The easy way out isn't always the easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug, my husband of one month, to a special meal. I_______to make homemade bread. Knowing the bread would take time, I_______it as soon as Doug left for work.

As I was not_______in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozen would be better, so I _______everything. As Doug loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and _______it all into the bowl. Soon there was a sticky dough covered with _______yellowish marks. Realizing I was _______，I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn't have to_______Doug laughing at my work. I went on preparing the rest of the_______, and when Doug got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed ________. Twice he got up and went outside, saying he heard a________.

The third time he left, I went to the window to see what he was doing. I saw Doug standing about three feet from the ________,holding the lid up with a stick and looking ________.When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something ________in our rubbish bin. Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see. I felt________. But I stepped closer and looked harder. Without ________it was my work. The hot________had caused the dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast made the surface________ and sigh as though it were breathing.

I could see why Doug was shaken. I had to admit what the“________” was and why it was there. I don't know who was more________by the whole thing — Doug or me.

【推荐2】Trees play a special role in my life. They accompanied my growth, and my personal experiences and memories often _______with them. There was a row of poplars（杨树）in my first childhood home; I never_____the house without the trees.

Out on the farm, my grandparents always cut a Christmas tree from the fields. They were always short. Those trees were a family ______; I can still ______ their smell all these years later.

The pines in our backyard were only 1.5 meters tall when we moved in. They grew right alongside our kids, and in the same ______: silently and quickly. Those pines once stretched a hammock（吊床）______ the two of them. They watched over our rounds of hide-and-seek, snowfalls, and ______ family gatherings.

A huge willow tree once ______ in the backyard as well. The kids had a tree-house in it for a long time. Other kids in the ______ enjoyed it too.

There is a sadness to a ______ tree; to the ground it makes when it hits the ground.

My husband and I were working as newspaper photographers ______ the active volcano Mount St. Helens exploded. Many nearby forests were _____ destroyed by the effects of the explosion. The loss of all the trees can somehow be as ______ as the loss of lives and homes.

Trees tend to be ______ of strength and beauty.

The trees returned to Mount St. Helens -- and they returned ______ than the experts predicted. To all who had witnessed the disaster, the ______ was encouraging. Those small trees ______ us of the beauty of new beginnings.

We’ve filled in the empty holes ______ the pines stood and dug a new hole that will soon be home to a new tree.

One of the grandchildren asked how tall the new tree is.

“Not much taller than I am,” I said.

“Can we decorate it for Christmas?” she asked, eyes ______.

The old trees may be gone, but the new one will soon become part of my grandchildren’s   ____ for many years to come.

【推荐3】Recently I understood the true meaning of love. The _______was Kane, my neighbor Joline’s two-year-old son. Kane was born with a physical problem on his ________. And I witnessed the ________ that Kane’s physical  shortcomings  had on his family. I also witnessed much  more than  that. I saw a _________family that embraced (拥抱) this special child. A family that wouldn’t allow Kane to know he was ________. Joline had constructed a small cart just a few inches off the floor for his son to_______. Kane used his hands to move about, and the cart ________ him to “go to” any place just as everyone else was able to do. Kane was not just a member of the family, but the _________of the family.

With a wide smile, it was easy to see that even at the age of two, Kane liked to ________ with people very much. With wisdom of an individual, this boy even ________ the most complex（复杂） of human emotions. Later I came to _________that this child was sent to help some of us who weren’t just getting what love was all about.

Kane demanded attention, ________not because of his mobility (移动能力) challenges or other apparent shortcomings. In his mind, he had no ______ or shortcomings. The______was that he received attention because he was alive and real and had so much to offer.

Kane ________me in a deep way. His ability to refuse to be different has _________me. Kane was and is_______ lots of warm and powerful energy to me. From him and his family I learned the ________: love surpasses (超越) all things. I can only imagine that as the parent of a child like Kane one might be filled with ________ . But I believe that having a child like Kane is actually an advantage . The parents of such _______ babies are angels too, just as the babies are.

【推荐1】Many animals move from one place to another at certain times of the year. This _______ movement is called migration (迁徙). They migrate to _______ food, or in search of warmer weather. One of the most wonderful migrations in nature is that of the North American monarch butterfly.

Every _______, millions of these beautiful insects with fine black and orange wings begin a long and _______ journey. Somehow they manage to _______ around 4,000 kilometres _______ and find their way to California or Mexico. _______, until recently no one knew how they did this. A team of scientists led by Professor Eli Shlizerman at the University of Washington has now found the _______. They have found out that the monarch is able to _______ the time of day. It uses its eyes to measure the ________ of the sun. These two pieces of information allow the ________ to determine the way to go. ________, it manages to reach where it will spend the winter.

The solution to the mystery of the monarch’s amazing ability comes at a time when it is in serious trouble. Its ________ has crashed by as much as 90 per cent in the last few years. ________, human activity is the main reason why the number of monarch butterflies is falling. The research on the monarch’s ________ has however led to a greater awareness of this creature.

【推荐2】One of the most remarkable things about the human mind is our ability to imagine the future. In our _______ we can see what has not yet happened. For example, while we are looking forward to _______ a new place or country, we _______ what it will be like. We predict the _______ people will eat, dress and act. Of course，we do not always predict things _______. Things are often very different from the way we _______ them to be.

One of the _______ dreams in history is the dream of the German scientist, Kekule, who had been _______ to work out a very difficult problem in physics. He had _______ and analyzed the problem from every angle for days, but there________to be no way of ________ out the answer. Then one night he went to bed and dreamed. When he ________ up, he realized that he knew the answer. He had solved the problem in his ________.

It is said that in order to figure out the process, the hypnotist (催眠师) sat in the   chair opposite him and spoke ________: “I want you to concentrate on my voice. Think about ________.You know nothing but my voice. And as you pay attention to my voice, your ________ will get heavier. Soon you'll be asleep.

You will hear my voice and ________ my words, but your body will be asleep, your eyes are too heavy. You are ________ asleep, and when you wake up you will ________ nothing.

You will forget everything. Now I am going to ________ slowly from one to five. One, two, three, four, five...”

【推荐1】Truly happy and successful people get that way by becoming the best, most genuine (真实的) version of themselves. Not on the outside - on the inside. It's not about a brand or a _______. It's about reality: who you really are.

Sounds simple, I know. The problem is, it's very hard to do, it takes a lot of work, and it can take a lifetime to _______ it out.

_______ worth doing in life is ever easy. If you want to do great work, it's going to take a lot of hard work to do it. And you're going to have to break out of your comfort zone and take some _______ that will scare you so much. But what’s the _______ of life if not finding yourself and trying to become the best?

That's what Steve Jobs _________ when he said: Your time is _______, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't let the noise of others' opinions _______ your own inner voice. You have to _________ something - your gut (直觉), fate, life, or ________. This ________ has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Now, let's for a moment be ________ about this. Insightful as that advice may be, it sounds a little too ________ to resonate (共鸣) with today's quick-fix culture. These days, if you can't tell people exactly what to do and how to do it, it ________ deaf ears.

Not only that, but what Jobs was talking about, what I’m talking about, requires focus and discipline, two things that are very hard to ________   these days. Why? Because, focus and discipline are hard. It's so much easier to ________ to distraction (分心). Easy and addictive.

There’s a business concept called opportunity cost. When you choose one course of action, you miss out on all the other opportunities you might have chosen to ________ but didn't. People ________   stop to consider that until it's too late.

And yet, the opportunity for adventure is right there in front of each and every one of us. Until you take it, you’ll never know what you might __________. All you have to do is   ________ the journey. So, take action!

【推荐2】What would your life be like without phones?

In one of my classes today we discussed the question of how our lives would be without a mobile phone. I actually felt quite sad to hear how some kids cannot ______ without their phones these days. ______, I think nowadays we are controlled and ______ by our technology to keep up. So let’s see some of the points that ______ in the debate and see if our generation really is addicted(上瘾的) to electronic connections ______ true communication.

It is true that everything ______ at a fast pace these days. For example, you can contact someone who lives on the other side of the world within ______. This is great if you think about how connected we can stay to the ______ who are far away from us. However, on the contrary, can we be too connected to the people who are ______ to us? An argument arose about the ______ that it is easier to message someone from your sofa than to meet them ______ and talk. Social skills are ______ to have and if you are not going to put effort into real-life ______, then you are not going to ______ in this ability.

Another point was that phones are very handy for ______ something that you are wondering about. For example, if you don’t know a word in another language, you can ______ and simply use an on-line translator to help you out. This can be very ______ in many situations, but it can also make a person dependent on the ______.

All in all, this question is very interesting to ______ as we become day by day more dependent on technology. We should realize how much we really need to be connected with our phones while considering the ______ and damage it can cause us.

【推荐3】Since Peter Singer published Animal Liberation in 1975, animal rights activists thought animals should be granted the same rights as humans. Referring to scientific studies showing animals_______“human characteristics”, they argue animals should be protected with the same rights. So why don’t animals have the same legal status (身份) as humans？

The line of reasoning in favor of granting animals equal rights to humans_______the fact that scientists have found characteristics in animals we normally_______with humans. A group of scientists showed monkeys demonstrate self-consciousness at the same level as humans. This has usually served as a justification for human rights, so why don’t we grant equal rights to monkeys？

The truth is,_______convincing scientific evidence, the argument for granting at least some animals the same rights as humans can’t be justified philosophically. An adequate argument for animal rights would require further philosophical inquiry and not just descriptive_______. We can feel pity for animals being treated badly and strive to protect them from such treatment. This,_______, doesn’t mean animals should enjoy the same legal status as humans.

There is a strong reason for_______that rights only apply to humans. While fundamental rights surely are valuable in their nature, they would be worthless without a system to_______them. That is why we expect other people to respect our rights.

The system that defends our rights is the fact that other people are obliged by_______in their behaviors towards us. In our daily life, we experience numerous situations in which bad guys could________from violating (侵犯) our rights. Nevertheless, we see, of course, with some exceptions, that individuals cooperate and respect other people’s rights. Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin, and one cannot________to have certain rights without having to observe the duties.

If it is my claim to live freely on my property without being bothered, my neighbor’s duty prevents him from violating my right to property and life. Suppose, however, he breaks in and damages my property. He will then be held responsible in a court of law, for he has________his duty to respect my rights. This is completely reasonable, but we will certainly face________if my property was violated by an elephant.

If we assume that animals are granted the same legal status as humans,________requires that we now drag he elephant into court. Remember, if an animal were to have such rights, it would logically also have social duties. Therefore, it is now________to the same legal procedures as humans. This raises practical questions: Who will defend the animal in court？And will the animal be able to comprehend what is going on？