1 . Have you ever had a day when everything seemed to go wrong, and nothing seemed to go right? Not too long ago I was having one of those days. I was discouraged, weary, and _______ sad. My focus was on me, me, me. After all, no one else was experiencing the same _________ as I was.

I expressed my depressed _________ to my mother. She didn’t offer any comfort; _________, she said, “I heard Jamie was having a difficult day too. Why don’t you make her some _________ and we’ll take them to her this afternoon?”

I didn’t really intend to, but I was bound to because I was _________ to go back to my other problems just yet. I made some and _________ them on a little plate. Then I made a card with a sunflower on it and wrote a small note of empathy.

That afternoon we _________ my friend’s house. I went to the door and _________ the bell. Soon Jamie came to the door and looked at me in __________ for the unexpected visit. Before she could say anything, I __________. “I heard you were having a hard day and decided to bring you something. I hope your day goes better.” The look that __________ Jamie’s face was one that I could never put into words. It was as if a darkened sky was suddenly __________ with the golden rays of the sun; it was as if in that small act, her day was brightened.

I got back into the car and for some __________ reason, I felt a lot better myself somehow. That day I experienced the truth that James Barrie attempted to describe: “The guys who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot __________ it from themselves.”

4 . Dale Carnegie rose from the unknown of a Missouri farm to international fame because he found a way to fill a universal human need.

It was a need that he first _______ back in 1906 when young Dale was a junior at State Teachers College in Warrensburg. To get an _______, he was struggling against many difficulties. His family was poor. His Dad couldn’t afford the _______ at college, so Dale had to ride horseback 12 miles to attend classes. Study had to be done _______ his farm-work routines. He withdrew from many school activities because he didn’t have the time or the _______. He had only one good suit. He tried for the football team, but the coach turned him down for being too _______. During this period Dale was slowly _______ an inferiority complex (自卑感), which his mother knew could prevent him from achieving his real potential. She _______ that Dale join the debating team, believing that _______ in speaking could give him the confidence and recognition that he needed.

Dale took his mother’s advice, tried desperately and after several attempts finally made it. This proved to be a ________ point in his life. Speaking before groups did help him gain the ________ he needed. By the time Dale was a senior, he had won every top honor in ________. Now other students were coming to him for coaching and they, ________, were winning contests.

Out of this early struggle to ________ his feelings of inferiority, Dale came to understand that the ability to express an idea to an audience builds a person’s confidence. And, ________ it, Dale knew he could do anything he wanted to do—and so could others.

5 . Having worked at a 7-Eleven store for two years, I thought I had become successful at what our manager calls “customer relations”. I firmly believed that a _________ smile and an automatic greeting would see me through any_________ that might arise. But the other night an old woman _________ my belief that a simple response could smooth over the difficulty of dealing with all kinds of customers.

The moment she entered, the woman presented a sharp _________ to our shiny store with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves. Walking as if each step were _________, she slowly pushed open the glass door. She coughed dryly, and _________ noisily with each breath. On a forty-degree night, she was wearing only a faded dress, a thin sweater too _________ to button.

After _________ around the store quietly for several minutes, the old woman stopped in front of the rows of canned vegetables. As I stood close to her, ready to help, my smile became harder to _________;her red-rimmed eyes were __________ closed by an old wound and the unpleasant smell of sweat rose from clothes.

“I need some food, but I can’t pay” she muttered in reply to my bright “Can I help you?” For a second, I wanted to say, “Take the can of corn.” But the employee rules __________ into my mind: Remain polite, but do not let customers get the __________ of you. Let them know that you are in control. I responded dutifully, “I’m sorry, but I can’t __________ anything for free.”

Moments after she left, I rushed out of the door with the can of corn, but she was nowhere in __________. For the rest of my shift, the image of the woman kept coming to my mind. I was __________ to realize how weak we are to stick to our better instincts (本性) when facing a moral dilemma.

7 . Early on the morning of October 13, LaPierre was heading to the Chicago Marathon on the city’s Blue Line L. The _______ was full of energized marathoners. Before long, LaPierre noticed a man moving from passenger to passenger, asking for spare _______. His behavior struck LaPierre as “really weird,” especially the way he stared down anyone he felt hadn’t _______ him enough.

At the Cumberland station, most of the passengers suddenly _______ the car. LaPierre rushed out to see what was going on, only to hear _______ people shouting that the man asking for money was, in fact, armed and _______ people.

As the armed man hopped onto the next train car, LaPierre followed him. “I could not _______ knowing there were _______ children and people just trying to get to a race,” he says.

The man turned and saw LaPierre, his head down, bull-rushing him. Although the man was far _______ and younger, LaPierre crashed into him and managed to pin him ________ the closed door. “Once I got a few feet from him, I knew he wouldn’t be able to react fast enough to ________ me,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. The two men fought for the gun — and their ________. The man tried pushing past him, but ________, LaPierre grabbed the gun and handed it to a passenger. Then the police poured into the train, and LaPierre let them ________. He had a marathon to run.

This was not the first time LaPierre had jumped into a(n) ________. A few years back, he helped prevent a drugstore robbery. “I just happen to be at the right place at the right moment,” he says.

9 . One Friday evening in December, two weeks before Christmas, I lost my job without any warning. I was ________ for the weekend, when my daughter Kristil and I ________ to get our Christmas tree. Then I listened to my voicemail: “We’re sorry but your work assignment has ended as of today.” My heart ________.

I wasn’t just a single parent; I was the only parent. My paycheck was ________.

The next day as we searched for our tree, I struggled to be cheerful as I ________ each price tag (标签). Over the next week, I ________ applied for jobs as my bank account grew smaller. On a weekend afternoon, I dropped Kristil in a ________ gated community for a birthday party. I watched as she went in, surrounded by all the nice things we couldn’t afford. I drove home ________.

Back at home, I glanced out the window. It had been snowing on and off all morning. I _________ a small elderly woman with short white hair struggling to open her car door _________ the wind. As she got out, I realized it was my old professor, Sister Esther Heffernan, whom I hadn’t seen for about six months.

“What are you doing out in this weather?” I asked as we hugged. “Well, I tried to call last week but couldn’t ________. Then I called your job and they said you weren’t working there anymore, so I thought I would come by.”

Just being in Sister Esther’s ________ gave me hope that things would be all right. As she got up to leave, she handed me a Christmas card and kissed me on the cheek. I walked her to her car and ________ as she drove away.

When I opened her card, I gasped (喘气) in ________. Hundred-dollar bills fell onto the table. Tears of ________ welled up in my eyes as I counted. I silently thanked her in my heart.