【推荐1】It’s strange, but I don’t really remember about the hurricane itself. It all happened so _________ I was sitting in my room when the roof（屋顶）just flew off. All of a sudden, there was sky where the roof had been and I was very _________. Without a roof, staying inside was really _________. It was August, so it was really hot and it smelled so _________ everywhere! Living in the open air, we became breakfast, lunch and dinner for the mosquitos（蚊子）. We had lost our home and everything in it. But as Mom kept on _________ us, we were all together and safe. Mom’s words made us feel _________. I remember us all lying under the midnight sky and looking up at the stars. Even though we had lost a lot, moments like those gave us _________ for the future.

Although it was only a few days before we were _________, it felt like months. We were taken to another town in a faraway county. Now, one year has passed and I’m back home in New Orleans. We are working together to _________ our homes and our lives. Now we have another chance to look up at the stars of New Orleans, their beauty inspiring us and giving us __________ to move on.

【推荐2】Capturing the lines of love

I’ve never been the kind of person to say, “it’s the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.

For years now, I’ve been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I _______our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a_______ .In the front room, there’s a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines,_______ the progress of my children’s growth.Every growth_______ is marked in grey, with each child’s name and the date they were_______ .

Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.

Of all the objects and all the ___________, it’s this one thing in a home that’s the   ___________ to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to   ___________       their wall of heights has been ___________painted over. A new paint job wouldn’t normally be greeted   by____________,   but   erasing   that   evidence   of   motherhood ________ more than it should.   Our   kids   grow   in   so   many   ways,   but   the   wall   is   ____________evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to ____________.

Over the years, I’ve   talked   about   how   much   I   would________ leaving   that   wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped________.So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something     about it.They hired a professional photographer whose________ is about capturing ( 捕 捉 ) the________ things in life, from clear lakes and skies to ballgowns ( 舞 会 礼 服 ).Over several hours,she took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints, and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those________of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image (影像), ________ them into a beautiful history of my family.

Three weeks later, my children’s wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that________ entire lifetimes of love and growth.

【推荐2】Dog lovers are well aware of the ability of a dog to communicate with its eyes. Now, scientific research suggests this ability developed over time as dogs learned to live with humans.

Just as with humans, the eyes can be one of the most ________ things about dogs, the animal known in many cultures as “man’s best friend.”

But a new study found evidence that dogs developed in physical ways to present “puppy dog eyes” as a way to help ________humans. Researchers in Britain and the United States did the study. The study compared the ________muscles of dogs and wolves, which share ancestral history. Dog ________ from wolves after being domesticated about 33,000 years ago. During that time, dog changed physically and behaviorally to ________ life with humans.

The researchers ________ the heads of six dogs and two wolves for comparison. They found the facial structure of both animals was mostly very similar. But one major________ was found above the eyes.

The dogs were found to have two well-formed muscles around the eye that were not________in the wolves. These small muscles permit dogs to ________ raise their inner eyebrow, the study found.

Comparative psychologist Juliane Kaminski led the research. The team suggests this eyebrow-raising movement causes a nurturing feeling in humans because it makes the dogs’ eyes appear larger.

This ________also makes the dog look more like a human baby. The eye movement is similar to that which humans make when they are sad, the statement said. “The evidence is________ that dogs developed a muscle to raise the inner eyebrow after they were domesticated from wolves, Kaminski said.

In a separate part of the study, the researchers observed how 27 dogs and nine wolves ________ with a human. “We also studied dogs' and wolves' behavior. And when ________to a human for two minutes, dogs raised their inner eyebrows more and at higher intensities than wolves,” Kaminski said.

The researchers suggest that the eye movements developed over time as a way for dogs to get humans to do things for them. This could ________ humans giving them food, care or attention.

The only dog species in the study that did not have the muscles was the Siberian husky, which is an ancient kind. The husky could be the best living example of what the ________ between dogs and wolves looked like.

【推荐3】It was a dark night. Thick ______ had made me sure that there was no starlight or moonlight to greet me as I walked out. ______, I kept the porch (门廊) light off because I didn’t want to be ______ by small insects on this sticky summer evening. I stood there for a while letting my eyes get used to the ______ of light. It was then, though, that I saw one flash of light at the far end of the grassland was ______ by another and then another. I smiled. I ______ them at once as my firefly (萤火虫) buddies who always appeared at this time of the year.

I got so much ______ watching them first as a child and then as an adult. They never became ______ and they always filled me with delight. I never ______ them and put them in a jar as some kids did because I was afraid I might hurt these ______ of light. Their time on this earth was so ______ that I tried to enjoy them each night they were here. It always ______ me when they disappeared in the fall and it always made my heart sing when they ______ again the next summer.

I think I enjoy these little fireflies so much because we’re ______ to them in lots of ways. Our time here is brief too, but we still do our best to give out light and knowing that others will be shining long after we are gone is a (n) ______ to us. Let’s share our light and love while we are here then.

【推荐1】As the new year dawned, I was at one of the lowest points of my life. In the morning, I sat in a park and reflected on the ______ 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 sadness, 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 piled off the yellow school bus for the Flowers Change class, I began to ______ outdoor learning experiences for them and gave them a day full of information, excitement, and surprises.

Throughout my first spring of ______ “Less sadness, 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2】Douglas was my cousin. I first met him when he came to stay with my family for a _________, because his parents were going to teach in Africa.

He and his family _______all the way on the other side of the country, so we had never had a chance to visit. _________, when we arrived at the airport, it was not hard to find which person was my _________. He was the one standing all alone, looking around for someone to _______him. He looked a little scared to meet us, _________started to smile shyly after my mom hugged (拥抱) him.

When we got back home and Douglas _________putting his things away, I could not believe it. All of his _______were the same, all white shirts and dark blue shorts. He _________had a dark blue jacket with a tie!

“How come you __________only one kind of clothes?” I asked him.

“That's the way my school has __________been,” he said. “We have to wear uniforms.”

“I would hate having to wear the __________thing every day,” I said.

“I don't ________,” Douglas said. “It __________time. I don't have to think about what I am going to wear.”

“Well, we don't wear uniforms at our __________. You're going to look pretty __________if you come to school in a jacket and tie.”

Douglas looked worried. __________, I felt bad. I had not meant to ________his feelings. After all, it was not easy to come all this way to live with some ________family for a year. Then and there I decided that I was going to __________my cousin and try to make this as good a year as possible for him.

【推荐3】I always come across random acts of kindness in my life. Many years ago, I was _______Costa Rica when I found myself in an _______situation: my credit cards and bank cards went out of _________ abroad, and I only had $5 to my ________.

I had no way to get money. I didn’t know anybody in this country. I only knew basic Spanish, and besides the cash the only ________I had was a return ticket to my country in almost two ________. Back then, there was no such thing as mobile phones, and________email was very limited. To find help, I decided to go to the countryside . With the only coins I had, I _________the bus terminal(终点站）and found a village, which ________almost the exact amount. About 4 hours later, I arrived at Santa Rosa Abajo at midnight.

I knocked door to door,________in my very poor Spanish that I was a foreigner travelling in Costa Rica with no money but I ________to stay here for over ten days. I begged them for a __________－such as cooking , cleaning and looking after their kids, anything like that. Everybody _________, “oh my, but so poor are we that we have no _______ food or space. Maybe you can try the next ________.” And they’d point me to another house.

________, I arrived at a Chinese restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was very _________. She gave me food and called the Red Cross to come to ________me. With the help of the Red Cross , I spent my_________days in Costa Rica.

This is one of the best trips I’ve ever had, because I realized that when you’re in a position to be able to _________, it actually makes you feel happy.