1 . It was April 1962. I was 12 years old and in _______ grade at William Cleveland School, in Houston, Texas. My English teacher was Ms Ada Pettis. It was Spelling Bee time in our city. Students _______ booklets of words to study in preparation for the classroom spelldowns（拼单词比赛）. Spelling Bee was one of _______ activities of the year in our school. Winners would enter the citywide competition and try _______ the top Spelling Bee of Houston.

The day before the classroom spelldown, my youngest brother was playing with matches and accidentally set a fire in our apartment. The next morning, my mother _______ the school to inform（通知）Ms Pettis of the accident. When I arrived at school, Ms Pettis pulled me aside. She asked _______ I wanted her to put off the classroom spelldown because I was in low spirits, I told she no. That day, I won the spelldown.

The school spelldown was held the next week. I won again! The citywide spelling competition was one month _______.

Over the weekend, Ms Pettis picked me up. We went to her home, where she helped me _______ the spelling of difficult words. After a couple of _______, Ms Pettis took me to a nearby ice cream bar, where we enjoyed large sundaes（圣代）! We practised and had big sundaes every weekend until the citywide competition.

I did not win, but I still felt _______ to have participated. I also felt grateful that I had such a caring teacher.