【推荐1】Some children are natural-born bosses. They have a strong need to make _________, manage their environment, and lead rather than _________. Stephen Jackson, a Year One student, “operates under the theory of what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine,” says his mother. “The other day I bought two new Star Wars Lightsabers (光剑). Later, I saw Stephen with the two _________ ones while his brother was using the old ones.”

“_________ the extended family, and you’ll probably find a bossy grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin in every _________. It’s an inheritable trait (遗传的特征),” says Russell Barkley, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. Other children who may not be particularly bossy can gradually gain dominance when they _________ their parents are weak, hesitant, or in disagreement with each other.

Whether it’s inborn nature or developed _________ at work, too much control in the hands of the young isn’t _________ for children or the family. Fear is at the root of a lot of bossy behaviour, says family psychologist John Taylor. Children, he says in his book From Defiance to Cooperation, “have secret feelings of weakness” and “a desire to feel safe.” It’s the parents’ role to provide that _________.

When a “bossy child” doesn’t learn limits at home, he is to face lots of troubles __________ the family. The overly willful and unbending (倔强的) child may have trouble __________ teachers and coaches, for example, or trouble keeping friends. It can be pretty __________ as the top dog because no one likes your bossy ways.

“I see more and more parents giving up their __________,” says Barkley, who has studied bossy behaviour for more than 30 years. “They bend too far because they don’t want to be as __________ as their own parents were. But they also feel less __________ about their own parenting skills. Their kids, in turn, feel more anxious.

【推荐2】Eleven years ago, the world I was familiar with ended. My _______ was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the course of seven months, Bill went from_______ me at tennis to needing my help to go to the bathroom.

It was the_______ time of my life. Maybe not_______. But it was certainly the time when I felt most alive. I _______ that a flat tire or the small complaints of a child with the sniffles (抽鼻子)_______ in comparison with the beauty of sudden laughter, the night sky, the _______ of a bakery. I found I could _______ myself to see more beauty.

In the days after Bill’s diagnosis and brain surgery, being his caregiver _______ me to find clinical trials and talk to different oncologists, which gave me a sense of________. In the later days, it meant being fully present for almost every moment. During his last weekend, a relative________ him. I noticed that she’d changed her appearance, and not in a good way. It was the kind of thought I’d ________ keep to myself. Just then, Bill ________ exactly what I’d been thinking, in that ruthlessly (鲁莽地) truthful way he had, and I found myself________ out loud.

“I could live with this man forever, even________ as much care as he does,” I thought. However, he would be dead in four________!

Eleven years later, I still try to be the ________   I became during those seven months. I try to be a little more ________ and generous, a little more grateful for the small __________ in life. It was my husband’s last, best __________ to me.

【推荐3】“Nothing will ever be the same again,” Ally said to herself.

Ally’s father _______ last summer. It wasn’t fair, Ally thought. Dad was young and had never been sick. Why had his heart _______ stopped? Ally sank slowly into her father’s favorite chair and looked at his picture on the bookcase. “I miss you, Dad,” she said _______.

She felt a hand smoothing her hair and _______. “Why don’t you come outside with me , Ally?” her mother asked. “By this time last year you’d already taken dozens of pictures of birds.”

But her mother must know bird watching wouldn’t be the _______ this year. How could it be? Ally wondered. Ever since she could remember, she and Dad had been a team, _______ the woods for the special wood warbler (林莺). “I’ll be out in a while, I promise,” she answered.

After her mother left, Ally _______ the photo album. On the cover was a photo of a tiny yellow bird with blue-gray wings and black eyes. Dad _______ it from a local newspaper. Ally smiled, remembering the _______ look on Dad’s face when he showed her the pretty bird.

“I can’t ________ someone spotted this little guy way up here in New Jersey,” he said. “Wood warblers are usually ________ in the south not this far north. I bet ________ we search real hard, Ally, we’ll see this little guy together someday.”

Ally closed her eyes. She loved ________ about the times she and Dad had spent searching the woods for the little bird. They’d never spotted the warbler ________ her father had an amazing way of making each outing seem ________. If only I could get that good feeling back, she thought, sighing.

【推荐1】George’s mother was very poor and sick. Instead of having bright fires in winter, she had_______to burn but dry_______, which George picked up under the trees.

One _______day in July, she sent George to the woods. He was to stay there all day to get as much wood as he could.

He worked very hard so that by the time the sun was high, he was hot, and wished for a _______ place where he might rest for a while and eat his dinner.

While he hunted around the bank of the stream, he saw among the grass some fine wild _______ ，which were a bright red with ripeness.

“How good these will be with my bread and butter!” thought George. Lining his little cap with leaves, he set to work _______ to gather all he could find. He felt happy and thought how much his mother would like to see him there, and to be there herself instead of in her dark _______.

George thought of all this and just as he was lifting the first strawberry to his mouth, he said to himself, “How much Mom would like these!” He stopped and _______ the strawberry again.

“Shall I save them for her?” said George, thinking how much they would refresh her, yet _______ looking at them with a longing eye. “I will eat half and take the other half to her, ” said he at last and he ________ into two piles. But each pile looked so small that he put them together again.

“I will keep them all for Mom,” said he and he ________ them up nicely till he should go home.

When the sun was beginning to sink. George set out for home. How happy he felt then, that he had all his strawberries for his ________mother. The nearer he came to his home, the ________   he wished to taste them.

Just as he had thrown down his wood, he heard his mother’s weak voice from her bedroom. “I am ________，and longing for some tea. ”

George ran in to her and joyfully offered the strawberries. “You ________them for me, did you? ” said Mom, laying her hand gently on his head, while tears stood in her eyes.

Could the eating of the strawberries have given George half the happiness he felt at the moment?

【推荐2】I’ve been farming sheep on a hillside for 54 years. I use a small tractor to get about. My dog Don always sits beside me in the passenger seat.

One morning I _______ a lost lamb when I was in the top field, near where a motorway cuts through my land. The lamb had become separated from its _______, so I jumped out of the tractor to _______ it while Don stayed in his seat.

Lamb and mother _______. I turned back to the tractor only to see it move suddenly away from me. This was so _______ because I had put the handbrake on when I jumped out. _______ Don had somehow made the _______ move.

My heart _______ in my chest as I saw the tractor heading towards the _______. I ran desperately but failed to ________. It crashed through a wooden fence and disappeared. The ________ thing I saw was Don’s face, looking calmly back at me.

Heart in mouth, I ________ the fence and looked over. The tractor was ________ against the crash barrier in the central reservation, having miraculously (奇迹般地) crossed the ________ road with fast-flowing traffic. I couldn’t see Don, but as I ________ the tractor he jumped out onto the road, apparently ________ , and dashed back to me.

The police ________ and the motorway ran normally again. I couldn’t quite believe my ________. It turned out no one got badly hurt, but the outcome could have been ________. Don was given a special ________ that night—I didn’t want him thinking I was angry with him.