【推荐2】The world of the out-of-doors is full of secrets. And they are so interesting that quite a lot of people are busy studying them.

All around us are birds, animals, trees and flowers. The facts about how they ________ and grow are as interesting as anything could be.

Do you know that one of the great presidents of the USA spent hours and hours ________ birds? A doctor who lives near New York City was so ________ in insects that he began to ________ them. Now he has more than one thousand different kinds of insects.

Then come with me, and I will help you find some of nature’s secrets. Let us go ________ through the woods and fields. Here we shall find how a rabbit tells the other rabbits that there is danger. We shall ________ a mother bear and her young ones as they look for ________ and get ready for winter sleep. We shall watch bees dancing in the air to let other bees know ________ they can find food. I will show you many other interesting things, but the best thing that I can ________ you is to keep your eyes and ears ________ when you go out of doors. Nature tells these secrets only to people who look and listen carefully.

【推荐1】I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in Italy.

As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and ________ beside us. He called the waiter and gave his ________— “Two cups of coffee, and put one of them there on the wall.”

We were ________ in this order very much. We saw him drink one cup of coffee but he paid for two.

When he left, the waiter put a piece of paper on the ________ saying “A Cup of Coffee”.

Then two other men entered and ordered ________ cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They drank two cups of coffee, but paid for three and left. The waiter did the ________.

After a few days, we went to this coffee shop again. A man poorly dressed entered. As he ________, he looked at the wall and said, “One cup of coffee from the wall.” The waiter ________ coffee to this man. The man had his coffee and left without paying. Then the waiter wasn’t ________. He took off a piece of paper from the wall instead.

Now it was very clear. What a ________ thought! Probably it is the most beautiful wall!

I looked at the words on the page. I knew how to say them, but my _______ wouldn’t work. It was my first class in this new school, so nobody here knew me. My teacher just asked me to read the text out loud. The whole class was waiting for me _______. I could even hear my heartbeats.

I just sat there. Seconds passed. Some students started to _______. “What’s wrong with her?” one boy said. “Maybe she can’t read at all!” said another student.

“Just open your mouth and speak!” I told myself. I tried to get the words out. But the first was always the _______. The teacher was waiting. More of my classmates were making fun of me. I wanted to hide under my desk. I soon felt tears running down...

I often faced situations like this during my grade school. _______? I had a stuttering (结巴) problem. Because of this, I often felt embarrassed at school.

Thankfully, I met a great teacher, Mrs. Brown. She never rushed me when I was trying to talk. She helped me to relax when I was speaking, and would always wait _______ for me to finish my sentences.

Mrs. Brown offered me the most encouragement. She always let me know that my stuttering problem didn’t mean I wasn’t smart. She said, “Your brain is moving too fast, and your mouth just can’t keep up!” Those simple words made me feel _______ and encouraged.

Great changes happened to me. When I entered high school, I almost _______ stuttering. In college, I had no trouble at all. As a child, I never imagined that I would become a teacher just like Mrs. Brown, passing love and care on to my students.

【推荐3】When I was a child, my father told me a story about himself. My father told me he was a rich young man. When my grandfather _______, he left my father a beautiful forest manor(庄园). Unluckily, before my father could sell it for a lot of _______, a big fire destroyed it. _______ beautiful green trees turn into waste suddenly, he felt his heart was broken.

After a few days, my father wanted to borrow some money _______ a bank to bring back the forest manor’s beauty. But the bank refused him because the bank didn’t _______ he could pay it back. Then he felt so _______ that he didn’t want to eat or drink anything. So he hid in _______ room for days. My mother was worried about him _______ advised my father to take a walk outside. So my father went out for a _______. When he turned the first corner, he saw a store with a huge crowd. “It could be holiday discounts(促销).” he thought. Finally, it ________ that the women were waiting to buy charcoal(炭) used for winter heating. Then a(n) ________ came to my father and his eyes were bright suddenly. He ran home and planned to make the forest’s burnt ________ into charcoal.

As soon as his charcoal came on the market, it sold out quickly. Soon, he sold more than 1,000 boxes of charcoal. It made my parents very ________. In the spring of the following year, the money was used to buy a large number of small trees. After a few years, the forest manor that was destroyed by the ________ came to life again.

Hearing the story, I ________ realized everything will be fine as long as we never give up. As the saying goes, “When one door shuts, another opens in life.” It’s the story that encourages me to keep on going ahead whatever happens.