【推荐2】In my early twenties, I was battling with depression that had started during my teenage years. My mother ________ to move into my bed. This surprised me and I thought it was ________. How was her sleeping in my bed supposed to ________ me? But I didn’t ________ . Still, it mattered. I didn’t ________ what my mother was doing for me until almost a ________ later.

I was a (n) ________ of a newborn baby girl. She was ________ all night long. As I was awake one night, trying to calm her down, I ________ my mother. The memory of her, lying next to me during my time of struggle, was extremely ________. I realized that just like her, I was co-sleeping with my child. In the face of ________, she had chosen to be there, even if all she could do was ________ next to me. And it did help. Her _________ made me feel loved and secure.

As I ________ my daughter, I promised her that I would do everything in my power to ease her ________ and sorrow. If all else failed, I would be there for her, ________ like my mother did for me. I hope that even when my ________ have no visible effect, my love may still ________ her in some way in her future years.

Over the months, there have been easier and harder nights. However, remembering the ________ I made to my daughter on that difficult night always brings me some peace. There will be new ________ ahead, but I am ready. I know that my love and presence will be her safe haven (避风港), just as my mother’s love was mine.

【推荐1】I have a lot of Mom’s recipe (秘诀;食谱) in a blue box. Even so, the recipe I treasure most is not there. Actually, Mom followed it all of her life but I was too blind to see and _________ it until her final years.

My mom grew up in a small town in Iowa. She _________ everyone as her friend. She had a cheerful greeting for everyone she meet with. She often asked them questions of some sort that set off an answer and more _________. As a teen, I was embarrassed (尴尬的) every time my mom dealt with strangers.

What impressed me most was Mom’s _________ on the senior bus. The first time she _________ this low-cost bus to a supermarket, there were thirteen old ladies and one old man but not one _________ was spoken. During her following trips, she said, something _________.

“Oh, are you _________ with them now?” I asked. “Of course,” she said, “One day I climbed up the steps of the bus and before I looked for a seat, I gave them a big smile. I said, ‘Isn’t it a wonderful day?’ Then I _________ a few shy smiles.”

Mom didn’t give up. She smiled or said “hello” to them all each time she got on the bus and before long, the whole group was laughing and talking to one another. The bus became more than just __________.

Frequently, I observed as she smiled and chatted with __________. Some of them seemed bad-tempered but once Mom smiled at them and started the conversation, most __________ favorably. My mom didn’t embarrass me any longer. I found myself __________ her.

Mom has been gone for ten years, but she’s given me a recipe for life: It was I who had done the smiling __________ and all those people had replied. My mom didn’t lecture but __________ me the lesson by example.

【推荐2】Donnie Wiseman was worn out after work. But his son was_______on going to a reptile show at Scales and Tails Utah. So, after a short rest, he_______ his son to the show.

Inside viewing windows was the show’s star attraction, a huge alligator(短吻鳄). It swam around the pool before_______its head on a two-foot-wide platform. It was feeding time, and the_______alligator was staring expectantly at its trainer, Lindsay Bull.

For the sake of_______, Bull wanted the alligator off the platform before beginning the show. Entering the enclosure, she held out one arm and shouted “Back!”—a(n) _______that usually worked. _______, this time the alligator responded by opening the jaw and_______her into the pool of water.

Outside the enclosure, some_______if this was part of the show. Not Wiseman. Sensing something was________, he threw open the glass door and climbed inside. “Jump on its back and push your fists into the top of its nose!” shouted Bull. Wiseman did as he was________，pressing down with all of his 180-pound body weight. Time seemed to stand ________ for a while. Finally, the alligator eased its ________and Bull was quickly helped out of the enclosure. Meanwhile, Wiseman________a chance to jump off the alligator.

Apart from minor wounds, Wiseman was more________than injured. “One mistake and I’ll be a statistic, but still, I’m just glad I was there,” he said.

【推荐3】When 10-year-old Romeo Cox realized what he wanted more than anything else was a hug from his 77-year-old grandmother, he decided to make the journey. He did not let the 1,7000-mile distance and the fact that there were no flights _______ him.

“I hadn’t _______ her for a year and a half owing to the pandemic (流行病), so I _______ to go and see her in secret,” he said. “I meant it to be a(an) _______ .”

“I asked my _______ and they said no more than 50 times, but I _______ talked them into letting me do it,” he told The Daily Mail.

Romeo turned his plan into _______ .“I drew a map. I’d walk and take boats and do it naturally to _______ the planet,” he told The Times. “And I’d take Dad. It would be _______ to have an adult.”

Romeo and Phil __________ from Sicily, Italy on June 20. They trekked (跋涉) across Italy, Switzerland and France. They spent many nights beneath the stars. They were also __________ to fight off wild dogs, got lost a time or two, __________ sore feet and so on. But no matter how __________ the conditions were, they just kept going.

On September 21, they __________ London’s Trafalgar Square, where they spent a two-week mandatory isolation (强制隔离) before being __________ to make the final leg of journey to Grandma Rosemary’s __________ .

With his grandmother’s house eventually in sight, Romeo __________ a joyful run. And he ended up in the __________ he had been longing for.

“I can hardly imagine my grandson’s __________ trip yet,” she admitted frankly. But more than anything else, love and gratitude __________ her heart.

【推荐2】I don’t usually keep houseplants. But after my diagnosis of a brain cancer, I _________ the idea of having something new and green around.

My friend gave me a lucky bamboo plant. I started to care for it, which gave me a sense of _________ when I sometimes felt useless. My illness_________ my ability to walk, and the treatment left me tired, making it _________ for me to accomplish everyday tasks. As a family physician, I was used to being the one who provided care, not the one who _________ it. Although watering the plant was a _________ act, it taught me I could still be a _________.

Over the next few months, I _________ the first round of treatment. I increased my walking distance and finally returned to work. I continued to_________ the plant. Soon it doubled in height with shiny leaves.

Then, mysteriously, it began to show __________ of stress. No matter what I did, the leaves __________ browning and dropping. I grew __________ that it might signal the recurrence (复发) of my brain cancer.

Then I realized I had wrongly __________ my caring for the plant with my own survival.   __________ my anxiety lessened, I turned to a gardening expert and transplanted the tree to a larger pot as __________. We both began to thrive (旺盛) again.