【推荐2】Many years ago, there was an island called the Land of the Sun. People of all shapes, sizes and appearances _______ there. Everybody knew everybody and they were like one big happy family.

But slowly, the children grew bigger and had _______ children who grew bigger and had more children. Things reached a _______ where there were so many people on the island that not everybody knew everybody.

People started doing their own things, _______ in their own languages and writing their own scripts.

So the elders of the island came together and decided to open a school where the children could be _______ about the history, geography, rules, and languages of the people of the “Land of the Sun”.

However, when it _______ to deciding on the teacher, the group of elders was _______ divided between two of the candidates (候选人)—Ms Know-it-all and Ms Find-it-out. _______ they couldn’t decide on which candidate to go with, and being a friendly group of people, the elders _______ to have two schools, each being ____________ by the two candidates.

Ms Know-it-all and Ms Find-it-out ran their schools very ____________ from each other. Ms Know-it-all believed that children should be only taught. Unless they were asked a question, they wouldn’t ____________ to it. Her belief was simple. She was there to ask ____________ and the children were there to answer them.

On the other hand, Ms Find-it-out believed that she did not have all the answers. So everybody was allowed to ask questions and everybody tried to find the answers, individually or ____________. Slowly, the islanders became aware of this difference and started taking sides. They ____________ the island into two different zones and built up a wall so that one set of people did not affect the others.

【推荐1】I grew up in a large family of twelve siblings. We weren’t poor, but there were times when we couldn’t _______ certain things my friends had.

Back in those days, hot lunch was a _______. And usually hot-lunch buyers and the students who brought cold lunch sat _______. My siblings and I brought lunch from home every day: thick slices of homemade bread. We would _______ longingly as the rich kids proudly sat down with their _______ food like chicken fricassee.

I never said anything, but my teacher Mrs. Caruso, must have seen the _______ in my eyes. One day she _______ pressed a note into my hand and whispered, “Give this to your mother.”

I skipped home and handed my mom the note. She read it and smiled “Well, Mrs. Caruso said because of all your hard work, she wants to _______ your lunch tomorrow. ”The next day, I proudly carried my tray of chicken fricassee and _______ with the students at the hot-lunch table. ________, the food wasn’t as great as I had imagined, but I was ________ to be a part of the group.

I don’t know why Mrs. Caruso ________ me. Maybe she also grew up in a family that ________ to make ends meet. Maybe she knew what it was like to feel just a little less than everyone else. Somehow, with her ________, she never made me feel ashamed. She just made me feel loved and ________. Thanks to her, I learned that I had just as much right as anyone to sit at the hot lunch table.

【推荐2】My mom enjoyed inviting people for Thanksgiving. After my family moved far away from all our _________, Mom started filling the house with _________ guests—whoever had nowhere else to go for Thanksgiving.

I missed our big family gatherings before moving here, but Mom had a(n) _________ heart. This year, when Mom showed me her guest list, almost half the size of our small town’s _________, I was annoyed.

Our first guests arrived: three foreign exchange students. Mom’s original plan was to _________ one. But she was told those unable to go home sometimes _________ in tears, so here came three. The next guests _________ through the door, a single mom and her six kids. With more guests, the volume and the temperature in the house instantly _________. Luckily, dinner was ready before the house or I _________. However, seeing my name card placed among the six kids, I murmured angrily, “How would I get such an __________ seat?”

After dinner, Mom suggested sharing something we were thankful for—another annual __________ at our house. “I’m so __________ to your family for opening up home to us.” The single mom spoke with watery eyes. Then one student expressed how much it __________ to be with a family on Thanksgiving.

Suddenly something __________ me: the essence of generosity and inclusion. Thanksgiving is about more than family—it’s about a shared __________ full of kindness.

【推荐1】No two snowflakes are alike?Wilson A.Bentley, a farmer and amateur meteorologist, sought to answer that question, dedicating himself to________flakes of snow for 50 years.

Bentley was born in 1865 and_________on a farm.On his 15th birthday,Bentley’s mother gave him an old_______.It was snowing that day, and the boy________getting a glimpse of a six-sided snowflake with the_______. When he was 17, Bentley asked his parents to buy him a new, better microscope and a camera.His father argued that it was a waste of time. Finally, his father gave in. Bentley built a wooden frame to________the new equipment and then spent 2 years figuring out how to take a picture of a snowflake_________a microscope. On January 15,1885,he did it,creating the world’s first photo of snowflake. Every winter for the rest of his life, Bentley studied snowflakes in a(n)_______room in the back of the house. The process was difficult and cold. (Outdoors, he collected snowflakes on a wooden tray that was painted_______to observe it. Whenever it snowed, Bentley caught and captured flakes, sometimes working all night. He found that most snowflakes had six sides, ______others looked like triangles, or columns—no two were alike.

Bentley_______his snowflakes with anyone who was interested. He wrote articles for scientists and for_______such as National Geographic. Occasionally, he felt_________that few people seemed to care about his work.Still,he________stopped.In 1920,Bentley was elected as one of the first members of the American Meteorological Society, which later________him its first research grant in 1924.

【推荐2】I dreamed about my daughter, Jennifer, who is 38 now, a wife and a mother of three. They lived about an hour and a half away from me, but it seemed as though we were worlds away. I________to hear my daughter's voice. I rang her up. She answered on the second ring.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound________. "I had a dream about you last night."

"You did?" Then Jennifer________me. "I dreamed about you too. It was a________dream. I won't even tell you anyway." But she couldn't________her tongue. "We were walking to a wedding ceremony through a vegetable garden. A farmer________that I had stepped on one of his tomatoes. He asked me to pay 43 cents for it.________, I didn't have any with me and asked you for it, but you________. I woke up in tears."

Jennifer________a laugh. "Wasn't that very silly, Mother?"

"No, not at all." I said________. "There were so many things I should have done for you."

"Well, you could have gotten up from your________sometimes," she said. "You were always writing."

Silence, the________seemed over. I came to________that our relationship probably broke down over a lot of little things.

I found a small bag, dropping 43 cents into it, I________the bag to Jennifer with a note in an envelope.

The next day, the phone rang, "Mama, I got the 43 cents!" she said________.

【推荐3】John, a famous musician, took his priceless violin and played it in the crowded subway station. The music was played wonderfully and_______. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly _______the charming music. A three-year-old kid was so_______ by the music that he forgot everything around. John only got 52 dollars for his work that day.

However, now, in _______days, when John is about to hold a concert, one _______can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is extremely _______ to buy a ticket even at such a high price. _______, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply_______for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but_______ music feast (盛宴).

I have a very busy friend who had totally________after knowing that his wife came down with acute (急性的) illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a ________ with his wife every day. Nevertheless (尽管如此), his wife still did not manage to conquer (战胜) the illness and ________ after three months. After that, he often________miserably that due to his past busy life, and he had ________a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is impossible to ________for it.

A doctor's son committed suicide (自杀) and left a letter which expressed his strong ________for staying more with his father. Not until then did the doctor ________ that the most precious thing is not career achievement, but the tight family ________ .

It is no use crying ________ spilt milk. The reason why we would have missed those precious________is less than simple: we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.