【推荐1】As a teenager, I was pretty lazy when it came to doing things for my family. I found myself regularly resisting the urge to help out at home with even the simplest things.

Every Wednesday afternoon, for example, my mother drove me to another town for a piano lesson. During my two-hour lesson, she’d______ to the nearby store and buy a week’s worth of groceries. Given the fact that my mom had driven me twelve miles there, twelve miles back, ______   for my lesson, and bought me a candy bar, you’d think I’d be very ______ to help her bring the groceries into the house. But I wasn’t. I generally just brought in an armload and left the______ for Mom as I ran to my room, shut the door, and started studying.

Don’t get me wrong: even back in my room, I felt______about not helping my mother more. Deep inside, I wanted to change my way. But I also realized that______I took on more responsibility, my parents would start _____ more of me. At age fifteen, I sensed that this one small change would mark something much bigger: my personal change from a cared-for, spoiled child to a more ______, caring and giving young man.

I’ll never forget the Wednesday when I made a decision to jump in and see what happened. Returning home from the lesson, I disappeared into my room, as usual. But once inside, I felt that deep and burning______. Throwing my school books on the bed, I suddenly opened my door and headed back to the garage to help my mother.

How happy I felt that day!

The neat thing was, the more I helped out, the better I felt about myself and my place in my family. As Mom and Dad realized they could _______ on me more, our trips became far less stressful, too. In short, it was a win-win situation for everyone.

Sometimes the little things we put off doing the longest turn out to be the simplest things to complete. And feeling happy beats feeling guilty any day.

【推荐2】Several years ago, I went on a trip alone to Mozambique. Our bus broke down by the side of the road. There was certainly nothing in the way of _______ or campsites or any kind of place to sleep. I _______ I’d just have to bed down on the roadside like others. But I was pretty _______ at the idea. Most everyone else was traveling with their families or other _______, and here I was, a very young woman, alone, with pale white skin that just screamed out “I’m a foreigner and do not _______ here.” Besides I spoke Portuguese reasonably _______ but not any of the local dialects, which _______ my difficulty.

I was trying to work out what to do when I _______ one of the women passengers I’d been chatting with _______ to me. “Come with me,” she said. I was then taken to the nearby village, where she lived. She and her large family ________ me that night. We had chips and matapa, a delicious Mozambican dish. Her kids laughed and circled around and were ________ to have a visit from a real white person. I couldn’t ________ a lot of the conversation, because only the woman spoke Portuguese, but I felt so ________ despite my foreignness.

This kind-hearted woman ________ a stranger a night spent trembling in ________ and hunger by the side of the road.

【推荐3】Those who have children will know that it’s incredibly important to celebrate their children’s birthdays -especially when they’re younger. However, this year children have to experience a birthday in lockdown. Elizabeth Guthrie’s parents were ______ about the fact that her third birthday was coming up pretty fast, but any party planning had to be toned down due to lockdown measures and social distancing ______ . They tried hard to work out a way to celebrate her birthday ______ , and then they came up with the perfect ______.

Like many people across the globe, Elizabeth loves dogs, so her parents wanted to do something that would ______ the youngster to celebrate her birthday with some four-legged friends in tow(牵着). They ______ a sign in their backyard asking for dog ______ in the area to take their dogs on a walk at a ______ time on Elizabeth’s birthday, and they hoped that their neighbors would ______ them to celebrate.

In the end, the whole community ______ together to wish Elizabeth a happy birthday with their pups in tow. Many of them walked by her house. others drove by, and there were ______ some who made their own banners to celebrate Elizabeth’s ______ day. She loved every second of it, and there was no ______ about the fact that it was a birthday to ______ .

Isn’t it ______ to see so many people working together for such a great cause?

One summer in college, I was invited to be an instructor at a high school leadership camp.

I first_______a boy under the tree on the first day of camp. His obvious_______and shyness made him appear weak and lonely. Nearby, 200_______campers were playing and joking, but the boy seemed to want to be anywhere_______where he was.

I was instructed to care more about campers who might feel______. So I_______him and said, “Hi, I’m Kevin. It’s nice to meet you. How are you?”

_____a shaky voice he_______answered, “Okay, I guess.”

I calmly asked him to join in the activities and_______some new people. He quietly replied, “No, this is not really my thing.”

I could________that this whole experience was_______ to him. But I somehow knew it wouldn’t be right to     _____him, either. It was going to take more time and_______.

The next day, I was leading camp songs for the campers. They eagerly participated. But the boy was just sitting alone,________out the window.

That evening at our nightly staff meeting, I made my_______about him known. I asked them to pay special attention and spend time with him________they could.

The days flew by fast. When the “last dance” came, surprisingly, the boy from under the tree was now a shirtless dancing_______. He owned the dance floor________meaningful time with others. I couldn’t’ believe it was him.

In that instant, I realized how easy it is to give a bit of _____ every day. You may never know how much each gesture may mean to someone else. I tell this story as________as I can, and I advise others to look out for their own “boy under the tree.”

【推荐1】Many language learners think their pronunciation is good enough because their teacher doesn’t correct them too often or because other students can ____ them.  

Pronunciation is the area which is ____ the least attention to in language learning. Working on each student’s pronunciation in class is just ____. Also the students who are ____ at pronunciation may be afraid that it will embarrass their classmates if they help ____ their mistakes.  

If you believe your pronunciation is good enough to ____ because it is good enough for your teacher and other students. You may be ____ when you actually go to a foreign country. One of my friends was the best student in his ____ class in Poland. When he went to America he found Americans didn’t understand what he said.  

Your pronunciation may still be quite different from that of a native speaker. If this is the ____, other people will find it ____ to understand what you’re saying and will not be comfortable with you. ____, don’t think you can communicate in a foreign language until you’ve tested your skills on real native speakers. ____ for native or near native pronunciation so that people you talk to can communicate with you ____. In order to achieve this goal there’s ____ that you will need to start thinking about pronunciation and ____ time on it.

【推荐2】Medical bills were piling, kids needed glasses, cars needed repairs and the dog needed surgery. On top of that, Christmas was almost _________ us so presents needed to be purchased.

But all of that was _________ when my husband, Brian, was waiting in our local tire shop to have his six truck tires _________ on a snowy night, He overheard the tire salesman _________ a young mom with 3 children that she was in urgent _________ of all new tires, as each one was completely _________ down._________, the young mom said she didn’t have the money to replace more than one tire on her car.

On hearing that, Brian _________ to pay for a tire to be installed,_________ of the one tire this woman was able to purchase. Brian knew that even though it was just a start, the young mom would be much _________ driving on the _________ roads with a balanced set of two new tires than they would with just one new tire.

The young mom was so surprised that she _________ choked up. Eyes filled with tears, she thanked Brian and pulled away.

My husband is a naturally modest_________ man who feels rewarded in giving rather than_______ in life. So imagine his unexpected_________, when he later discovered the salesman had _________ the entire amount spent on the woman’s one_________ tire to his bill!_________ the seven tires my husband bought, the salesman only _________ him for six.

The simple act of one man making the decision to share what he had, instead of worrying about what he would ________, made a difference that night.