【推荐1】It was a bad time for me. I was in low spirits and very ________ physically. Probably because of this, I hadn't shaved for a few days. _______, because I had been doing some repairs at my daughter's house, I was dressed quite ________. After getting on the bus to go home, I saw it was almost _______, so I found a rail (扶手) to lean against.

Just then, a young woman, sitting with her child, stood up and offered me her________. “Wow!” I thought. And then I said in a loud voice, “Do I ________ that old and tired?” She replied, “You look like you've had a ________ day." I thanked her sincerely and ________ standing.

A moment later, a man ________ from his seat at the back of the bus and _______ his way towards me, squeezing past several people on the way. Then he told me about his addiction problems, asked for my _______, and just chatted about life for a few minutes. Then he went back to his seat.

_____ him go, I also looked at the ________ between me and his seat. He hadn't ________ to talk to those strangers. Instead, he came to talk to me, for whatever it meant to him and whatever ________ it brought him. Why?

Then it _______ to me that I must have looked like I had been ________ he was. I probably looked like a man who would understand a difficult ________. My spirits ________ when I realized that even when we were a bit low, we could still ________ others—if we look like we might be able to meet them where they live or walk a while in their world.

【推荐2】I had lived in the United States for 30 years or so. I couldn’t fully ________ how the concept of “the pursuit of happiness” fit into a super busy life. It was not until I started to grow plants on the balcony of my house on a quiet street in Boston that I had a(n) ________.

Gardening does not come ________ to me. I was not ________ to it as a child. I grew up in a city. My fellow people didn’t seem to ________ the absence of green. They lived in apartments and grew flowers in concrete courtyards, or on balconies to satisfy their gardening needs. No one grew herbs or vegetables. Why ________? Fresh produce was a plentiful bargain in daily markets nearby. Garlic(葱), ginger(姜) were ________ as a sign of thanks with the ________ of meat.

The first spring after I moved into my Boston ________, I grew my own food. I developed a deeper appreciation for the ________ of plants. There were ________ along the way: pests; sometimes too much heat; other times not adequate sun. For several seasons, I had tomato troubles. I’d find half-eaten fruit left behind. I made a habit, night after night, of moving plants indoors, so I would be the one to ________, not some creature with four paws.

In the ________ of home­grown food-seeding, growing, tending, harvesting, cooking—I came to understand a ________ version of happiness. It can be a matter of the heart’s achieving small steps of satisfaction, resulting from “neither wealth nor greatness” in Thomas Jefferson’s words. “but ________ and occupation(消遣).”

【推荐3】The famous composer, Albert Roussel, didn’t have a good start in this career. However, he achieved a great deal of success as a result of a ______.

Roussel’s parents died when he was eight and he went to live with his ______. As a little boy, he fell in love with music and ______ himself about it by reading through the family collection that his mother kept,   _____ which there were a lot of related books. Three years later, Roussel’s grandfather died, and his mother’s sister decided to _____ him. Her husband was a kind man and______for young Roussel’s music lessons. One summer vacation at a Belgian seaside added a second ______to his life—the sea. Then he studied to be a naval cadet（海军学员）, but still took time to study _____.

In the French Navy, he and two friends found the time to _____a band, playing the works of Beethoven and other ____. Roussel also began composing. On Christmas day 1892, he had his first chance to   _____as a composer, which turned out to be a success．

That success ______ Roussel to write a wedding march（婚礼进行曲）, and one of his navy friends _____to show it to a famous conductor, Edouard Colonne. When Roussel’s friend _____with the manuscript（手稿）, he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to _____his naval career and devote his life to music.

Not long, ______, at the age of 25, Roussel decided to ______Edouard Colonne’s advice. He gave his heart and soul to his composing and ______ a major force in twentieth century French music. Because of Eduoard Colonne’s inspiring _____, Roussel devoted his life to music, but Rousssel’s _____friend later admitted that he had made it up. He said he had never even shown Roussel’s manuscript to the famous conductor.