1 . I grew up seeing handwritten notes as the best expression of love. My mom often _______ small, square papers on the bed for me to find. Sometimes it was just a smiley_________, other times she simply wrote the words “love you” ___________ordinary ballpoint pen, but it was more than enough.

Starting in elementary school, my mom _____________I write notes to my grandma who lived a few hours away. Grandma ___________wrote back. The excitement I felt when I looked in the___________and saw a letter in my grandma’s shaky letters never___________. By studying her handwriting, I could almost ___________how she’d been feeling that day. Those notes are now treasures.

The words, “You make me___________,” from my dad when I got my first prize and birthday notes from friends are all lifelines I can’t bear to______________.

However, my greatest lifelines came from my daughter, Avery. One day I put a yellow note on her______________not realizing there was a blank one______________to it. When I cleaned out her lunch box that night, the number of my notes had______________. I cried when I saw she’d written the same thing as me.

“I love you Avery.”

I reached up and stuck my daughter’s______________on the cabinet where the sandwich bread was stored as a source of daily____________. Then later another in my clothes closet where I got __________, and another on the bathroom mirror where I brushed my____________.

“I love you . I will love you for my whole life.”

Until today my daughter still______________posts lifelines to me. Now they are not so much for encouragement ______________they are reminders — reminders that time is flying.

Because the untraditional spelling has become______________.   Letters are no longer gigantic（巨大的）, but rather small and dainty（优美的）. But the love, the love is still there.

2 . ”Mommy, I got something for you!” Cody ran through the door after school. His face wore the biggest smile ever. He waved something above his head. “It’s a pen. But not just any pen. It’s a lucky pen!” He handed me the pen _______, waiting for my reaction (反应).

I looked at the pen in my hand. There was nothing _______ about it. It looked just like any other ballpoint pen. I had a drawer full of them. At that moment, I didn’t realize how special it was or how much I would come to treasure (珍爱) it.

I had made the decision to be a(n) _______. I had dreamed about it for a long time but I was afraid of being refused by the publishing houses. The night before, I told my husband my _______when I thought Cody wasn’t listening. “What if _______ likes my writing and I fail?” But Cody did _______ what I said. Now he stood in front of me, watching me examine the pen. “You don’t have to be afraid now,” he said. “This pen will make your _______ great and everyone will love you.”

Tears filled my eyes. Refusal (拒绝) and failure didn’t seem like such a big problem any more. Even if I _________sold the first book, I had everything I could ever need. I knew that pen would bring me luck, though. And I felt _________ already, just by having Cody in my life, especially when I heard what he did to get it.

In the lunchroom, Cody heard an older boy talking about having a lucky ________. He decided to get it for me. The boy was a tough negotiator (强硬的谈判者) but Cody didn’t ________. In the end, he ________ his favorite Matchbox car, two army men his brother gave him, a crayon, and a piece of candy — his most important things, for that pen. Just to make __________ feel better.

I still have that pen, though it’s long out of ink, in a cup on my desk. When a refusal letter arrives and I start feeling __________, I look at it and remember just how lucky I am. For while I value that pen, it’s Cody who I really ________ in my life.

3 . The roles we often expect our fathers to play, protector or provider, can make them seem unapproachable.That’s how it was with my dad.He was a ______ person, who was never much of a talker.I didn’t want to ______ his hard shell and had gotten used to it.That brought both him and me the sense of ______.

But when my life took a hit a year ago, things had to ______ .I needed to know how he had found his way, because I felt like I had ______ mine.In a moment of desperation, it occurred to me that sending an email might be the ______.I could speak at a comfortable distance and give him room to ______.

So I wrote to him, telling him about my regrets and fears, and asking him to ______ the similar experience he had undergone.

Two weeks later, it ______ in my inbox with the title handwritten: “GIRLS I LIKED, BY LUIGIC.” Dad had carefully ______ my message, reached back into his memory and made a ______.I closed the email and started to cry.I cried because I wished I had ______ my heart earlier but was grateful it wasn’t too late.I cried because I hadn’t been able to ask him anything about his life in all this time; ______, I had focused on not sharing anything about myself with him.I cried because at 33, in the middle of my own struggles, his letter instantly put me ______.And I cried because in the end, it was so ______: I just had to hit “send”.

We’ve since had many ______.Better yet, he offers up stories ______ without me asking.My problems haven’t been magically ______, but getting to know my dad better and learning to ______ him more has made the tough stuff more manageable and life sweeter.

It’s hard to talk to dads sometimes.I’m glad that I have found a ______ to talk to mine.

4 . On a weekday evening, Jane was at home as usual.As her ________swung between what she was going to do with her life and their dinner plans for the evening, she was unexpectedly _____ by an urgent call from her sister "Get over here! Turn on NBC and check these guys out.They are just like you… " One Face-book message and a phone interview later, Jane ______ herself on a bus with 8 strangers in the middle of the sweltering desert heat of Utah, picking up trash and _____ awareness about zero-waste and climate change.

With a deep______ of the environment and a desire to make a ______, Jane, Davey, and a group of_____ themselves ＂environmental pick-up artists" went on a coast to coast road side trash pick-up.As they walked, sometimes only ______0.9 miles in an entire day, they ______and steadily made their way across the United States for three years, picking up a total of 201, 678 pounds of trash.

During an interview, Jane and Davey ______ wonderful stories of hope and inspiration that fueled their ______to continue their journey.After spending weeks silently ______about how she would have enough _______ to fly home for their two-week spring break, Jane found a blank, unidentified envelope ______ $850 cash in the desert.Just enough to get her home and back.After their bus ______outside of Denver, they unexpectedly got ______and arrived in Yosemite National Park three weeks later, just in time for the "Yosemite Facelift" where _______from all over the state came together with a(an) ______of cleaning up trash all over the park.

Jane and Davey are like so many unsung heroes in our community.Their devotion to working in small, meaningful ways ______their desire for real change.What they have done is a reminder that we all can make ______ to our environment in our own manner.

5 . My friend, Audrey, was a wonderful talker. When another person told a story, she would take _______ of the first empty space by saying, “That_______   me of something that happened to me.” Then she would_______ to tell a longer, even more dramatic(戏剧性的) story about her experiences. She was always praised for her gift for _______, which made it hard for her to realize the gift of_______ could be even more important than the ability to speak skillfully.

She carried on with this_______, uncorrected, into adulthood. Then a turning point came during one of her dinner parties. A guest named Stanley was_______about his daughter’s disease._______ Stanley opened his mouth to answer, Audrey said, “I know exactly about it” and turned the_______ to her own experience with a similar health problem.

She had spoken for a minute or two when Stanley suddenly began__________. He offered a simple __________ to his hostess:“I’m sorry, Audrey. I didn’t mean to__________, but I just can’t listen now because I’m too__________ about my daughter.”

Of course, Stanley had no reason to apologize and Audrey __________ that. For the first time, she realized she was too insensitive. This__________ experience led her to do self﹣observation.

Audrey decided to__________ listening. When together with friends, she tried to only listen.When asked about herself, she answered__________, without detailed explanation. When speaking, she said with more__________. It just made her realize she was an ordinary person and that being   ordinary was not a(n) __________ thing. It was just about being herself.

Perhaps our courage to__________ our ordinariness is one of the keys to happiness in our valued relationship.

6 . It was a beautiful day with the sun shining brightly. _______ to spend some time outdoors, I went up the mountain with Uncle Jimmy. The mountain was not easy to climb and had tough rocks and streams on it. In the end,_______ and hot, I couldn’t go any further._________ , we went back down the mountain in the end. On the way back down, Uncle Jimmy asked me a question, which

_______ me speechless for a second: “What’s your dream, young lady?” I have no idea, I answered after thinking for a while. Then he smiled and told me about his _______. He didn’t _______ well at school when he was a student. Although _______ thought he could succeed, he knew _______ what his dream was to be a _______ “I knew I wasn’t ________ when it came to studying, so I tried to buy snacks from a nearby market and sell them after class,” he told me. After he left school, he started selling different items to ________ which one was most attractive to customers. Of course, he often had no money in his pocket, but however ________ life was, he never gave up.

“There is no doubt that a person who puts in a great deal of ________ to reach his or her goal will have good luck at some point. The meaning of life is to ________ your dream,”   he said in a gentle voice.

That night I could not fall asleep. With my eyes wide open, I lay in bed tossing and turning asking myself, “What’s my motivation?^” I wanted to be a top student, but the hard work________ meant putting everything into following my ________ . If I find myself ________ willpower, what should I do? Leaving home early the next morning, I climbed the mountain again all by myself. It made me think： If we don’t________ the climb, how can we get to enjoy the scenery on the top of the mountain? At last, I reached the top and was________ by the warm breeze and sunshine. Nothing could be more ________ than that.

7 . From one great figure in the story of 55th century music to another, Ray Charles stands today as one of the most famous figures in the history of jazz music. In terms of _______ adversity（逆境）, Ray Charles, like Jim Abbott, had a huge _______ obstacle standing in his way—he was blind.

On the one hand, _______ artists are nothing new at all times and in all countries. _______, John Milton went blind, but _______ overcame that adversity and stands today _______ one of the most important poets in English and world _______. Even so, however, Milton went blind _______ on in his life, whereas Ray Charles was already _______ blind by the age of seven.

That didn’t ________ Ray, of course. Whether Georgia’s On Your Mind ________ Hit the Road Jack —you know ________ we’re saying—Charles became not just one of the greatest jazz ________ of all-time, and a classic ________ of overcoming adversity, but did so while overcoming different kinds of adversity at that. ________ being blind, Charles had to deal with racism as well.

He’s a great ________ of what can make someone truly inspirational. With not one ________ two huge obstacles to his success, millions were ________ by Ray Charles—including fellow blind African-American piano man Stevie Wonder and, of course, Jamie Foxx, who ________ Charles in a highly-praised biopic（传记片）— and he remains hugely inspirational today, a ________ to just how far genius and determination can take you.

8 . It was 7 in the morning. I was on a train to another city when I started a（n）_________ with a young man sitting next to me. From what he said, I_________ that he came from a farming family and was now doing very well in the IT industry.

He was_________ enough to give me a window seat, help a co — passenger when he dropped his coffee, etc. These small _________ showed what a good person he was!

I was lost in reading a biography（自传）on Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger has played a huge role in my life _________ I haven't met him. Reading a _________about him is great fun.

Now my co — passenger _________ to see the book, so I handed it to him. Minutes passed into _________ . From the train window, I _________him reading the book carefully. Towards the end of the __________. I even saw him__________ everything about the book including the publishing house and code number. He turned to me and asked where he could buy this book.

"You can ________ it," I said. “This is the second time that I've read it anyway. "

I was __________ ! Actually, it was last weekend that I bought it. I loved it so much and how I __________to hold on to it myself! ____________when I thought of his kindness, I thought I should do something too.

"Wow;" the man said to me. "This is really__________. Thank you so much. "

No __________. Don't worry about it. "

I got off the train and walked into the new city with a sense of __________ I didn't __________ giving the book to him as I believed__________each other is really a good thing.

9 . In 1989, an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the middle of complete damage and disorder, a father rushed to the school where his son was _______ to be, only to discover that the building was completely _______.

After the unforgettable shock, he _______ the promise he had made to his son: “No matter _______ happens, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to _______ his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins, it looked _______, but he still remembered his promise to his son. He rushed there and started _______ the ruins.

As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived, _______: “It’s too late! They’re all dead! _______, face reality, there’s nothing you can do!” To each parent he ________ with the same words: “Are you going to help me now?” No one helped. And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone.

Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know ________: “Is my boy ________or is he dead?” He dug for eight hours … 24 hours … 36 hours… then, in ________ hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son’s ________. He screamed his son’s name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad! It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that you ________ me if you were alive and ________ you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised, ‘No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it, Dad!”

“What’s going on in there?” the father asked.

“There are 14 of us ________ out of 33, Dad. We’re scared, hungry, thirsty and we’re ________ that you’re here. When the building collapsed, it made ________, and it saved us.”

“Come out, boy!”

“No Dad! Let the other kids out first, ________ I know you’ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!”

10 . A group of highly established alumni(校友) got together to visit their old university professor.The conversation among them soon turned into ___________ about their stressful work and life.

The professor went to his kitchen and ____________ with a large pot of coffee and a collection of different __________, including porcelain(瓷), plastic, glass and crystal.Some cups are plain-looking, ___________ some are expensive and extremely beautiful.The professor told them to help __________ to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in their hands, the professor said, “Did you __________ all the nice-looking cups are taken and only the plain and inexpensive ones are ____________.It is ___________ for everyone to want the best for themselves, but that is the __________ of problems and stress in your life.“The cup itself ____________ no quality to the coffee.In most of the ___________, it’s just more expensive and even hides what we drink.” the professor continued.

“___________ all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but all of you ___________ went for good-looking and expensive cups and then you began __________ each other’s cups.

“Let’s consider that life is the coffee and the jobs, houses, cars, money and position in ___________ are the cups.The type of cup we have does not define or ____________ the quality of our lives.”

Sometimes we ___________ to enjoy the coffee by concentrating only on the cup we have.Being happy doesn’t mean everything around you is ___________.It means you’ve decided to see __________ the imperfection and find peace.And the peace __________ within you, not in your career or the houses you have.