【推荐1】It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250 km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard _______ a little dog going around his camp trying to _______ herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all _______, he had packed just enough for the whole _______. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a _______ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog _______ him again. He waved her away, worried that she couldn’t cope with dangerous situations and might be stepped on by the runners. _______, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race _______. That night the dog snuggled (依偎) up to Leonard and even _______ to get a little food from him. By then, he was determined to name her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi ________ a distance of 125 km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a ________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi in the race ________ my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, rather than just focusing on winning, ”said Leonard, who finished second. “In the meantime, it also made my running more enjoyable, giving me a lot of pleasure. ”

As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home,she was missing. With a group of local volunteers coming to his ________, he finally found her. After that, Leonard never let Gobi out of ________. Now Gobi’s favorite activity is still running, and she   ________ does at least 8 km a day with Leonard up the hills.

【推荐2】My daughter loved dancing until she didn’t love it. After an ______ first year, I noticed her interest fading week by week. Then, one day, she slowly walked to me before class and asked if she could just ______ it.

My first reaction was to ______ her to “finish what you start”．______, sticking with something difficult can teach perseverance, discipline and confidence. But watching my first­ grader ______ herself into each ballet position, I started to question how much ______ that “blanket advice” made. Is it really in my kid’s best ______, or even practical, to make her stick to every commitment through until she reaches a bitter ______? What if there are different but ______ valuable qualities, which can be gained by ______ the things that are not right for her?

With the winter show approaching, I realized she needed to either ______ her class or commit herself to it. After a few days’ consideration, she ______ dance wasn’t for her — a choice I ______. Quitting is never a black­ and­ white issue. Sometimes, it means ______ a barrier in your way to love something else. In my daughter’s case, ending dance made space for her new hobbies, such as horseback riding and Girl Scouts. She’s into them for now, but it is okay if that ______ changes.

As adults, we are accustomed to ______ the power of saying yes, but what about saying no? The ability to recognize when something isn’t an ______ investment of our time or energy is also important. As my daughter gets older, I want her to feel confident to ______ something that’s no longer meeting her needs. She shouldn’t be held back by the thought that she must ______ something at any cost ______ because she has started.

【推荐1】The town I live in is about to put cameras at all traffic lights to catch people who run red lights. It _______me of how many people I’ve seen who take the yellow light as a_______to go faster. I also can’t understand why people don’t move when the traffic light has turned green. Above all, there are those______situations in which someone doesn’t even______that the light turns red, and just keeps going. That is why so many_______happen! All these situations make me _______the purpose of traffic lights.   

______, it’s even more frightening to imagine letting people make their own decisions at     ______crossroads. Do the biggest cars get to go first? Who decides who goes next? So I guess I do like the idea of a system to_______traffic. And I’ll do my best to________the traffic rules: to go, to be cautious, and to stop when I’m________to.

It occurs to me that my________have done much the same for me________teaching me how to live. They have given me many________lights: to get along well with others, to listen and talk to them, to help others, and to________with joy and purpose. They have also given me some red lights________my life goes astray（误入歧途）: not to be greedy, to keep my temper, and to control my desires. And there________have been some yellow caution lights: to watch how much I drink, to keep control of my behavior, and to_________school regularly and work hard.

If I obey these rules, my life will be as________as it can be. Just as I’m wise to pay attention to the traffic lights when I’m walking across the street, I’m wise to pay attention to the“_______signals” given to me by my parents.

【推荐2】What does it take to help a person move toward a better performance? It doesn’t take as much as you may at first ________. One of my hobbies, over the years, is to repair houses. Using this ________, I have had a wonderful time and ________ enjoyed working with my hands and ________ other people including a young man.

The young man was recently married and bought a(n)________ house. However, to this young man, it appeared to be a huge mountain he had to climb. The ________ was that he had never been taught to do much of anything around the house and he had never even used any ________. Therefore, he was unable to even decide how to start the most basic of repairing including repainting a wall ________. So, I was asked to help him. I ________ what I was going to do, why I would do it, and how to use the tools. He was a quick learner, eager to ________ whatever he was told. However, I ________ noticed his hesitation to do anything I told him to do even though I ________ by doing it myself so that he could see what the technique was or how the tool was used ________. His problem was that he had no confidence and was ________ to try anything, ________ I encouraged him. It was truly amazing to see him have greater ________. Over the next few months, we finished the project with me only giving him the lead and being his helper.

All it takes is a few words of encouragement, and helpful ________. It never takes much if you ________ care about people especially their feelings. We are never born to be ________ of anything. If you arm yourself with words of ________ and use them, you’ll find it is not hard for anyone to improve.

【推荐3】When young, I loved going on trail runs. It was my favorite way to _________ stress. So, when I was back in my hometown after a _________ first year of my Ph. D. program. I thought a trail run was just what I needed. But instead of helping me relax, the run did just the _________.

After I moved to the city for college, where my runs were on flat concrete paths instead of _________ dirt trails, I used a GPS watch. When I went on trail runs again in the country, it constantly reminded me of the fact that I wasn’t _________ up with my usual pace. I _________ my watch, thinking that would allow me to enjoy my _________ and find the peace I expected, but I found myself under performing. “Why can’t I let go and just enjoy myself?” I wondered. But after some _________, I realized why I was _________ both on trail runs and in graduate school.

Going into my Ph.D., I had thought that I would do well. To my surprise, I was wrong. I __________confidence in my research abilities which I-thought stopped me performing well and I constantly felt my progress was too slow. Other students’ self-confidence and their excellent results made me feel __________.

Then came my visit home. I was having __________ because I hadn’t properly __________ my expectations to the differences between an urban run and a trail run.

A Ph. D. is like a trail run. Sometimes you can run fast. Sometimes you might climb at snail’s pace. And that’s OK. Barriers are __________. Sometimes it’s best to take a deep breath and do your best to __________ the challenge.

【推荐1】A parent’s hopes for 2030

When 2010 arrived, my son was only a year old—tiny and_________, the master of a few basic words, but still mostly the baby we'd welcomed into the world,_______ all his first times.

Now my baby has grown into a(n) _________—tall, strong, stout, and smart, a(n) _________ of Akira Kurosawa samurai movies.

A _________from now, in 2030, he will be an adult. I expect the next 10 years to fly by, and be filled with _________. As 2020 begins. I am thinking about the kind of world my son will_________ and experience. I _________for him, and for all the young people of his age. So I have several   _________for the world my son and his generation will live in：

I hope we finally get__________about climate change. Polar ice is melting. The oceans are __________ . The question is __________whether we can stop climate change, but whether we’re willing and able to do anything to __________ it.

I’m not sure what a warming planet will mean for my son's life. I__________ it means he will live in a world where nations and groups __________   limited resources like clean water and food, which means that the danger of climate change won't come just from warmer climate, but from other humans competing for control over what’s __________.

The world is always going to be full of __________about how to solve the challenges we face. I hope, too, that my son’s generation learns to __________justice—but to do so with big heart and humility, recognizing our common humanity(人性) even with people who __________ us.

The world of 2030 won’t build itself. We are__________ it now, so my final wish is that we build the kind of world we actually want our children to live in.