly huge step, one that ________ me as much as it excited me. And then the day came and I left my home and my loved ones. I was alone in a country where the food was ________ and the streets were dirty. I had no idea whether I would be able to ________ everything this very strange environment would throw at me.

I spent five months in Vietnam, teaching and exploring and laughing. I’d learned to ________ myself, my skills, my abilities and my decisions. I returned home ________ , even to myself, let alone to others. The ________ that had controlled my life and the self-doubt were completely worn off.

That one big chance changed everything for me, and in me.

【推荐3】As a young man, Al was a skilled artist. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his older son developed a severe stomachache. Thinking it was only some ______ intestinal(肠内的) disorder, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very seriously. But the boy ______ suddenly that night.

Knowing the death could have been ______ if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, Al's emotional health became worse under the huge burden of his ______. To make matters worse, his wife ______ him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six-year-old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two ______ were more than Al could handle, and he ______ to alcohol. In time Al became an alcoholic.

____ the alcoholism progressed, Al began to lose everything he ______ —his home, his land, his art objects, everything. ______ Al died alone in a San Francisco motel room.

When I heard of Al’s death, I thought that Al’s life was a complete _______.

As time went by, I began to re-evaluate (重新评价) my earlier judgment. I knew Al's now ______ son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring, most loving men I have ever known. I ______ Ernie with his children and saw the free flow of love between them. I knew that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere.

I hadn’t heard Ernie talk much about his ______. One day I worked up my ______ to ask him. “I’m really ______ by something,” I said. “I know your father was ______ the only one to raise you. What on earth did he do to make you become such a special person?”

Ernie sat quietly and ______ for a few moments. Then he said, “From my earliest ______ as a child until I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, ‘I love you, son.’”

Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to ______ Al as a failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he had been a kind loving father, and he left behind one of the finest, most giving men I have ever known.

【推荐2】It’s a sad reality that many of us find ourselves just too busy to contribute to our communities. For a long time, I, too, believed it cost too much in time, money and________to make a real difference. But all that changed when I________my good-deed-a-day project.

My daughter, Emily, was my primary________. I wanted to show her we could do little things to help others, and be________.

The first week, I wasn’t sure if I could________it. I surfed the Internet for ideas. One day, I________a blind man in the subway station. He________as he thanked me. Another day, I brought flowers from my garden to a________nursing home. I could only hope I was arousing________in others.

After just a few days,________I found it easier than I’d expected. I knew I was making a(an)________.

Every evening at the dinner table, I________that day’s good deed to Emily. Emily began________what I’d started. On a walk home from school, she marched over to a neighbour’s pot of geraniums(天竺葵), which had toppled(摇晃) in the wind, and________it right. “That was my good deed for the day!” she yelled. Another day, she helped me collect________from our neighbours for the food bank. We dropped off the food and,________we drove away, Emily announced________that she wanted to work there one day.

By the last week, I knew I’d changed. At first, I hadn’t been entirely________that I could do a good deed every day. Now it was practically second nature. I felt a greater________to take action when I saw a need,________looking the other way. I felt as though I’d awakened, somehow.