2 . Early on the morning of October 13, LaPierre was heading to the Chicago Marathon on the city’s Blue Line L. The _______ was full of energized marathoners. Before long, LaPierre noticed a man moving from passenger to passenger, asking for spare _______. His behavior struck LaPierre as “really weird,” especially the way he stared down anyone he felt hadn’t _______ him enough.

At the Cumberland station, most of the passengers suddenly _______ the car. LaPierre rushed out to see what was going on, only to hear _______ people shouting that the man asking for money was, in fact, armed and _______ people.

As the armed man hopped onto the next train car, LaPierre followed him. “I could not _______ knowing there were _______ children and people just trying to get to a race,” he says.

The man turned and saw LaPierre, his head down, bull-rushing him. Although the man was far _______ and younger, LaPierre crashed into him and managed to pin him ________ the closed door. “Once I got a few feet from him, I knew he wouldn’t be able to react fast enough to ________ me,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. The two men fought for the gun — and their ________. The man tried pushing past him, but ________, LaPierre grabbed the gun and handed it to a passenger. Then the police poured into the train, and LaPierre let them ________. He had a marathon to run.

This was not the first time LaPierre had jumped into a(n) ________. A few years back, he helped prevent a drugstore robbery. “I just happen to be at the right place at the right moment,” he says.

3 . An act of kindness doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Even those small acts of kindness can make a difference in someone's day. That was just the case for Amie Mickey when she____________a bumper sticker on her car reading: You Matter.

Amie started to do this several years ago. At first, she wondered if people would________________it. However, much to her surprise, she began seeing a flood of____________every time she hit the road. More often than not, people________________slowly near her car would roll down their windows, raising their____________________,waving and smiling. Sometimes, she even found some sticky notes left on her windshield saying things like “You________________too! “Once while she was driving down the highway, she became____________when a man driving a sports car at a high speed pulled his car alongside suddenly, waving and mouthing, “You matter!” Though it took her some time to recover from the________________, she still felt happy. Last year, someone____________________her car while she was waiting for her friend in the car by the roadside, saying to her, “It is a(an)________________sticker. I’ve seen various stickers before, but none of them have touched me as your sticker has done. “The two small words on the sticker seem simple enough, but they really struck a chord with many complete strangers who___________to catch sight of the sticker.

Stories like Amie's really________________the rest of us. Sometimes a kind word or gesture may lift our____________and it doesn't cost a thing except for a little extra thought. Maybe it means offering a friend a hug, praising the children when their children________________well in school, helping someone out or volunteering at animal shelters or shelters for the homeless. Acts of kindness are waiting everywhere. Small as they seem, they can make a____________impact on the world, and help form general goodness.

4 . When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could _______ tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he _______ in class.

When I took the first exam, I was _______ to find a 77,C-plus, on my test paper, for English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained _______ .

I decided to try harder, although I didn't know what that _______ because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I _______ with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn't change his mind.

One more test before the final exam. One more _______ to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time, _______ the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my _______ did no good and everything went as before.

The last hurdle(障碍) was the final. No matter what ________ I got, it wouldn't cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the ________ goodbye.

I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even ________ myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I'd have ________ with a test. A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A.I hurried into Professor Jayne's office. He seemed to be expecting me. “If I gave you the A as you ________ , you wouldn't continue to work as hard.”

I stared at him, ________ that his analysis and strategy (策略) were correct.I had worked my head off, as I had never done before.

I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I've always remembered Professor Jayne's lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.

8 . A little boy told his mother that there was a teacher-parent meeting in his school. To the little boy’s_________, she said she would go. This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother and he felt _________of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar (伤疤) that_________nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to_________why or how she got the scar.

At the meeting, the people were _________by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother_________the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed (尴尬的) and_________himself from everyone. He, however,_________ a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

The teacher asked_________, “How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied, “When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was too afraid to go in because the fire was out of__________, so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked __________but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She __________the burned side of her face. “This scar will be permanent, but until this day, I have never__________what I did.”

At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and appreciated her great __________of sacrifice (牺牲), He held her hand __________ for the rest of the day.

14.

A．honour

B．spirit

C．happiness

D．pride

10 . The universal use of technology has resulted in a constant current of information interrupting the “flow” of our life. This ________ pattern was initially marketed as “call-waiting” for our phones. But now our eyes, ears, and fingers are glued to our technology 24/7. We are ________ by emails, texts, or the news on our Facebook pages. My friend Ron refers to this technology as “weapons of mass distraction.”

But how is this mass distraction ________ us? According to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation report, children from eight to eighteen spend an average of seven hours and thirty-eight minutes a day using entertainment media. In addition, a study found that exposure to ________ media was associated with attention problems in a sample of 210 college students.

The ________ is just part of the larger picture. Dealing with a crowd of daily text messages and emails makes it difficult for us to be by ourselves when all that activity stops. Although a sense of ________ is natural at times, our addiction to the nonstop interaction afforded by technology deepens that feeling when access to the technology is unexpectedly ________. Just think how you feel when you lack cell phone or web access. Is it possible that our obsession with continually checking our emails and text messages has contributed to our ________ to genuinely relate with others?

Apart from the effects of technology on our ________ and our ability to be at ease without technology, let’s examine how interacting with our devices ________ the development of our fundamental communication and social skills. Many researchers observe that everyday conversation between human beings is becoming increasingly ________.

Many of today’s children are growing up with a built-in dependence on devices, making it difficult for them to feel ________ in everyday social situations. Often they find it ________ to make eye contact or deal with even the simplest face-to-face interactions without the aid of technology as an intermediary (媒介).

Over time these children forget how to relate with each other because they have become habituated to using technology to ________ direct contact with others and life itself. ________, some neuroscientists believe that use of the internet actually rewires our brains.