1 . My previous home had a stand of woods behind it and many animals in the backyard. That first year, I ______ feeding peanuts to the blue jays, then the squirrels. The squirrels had no _______coming up right to me for them. As the months went by, the rabbits saw that I was no ______ and didn’t escape. When I threw carrot slices (薄片), they even came for a nibble (啃). Slowly they came to ______ me, and by the end of the year they were eating out of my hand.

That second year, the rabbits ______ me, and one would even sit up for slices! While I was feeding them. I ______ that a groundhog who used to run away was now taking an ______ interest in this food situation. I carefully extended a long ______, with a keen eye on those teeth, and ______, there were times I would have the groundhog sitting next to a rabbit, both munching (津津有味地咀嚼) on carrots. A few months later, while ______, she would even turn her back to me._______ when she was facing away, I reached out and ______ scratched (搔) her back with my finger. She didn’t move.

By year three, the rabbits and the groundhog were back. The groundhog ______ didn’t have a problem with me scratching her back, and I got an idea. I’d always ______, while slicing up carrots, that the end looked like a cap. ______ one day, just to see what she would do, I gently ______ one on top of the groundhog’s head. Again, not a ______. The next time, I had my camera ready to record what you see here, one of several dozen such pictures. ______ she had a slice to eat, she never ______ the one on her head. It was a fair______— I got a pleasure, and she had yet another tasty treat.

2 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

3 . I’m Grace, 13 years old and in seventh grade in Florida. I was in the six grade last year. That school year was _______. My family and I spent that year _______ all over Europe, seeing amazing places, meeting all kinds of people, understanding different cultures, and getting _______ in the process.

When my _______ decided to travel to Europe, we were excited. _______ we had a problem. We couldn’t rent a car that had enough _______ to work for our five-member family, so my dad bought a bigger one. It became our new _______ during the trip. I had to leave a lot of my things behind because so little of it would _______ into my tiny new room. We had to be careful to save our water. And we were doing homeschooling, _______ worked out great. We lived in a (n) ________ home, but my family ________ got along really well.

No matter what, I made sure to ________ my window every morning, because the view was ________ every day--- England, then France, Italy, Greece … each special in its own way. We toured around country after country, tried to pick up little bits of the local ________, but that didn’t help us much. Luckily, we kept ________ people who knew some English. Everywhere we went, we saw the most amazing things. I love reading about places, in my text-books and then getting ________ our car midway to look right at them. I can’t pick a favorite one, because every place we were at seemed to be the ________.

After our ________ ended, we moved back to Florida. But it makes me ________ that my family had this great year long ________ together. I’m thankful for that.

4 . I woke up by my dog barking in the early morning. I went outside to find a koala (考拉) at the yard gate wanting to enter. It was the first time that I had _______ a koala in my neighbourhood. What a welcome _______! 

I was wondering why he was here, as koalas _______ came down from the trees and didn’t like walking, either._______, there was no eucalyptus (桉树) around. Was he hungry or lost? Or maybe the bushfire across Kangaroo Island _______ him here? 

He just sat there, apparently _______, and sort of looked at me with a look, like helping me out of my suffering. At a(n) _______ look, I discovered a long cut at his back with bloods,_______ of attacks or cuts of something sharp in some other way. 

I rushed into my room and came out with some iodophor (碘伏药水). It was not a _______ problems as I was a nurse. This poor soul seemed to quite ________ my kindness when I ________ the cut with the liquid. It ________ me that he came to seek my ________! 

After the treatment, I watched the koala finally ________ in the wild, hoping he was able to ________ the hard time and live his life as he should.

5 . The family of Chuck Rees, his wife Laurie, and his mother-in-law Ann Effert had just finished lunch at a cafe. Then Rees, 51, spotted _______ rising. They immediately drove through unfamiliar streets and_______ came to a white two-story house. _______ nobody in, Rees called 911.

Rees ran around the house, hoping to find the _______ of the fire. When he climbed over a _______ and into the yard, Rees noticed a small steel door in the addition (扩建部分). He hit on it with his fist. Soon he _______ a woman’s faint voice from the deep inside. He spotted an old woman through the _______ in the doorway. He tried to take the woman to the _______.

Rees went back into the living room to _______ others. The smoke had spread to the floor, and the __________ was almost unbearable. He moved through the downstairs rooms, coughing and __________ to anyone who might be there. After one last look around, Rees __________.

A fire crew arrived, and Rees quickly __________ them. Moments later, flames destroyed the house.

That night, the local news reported that an anonymous (匿名的) man had __________ an elderly woman from her burning house. Effert proudly called media to __________ her son-in-law as the hero. “He didn’t do it for fame,” she said.

6 . Tyrion was asked why he reads so much? He answered, “I have a realistic grasp of my own ______ and weaknesses. My mind is my________. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his war hammer (战锤)… and a mind needs ______ as a sword needs a whetstone (磨石), if it is to preserve its edge.” George R.R. martin once said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he   _____. The man who never reads lives one.”

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early ______ at the kitchen table reading his book. One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the book just like you but I don’t   _______ it, and what I do understand I forget ______ I close the book. What good does reading the book do?”

The grandfather ______ turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water ______ before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time.” and _____   him back to the river with the basket to try again. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket ______ . The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough, ” and he went out of the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was ______ , but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water _______ escape before he got back to the house. Tiredly, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“Look at the basket carefully,” the old man said. The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that he basket was _______. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean. That’s what happens when you read the book. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be _______, inside and out.

7 . It was a summer evening almost 30 years ago. I was rocking my baby boy in my arms and when he fell asleep, I put him_______down into his crib for the night. My wife,tired out after a long day of work, was half napping and half watching TV in the living room. Not caring for the_______, I poured myself a glass of iced tea in the kitchen, took a lawn chair off our porch (门廊) and walked into the front yard to_______ the stars. 

As soon as I stepped into the yard, I heard the sweet sound of _______ floating through the air. On the hill next to our house, the neighbor’s children were _______fireflies (萤火虫), hoping to catch one in a jar. I sat down in my chair and watched them for a while. They ran very fast; _______, they couldn’t seem to catch the slow moving lighting bugs. _______, exhausted, they both sat down on the grass and _______watched the little guys flying through the air, blinking on and off. I drank my tea and joined them in their _______. It felt so good to get to see one of many miracles lighting up my front yard on a ________ night. It made me feel a part of something far greater than myself. 

Over the years since then, I have appreciated and________ all of the glorious light in this world. I have taken it into my heart and welcomed it into my soul. I have found it in nature, books, music, animals, prayers, and most of all in the lives of those around me. I have never tried to catch this ________, however. I have learned that true light and true love must come from ________. It must flow freely between us and can’t be________in a jar. The next time you see some fireflies, take a seat and enjoy their light. Let them remind you to give off your own light as well. Let them remind you that you, too, are one of the________ in this world.

13.

A．near

B．behind

C．within

D．around

8 . One of the most remarkable things about the human mind is our ability to imagine the future. For example, while we are looking forward to _______ a new place or country, we imagine _______ it will be like. We predict the _______ people will eat, dress and act. Of course, we do not always predict things _______. Things are often very different from the way we _______ them to be.

One of the _______ dreams in history is the dream of the German scientist, Kekule, who had been _______ to solve a very difficult problem in physics. _______ having tried every possible means, he failed. Then one night he went to bed and dreamed. When he _______ up, he knew the answer. He had solved the problem in his ________.

In order to figure out the process, the hypnotist(催眠师) sat opposite him and spoke softly, “I want you to concentrate on my voice. Think about ________ but my voice. And as you pay attention to my voice, your ________ will get heavier. Soon you’ll be asleep. You will hear my voice and ________ my words, but your body will be asleep. And when you wake up, you will ________ nothing. You will forget everything. Now I am going to ________ slowly from one to five. One, two, three, four, five...”

9 . Don’t let Aurora’s small stature (身材) fool you — her spirit is strong. She is one of 140 chickens _______ from a farm. When we saved her, she was tiny and sick and it seemed _______ that she would survive. Having never got the right care, many of the chickens were sick and some sadly died.

At a young age, Aurora and her sisters and brothers were _______ by their mom. Luckily, another mother took on their care.Aurora seemed the last to _______ food and attention.She grew at a much slower rate than her brothers and sisters. Everything seemed _______ her.

At the young age of seven months, Aurora had lost two moms and was _______ to find a place with the other chickens.

Aurora _______ found comfort from an old chicken named Margaret, staying under her wings during the cold nights, _______ Margaret was so old that a few months later she died.Aurora, in her own way, thinks of Margaret. Every evening you will find her in the _______ spot where she kept Margaret company.________ when the other chickens try to ________ her away, Aurora comes back.

As Aurora grew, we became ________ at her love to simply live. Nothing ________ her.

So remember, when life seems so ________ that you can't take it, think of Aurora. She has lost two moms, watched her sisters and brothers die, and recovered from serious illness. Yet she enjoys the small, sweet ________ life has offered—safety, food, warmth and good friendships.

10 . It was Mother’s Day, but our mother was far away from us. I decided to drive to the ______ with my wife and our children to gather flowers.

After we arrived, we went hiking, played games, and collected all kinds of flowers and so on.How happy we were! Finally, though, we had to ______ our car and got ready to go back home. While the kids chatted and I drove, my wife sat behind me, surrounded by her flowers, a(n) ______look in her eyes.

Suddenly my wife ______to me, “Stop the car.Stop right here!” ______ I could ask her what had happened, she was out and went up a nearby grassy hill with the lilacs (丁香花) still in her arms. At the ______ of the hill was a nursing home and, because it was such a beautiful spring day, the patients were outdoors talking with relatives.

My wife went up the hill, where an elderly patient was sitting in her ______, alone with her back to most of the others.My wife ______the flowers to her and said something. The patient raised her head and smiled. They talked for a few ______before my wife ran back. As the car ______ away, I found in the mirror the woman ______ with the lilacs.

“Mom,” the kids asked, “Who was that? Why did you give her our _______ ? Is she somebody’s mother?” My wife said, “I didn’t know the old woman. But it is Mother’s Day. And she seemed so ______. Who wouldn’t be cheered by flowers? ______,” she added, “I have all of you, and I still have my mother, even if she is far away. That woman needed those flowers more than I did.”

Now, every May, our own yard is _______ with lilacs. Every Mother’s Day we drive to the countryside to gather flowers and sow more seeds in our yard. And every year I remember that lonely old woman in her wheelchair, and her smile on her face.