【推荐1】Jennifer Williams’s mother, a librarian, used to read to her three children every day until they went to college. It was her mother who got her ________ books.

When Williams, now 54, became a primary school teacher, she wanted her students to fall in love with ________ just as she had. But early on, she ________ that some kids held ________ access to books.

“It’s very ________ to teachers which kids are read to and who are not at the end of the first day of school.” she said. To Williams, the ________ was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of a city event, she ________ 900 used children’s books over three days. Most people would be ________ with that. But she set a ________ goal for herself: Donate one million books. It sounds like an ________ number, but as Williams ________ on Facebook: “Don’t complain if you aren’t ________ to work hard.”

So she got to work, first by ________ friends to donate books or money to buy books. ________ after that, as news of Williams’s project ________, strangers started leaving bundles (捆) of books on her front step. Quickly, Williams gives them to local schools and also ________ books to little free libraries.

In the four years, she’s been doing all this, and she has come to be ________ as the Book Lady and has donated more than 78,000 books — still 922,000 more to reach her ________! So she’s not slowing down. It’s too important for kids with few ________.

“Reading can take you anywhere,” she said. “You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can ________ almost anything.”

【推荐3】When I was young, I read only comic books. My mother, who was a keen reader, tried to get me to read regular books, but they seemed _______ to me. Why would anyone want to read a book without pictures, I wondered? It would be _______ watching a movie with your eyes closed. And novels seemed to be too _______！ In my mind, a comic book was a roller coaster ride _______ a novel was five hours in rush hour traffic.

Whenever she saw me with a comic book, my mother would complain, which totally _______ my comic book reading experience. One summer, she even _______ me. “If you don’t read at least one book this summer, we’re not going to go on our camping trip,” she said. What could I do? I had been looking forward to that _______ for months!

“Fine,” I _______, “I’ll read one book.” _______, my mother took me down to her evil dungeon (地牢), the local ________, where the librarian ________ The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia by C．S. Lewis. I unwillingly ________ the book while my mother and the librarian exchanged a(n) ________ glance.

When we got home, I cracked the book open and started reading. I ________ I’d read the first few pages then skip to the end because I knew my mother would ________ me about it. Imagine my ________ when my mother called me to dinner and I was halfway through the book! ________ a comic book was a roller coaster ride, the novel was all the rides at Disney world rolled into one!

I ________ reading the entire The Chronicles of Narnia series that summer, which I consider the ________ of my great friendship with books. Now I read an average of one book a week, and sometimes my wife ________ that I read too much!

【推荐1】When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship (奖学金). Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could _________ tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he _________ in class.

When I took the first exam, I was _________ to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper, for English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained _________.

I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that _________ because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I _________ with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his _________.

One more test before the final exam. One more _________ to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time, learned the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my _________ did no good and everything went as before.

The last hurdle (障碍) was the final. No matter what ____________ I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the ____________ goodbye.

I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even ____________ myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have fun with a test.

A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into professor Jayne’s office. He ____________ to be expecting me. “If I gave you the As you ____________, you wouldn’t make a continuous effort.”

I stared at him, ____________ that his analysis and strategy(策略) were correct. I had worked my head off, as I had never done before.

I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. The next year I received my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.

【推荐3】I hired a carpenter to help me restore an old farmhouse. After he had just finished a rough day on the job, a flat tire _______ him lose an hour of work, his electric saw (锯) _______ and now his ancient pickup truck refused to _______. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. _______arriving, he invited me in to meet his family.

As we walked toward the front door, he paused _______ at a small tree, touching tips of the   _______ with his hands.

When opening the door, he _______ an amusing transformation. His brown face was covered with _______ and hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

After leaving the _______ family, I passed the tree and my curiosity got the ________of me. I asked him, who ________ me to the car, “Before we went in, ________ did you stop by the tree earlier?”

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied, “I know I can’t help having ________ on the job and in my life, but those troubles don’t ________ in the house with my wife and children. I know I can control one thing for ________ . I can hang them up on the tree every night ________ I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again before I ________ for work.

“ ________ thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as ________ as I remember ________ up the night before.”

【推荐2】As a teenager, I hated sports and physical education classes. I was always making up ________ to get out of them.

However, when I started university, I decided to try kungfu. To my ______, I loved it! It was a friendly and casual club. I used to go two or three times a week to ______. Because it is not a team sport, I didn’t feel ______ about not being very good.

And because it is a combat (格斗) sport, you train in pairs, which means that you get to ______ people and talk to them. I also ______ that the focus of the classes was on getting better at kungfu, rather than exercising to change my body. I think that advertising puts us under an unhealthy pressure to change our ______. When I was doing kungfu, my body did change—I got stronger and quicker—but the ______ were a side effect of the sport, instead of the goal. ______, in the last year of university I was too busy to do kungfu most of the time.

When I moved to Italy this year, I wanted to start doing a ______ sport again. I found a great local club that does mixed martial arts. The club is more ______ than the one at my university and we do lots of sparring (practice fights). I think that sparring is like chess, but much faster and much more fun! If your sparring partner tries to punch you, you have to decide in an instant how to ______. You could dodge (躲避), block or even ______ their arm and then throw them to the mat.

When I was a teenager, I never ______ that I would like sports. Now I think that everyone should try as many ______ as possible because I believe there is something out there for everyone!

【推荐3】On May 12, 2008, a deadly earthquake rocked 23-year-old Liao Zhi’s apartment building in Sichuan, causing it to fall down.

Among the debris, Ms Liao, a dancer, heard the search and rescue team_________her, but she didn’t have the energy (力气) to_________. Then she heard her father calling her name. She thought: “I must_________my father again.”

She made it out alive after being trapped for 30 hours but she_________everything: Her home, her daughter and both her legs.

In the hospital, she managed to bear the pain and_________with other patients.

They asked her: “How are you still laughing at this point?”

“Because I am still_________,” she replied.

Two months after the earthquake, she was asked if she wanted to take up dancing_________. At the time, she was still in recovery (康复), but that did not stop her determination. “I_________to get on the stage (舞台) one more time,” she said.

However, from treatment to the adjusting (适应) of prosthetic limbs (义肢), Ms Liao said it was a(n)_________journey. “It was common to be in so much pain,” she said.

After seeing many patients couldn’t adjust to their prosthetic legs, Ms Liao almost__________the wheelchair.

“I had to be__________everywhere: To the shower, to the bathroom ... I didn’t have any__________.”

In the end, she refused to__________anyone and decided to have prosthetic limbs fitted.

Today, she can be seen dancing and rock-climbing.

“It’s easy to lose__________in difficult situations,” she said. “I was that close to giving up many times — but I am__________I didn’t.”