【推荐2】I acquired a lot by watching animals. They have tales to tell and lessons to teach for any who have the openness to watch, ________and learn.

We have three roosters (公鸡), each with a different personality and a different voice.

Stew is ________the leading rooster. He has the “perfect” voice and star looks, suitable for________in a movie. Typical of his kind, he is well aware of his talent and appearance. Stew often sings at 4:00 AM to________the dawn before this part of the globe has even thought of circling to it. He looks after the hens, knowing that he has important work to do. Another of our roosters is Smoker. He may not have “the sound” or “the look”, but he takes his place in the order of things without giving evidence of ________or ingratitude. He is the one who________looks for danger and makes a(n) unpleasant sound like coughing when he thinks there’s a(n)________nearby. The third rooster is Rocky. One morning I heard a sound that made me________out of the house. I thought one of the birds was in horrible pain. Fortunately, there were no________ . I realized that Rocky was learning to sing. Rocky didn’t seem ________ that his call was not perfect. None of the other chickens or roosters ________ him or told him to be quiet. None of them said, “Stew sounds so much better than you do.”

Even if Smoker forever sounds like he has problems with his lung and Rocky always sounds like he is in screaming agony (痛苦), it just wouldn’t be________without the calls of all three of the roosters. I enjoy hearing them all, even if Stew often wakes me up and the other two sound ill.

Perhaps no human choir would accept a member with such a voice as Smoker or Rocky, but everyone has ________gifts, and nobody is better than anybody else because of our talents. Some people have beautiful bodies. Some people have the talent to sing songs or ________ stories or create magnificent artwork. Some have the talent to help others feel secure. Others are just finding out what talents they have to offer.

So, we can ________a lot from nature if we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and brains enough to pay attention.

【推荐3】Returning home from a fortnight’s holiday, we noticed there had been a lot of rain in our area. As I was checking out some pole holes that my husband, Peter, had _________, I noticed that they were a quarter _________ with rain. I was surprised to see that a little hedgehog (刺猬) had _________ into one of them.

I am still amazed that he did not _________. Peter put some gloves on, reached in and pulled the _________thing out. It was quite _________ in the evening so we put him on a _________ to keep warm and gave him some vegetables. The next morning when Peter went out to _________ the hedgehog, he was nowhere to be seen.

We didn’t see him again until six months later. It was about 8 pm when I heard a(n) _________ sound and light knocking at the front door. I opened the door, and to my __________, there was the hedgehog.

I had read somewhere that hedgehogs carry worms so I tried to __________ him out. I didn’t want him to __________ on my carpet. The children, on the other hand, were quite __________ because the hedgehogs rolled up into a __________ when they touched him. After sticking around for a few minutes, he slipped off. I came to the __________ that he had come in to thank us for saving him.

【推荐1】An old saying goes, “When in Rome (罗马), do as the Romans do.” I learned the meaning of this when I studied in Russia.

One day I ______ some of my Chinese friends to a famous local restaurant in Moscow. My guests and I were excited from visiting Red Square and happy about our meeting. We chatted ______ until the waiter told me that we were talking too loud. We turned our voices lower. But this didn’t last long. The waiter came over to us two more times with the same ______.

How bad an impression (印象) we must have left on the local people! In China, it’s natural and ______ for a host (主人) to make a lively atmosphere (气氛). However, in Russia and western countries, having a meal in a public place means you must ______ your voice low. You need to be polite to others.

I felt ______ about this. Even though we tried our best, it’s very difficult to form a new habit. Russians have their own special habits. My Russian friend, Andrey always looks around and thinks for a while before leaving home. I asked him ______ he did this. “Aha,” Andrey said, “In Russia, people always spend about a minute ______ things and plans in their minds before leaving. So they won’t leave ______ necessary behind.

Finding the differences between ______ is very interesting. I’d like to keep my eyes and mind open.

【推荐2】Some years ago, I was extremely sick. I had an emotional breakdown and I wondered if I would ever get well. One day, while I was lying in my bed, a man _______ my room with a container filled with _______ . The man told me he had gotten _______ from my nurse. I was surprised when he set the container on my bedside table and told me the whole thing was _______ . Then the man looked directly at me and said something I will never _______ . “I come to this room today to tell the person here that he is not to lose hope.” I told him that sounded _______ , and that it was easy to lose hope after being in the _______ alone for so long. We made small talk, and then, the man turned and left. Soon, I drifted into a narcotic-induced(镇静剂)sleep. When I _______ , I thought I had had a great dream. Then I saw the container on the bedside table. It was _______ ! A total stranger had appeared on my darkest day to tell me I was not to give up hope. After my visitor, something ________ me. I suddenly felt like I had insider information and I was going to get well, I had been given hope, and it was the most powerful ________ of all. I ________ recovered completely.

It has been many ________ now, but I still have the snack container. It is a _______ reminder through all the challenges of life to never give up, even when I do not yet see how or when help will ________ .

【推荐3】I love challenging something bigger than myself. Two years ago, I drove to Oregon to _______11, 240-foot Mount Hood.

It’s safer to _______ winter climbs at night when there’s less _______of the sun melting the snowpack. That day, I set out at 3 a. m. After five hours, the _______wind didn’t scare me. _______, I went ahead. At around 9 a. m., I reached an ice step where I _______a sense of the ice when I stuck my ax and crampons (钉鞋) into it. _______that I was safe, I put my full weight on it. Suddenly, I heard a(n) _______, and a whole slab of ice broke off the step, right under my foot.

_______I fell backward and bounced off the rock face as if I were a character in a video game. I remember ________: “This is it. You’re done.” I stuck out my arms and legs, ________anything. That stopped my somersaulting (筋斗) down the mountain, but I was still ________. After a few seconds, I ________on a shallow slope.

I wanted to ________I had all my faculties (机能), so I asked myself, Where are you? Mount Hood. What’s the date? December 30. Good. Then I took a ________of my body. For the most part, I was fine, except that I was ________a sharp pain in my left leg.

I’d been lying on the ice ________in pain for four hours before the rescuers rushed me to a hospital. The doctors ________ me not to climb again for at least a year, but I was back on the trails within six months.

This ________has made me more cautious, but I’m not going to let it ________me doing my favorite thing in the world.

【推荐3】With her paddle slicing through the water swiftly, 37-year-old Chinese canoeist (皮筏艇运动员) Xie Maosan enjoyed a significant lead in the women’s KLI canoe final and won the first gold medal of the 4th Asian Para Games on Monday.

Born to a rural family in Anhui Province in 1986 and afflicted by Poliomyelitis (小儿麻痹症), Xie couldn’t _______ before the age of 10. Throughout her childhood, as she recalled, the _______ stares of relatives and mockery from classmates made her more determined to _______ herself.

In her teens, with the _______ and understanding of her mother, Xie decided to master a craft to _______. She packed up her belongings, went to the county to learn tailoring for three years, and then became a tailor. Later, she went to Shanghai to learn CAD pattern-making.

“Regardless of the career path I choose, I always push myself _______. I want to prove to everyone that we are _______ capable,” she shared at the post-race press conference, tears in her eyes.

In 2015, things _______ when news reached her of the national team’s _______ for canoeing talents. Without hesitation, she ________, and at 29, she joined the national canoeing team.

Recalling her initial days, Xie said, “Lacking a foundation in sports, it was truly ________ for me at the beginning. I ________ into the water multiple times during training. Not knowing how to swim, I almost passed out from choking on water.”

Despite all the hardships, ________ to win glory for her country kept Xie going. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Xie finished fifth in the women’s KL1 canoeing final. “________ me, canoeing is a ________, as it gave me confidence and a new life,” said Xie.