1 . On Monday, May 9, James Givens, a police officer in Cincinnati, Ohio, was sitting in his panda car. Just at that moment he heard what sounded like a _________. He turned around only to find a goose pecking (啄) at the car door. This was highly _________ given that the birds typically preferred to observe _________ from a distance.

But on this day, the goose appeared to be determined to get his _________ and kept pecking until Givens opened the car door and _________. The police officer says that though the bird then began to _________, it kept turning around to make sure he was _________. When they finally stopped, Givens _________ why the mother goose had been so — she wanted him to _________ her gosling (幼鹅) that had been trapped in some balloon string.

__________ that the mother goose would __________ him if he got close to the baby, Givens called the local SPCA (保护动物协会). __________, they were unable to send anyone to help right away. Therefore, he had to call his fellow police officer Cecilia Charron, who was nearby and soon __________ Givens. Concerned that the gosling would not survive the __________, Cecilia decided to take on the task herself.

As it turned out, there was __________ to worry about. The mother goose appeared to understand that Charron was trying to help and watched __________ from a safe distance as the officer untied the trapped bird. As soon as the little gosling was __________, it ran as quickly as possible to its __________, and they took off shortly after. Charron, a 24-year-old soldier of the police force, said this would probably __________ to be the most memorable incident of her __________!

3 . Having repeatedly heard “good manners”, do you really understand what the basic elements of good manners are? Certainly, a strong sense of justice is one — (from this angle) politeness is often _________ but a highly developed sense of fair play. A friend of mine once told me of him _________ along a one-lane dirt road. _________ was another car that produced clouds of choking _________, and it was a long way to the nearest highway. Suddenly, at a _________ place, the car in front pulled off the road. _________ that its owner might have engine trouble, my friend stopped and asked if anything was wrong. “No”, said the other driver, “but you’ve tolerated my dust this far; I’ll _________ yours the rest of the way.”

Another element of politeness is empathy, a (an) _________ that enables a person to see into the mind or heart of someone else, to _________ the pain or suffering there and to do something to minimize it. A man __________ alone in a restaurant was trying to unscrew (拧开) the cap of a beer bottle. __________, he couldn’t do it because of badly injured __________. He turned to a young kid for help. The kid took the bottle, __________ and loosened the cap without difficulty. Then he __________ it again. Turning back to the man, he __________ to make great efforts to open the bottle without success.__________ he took it into the kitchen and returned shortly, saying that he had __________ to loosen it — but only with a pair of pliers (钳子).

Last but not least, the ability to treat all people __________ is also an element of politeness, regardless of status or importance. __________ when you have doubts about some people, act as if they are worthy of your best manners. Are you astonished to find out the basic factors of “__________”?

4 . Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, my mother was not among the many happy mothers, as I couldn’t visit her this year. I made a________on the phone that I would go to see her as soon as possible. 

My mother always says that kids don’t need to________a national day to say they love their mums. However, I remember one year I________calling her on that very day, and the next morning she rang up to complain about it. 

If you________Thailand, you could hear the sentimental (伤感的) songs about mothers’ greatest love playing in public places a week before the holiday. Schools, especially, take this day very________. Back in my teenage years, I ________ there was once a Mother’s Day singing competition and my friend represented the school. She was so emotional while singing the famous song on Mother’s Day________ “Kah Nam Nom” that she almost didn’t finish the song. 

However, her deep connection to the song helped her to________third prize. After the contest, I asked her why she was so emotional________the song. She told me that while she was singing, suddenly she had the________that one day her mother would no longer be with her and every word in the song became heartbreaking. Every time I hear this song, it’s not my mother who________to my mind but a picture of my friend crying with a microphone in her hand. The image________vivid today. 

Last week, a colleague________an experience with me—every year on Mother’s Day, she has to attend a________ceremony at her daughter’s school. Every year the teachers invite mothers to the school for a big gathering in which students pay________with flower garlands (花环).

5 . On July 10,1980, I was aboard an old destroyer(驱逐舰), sailing from Singapore to the Philijppines. The day was gray with threatening clouds. There was a typhoon ________our way. All of us were looking forward to arriving in the Philippines as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the lookout ________an object floating. He announced that it was a boat with many people on it in a   _____area with reefs(礁石).The captain announced that we were heading towards the boat to offer ________. Everyone prepared for the possible rescue. I made my way to the back end of the ship. The ship ________. But along the way, I heard most of the crew were ________about assisting the people. And I even heard an engineer ________said, “We ought to leave them out there to die!”

We got close to the boat and sent out the whaleboat with a small crew to ________it out further. The crew reported back it was an old wooden boat ________with about 50 men, women and children, who were very weak. Our ship became even more _______ after that news. Some gathered any dry clothes they could ________and I prepared the area for rest and all the medical items.

We ________got alongside the boat and the first thing I noticed was the strange sound of babies crying. Then came the sound of the men and women excitedly talking with pain in their voices. All their faces ________great tiredness. We helped get them ________. The weakest received ________while the rest got a place to rest.

During those hours after the _______, I noticed a big change in the ________of the crew. The same ________even helped in caring a baby girl. Outside, the weather was growing worse, but inside, everything felt _______ and pleasant. Our new friends were very happy as if they were on a luxury ship ________an old destroyer.

7 . About one year ago, it hit me that I should be grateful for the small good things. So I started _________ things that I hadn’t before. One day, something big happened.

I used to live in an area where the public _________ was not very good. If you came back home after 7 p. m. you would have to _________ for about an hour to catch a bus or a taxi. So there were many non-official “taxis” _________ to take people home, but for a bit higher _________ that not everyone could afford every day. _________, I would take them only when I was really _________ and anxious to go home.

One day, when I took a non-official “taxi”, which was _________ cheaper than the official ones, I felt lucky and _________. But that was just the beginning! When we __________, the driver said that he would not __________ and that he was just doing it as an act of __________, because his mother had done it before.

I felt so __________ that I failed to find words to __________ how grateful I was for being one of the people he took. He made my day and I felt so good during the following days because of that free ride. Since then I have decided to do acts of kindness myself that might __________ others.

8 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own _______ .

I learned this lesson from a(n) _______ many years ago. I took the head _______ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the _______ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to _______ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _______ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _______ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were _______ me. I had to change my _______ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little __________ . Most importantly, I began to treat them like __________ . That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their __________ , we met every day and __________ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our __________ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to __________ . Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a __________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest __________ of my life!

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can __________ the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and __________ them. I helped them to see themselves __________ , and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, but not born.

9 . In Eric Carle’s book, the hungry caterpillar (毛毛虫) eventually becomes a beautiful butterfly. It can enjoy a rather ________ role — one that’s more colourful and less stressful. I see butterflies as a symbol for ________. For humans, however, it’s not easy to make that ________. It can feel scary to leave the ________ things behind. And there are ________ related to moving to new settings and taking on different challenges.

For me ________ my job meant that my pay dropped significantly. I accepted some training and invested( 投资 ) time in networking. It was scary but exciting because I was ________ my career. Like a butterfly, I started to dip in and out of new things. I didn’t want to be ________ at ground level anymore. I had a much wider viewpoint. As the next stage of my career began, I was full of ________ to run projects of my own. Suddenly I was working in an exciting industry. The new environment ________ me. I could make full use of my experiences and strengths. But sometimes ________ making changes is also a choice; it can cause others to make choices for you, often not to your ________.

In my experience, if you spend your life ________ a butterfly, it’s pretty hard to catch it. Instead, if you go to places where there is a good chance that your gifts are ________ for that situation and you just sit there, a butterfly will ________ come and sit on your shoulder.

10 . I’ve noticed that conversations with my children have started to turn into something I don’t like. It could be my _______. I don’t always _______ before I open my mouth. For example, my kids would call to tell me about something that’s been _______ them. As soon as they’re finished, I go into mom mode.

“You should...”, “You need to consider...”, “If I were you, I’d...” “Mom!”

The tone is full of _______ and annoyance.

When I get one of my adult kids on the phone, I become a(n) _______ on everything, which I’m obviously not. I want to be part of their lives and _______ them from making mistakes that seem so obvious to me.

I’m hardly _______ in this. Over lunch the other day, a friend told me that her son _______ listened to anything she said. “It’s like talking to a wall!” I know that feeling well. But I’m learning slowly that talking at is not the same as talking with.

Giving advice to children can be full of problems. Though we may see ourselves _______ the wisdom of our years, they see something else. They see a ________ parent who hasn’t accepted the fact that they’re adults with their own thoughts and feelings. They’re not ________ any tips. They may not even want a(n) ________ solution to a difficult problem. What they’re hoping for is a safe place to talk with a person who loves and ________ them no matter what.

Because of this, I’ve given myself the ________ of becoming a better parent by being a better listener. It’s not an easy task for parents like me but I’m ________.