4 . Robin was 12 years old when his mother sent him to me for his first piano lesson. I preferred that students begin at an earlier _________. I explained it to Robin that he was too old, but he said it had always been his mother’s _________ to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

Although Robin tried very hard, he didn’t seem to have the basic sense of music. However, he _________ and at the end of each lesson he never forgot to say, “My mom’s going to hear me play someday.” But it seemed impossible, and I was _________ by his slow progress. One day, he _________ me that his mother was sick and he couldn’t come to my class any longer. I was glad that he stopped coming, since he was really a bad _________ for my teaching!

Several months later when I was preparing my students for a music show, Robin came to my home and said he had to _________ the show. I don’t know what led me to _________ him to do that. Maybe it was the _________ in his eyes or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right.

I was even more __________ when Robin announced that he had chosen one of the most difficult pieces of Mozart. I was not prepared for what happened next.

However, on the show his fingers danced __________ on the keys. He played so well that everyone __________ excitedly when he was leaving the stage. In excitement, I __________ up to stage to congratulate him.

“How could you do it?” I could not help asking him a few days later.

“Well, I kept practicing at home. My mom had cancer and just passed away the day I went to your __________ to ask for your permission to take part in the show. It was always her dream that she could hear me play on the stage. I wanted to make it __________.”

5 . Learning to Accept

I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. _______, he did not teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was   _________ and ill.

My father was _______ a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness _______ all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is   _______. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started _______ about life, and I told them about one of my_______. I said that we must very often give things up _______ we grow --- our youth, our beauty, our friends --- but it always _______ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father ________ up. He said, “But, Peter, I gave up ________! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. ________, he answered his own question: “I ________ the love of my family,” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also ________ by his words. After that, when I began to feel irritated (愤怒的) at someone, I ________ remember his words and become ________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be ________ to give up my small irritations. In this ________, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I ________ what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this one ________

6 . A meadow in bloom （鲜花盛开的草甸）cannot be more appealing for British. The swinging wild flowers at their peak show essence（精髓）of the season and are perfect for ______ with your video camera. But that is a thing of the ______.

Motorways, new towns, factories―Britain has ______ much damage to its natural scenery, and every year more land of the countryside is ______ to tall buildings. While no wildlife habitat has escaped the ______ of the developer’s bulldozer （推土机）, none has ______ a greater impact than the meadow. Around 93% of Britain’s meadows have ______ in the past 70 years.

The blooming meadow was a much-loved ______ of the English countryside poetry for generations, as ______ to the summer as white snow to the winter. Nowadays, scenes of a farmer’s field ______ of colorful wild flowers are more ______ to be seen on greeting cards than on country roads in July.

Although expansion of cities has ______ England’s green land, the primary cause for the loss was the post-war trend of frequent ______ practice. These wildflower-rich habitats began to decrease during wartime when traditionally managed grassland was ______ to serve as farmland. The sowing of highly productive crops, such as potatoes, ______ the practice after the war. More of the grassland was,______, gone forever.

In terms of biodiversity, the ______ of the habitat cannot be overstated: a common old meadow can ______ around 130 different plant species. Many of them are ______, since they flower for just a few days in midsummer. An uncut meadow is also a ______ for many of Britain’s threatened birds to keep away from enemies.

7 . At a young age, Darrius Simmons fell in love with the piano. As he watched others play, he was _________ by the joy the piano gave them. He wanted to experience that, too, but knew for him it would be a/an _________.

“I decided at age 10 that I wanted to learn how to play the piano, _________ it was going to take a little bit _________ work for me to learn,” Simmons says. “I knew most people had 10 fingers while I had four, yet I was pretty _________ I could make it work.”

The Warren, Ohio teenager was born with a genetic _________ called ectrodactyly (先天性缺指畸形). He has three fingers on his right hand and _________ finger on his left. But it didn’t _________ Simmons from following his _________. With no formal training, Simmons taught himself by ear how to play the piano. He practiced and practiced, finding a way to __________ the keys with four fingers while mastering the pedals with his prostheses(假肢).

Simmons knew he would have to __________ his own style of playing. “I couldn’t base it __________ the technique of somebody who has 10 fingers. It just wouldn’t __________.” He says. “That’s __________ it was hard for me to take piano lessons. It’s very __________ for somebody who has learned how to play with 10 fingers to adjust and teach me with only four.”

The now 18-year-old not only learned how to play and read music but also began composing.

His mother, Tamara Simmons, isn’t surprised by Darrius’ __________. She knows how focused and __________ he can be.

From mastering music to beating __________ challenges, Darrius Simmons sets out to __________ the world. “I like to be somebody’s __________,” he says. “If I play in front of a whole crowd and I see one person smile, that’s a job well done.”

8 . My family was very concerned for my sister and understandably so. Helen was on a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix. Although the flight was short, it provided __________ time for her to get to know the Morrisons, an Arizona couple seated in her row. The plane was only in the air for a couple of minutes __________ the wife, Marcie, fell asleep, leaving her husband Daniel and my sister sitting next to each other in silence. Maybe it was a feeling of __________ that sparked（引发，触发）it, or maybe it was the need to __________. Whatever the case, within minutes Daniel began to tell their own story.

He told my sister how he and Marcie had __________ to Los Angeles that morning to meet with a doctor of __________ medicine about treating Marcie, only 35, for her stage 4 breast cancer. __________ the diagnosis of the doctors in Phoenix had given Marcie only a few months to live, the couple had decided to __________ other forms of treatment. Although they both felt __________ about what had been described to them that day, they were upset to learn that the alternative treatment __________ a $34,000 price tag and would not be covered by medical __________. Additionally, they’d have to pay for a place to __________ while Marcie underwent treatment.

When it came to deplane（下飞机）, Daniel __________ Marcie. Since she was unable to walk, he requested a wheelchair. It was while my sister was waiting with them for the chair that she made the __________ that they could stay with her during their trips to Los Angeles.

Helen received a call from Daniel the following week saying that he and Marcie had __________ it over and they would like to take her __________ offer. They arrived the following Wednesday and left on Sunday. And this __________ continued for several months. What __________ had brought the three of them together and then made her invite them into her home? Whatever the case, she knew that she had done exactly as she was supposed to.

I guess it would be an understatement (轻描淡写) to say that my family’s feelings of _____ changed to feelings of admiration ! We are all so _________ of our Helen!

9 . When my friends volunteered to help with a service project in my town, I had no idea what it was about. I was always ____ to be a volunteer and because of that I had been greatly honored. I ____ my friends thinking that I would also win honor through the volunteer work. _____, after knowing that there wouldn’t be any kind of honor and they might gather to help ____one family’s garden on Saturdays for more than 10 hours. I felt bored.

When I arrived at the house, I was ____ to see that many people were there, working happily to make the garden more beautiful. The house was ____ by an elderly lady, Mrs. Johnson, who was very thankful for our help and tried to do anything to ____ us.

I was getting ready to plant flowers in the garden ____ I heard the house owner, Johnson, said, “Honey, could I help you with it?” I nodded gratefully and we _____ together for a while. During the ____, I sat on a stone to rest and looked around, seeing the volunteers chatting ____ with their faces covered with sweat. I was deeply ____ and cried, feeling sorry for what I had ____ about helping before. Mrs. Johnson saw my ____ and asked. “Are you OK? I know there are ____ things you could do on a Saturday.”

I ____ her the reasons why I had come were to stay together with my ____ and win honor. After watching all these generous volunteers, I learned that every one of them was ready to ____ without thinking what they could get. I came to realize that receiving isn’t ____ but helping someone out is always a ____ thing!

10 . I had driven home to celebrate my 38th birthday with my mother. When I arrived, I found her _______ proudly at the kitchen table, a chocolate cake and two boxes wrapped orange ribbon (丝带) in front of her. “Happy birthday!” she said, _______ at the boxes. “Open them.”

As she knows me _______ than anyone, she’d gotten me exactly what I wanted—running clothes. I _______ her and thanked her and proceeded(接着) to eat the cake.

“Too many _______,” I said, not really caring.

“You’ll run them off tomorrow,” Mom said.

Many adult children with a parent suffering from _______ memory will tell you there was one day that _______ to them that their relationship with their mother or father would be forever changed.

For me that day _______ two weeks later, when I drove back for another short _______. I came upon exactly the same ________: my mom sitting at the kitchen table; a chocolate cake resting next to two ________ wrapped in curly ribbon. The ribbon was green this time. That was the only ________ “Happy birthday!” my mom said.

I was totally ________. “What’s going on?” I asked.

Mom smiled. “Can’t I celebrate my daughter’s birthday?”

This was no ________. This was real life, and since my mother clearly only wanted to make me ________, I pushed aside my fear and fulfilled my role as the ________ daughter. I hugged her, thanked her and ________ the clothes... I did not mention to her that we’d done all this two ________ ago.

My house is her world now. My mother and I have the ________ conversation roughly 10 times a day. ________, I consider it a pleasure, because every minute is new for her.