1 . Afraid to have a start, I was walking slowly into my first school in America. I had _____a long distance from India in order to join parents, who had been here for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would go to school here, so I _____a local high school in my new town.

With _____on one hand and fear on the other, I arrived at the classroom. Everyone’s eyes were on me as I entered the classroom. Without paying attention to them, I went straight to the _____and asked him if it was the right class. With a _____voice, he answered, “Yes.” His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a(n) _____called “course requirements”, which I would never get in India. Then he asked me to _____where I would sit. I chose the _____closest to the door instead of the corner where all of the boys were sitting. I didn’t _____want to pick a seat. In India, we had _____seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the _____produced by the overhead projector (投影仪).

____it was my first day, I was confused which hallway to use, but I _____to get to my classes without asking anyone. I wasn’t quite sure when I would have _____. I thought it was time for my next class and the bell rang as I entered the classroom. I went through the _____process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. Feeling surprised, she said, “That is the lunch bell.” I felt a little _____. Without another word, I headed for the _____.

At the end of the day, I developed some friendships and started to love my new school. On my way to the bus stop, I realized that all the _____seemed like the obstacle(障碍) I had to _____to reach my goal. After I got on my bus and sat down inside _______, I said to myself: Today isn’t so bad.

2 . The story I’m going to tell you happened two years ago when I was in high school in Poland. I came to school early on a sunny day, ____ I felt that there was something wrong. Students from my class were behaving ____.

I noticed that Tom was absent from school that day. Later, I ____ what happened. Tom had got sick and he had lung cancer, a very serious disease. It was _____ for my friends and me. I couldn’t believe that this had happened to him. He was so ____ and he was good at sports.

____ he had lung cancer, so he had to have an operation. It was successful. After that, he returned to school and felt very good. Twice a month he went back to the ____ for medical examinations just to make sure that everything was going well.

One day, the doctors noticed that the cancer had ____ to his brain. When I heard this ____, I felt like bursting into tears, “God, why do you do this, it is not ____.”

A lot of my friends ____ their faith and hope, and they even thought that there was no ____ for him to live, but he was strong. Tom was eager to live, and he said: “No way, I’m not going to ____. I will fight!”

The doctors made another operation on his brain. The operation ____ well and now he feels great and everything is fine. From Tom’s ____, I learned that whatever happens in our lives, we can’t give up or lose heart.