1 . A man who knows how to write a personal letter has a very powerful tool. A letter can be enjoyed, read and ________. It can set up a warm conversation between two people far apart; it can keep a friendship with very little effort.

I will give ________. A few years ago my older brother and I were not getting along. We had been close as _______ but had grown apart. Our meetings were not pleasant; our conversation was filled with arguments and quarrels; and every effort to clear the air seemed to only ________ our misunderstanding. Then he moved to a small island in the Caribbean and we ________ touch. One day he wrote me a letter. He described his island and its people, told me what he was doing, said how he felt, and encouraged me to write. Rereading the letter, I was ________ by its humor and clever expressions. These were all qualities for which I had once respected my older brother but ________ he no longer had them. I had never known he could write so well. And with that one letter we became friends ________.

It might never have occurred to my brother to write me if he had not been in a place where there were no ________. For him, writing was a necessity. It also turned out to be the best way for us to get back in touch. Because we live in an age of easy communication, people often ________ that they don’t always have to phone or email. They have a choice. And that is to write.

2 . Gang (团伙) tensions were rising at Southwood High School. Some community activists held a(n) _______ meeting with parents and the principal. A group of the fathers _______ decided it was time to make their _______ known on campus.

That’s how Dads on Duty was born with its goal — make sure the kids are safe. Around 40 men organized into six-person shifts, with two shifts on campus every day. They _______ the day after the meeting. These people _______ their own schedules and commitments without complaint. Some of them are fathers of kids at the school, while others are not but expect the youth in their community to know they have an entire village behind them.

Now, anyone who wants to enter the school with _______ will have to avoid energetic papa bears, big smiles and many dad jokes. It’s hard to be a tough guy when somebody’s uncle has just _______ you into checking your shoelaces for countless times, only to find that they are not, in fact, untied.

Since Dads on Duty arrived on campus, gang battles have dramatically declined. “The school has been happy, you can feel it,” said one student. Another told the Washington Post, “They _______ all the kids like we’re their own children.”

The dads aren’t meant to _______ security guards. If they do see a fight may occur, they get security on the scene as soon as possible. Their presence is meant to be more ________ than reactionary.

5 . The Turnaround

Anxiously, I looked through the roster (花名册) posted on the wall. My body ________ as I saw all my friends’ names but did not find mine. I could feel the tears building in my eyes. I felt ________ inside, like nothing mattered.

When I got back home, my father noticed my sullen walk and gloomy face, and asked me what was wrong.

“All my friends ________ the school team. Everyone! Except me…” I stammered.

“Well, what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there?” he asked.

I didn’t know what to say, just shaking my head. I thought hard for thirty minutes about what my dad said, and it started making ________. Nobody was going to give me a ________ on that team. I would have to earn it.

________, there was a gym near my school, so as soon as school was over, I biked to the gym and trained hard. I ran, dribbled, and shot until I ________ on the floor every single day. There were moments when I didn’t think I could keep on going, but I ________ through it. After all, I thought, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

After almost a year, I tried out for my seventh-grade team with great confidence. Regardless of the outcome, I knew that I had worked hard and learned something about mental ________. The next day, seeing my name printed in large bold letters, I realized I made it. The greater the effort, the ________ the reward, and I officially made a turnaround.

7 . Years ago, in a small fishing village in Holland, a young boy taught the world about the rewards of unselfish service.

Because the entire village lived on fishing, a volunteer rescue team was needed in case of emergency. One night, the winds _______, the clouds burst and a strong storm overturned a fishing boat at sea. The crew in trouble sent out the SOS. The captain of the rescue rowboat team _______ the alarm and the villagers gathered in the town square overlooking the sea. When the team started their rowboat and _______ their way through the wild waves, the villagers waited _______ on the beach, holding lamps to light the way back.

An hour later, the rescue boat reappeared through the fog and the cheering villagers ran to greet them. Falling _______ on the sand, the volunteers reported that the rescue boat could not hold any more passengers and they had to leave one man behind. Even one more passenger would have surely _______ the rescue boat and all would have been lost.

Anxiously, the captain called for another volunteer team to look for the survivor. Sixteen-year-old Hans stepped forward. His mother grabbed his arm, crying, “Please don’t go. Your father died in a shipwreck (船只失事) 10 years ago and your elder brother, Paul, has been lost _______ for three weeks. Hans, you are all I have left.”

Hans replied, “Mother, I have to go. What if everyone said I can’t go, let someone else do it? Mother, this time I have to do my duty. When the call for _______ comes, we all need to take our turn and do our part.” Hans kissed his mother, joined the team and _______ into the night.

Another hour passed, which seemed to Hans’ mother like a century. Finally, the rescue boat dashed through the fog with Hans standing up in the bow. ________ his hands, the captain called, “Did you find the lost man?” Hardly able to control himself, Hans excitedly cried back, “Yes, we found him. Tell my mother it’s my elder brother, Paul!”

9 . I was a boy of nine in 1960. I used to mow the lawn for Mrs. Long. She paid me little for the job, but promised to give me a Christmas present.

I spent much time _________ what it would be. Many boys had baseball gloves or ice skates and I was eager to have any of these. “It would _________ be a baseball glove,” I _________ with myself. “She wouldn’t know much about baseball.” So I was convinced that she would give me ice skates. I even imagined myself upon the skates.

As Christmas approached, it was with _________ that I stopped myself from reporting to Mrs. Long and demanding my present. On December 22, I presented myself at the door of the house. Mrs. Long handed me a small box which under no circumstances could _________ a pair of skates. I was disappointed. When lifting it from her, I was curious about the _________ of the present. It weighed almost nothing.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A kind of magic,” she said. Her words were enough to set my mind _________ with new possibilities.

On Christmas morning, I had this box on my knees. With great _________ I opened the box to find inside ten sheets of black paper, each labeled in colorful letters, Carbon Paper Regal Premium. “What is it?” I asked. Mum took two pieces of white paper, placed between them one of the black paper, and wrote my name on the upper sheet. Then she handed me the second sheet, which her pencil had in no way touched. There was my name!

It was a miracle to my _________ mind. In that one moment, I remembered the ideas about the duplication(复制) of words and the printing and the mystery of spreading ideas. Thank Mrs. Long for her wisdom to guess that a boy might profit from a present totally outside the realm of his ordinary experience.

The __________ present merely satisfies a temporary desire; the great one lights up all the years of life that remain.