【推荐3】Our county had issued a stay-at-home order. This was _______ to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but it made me _______. How would my boys _______ the situation when cooped up (关起来) together for weeks on end?

My 15-year-old twins, Breckan and Brennan, _______ each other. If they were in the same room for more than 10 minutes, there was going to be a _______. For years, our house functioned well with the boys in _______ spaces. That was why the order filled me with such _______.

On the ninth day, I heard voices and laughter coming from Brennan’s room. That sounded like my boys but it was _______, I thought. Maybe it was the TV. I decided to go down the hall to _______. I opened the door, and my breath caught in my throat. Both my sons were sitting on the edge of the bed, video game controllers in hand and ________ on their faces. Was I ________ things? Was it true that the boys ________ so well? A week later, I saw the twins showing each other how to perform better on the trampoline (蹦床). This was what I’d always ________ for! Filled with joy, I felt a little ________ when so much of the rest of the world was suffering during the pandemic.

In our house, there was more ________ than we’d ever known. I didn’t ________ why. One evening, I stopped by Breckan’s room for our nightly ________ before I went to bed. “Hey, what has happened between you and your brother ________?” I asked. Breckan shrugged, “I don’t know, Mom. We’ve grown up, I guess.” Leave it to me, their mom, to try to ________ what has happened and put it into words! ________, the whys and wherefores don’t matter, really. What does matter is the love between them.

【推荐1】When you're a kid, theme days at school are a big deal. They're a chance to dress up in something special and   _____________from your regular routine. So when you can't participate in one, it is sad. That happened to a first-grade student named Levi recently. _____________his bus driver stepped in to _____________the day.

As the driver, Larry Farrish noticed the boy was   _____________. When Farrish asked what was wrong, the boy   _____________he didn't have pajamas (睡衣) for Pajama Day. Farrish knew he should do something. After   _____________his job, he headed over to a store. There, he   _____________a pair of pajamas that might _____________ the boy and drove back to the school.

He asked the office to call Levi down, and that's when their days took a major   _____________ "I can tell Mr Larry is   ________________" Levi said. "When he got me the pajamas, I did a   ________________ cry.”

As a driver, Farish feels that his   ________________allows him to connect with kids more and he takes the job seriously. Doing so can influence how kids ________________. Not only do kids learn by   ________________, but when they know they're   ________________, they do thrive (成长).

【推荐2】I have only given blood once. The Red Cross trailer pulled into our school and _________ students to donate. Most of us were attracted by the promise of free cookies. Missing math class was a _________, too.

The process was painless but _________, and the nurse had just removed the needle when the bell rang for the next period to begin. I grabbed my cookies and climbed stairs to the _________. By the time I opened the door, I was lightheaded, with a _________ feeling in the stomach. In the following years, the few times when I tried to donate, the terrible feelings _________ me. Gradually, the idea fell off my radar.

But ideas always change with _________. Early in my cancer treatment while I watched the blood enter my veins, it suddenly dawned on me that for each blood product donated, there was a breathing man who _________ it, just like me. I am_________ by the fact that platelets (血小板) are bright yellow, like the sun. It is surely a __________ that a part of one person can save the life of another. We are designed to be interdependent, to understand that each of us can indeed __________ other people. That’s a remarkable thing, something we often __________ in the fast-paced era when everyone is busy with their own business.

I am grateful for the generous __________ whose kindness has allowed me to __________ my weakened body and live to fight another day. The Greek word agape means “love with action,” which is concerned with the greater __________ of another. And to so many, myself included, that’s exactly what blood donation has been.

【推荐3】I got to know a homeless young man in Portland named Oscar through his Twitter posts two years ago. I _________ letters to him last spring to see if there was anything we could do to help. He has an autoimmune (自身免疫的) disease and lost his job and then _________ his home.

It took months but he finally answered my _________. He said in the hot summer he could use a fan. So we sent him one of those. Later he said he was _________ on the ground and he wanted a bed. So the next month we got him a _________. He later said how it is wet in Portland, so I found him a _________ of waterproof shoes. He said he felt like it was Christmas all summer.

Lately, he’s been helping a friend who is in a wheelchair and is also homeless. He asked if we could get a poncho (雨披) for his friend to cover the _________ and we’re shipping that out today.

My heart often breaks because of Oscar. I wish I could do more. I told _________ my son was lost and that my son would use the name Oscar sometimes in a game.

“I’m _________ what you’re suffering from,” he said. “What a pity! I’m not your __________.”

“I know. But I hope wherever my son is, if he is __________ too, someone is helping him.”

The other day I got a note from Oscar. “I was lying __________ my bed, which made me feel at home. I just wanted to __________ you and your husband for all your help.”

We helped nearly 1,000 persons to find homes over the years. I hope all the other homeless people in the world will find a __________ too. And we’ll do whatever we can to __________ them.

【推荐3】David Flucker celebrated his 100th birthday on June 22 with his big family and many other volunteers, but it doesn’t mean he’s got any plans to slow down. ________, he still went to work at a hospice (救济院) shop the next day as usual.

Despite being 100 and a grandfather of seven , David has a deep love for the________ role. He spends two hours travelling to the________, and another two travelling back. His________ includes two buses and a 20-minute walk each way, which he does consistently regardless of the________.

David doesn’t work behind the scene but________ working with the public. “I work three days a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which are the________ days,” said the senior. “We get a lot of donations and I have got to________ them all to be on the safe side. It is a(n) ________ feeling to be doing something. I’m happy to be useful at my age. ”

When David isn’ t working, he likes to________ his garden--growing vegetables, watering flowers and weeding, or________. He also loves to build model railways which he sells to ________ money for the hospice. He said he liked to be totally occupied and his ________ years were no barrier to enjoying himself .

We admire David Flucker who like others his age could have chosen to sit at home and________, but this man has the good of others in his heart and is stepping out daily to make a________ in people’ s lives.