【推荐1】December 24 arrived along with a heavy snow. It was my first Christmas Eve without mother and the day’s usual_______had disappeared.

The telephone rang. I_______it and went to my bedroom to bury the continuous _______, knowing it must be my friend Rebecca calling. How could I be_______? I wanted to be left _______.

My heart felt as_______as the falling snow. _______can I stop missing my mother ?

I_______the window. Seeing Rebecca’s car parked out front, I went back to bed and drew the covers over my head.

“Lucy!” she shouted “I know you ’ re in there. Answer the door”.

“Leave me alone!” I_______back. I heard paper rustling （沙沙作响）as she slid__________under the door.

“Merry Christmas, ”she called out.

Not answering the__________made me feel even__________. It wasn’t fair to my best friend. Her father and sister __________ in a car accident when she was eight years old. __________, her mother had to return to__________ ,and Rebecca was left to look after herself .

When she left, I carried the small package, sat down and__________it. Inside was a gold pen and a journal. When I opened the journal’ s front cover, out fell a bookmark with a（n）__________written on it:

My words won’t heal(治疗) the__________. But your own words can.

Love

Rebecca

As I stared（盯着）at the journal’s blank pages, a single tear fell on the page which quickly absorbed it.

That night, I____________the phone and called her. “It looks like the snow is melting（融化）,”I said. “Spring was just __________the corner.”

【推荐2】I had reached the age of twenty-eight. Still, I _______ whether the letter from my past would make it to me, all these years later. It was a（n） _______writing task from when I was eighteen. The teacher collected our letters to our _______ selves in self-addressed envelope with stamps and _______ to mail them ten years later. But since so much time had passed, would he _______ remember?

_________ the letter, I recalled giving my future self some advice. When you're eighteen Years old, twenty-eight seems like a _______age, but I wasn't feeling as mature as I believed my younger self had _______me to be.

When the letter finally reached me, I opened it _______. It began, “How much do you bet this letter will never get to you? ” It continued to greet me casually ________we were having an IM (instant messaging) chat. As a senior in high school, facing the________SATS and college application, my eighteen-year-old self was so stressed! She was ________ not quite happy and hoped I wouldn't worry so much in the future, and that I wouldn't forget to be present and________my life!

________to my belief, my eighteen-year-old self did not have any demands of me, or expectations I might have ________ meet. Instead, she wrote, “I'll ________whatever you do. Even if you are not the one I'm imagining now, I'll ________ you, because maybe who I'm imagining is someone else, but you're not someone else, you're me.

I was touched, and tears welled up in my eyes at this________ through time. I had put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best ________ of myself that I could be. However, I came to realize what I would have ________ in ten years would pale in comparison to how I'd feel and who I'd be.

【推荐1】Whenever I recall my childhood, there is one thing I remember clearly. My father used his_____to let my mother_____her parents who lived far away. There was just my younger brother and myself in the_____. One evening, our father came home and there was no_____, not even a piece of bread. My father had no money and he was as_____as we were. My brother and I went to bed without having anything.

___I knew from the expressions on my father’s face that he could not_____us be hungry for long. He left the house, and about two hours later he_____and woke us up. He had two small potato pies in his hands. I didn’t know where he got the money for the food but somehow he_____to find a way. It was clear that he wanted to get his children_____.

My father did not eat and had_____all day but he sat there and felt_____at seeing us eat. This has always stuck in my_____. At that moment, I felt moved knowing that he tried his best not to let us_____, and he wanted us to know he was always there ____________ us.

In_____times, I think, it is important not to_____weakness but strength._____the mother is the cement(黏合剂)that_____a family together, then the father is the steel that strengthens(加固) that cement.

It is his values and_____that have carried me forward and helped me deal with my own problems in life.

【推荐2】My mother suffered from a serious cancer one year ago. She’s always been my ______. She taught me how to be a mom, and she’s been the best grandmother to my 4-year-old daughter Ishaanvi. When I heard the news for the first time, I felt ______ —my mother physically and mentally ______. It’s the first time I have seen any sign of ______ from an otherwise strong woman.

But the stars were watching us, and my daughter ______ us. Not only was she my own source of ______, but she made her grandmother bloom through the darkest of days. She would ______ go far enough to try to feed her and give endless hugs.

But when mom started to ______ her hair heavily, the cancer became more real for me. Whenever the doorbell rang, mom would run to get her wig (假发).______, Ishaanvi kept on trying to ______ us that having no ______ could be a trendy choice—it didn’t have to be associated with a sickness. To ______ it to us, Ishaanvi made the decision to shave off her hair—______ her own!

It’s become their tradition now—Ishaanvi and my mom are partners in “hairless crime”. Every day they discuss the ______ of a new hair, and what color it is. It’s ______ that they show so much ______. Neither one is ever ______ by onlookers.

My daughter made me ______ all the stigmas (耻辱)—Why are the courageous ones, those who are fighting for their lives, so embarrassed by the loss of their hair? Stand. ______ and show it off. It’s a battle scar and a symbol of honor that was______！

【推荐3】I ask my grandpa what it feels like to grow old. He ______ this question while we sit in his office overlooking the yard, where an empty bird feeder swings ______ from a tree branch. The yard has gone into a state of ______ in recent years. Grandpa no longer possesses the energy to maintain its ______ splendid glory.

After taking a sip of his black tea, he asks me a question. “Have you ever been in a hot ______ when the water ran cold?” I tell him I have. “That’s what ______ feels like,” he says. “At first the water is too warm, but you ______ the heat and begin enjoying it. When you’re young, you think it’s going to be this way ______. But one day you realize the ______ begins to drop. You gradually feel the warmth leaving your body. The water is still pleasant, but you know it’ll soon become cold and there’s nothing you can do,” he ______. “I knew a few people who decided to ______ the shower. I was able to stay in because I ______ myself recalling the showers of my youth. It’s too late now, and no matter how hard I try, I’ll never get the hot water ______ again.”

This is how my grandpa felt about growing old, but he has lived a good life to have ______ the birth of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

After dinner, I fetch a bag of birdseed, take it out to the ______ and pour the seed into the feeder. I go inside,______ to tell Grandpa about what I’ve done, only to find he is sleeping. I think about waking him up ______ decide not to disturb his sleep, a sleep which will soon ______ forever. I hope he is ______ the dreams of his youth, remembering the ______ of days gone by, the days before the water ran cold.

“Mum, you’re always on the computer!” Laure complained.

“No, I’m not.” I _______.

“Every day I come home from school you’re working on the computer.”

“Well, at least I’m here _______you!”

My daughter was right. Day after day, in my home office, I would stare into space as my_______typed out the thoughts of a speaker or research completed for an article. It seemed that my work as a writer and speaker _______ my fingers to the keyboard and my mind to valuable ideas. What Laure did not _______was that during her day away, I’d also be doing a lot of housework. It was only around three in the afternoon that I’d _______seat myself at my desk for a few _______moments of deep thought. Then she’d come in from school.

I was _______of myself on being available to my children. After all, I am a speaker on child behavior and parenting. But Laure’s observation _______my heart. In her eyes, I must have been a mom who was __________but unapproachable. I wouldn’t make such an image (形象) before her. My relationship with my children is more__________than any other work.

“Laure,” I called, “come here a minute.”

She wandered to my doorway. I had decided to have her __________me when I was too devoted to work. I wanted her to have the __________to let me know when she thought I was cold.

After I explained my __________and the fact that I chose home office to be accessible to her and her sister, I offered Laure the following __________.

“Whenever you feel I’m ignoring you or you need my __________,I want you to __________me, I said, “just come up and give me a little hug, that’ll be our signal that you__________me.”

Years later we still have that __________sign. I’ve become much more sensitive to my daughters’comings and goings.__________ she always gives me a little hug to remind me of the real reason I work at home.

【推荐3】Valentine's Day was coming.Little Thomas had _____ to send a good many valentine cards to the girls and boys he knew；so，quite early one morning，he _____ to go to the nearby shop.It was then that he heard a _____from the playroom.Peep，peep，peep.Thomas knew that he must not buy cards if his pet _____ was hungry.He found that it needed fresh water to drink，and the bird's cage needed _____ too.When he had done all these and filled the seed box，his mother _____ him.

“I want two more yards of lace for the baby's dress，Thomas.Will you please go to the store and _____ it for me？”

“Oh，yes！”Thomas said，for he thought that he should be able to buy his cards at the same time.But just _____ he was going out of the door，his mother said，“Come right home as _____ as you can.I want to finish the baby's dress so that she can ______ it this afternoon when we pay a visit to Aunt Lucy.”

Thomas got the lace and hurried home with it.“I can go ______ the cards this afternoon，”Thomas thought.But right after lunch his mother dressed the baby and ______ for Aunt Lucy's house.

“I may not be back until five o'clock，Thomas，”his mother said as she kissed him goodbye.“You won't leave dear ______ alone，will you？”

“No，mother，”Thomas said；but when he thought about going with his grandmother，he felt ______ as he wouldn't have any time to buy cards for his playmates.He knew that Saint Valentine's Day was the holiday when one expresses one's ______．

In the evening，his mother and baby sister ______ came home.Then she went up to the attic(阁楼) and came back with a ______ in her hand.

“I mean to give these to you this morning，Thomas，”she said.“They are just as good as new and much prettier than the ones in the shops now，I think.They are the valentine ______ that I had when I was a little girl.”

The box was filled with valentine toys！There were enough there that Thomas could ______ every child in the neighbourhood.He felt quite ______ with what he would give them.