I was crazy about baseball. My baseball glove was always close by: either under my desk or my chair at school. My biggest dream was to play big-league baseball like my favorite star, Billy Hawkins.

My favorite ________ of the school day was the time when I could take out my glove and play catch. My teacher, Ms. Welles, told me to leave my glove at home, but I was lost without my glove. During break, I stood around with sad eyes and drooping shoulders, and in class I was always quiet. She also told me that I could do better in my studies if I concentrated on(集中精力于……) them. It was true.

One day, Ms. Welles introduced a special guest to the class—Billy Hawkins! I was ________! Billy said, “If you want to be a ball player, it’s important to study bard in school.”

“What does school have to do with baseball?” I asked.

“I’ll show you by giving you a baseball ________.” said Billy. “Here’re three questions. Each student who answers all the three questions correctly will win two tickets to a Leopards game!”

I was sure I could answer the questions. The first question was, “How do you ________ a player’s batting average (击球率)?” I wasn’t sure how to do the math on it. For the second question, Billy handed out an article about baseball. It ________ several words I didn’t understand. The third question was which team had won the World Champion when George Bush became President. ________ I knew about the World Champion winners, I didn’t know much about Presidents.

Nobody got all the three answers right. Luckily, we would have another chance the following week.

That week, we all helped each other. The students who were good with numbers taught the others how to work out the averages. The ________ readers helped with the difficult words, and the best history students helped with important dates and names. When we took the second baseball test, we answered all the questions correctly, and the whole class won the tickets!

That afternoon at the stadium, I asked my hero to ________ on my souvenir (纪念品) baseball. It read, “Keep working hard in school. See you in the big leagues! Billy Hawkins.”

【推荐2】Mr. Browns are the Smiths’ neighbors (邻居). Mr Brown’s first name is John. But when his neighbors talk about _________, they all call him “Mr Going-to-do”. Do you know _________? Mr Brown always says he is going to do _________, but he never does it.

Every Saturday Mr Brown goes to the Smiths’ back door and _________Mr Smith. “I’m going to _________my house today,” he says, or “I’m going to wash my car tomorrow,” _________ “These trees in front of my house are too big. I’m going to _________ them down next week.”

Mr Smith usually says, “Are you, John?” He knows his neighbor _________ going to clean his house, or wash his car, or cut down any trees. Then he says, “Well, excuse me, John. I’m going to do some work in the house.” And he _________.

Mr and Mrs Smith often say to their only child Dick, “Are you going to do something? Then do it! __________ be another ‘Mr Going-to-do’!”

【推荐2】It was a new school day. Mrs. Brown noticed Teddy did not play well with ________ children. His clothes were dirty, and he needed a bath most of the time. Most importantly, Teddy did ________ in his study.

Mrs. Brown decided to have a look at Teddy’s past record. ________, when she opened his records, she was surprised.

Teddy’s first-grade teacher wrote. “Teddy is ________ happy. He does his homework carefully and he gets on well with his classmates.” His second-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, ________ he is upset because his mother is seriously ill. His life must be ________.” His third-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy feels bad because his mother died. He doesn’t want to ________ or play. “Teddy’s fourth-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy doesn’t show much interest this term. He has ________ friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

By now, Mrs. Brown realized she was wrong about Teddy. She felt even worse when she got the boy’s ________ on Teachers’ Day. It was a necklace(项链) with half bottle of perfume(香水). Some students laughed, but Mrs. Brown stopped ________. She said how pretty the necklace was and put it on.

That day, Teddy stayed after school to say, “Mrs. Brown, today you smell just like my mom used to.”

【推荐3】I can still remember an adventure(冒险) I had when I was young.

I went to a lake near my house and slowly walked around it. At the back of it I was surprised to _________ a dirt(尘土) road. It was a road that I had never seen before, _________ I set out to travel.

I had walked on and on for about an hour before I _________that I was very tired and hungry. It was getting dark and I became _________. I was sure it would be _________ dark before I could make my way back home again.

I went on walking with fear growing inside me. I almost cried when I turned one last curve(拐弯处) and saw _________far away. It was a house that I knew.

I got excited! I knew the way home! It was _________ over a mile away but I hurried back to my house in no time. I walked in _________a big smile on my face, just in time for dinner. Then I _________ my adventure with a good night’s sleep.

I was reminded of this recently when I saw a sign that said “All roads lead home.” This is __________. In life all roads can lead us to our homes here on the earth. They can also lead us to our homes in our hearts.