【推荐1】Joe and Della were a new couple. They were both interested in art-one in painting, the other in music. They lived in a small flat. They loved each other and they were happy.

But one day they found that they had spent all their money. One afternoon Della told Joe that she had found a _________ and was to give her three music lessons a week. For that she could get fifteen dollars a week. But Joe was not _________ because he didn’t want to stay at home, playing with his art while Della was at work. He wanted to earn some money too.

Every day they parted in the morning and _________ in the evening.

A week _________, and Della brought home fifteen dollars, but she looked a little _________. Joe took eighteen dollars out of his pocket. They were both _________ to have so much money at hand.

The next week, Joe _________ home another eighteen dollars but Della came home with her right hand in a bandage (绷带). Joe asked Della what was the _________. Della said, “It was because of an iron- I mean a plate of soup spilled on my_________.”

“What do you do every day, Della? Do you ____________ give music lessons?” Joe asked. “Tell me the __________!”

Della cried. She told Joe that she was working in a laundry (洗衣店), __________ shirts. A girl accidentally ____________ an iron on her hand and she got a __________ burn. But Della asked Joe how he had guessed that she wasn’t giving music lessons.

Joe told Della that he worked in the engine-room of the same laundry where she worked. They both let out their __________ and laughed.

【推荐2】I'm sitting at the airport watching people in the last minutes before their loved ones arrive or depart．

A woman is running in circles trying to gather family members together for a ______ ．When the final moment comes before ______，she wraps her arms around her son，giving him a ______ hug that should protect him until she ______．

I sit with a book in my hands，waiting for my turn to leave，______ because the ones I love have a different ______ from mine．

I think of other departures and arrivals．I ______ seeing my daughter．I wrapped myself around her as if she'd been ______．That year she was in her first year at university，coming home for the first time．

Today my flight is two hours late．When my flight is ______ called，I gather my book and luggage．______ there is no one to see me off，I do not ______ to see where I have come from．______，I think of my husband at work ______ if I have left yet．

As I head towards the plane，I find myself ______ yet another arrival and departure．That year，my 91﹣year﹣old grandfather died．After returning from his funeral，I arrived at the airport ______．My husband of only a year was waiting at the gate to take me in his arms．Because of my tears，______ was looking at us，but I didn't ______．

Life needs the important ______ all the time．I wish that all the people who went on a ______ could come back to find someone ______ them．I also wish they could leave with someone to see them off．

【推荐1】My family is still recovering from the hard time of the past few years. It began when my teenaged son became _______ .

As anyone who has ever _______ a seriously sick child knows, the stress doesn’t go away. Every day the air carried the heaviness of an approaching storm. My husband and I seemed to forget how to _______ —we couldn’t have a simple conversation without fighting and tears.

One night, my son and I were discussing Valentine’s Day gifts. I _______ that his dad had given me a kazoo(卡祖笛) for our first Valentine’s Day.

My first _______ to this gift was confusion, which quickly turned to _______ when I, a professional saxophone(萨克斯管) player, couldn’t get it to make a _______ . The kazoo eventually was packed away and I hadn’t thought of it until that evening. Interested, he asked to see it. After some trouble, I found it _______ in a dusty box.

“You couldn’t make a sound?” he asked, amazed, turning it around in his hands. “What’s so hard about it?“

“I don’t know. It just never _______ .”

My husband grabbed(抓住) the kazoo—“It’s ________ ! Look, you just do this..."—and blew. Nothing happened. Surprised, he tried again, only to produce a sound like an angry bee.

We burst into laughter as if the long-settled dark cloud had ________ and let in a ray of sunshine. Eyes met and souls ________ . My son took a turn on the kazoo. He did no better than us. More ________ . The mood stayed light for the rest of the evening.

Even though we have gone through a lot, ________ , we can still connect as a family. There is always light to lead the way out of the ________ .

【推荐2】As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street trying to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.

_________and wet, my husband gave up his attempt to flag down a taxi. I knew the feeling. Just after her first birthday,we were told our daughter Katie has a _________brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept disappearing. We knew Katie was running out of _________and that chances were slim._________, we didn’t lose hope. It had taken months before we finally had a name for the_________but we were told only a few of specialists in the world knew how to _________it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to _________our girl, we were in a strange city in the cold rain.

Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and_________us, saying, “Pardon me? May I offer you a ride?” Before we could say anything, she continued, “It’s really no_________for me. Just get in.” It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent, which warmed me up like hot soup. We simply said, “Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please,” as we got in her car for the ride.

“Are you going for the baby?” she asked us. I nodded my head, holding back my_________. At the hospital, we _________her a dozen times for the ride. As the woman hugged me, I_________her face was wet with tears. She promised to pray for us before she left.

_________three more visits to New York and two more brain operations afterwards, Katie was cured. But the_________of the Irish Angel, the woman who gave us a free ride, still rang as a constant reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our_________days.

【推荐3】The Important Things in Life

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, _________ he picked up a very large and empty _________ and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, _________ the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was _________. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students _________ with a “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to _________ that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things-your family, your partner, your health, your children-things that if everything else was lost and only they _________, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter-like your job, your _________, your car. The sand is everything else, the small _________.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no __________ for the pebbles or the rocks. The same __________ your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are __________ to your happiness. __________ your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”

“__________ the rocks first-the things that really matter. Set your __________. The rest is just sand.”

【推荐2】Ciudad Perdida, Colombia’s “Lost City” is older than Machu Picchu. There are no trains or buses allowing of _________ travels to reach its ruins. The remote place is only _________ on foot: a tiring multi-day hike.

Despite this, I couldn’t _________ the opportunity to visit Ciudad Perdida. 12 other hikers and I went there in _________ with a licensed guide. The dirt path, which _________ through towering palms and dangling vines (藤蔓), proved _________ right from the start. Along the way we also met the _________. They have been left _________ for centuries and there’s a deep bond between them and the land.

The next morning, we were off early to _________ the heat, but high temperatures and muscle pain had already set in by the time we reached the final stage—1,200 stone steps to __________. After finally lifting my painful body up the long flight of stairs, my eyes __________ the scene that had __________ the backbreaking journey: Ciudad Perdida.

I looked down and wondered at the beautiful site below. While the return trip included __________ the mental hurdle (障碍) of having already accomplished our goal, the experience is the one I would do __________. It is the difficulty that makes the journey a more __________ one. Earned views are always better.