【推荐3】I was in fifth grade and about to take a science test. Since first grade I had always been good at school. I always did well on tests._______it came to fifth grade science, however, I was_______. I couldn’t seem to understand it no matter how hard I tried. I was_______.

My mom and dad had always been so proud of my grades, and I didn’t want to let them_______.So just before the test I had written several_______from the text book on my desk in pencil. The writing was so_______that it could hardly be seen. I sat_______as the teacher started to hand out to the test. I didn’t want to get_______, but I didn’t want to fail either.

As the teacher was starting down my row,_______the fire alarm went off. We all__________the door and stood together, waiting to be allowed back into the building.

As I stood outside in the warm sunshine, I__________what a fool I had been. I knew my mom and dad would still love me no matter what my__________were. As soon as we came into the classroom, I walked to my desk and__________the notes away. I had been given a second__________,and I wasn’t going to__________it. I took the test, did my best and felt__________. I don’t remember what my grade was, but what__________that day has stayed in my heart and mind ever since.

Life is full of second chances, but you have to be willing to__________them. You have to be willing to accept your__________and grow from them. Every day when you wake up, you are given a second chance at life. Treasure it! And use it __________!

【推荐1】When 45-year-old Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (胰腺癌), he chose to focus on living rather than dying. As a computer science _______ at Carnegie Mellon University, Pausch was selected to deliver a “last lecture”. This well-known and popular campus _________ allowed professors to share worldly _________ with all the students in this school as if they were dying and had one last lecture to give.

The only _________ in Pausch’s case is that Pausch really was dying, a fact that only _________ him more rather than discouraging him. He delivered his last lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, on Sept. 18, 2007, in the _________ McConomy Auditorium (大礼堂).

Pausch began by sharing his boyhood dreams, some of which he had achieved and others he hadn’t. He _________ the importance of having dreams and how anyone can still learn a lot by reaching for those dreams, _________ they don’t always succeed. He shared the values and lessons through experience, which he hoped to _________ to others: honesty, hard work, gratitude.

Pausch’s last lecture __________ a great deal of praise and attention __________ it even became a YouTube __________, and in October 2007, he __________ a version on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He __________ the lecture into a book by the same name, which __________ became a best-seller. Readers were deeply __________ by the book’s description of Pausch’s lifelong philosophy and the way it revealed the fundamental __________ of his motivation to live on一his three young children.

Randy Pausch __________ on July 25, 2008, but his __________ still lives on in the recorded lecture and his book. He __________ to motivate us all by encouraging us to never give up on our childhood dreams.

【推荐2】The stage lights dimmed, and I took a quick look from behind the heavy black curtains into the audience. ________ by the lights, I quickly pulled back. It seemed that a great number of eyes were looking at me. I took a deep ________ as the music of my dance began to play. I entered the stage and began my ________, the graduation test of the classical Indian dance.

After a decade of learning this art form, I had ________ been considered ready to take on the most difficult act. The test is the most important ________ in my life as lots of effort has been put into making it a ________.

The performance is undertaken only by the most ________ and determined students. It is a difficult process that requires much ________. For more than six months, I spent two to three hours every day ________ these dances. Many times, I ________ myself to my physical and mental breaking point, but still I would not stop. I could not give up. There was always so much more to do and so much more to ________.

I ________ a lot about myself in those tiring hours. I learned that I was far too ________ to give up, and I was too proud to prove myself ________ after I had set an unrealistic goal. Even with physical pain and mental ________, I forced myself to ________ my expectations. Even when I was at the end of my ________, there was always something driving me on, forcing me not to give up.

Fortunately, I made it. What I had done ________ the success. It was in those hours that I learned what a dancer ________ is. That period of time was evidence that I could ________ something I set out to do.

【推荐3】Mattew Shifrin has been building with Legos (乐高积木) since he was 5 with the help of his friends. When he turned 13, he got a _______ birthday present from his friend, Lilya Finkel. It was an 843-piece Middle Eastern Lego palace. And with it were _______ that Finkel made specially for it. Finkel _______ a unique name for every one of the more than 800 pieces in the palace set. Then she spent countless hours _______ building instructions in Braille (盲文) that spelled out how to fix them all together.

His mind was blown. As a _______ person, Shifrin had never before been able to complete a Lego set _______. Shifrin knew immediately that he had to help other blind children find the same_______. Shifrin says, “For blind people, Lego sets act as small 3D replacements for real-life buildings instead of two-dimensional photographs. Lego bricks _______ me to see things that are impossible to explore by touch.” For years after that incredible Lego _______, he together with Finkel created similar instructions for about 45 other Lego sets, all ________ on a website they created, “Lego for the Blind.”

Shifrin began ________ the Lego company several years ago to discuss his work, but it was in 2017, when Finkel died of cancer, that he finally connected with the right person. His years-long efforts ________ when the Lego company released its first audio and Braille building instructions. The project is a high-tech version of what Shifrin and Finkel did for their ________. It couldn’t have been completed without Shifrin’s ________ — or without his determination.

He just wished Finkel had been here to see it. “I think she’d be very glad that we came this

【推荐1】See Me

The sun prepared to rest for the evening. Saying goodbye to the clan (家族), I headed back to camp. I looked forward to setting my _______ aside for an evening to reflect on my time in Ethiopia.

“Photo, photo”, a voice behind me called. A young Surma boy followed closely at my heels as I breathed a tired sigh. Over the past four days, many in the camp had wanted their photograph _______. I had no energy left after this long day, but the boy kept appealing, “Photo, photo.” He managed to catch my gaze. With eyes full of _______, he asked me once more: “photo?”

As I looked at him, an idea flashed before me. I knelt in the cornfield and instructed the boy how to _______ . Suddenly, he became shy, losing his _______. No matter how I instructed him, I couldn’t capture the shot. Frustrated, I _______. I looked at the boy, who seemed _______.

In an effort to cheer him, I said, “You were great.” Others from his clan gathered around, cheering and clapping. The boy’s face broke into a smile. I intuitively took shots of the moment. That photograph turned out to be better than the arrangement I’d imagined because it was _______.

Reflecting on my experience, I realized I had been caught up in my own ideas and wants. When I agreed to take the shot, I was looking for a particular end _______ for myself. But all the boy had really wanted was to be __________. That was the moment that needed to be captured.