1 . Rodney started mowing (割草) yards for free in 2015 to help neighbors in his community, including senior citizens, single parents and individuals with disabilities. The idea _________ him when he drove past an elderly neighbor _________ to mow his lawn. Rodney _________ and offered to finish the job for his neighbor. He soon set a goal of mowing 40 lawns by the end of that winter, but increased that goal to 100 lawns as he quickly surpassed his _________ target.

“I’m _________ of cutting grass because I’m young and strong,” explained Rodney. Once he reached his 100-lawn goal, he realized he could _________ more people by creating a program that included youths as _________. He founded the Raising Men Lawn Care Service and began recruiting (招募) local youths aged 7 to 17, as he said, “Show them the importance of _________ their community.”

Rodney started the nonprofit lawn program while still in college. He now holds a master’s degree in social work and _________ his nonprofit organization full time. Children can get __________ by sending in a photo of themselves holding a sign that reads, “I accept the 50-yard challenge.” __________ participation, the organization will send the child a shirt, safety glasses and ear protection. Once the child completes the __________, the organization delivers them a brand-new lawn mower.

The program provides a valuable service for community members who have difficulty __________ mowing their own yards. The lawn challenge also provides an opportunity for youths to build a __________ with neighbors. The service is a __________ for the youth volunteers and community members.

2 . Jane is an Australian girl. She likes sports very much. Last year, she went to climb a _________ mountain. When she began to climb, she wanted to _________ the top quickly. _________ she ran fast all the way. Then she arrived at a ridge (山脊). She was very _________ to the top now, and she could see the other people on the top. She couldn’t wait to _________ them.

Suddenly, she saw that there was a huge stone _________ the way. She wasn’t able to see a road up to the top. “How can I get to the top?” She _________ loudly. So she thought, “I will have to jump over the huge _________.” She tried again and again but she couldn’t _________ it. It’s too high. How all those people get to the top? She said to __________ “Perhaps they are taller and __________ than me.”

Just at that moment, a middle-aged woman __________ behind her. “Would you like to reach the top of the mountain?” She asked. The girl said yes. “You follow me.” the woman said. The girl followed the woman to the far side of the ridge and saw there was a winding (弯曲) road.

Climbing the road was __________ . Soon they got to the top.

At times the fastest way to get where you would like to go is to take many small __________ instead of one big jump. It needs patience, courage and wisdom said the woman. __________, the girl understood what she should do on the way to success.

3 . We have an English corner in our classroom. Every morning many of my classmates come to the corner. My teacher Miss Zhang comes here, too. At the corner, we all speak English.

The corner started last year. At first, there were only _________ students because many were _________ to speak English. After several weeks, more and more students came here. At first, some students just _________ to the other students. I was one of them. I was afraid to speak English. I thought someone would _________ me, but I wanted to speak. I always spoke English in my heart. My teacher went on saying, “Don’t be afraid. Open your mouth.” I tried and tried to open my mouth. At last, I said, “Hello!” to the teacher. The teacher was very _________. She said “Hello!” to me at once. From _________ on, I began to speak English. I work hard at English and I try my best _________ more. I learn _________ my teacher and my classmates at the corner. Now I can speak a little English. Every Sunday morning, I come to the corner _________.

It’s a good __________ to speak English. Please join us.

4 . There is growing interest in East Japan Railway Co. ltd, one of the six companies, created out of the privatized national railway system. In an industry lacking exciting growth ________, its plan to use real-estate assets in and around train stations ________ is drawing interest.

In a plan called “Station Renaissance” that it ________ in November, JR East said that it would ________ using its commercial spaces for shops and restaurants, extending them to ________ more suitable for the information age. It wants train stations as pick-up ________ for such goods as books, flowers and groceries ________ over the Inter. In a country where city ________ depend heavily on trains ________ commuting, about 16 million people a day go to its train stations anyway, the company ________. So, picking up commodities at train stations ________ consumers extra travel and missed home deliveries. JR East already has been using its station ________ stores for this purpose, but it plans to create ________ spaces for the delivery of Inter goods.

The company also plans to introduce ________ cards—known in Japan as IC cards because they use integrated circuit for ________ information ________ train tickets and muter passes ________ the magic ones used today, integrating them into a/an ________ pass. This will save the company money, because ________ for IC cards are much less expensive than magic systems. Increased use of IC cards should also ________ the space needed for ticket vending.

5 . Several years ago, I was teaching students when Charley entered into the classroom. What _________ me most was that he was in rags. Other children in the classroom stared at Charley _________ as they had never before seen such clothes. When asked to _________ himself, he told us he was from a distant village and usually helped parents do housework.

One afternoon, we had a game, and Charley made a perfect start. Next was Bruce’s turn. Bruce was the least _________ and athletic child in the history of our class. After Bruce’s second failure, Charley came up and spoke quietly to the _________ Bruce, “Forget them. I believe you can _________ it next time.”

By the semester’s end, we had all admired Charley for his _________. He taught us how to _________ a tough math question, how to _________ ripe fruit from raw fruit before that first bite, and how to treat others, even Bruce, who never called me “Miss”.

That afternoon before winter vacation, Charley walked to my desk and bent close to my ear, “My __________ boxes came out last night. I’m leaving here and moving to another place with my parents tomorrow. I’ll miss you.”

As I grasped the __________, my eyes were filled with tears. Then, as I __________ my calmness, Charley broke the __________ silence by pulling something from a box, saying, “It’s for you. I have prepared it especially for you, you’re a(n) __________ example of hardworking teachers, I show great respect for you.”

It was a dry leaf, the most valuable __________ that I had had.

6 . Six years ago, Libby and Joseph Lombardo gave birth to their first daughter Isabella. To the new parents, Isabella was surely perfect and they went home _______ to start their new life. Over time, however, the couple started to notice that Isabella seemed to have trouble _______ certain muscles easily. As the months passed by, the situation became more and more serious. Therefore, the couple decided to bring Isabella to the hospital as they _______ something was wrong with their baby girl. Unfortunately, the doctors were _______ at the baby girl’ s condition. Then the couple searched for answers in the hope that they could find out a(n) _______. Two years later, doctors finally _______ what was causing Isabella to struggle with her movement. But Isabella’s doctors told her parents that, _______, there was nothing they could do to help the little girl. Doctors _______ that Isabella would never _______ on her own in the future. There was a(n) ________ that she needed to get around by wheel-chair for the rest of her life. At that time, the couple was greatly shocked. However, they didn’t choose to give up. Instead, they began a long search to find a treatment that could give their daughter ________. After reading many medical papers, Joseph found out a surgery(手术)called SDR. The couple went straight to their doctors to ________ Isabella’s case and the surgery but every doctor they spoke to was not positive about the surgery. They ________ that the surgery could cause more harm to Isabella. Libby and Joseph thought hard about their choice. Finally, they decided to go to the hospital for the risky but ________ surgery. Isabella spent three months recovering from the surgery but they noticed ________ almost immediately. After three months, Isabella was able to walk and even run with a walker (助行架).

7 . I like joking. I was always the joker, the one who could make people laugh by some jokes. I was _______very popular but people liked having me around.

However, it all changed when I changed schools. I used to make fun of everybody with my _______friends. We _______whispered others’ names when they walked past us to make it look _______we were talking about them. _______, my new “friends” always kept_______and would never say the things as we did before. So if you _______any of them to _______me in one word, it would probably be: MEAN.

I was never your normal high school mean girl. I never understood why what I said could hurt others. I _______them. It wasn’t much better at ________. Being disrespectful and rude, I’d do all sorts of things to hurt my parents.________ a lot, I wanted someone to help me but I didn’t want to ask for help. So, I became even ________.

One day, while looking for my earphone in my room, I found a long lost video________. After connecting it to the TV, I found there were hundreds of videos of me, as a baby crying, dancing as a toddler（刚学走的小孩）, my first day of school etc. I didn’t ________when my mom and Dad came and sat beside me, holding my hand. We enjoyed the ________together, smiling and laughing as we ________the good days.

At night in my room I started crying, tears of ________. So what if school was bad and life seemed hard? Right now, there were people standing beside me who would be there ________me forever and that was all that________. I wiped the ________and thought silently to myself—“What’s a little pain when you have so much to love?”

8 . Life brings several ups and downs but nothing lasts forever. Nothing _______ it better than the life of diving coach Cliff Devries. Life had been_______to him but his will led the way to making him one of the most inspirational persons in the world.

Devries built the dream of becoming a swimmer.His remarkable talent _______ could allow him to realize it.However, life was not just roses and he _______ to have one of the most painful experiences of his life. In his early youth, he began to have shoulder abnormalities and then felt _______       

Due to his failing _______, his performance in training worsened. Devries turned to medical help, and the report stated Devries had a big tumor (肿瘤) in his spine (脊柱) and the doctors said he wouldn’t _______ it. Devries said, “All my plans of a future, a family and everything were _______” After a surgery in New York, Devries even had trouble in moving a finger.

However, every bad period comes to a(n)_______. Devries pulled through with his will to________. He sought________, exercise and all he needed to back up his feet. Soon, he was able to start standing and eventually walked. After many________, he became a swimming coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.He________milestones in his career as a coach and director of swimming.       

On his 46th birthday, Devries went up the diving board and jumped into the ________ he’d been waiting for all to rewrite his story. his life.The semi-paralysis (半瘫痪) that remains couldn’t ________Devries making a dive.He uses his determination.

9 . When I was around six years old, we had a neighbor, Dave Juliano. As a car fancier, he was always working on his old car in his carport, during which I would go to him with ________ . He would never be ________ of explaining why he was doing certain things in a certain order. We also had interesting ________ about his life. We ________ with each other until he moved away one day. In spite of a strong sense of ________ for quite a few days, my life went on.

________ , I ran into Dave two decades later in a restaurant for breakfast. He appeared much older and I had grown up. He said he was living on his own, ________ by a dog.

In the following days, I would always ________ Dave and his dog at breakfast and we talked like before. He was still passionate about cars and ________ car shows of each season, and he had been eager to attend one but couldn’t make it by himself. I ________ to myself secretly that I would take him there, but I always ________ out one after one for one reason or another and kept saying I’d go for next show. However, our next show never came. I was ________ that Dave had passed away days ago, which came as a ________ to me at that moment. I ________ not to have tears on my cheeks. I learned a ________ lesson for that: Never put off doing something with those who meant a lot to you.

10 . Two sisters have a debate about which life is better: city or country life. The elder sister, who lives in a city, ______ that city life is much better, ______ they don’t have to toil (辛苦工作) in the soil, and can enjoy lots of ______. The younger sister states that, their life in the countryside is rough, but they don’t waste their time on useless things, such as meeting with traffic jams (交通堵塞), and have no other worries.

The younger sister’s husband, Pahom, has the same opinion with her. He thinks that everything is good with their country life, except that he ______ a bigger piece of land, so that he does not have to fear the Devil (恶魔). Pahom luckily ______ to buy more land. ______, with more land, his heart wants even more land. ______ gain more, he travels to the Bashkir land. The Bashkirs have a ______ with him that he can have as much land as he walks during the ______, for a thousand rubles (卢布). Their only ______ is that he must come back to the starting point at the end of the day. Pahom’s ______ to achieve more makes him walk so much that he loses his strength. So when he ______ reaches the starting point, he has no strength to live and dies. The Bashkir chief laughs, and Pahom’s servant states that he now needs only that much land that is enough to ______ him.

Man is never satisfied, and he often becomes greedy in an effort to ______ more. How much is more can’t be defined, and it is up to him to ______ how far he must go simply to achieve something he wants at the expense of others.