【推荐1】It was Language Week in Jeremy’s school. Every year, his school ______ a week-long event where several activities take place.

This year, one contest (比赛) drew Jeremy’s ______. His school would have a haiku (俳句) writing contest. Haiku is a type of Japanese short poems. Students ______ take part in the contest have to hand in a few haikus written ______ a page.

Jeremy told his father about the writing contest ______ he got home that day. ______ what the contest was about, Jeremy’s father said, “Son, you should have a try. You’ve ______ done well in writing tests. And the contest sounds like a lot of ______! I believe you are the best.” Jeremy, however, was not so ______. He said, “I don’t think I can do it well. What’s more, if I can’t win any ______ the prizes, I would have ______ my time and effort.”

Facing Jeremy’s negative (消极的) ______, Jeremy’s father smiled. He said, “Sometimes, the ______ is not important. The journey that one takes to get to the end can be more ______.” Jeremy listened to his father’s words and felt encouraged. Then he decided that he would try to write some haikus and ______ part in the contest. His father was very glad to see his son beat his weakness and try something new.

In a faraway place, there was a village. The village had____potatoes than anywhere else in the country. In the harvest season,   ____tons of potatoes were dug out of the ground. Before the potatoes were sent to the market, the villagers would ____divide the potatoes into three groups: large, medium and small.

In this village there was a young man who received his share of the potatoes. While the other villagers_____,he just walked around the village laughing and talking. The villagers thought he was lazy, and they worried____this man would never get his potatoes ready in time. However, they were greatly surprised to find that the man's potatoes_____ perfectly into three groups when it was time for the villagers to go to the market.

After ____ the man how he did it, they understood he was not lazy, but very clever. He had ___cart(手推车)and put all the potatoes in it. When he pulled the cart along the rough(崎岖 不平的)road, the potatoes moved up and down with it. In this way, the smaller potatoes moved to the bottom, the larger potatoes rose to the top and the medium ____rested in the middle.

Life is ____ this too. If we wisely do things, we can achieve double results with half the work.

【推荐3】When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs (嫩枝) one day. Her school gave these twigs to the students to plant. None of them looked very hardy, but with hope for the _________, I planted them in our backyard. Over the years, because of an accident with the lawnmower (割草机) and _________ soil, three of them died. Only one _________.

It grew crooked (弯弯曲曲的) and very slowly. It never got very tall. In the end, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. A few years ago, I _________ that it was starting to die. The lower branches were becoming bare. Only the top third of the tree was still green. Last summer I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer (肥料), but it didn’t work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was wondering whether it would be better to just _________. It would make mowing the lawn easier. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving _________ the leaves. It was a robin (知更鸟) _________ building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still _________. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a(an) _________.

This tree reminded me that all of our lives have __________. It doesn’t matter if we are young and strong or old and sick. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.

【推荐1】I used to be a fat girl. I weighed 336 pounds and looked as ___as my fridge. I was never worried about it. But one day I had a medical examination. The ___told me that I was having heart trouble. It woke me up. I began to feel ___. Then I decided to do something!

In a year and five months, I ___104 pounds. It was great! I didn’t have any expensive food, medical treatment or camp-style exercise. What was the secret to my ___?

Importantly, I have kept doing these things. People sometimes say, “You don’t ___to tell me what to do. I know it already!” But the fact is that knowing what to do and doing what you know are totally ___. The important thing is to know what to do and then just keep doing it.

【推荐2】Mark worked at a factory after graduation. His teacher advised him to talk less, but do more. And he was sure that what his teacher said was right and _________ the advice all the time.

One day, he visited his teacher _________. “I have been following your advice, but I haven’t got promoted (提拔),” he said. The teacher thought for a while and said, “It’s time for you to give yourself a _________.” When he returned to work after his days off, the manager told him after he was gone, others met many _________. Realizing his importance, the manager promoted him. From then on, whenever Mark felt like he wanted more than what he was _______, he would take a day off.

Until one day, the manager _________ him from going into the factory. He went back to see his teacher to find out how things had gone so wrong.

His teacher answered, “You heard only half the lesson. No one pays any attention to a light bulb (灯泡) that is always on. It is only when it is off that people suddenly take _________. There is the other half. _________ a light bulb often goes out, it will be replaced (代替) with a new one. It’s _________ that we need to learn to be satisfied.” After hearing his teacher’s words, Mark __________ his head to show his agreement.