There live two sisters in a poor small village. The elder is called Mary and the younger Edith. They ________ each other very much, and always take good care of one another. In order to support their own family, every day they work from morning ________ night, getting as much grain (谷物) as possible from their fields.

One late autumn evening, after doing their long and tiring work in the ________ , Mary says to her husband,   “Edith just gets married and she must have many bills (账单) to ________ , I think we should put a bag of rice in her barn (谷仓).” “Oh, that’s a good idea,” says her husband. “But please don’t tell her,” says Mary,   “if she knows it is from us, she will never ________ it.”

So, late at night Mary takes a bag of rice to Edith’s barn. However, while looking at her own barn the next morning, she finds ________ funny. “I take a bag of rice to Edith’s house at night, ________ I still have the same number of bags in my barn. ________ does that happen?”

Mary decides to take another bag of rice to her sister’s barn at night again. But the next morning, she finds the ________ number of bags in her barn again! “This is very funny,” she thinks.

That night she ________ again. She carries a larger bag of rice on her shoulder this time and walks down the road to her younger sister’s home. In the bright moonlight she can see another ________ coming down the road. She is carrying something on her ________ , too.

“Edith!” Mary cries,   “what are you doing? ”

“I am ________ you, Mary,” says Edith, “You have a ________ family. I think you need much rice.” The two sisters quickly know that they two take rice to each other. They laugh. “It is good to have a sister ________ you.” they both say with a smile. And they live happily caring about each other ever after.

【推荐3】Look at the photo. It's my family. The old man and the old woman are my_______. Look! This is my father. He is next to(挨着) his brother, my _______.This woman is my mother. She is my English teacher. You can _______ three children in the photo. The two girls are my_______.The girl in a red dress is Nancy, _______ the girl in a yellow dress is Susan. Do you know who the boy is ? It's me. My grandparents live in the U.S.A. I live in Beijing _______ my parents now. My father is_______. He works in Beijing Hospital. He often has milk_______breakfast. And he likes to eat _______ . My mother often has some eggs and________.I have a big family.

My mom got phone calls from an elderly lady when she and my dad were just married. At that time, people had no cellphones. The lady wanted to _________ to someone named Maria. She was very friendly. My mom told her that she was not Maria, _________ the lady would still say my mom was Maria.

At least once a _________ this old lady would call for Maria—sometimes more! Every call started with “Hello, Maria! How are you?” She never cared if it was a wrong number.

My mom never learned _________ that lady was. The lady only ever said her first name. She talked about her daily life, her cat, her garden and the newspaper. Sometimes she talked about memories of Maria. She could only talk for 10 or 15 minutes before getting _________ and saying goodbye. My mom thought the old woman was lonely. Later, she realized that Maria was a childhood friend of the lady’s.

She normally (通常) called on Tuesdays or Thursdays around 8:00 p. m. My mom made sure to be at _________ at that time. The whole thing lasted for about a year. Then the calls just _________.

“Why did she call? Why did she stop?” my mom asked herself _________. She still thought of that lady sometimes and wondered about her. Maybe that woman _________ there was no Maria. Maybe she just had nobody else to talk to. My mom’s small act of kindness might have been a big __________ to someone in need.

【推荐2】My father died when I was a few months old. After he died, my mother moved back to Louisville, where _________ had grown up. We lived in a small house with her elder sister, Marion, and their mother.

When I was small, there was a children’s book called The Happy Family, and it was a real piece of work. Dad worked at the office, Mom cooked in the kitchen, and brother and sister always had friends sleeping over. The image(形象) of that family was typical(典型的) of the time. It looked _________ like my family, but luckily, the way my aunt Marion read it to me made the story really _________ .

My aunt was the one who played baseball with me, who took me horseback riding, who took me to the father-son dinners and who gave me lessons on how to drive. She even _________ to get a loan(贷款) so that I could go to Africa to work as a volunteer, which was my most important experience.

Aunt Marion never got married. This _________ that she was free to spend all her time taking care of me. Many people say we have a lot in common. She always _________ me to do my best. She never _________ to make me believe that I could do anything with my life that I wanted, if I only tried hard.

For more than sixty years, Aunt Marion didn’t and still doesn’t think of herself. _________ she is forced to come up to the front, my aunt will stand in the back in family photos, and she doesn’t think that her efforts have made much _________ . I’m thankful to my aunt, who taught me the things my __________ couldn’t. So every June for the past 40 years, for growing thankfulness to my Aunt Marion, I’ve sent her a Father’s Day card.

【推荐3】Whenever my child caused me to change my schedule, I thought to myself, “We don’t have time for this.” Therefore, the two words I most commonly spoke to my child were: “Hurry up”. But my promise to __ was made almost three years ago, and I began my journey to grasp what __ in life.

My younger daughter is my living reminder of why I must keep trying to slow down.

The two of us had taken a bike ride to the __. After buying an ice cream for my daughter, she sat down at a table __ admiring it she held in her hand. Suddenly a look of worry came across her face. “Do I have to rush, Mama? ”

I could have ______. Perhaps the pains of a ______ life don’t ever completely disappear, I thought sadly. As my child looked up at me waiting to know ______ she could take her time, I knew I had a choice. I could sit there in sorrow thinking about the number of times when I rushed my child through life…or I could ______ the fact that today I’m trying to do things ______. I chose to live in today.

“You don’t have to rush,” I said ______. Her whole face immediately brightened and her shoulders relaxed. And so we sat side-by-side talking. There were even moments when we sat in __   just smiling at each other.

When she got to the last bite, she held out a spoonful of ice crystals and sweet juice for me. “I __ the last bite for you, Mama,” my daughter said ______. I realized I just got the deal of a lifetime. I gave my child a little time… and ______, she gave me her last bite and reminded me that things taste sweeter and love comes ______ when you stop rushing through life.