【推荐1】I know I should have told the headmaster at the time. That was my real _________.

He had gone out of the office for some ___________, leaving me alone. In his _______ I looked to see what was on his desk. In the _______ was a small piece of paper on which were written the _______ “English Writing Prize: History Is a Series of Biographies (人物传记) ”.

A(n)_______   boy would have avoided looking at the title as soon as he saw the _______ . I did not. The subject of the English Writing Prize was kept a _______ until the start of the exam so I could not _______ reading it.

When the headmaster __________ , I was looking out of the window. I should have told him what had ________ then. It would have been so ________to say, “I’m sorry, but I ________   the title for the English Writing Prize on your desk. You’ll have to ________ it. ”

The chance passed and I did not take it. I ________   the exam the next day and I won. I didn’t ________   to cheat, but it was still cheating anyhow.

That was thirty-eight years ago when I was fifteen. I haven’t told anyone about it before, and ________   have I tried to explain to myself why not.

The obvious__________ is that I could not admit I had seen the title without admitting that I had looked at the thing on his desk. ________ , there must have been more behind it. Whatever it was, it has become a good example of how a little mistake can ________ you in a more serious moral corner.

【推荐1】Jason Box, 85, started learning Welsh, his native language, at the age of 70. He grew up in South Wales, where he was ______ and educated in English and since the age of 23, he has lived and worked in Birmingham. After retiring, he decided that he wanted to reconnect with his roots. “I’m a Welshman and everybody should be able to speak their ______ language.”

With ______ time on his hands, he started looking on the Internet for ways to learn Welsh, but the exercises he ______ didn’t help him with pronunciation. Then last year he started ______ with SpeakWelsh, which offers a series of podcasts (播客) and runs twice-monthly classes with a teacher, where he meets and practices with other ______ learners.

Jason is one of older adults who are learning languages in ______ life. While younger people are ______ thought to be quick language learners, there is no evidence to suggest that senior learners are ______ in terms of absorbing new information according to Meg, head of languages at a university in London. Instead, he ______ , the key element to being a successful language learner is motivation.

“I was excited at the prospect of learning a language,” says Jason. “I ______ not doing it in my younger days. When you’re ______ a family and working, you’re committed to those things. Learning a language and meeting people is exciting. It’s ______ to go out and I look forward to it.”

Learning a language could potentially help to ______ the growing concern around loneliness among older people in the UK. “Loneliness is a terrible thing. Going to a class is socializing. If you get out, you are with other people and that’s a(n) ______ for sure.” says Jason.

【推荐2】I fell in love with reading when I was a child. Through reading, I developed a good relationship with my parents.

Born as a second­generation South Korean in America, I was raised in an environment in which my parents struggled to settle in American culture. My parents were awkward, strange and different. Their limitations as immigrants (移民) influenced me; as a child, I was alone and quiet. I grew up in a family where I was forbidden to speak English. I wanted to _______ the depth of the books I read but the words _______ me, like my parents. I wasn’t able to change the situation _______ I was placed in, but I worked very hard. Every _______，I went to the library to check out new books. I would have _______ reading all the books by Friday afternoons. I became a better _______. Pretty soon, I was the _______ reader in the class. People would look at me in _______ as they saw me read 500­page books in only a few days. But I believe the greatest _______ was reading every night to my parents. Every evening, we ________ together in our living room, and I read to them. Slowly but surely, our ________ grew. My parents can communicate with others ________; for me, grammar quizzes became a piece of cake.

Today I’m ________ to have Asian­American parents who were ________ enough to learn English from a young boy and wise enough to ________ their son to read at a young age.

【推荐3】While high school does not generally encourage students to explore new aspects of life, college sets the stage for that exploration. I myself went through this _______ process and found something that has changed my _______ at college for the better: I discovered ASL — American Sign Language (美式手语).

I never felt an urge to learn any sign language before. My entire family is hearing, and so are all my friends. The_______ languages were enough in all my interactions. Little did I know that I would discover my love for ASL.

The _______ began during my first week at college. I watched as the ASL Club _______ their translation of a song. Both the hand movements and the very _______ of communicating without speaking _______ me. What I saw was completely unlike anything I had experienced in the past. This newness just left me _______ more.

After that, feeling the need to _______ further, I decided to drop in on one of ASL club’s meetings. I only learned how to ________ the alphabet that day. Yet instead of being discouraged by my ________ progress, I was excited. I then made it a point to attend those meetings and learn all I could.

The following term, I registered an ASL class. The professor was deaf and any talking was ________. I soon realized that the silence was not unpleasant. ________, if there had been any talking, it would have ________ us to learn less. Now, I appreciate the silence and the ________ way of communication it opens.