1 . I was an avid (热衷的) list maker. I thought the lists would help me finish things more ________ so that I would have my own ________ each day. Instead, I felt tired all the time, and it was hard to fall asleep as I ________ my to-do list for the next day in my mind. I was ________ and painful.

My real turning ________ came about a few years ago. I was having the inside of our house painted. ________, I had to move all things out of the painters’ way. After the painting, I decided to think about what I would put back. I ________ many decorations because they made the rooms small and ________. And the house felt so much more open, peaceful and beautiful. When I started to hang our calendar back up, I noticed how ________ each day was. Every square was filled in. I decided to continue my ________ of the calendar.

It was near the end of July, so I ________ “clearing” August and September. I kept doctors’ appointments (预约) and family events. But I ________ extra tasks I had taken on that left me very little time to relax, read or spend time with my family. I felt a great sense of ________ after that.

I still make ________ to keep myself organized, but I am down to one page. I schedule time for myself each day — to do what I ________. The tidy beauty of our home and schedule gives me great peace and joy.

3 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard___________a little dog going around his camp trying to ___________herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all ___________, he had packed just enough for the whole ___________. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a___________ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog ___________ him again. He waved her away, worried that she might be stepped on by the runners. ___________, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race ___________. That night the dog snuggled (偎依) up to Leonard and even___________ to get a little food from him. By then, he was determined to name her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi____________ a distance of 125km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a____________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi on the race ____________my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, rather than just focusing on winning, ” said Leonard, who finished second. “It also made my running more enjoyable , giving me a lot of pleasure.”

As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home, she was missing. With a group of 20 local volunteers coming to his ____________ , he finally found her. After that, Leonard never let Gobi out of his____________. Now Gobi’s favorite activity is still running, and she__________ does at least 8km a day with Leonard up the hills.

4 . Every school has rules for students to follow. However, some students may see the _______ as a way which teachers control them. Sometimes, they’re unhappy and even feel _______. Well, if you think your life is hard, you might think about the _______ in ancient times. For some of them, life was really hard.

In the old days, people believed that teachers had to be very _______ and had the right to punish the students. Parents didn’t mind if teachers punished their children when their children didn’t do what they were _______ to do. Often, the stricter a teacher was, the more parents thought he or she was a good teacher.

In fact, following school rules can be very important. For example, running in the hallways could cause a student to _______. It may hurt himself or another person. Following the rules can also help the students in the classroom to learn _______ difficulty. In class, a teacher may ask students to raise their hands _______ they speak. If someone speaks out of turn, other students might not be able to hear the teacher _______. School rules can help students prepare for their own futures as well. When they ________ and go out on their own, they’ll soon find that they still need to follow rules.

Rules make the world much better. If there are no rules, life will be meaningless and in disorder.

6 . My name is Ally Del Monte. I remember it clearly. When I was 10 years old, my _________ and I were on our first vacation at Disney World, and we were going to a “Pirate and Princess Party”. We didn’t know that it was a costume (戏服) party but no _________ — my mom said she’d _________ me to get a princess dress. We _________ the land of princesses, but they didn’t have one for me.

I was in the beginning stage of Lyme disease. My _________ and medication caused my overweight. I was too _________ for the kids costumes and the adult costumes wouldn’t _________for me.

The lady at the shop said, “I’m sorry, she’s too fat to be a princess.” I was only 10 years old, and I was _________ because I thought I would never be _________ enough or skinny enough to be the princess that I wanted to be.

Several years later, I just turned 16, and instead of a party, I asked for a family __________. I chose to go to Disney World. Our trip was right in the middle of Halloween, and I knew I could wear a costume. It was still __________ to find a princess dress in my __________, but my mom and I decided to make our own, a magical princess dress to prove to my 10-year-old self that I am a princess, and I don’t have to look for a certain __________ to be one.

I’ve __________ that no matter what you look like, you can be a princess. A princess isn’t a size. It’s a state of __________.

8 . So this is it—senior high school at last! I’m not outgoing so I’m a little _____right now. I want to make a good first ___. Will I make any friends? What if no one ____ to me?

I just had my first maths class at senior high school! The class was difficult, ____ the teacher was kind and friendly. He _____ told us a funny story, and everyone laughed so much! I found most of my classmates and teachers friendly and _____.

This afternoon,we had our chemistry class in the science lab. The lab is new and the lesson was great, but the ____ next to me tried to talk to me the whole time. I couldn’t concentrate on the ______. I really wanted to tell him to please be _____ and leave me alone.

What a day! This morning, I was _______ that no one would talk to me. But I was wrong. I didn’t feel ______ or frightened at all. I miss my friends from _____ high school, but I believe I will make new friends here, and there’s a lot to ____ at senior high. I feel much more ____ than I felt this morning. I think that tomorrow will be a _____ day.

9 . My 12-year-old niece was staying with us for a little while. One night we stayed up talking about how we used to _________and take part in random acts of kindness. We talked about how so much had_________, and how difficult it would be to do so many of those things now, _________ when it came to helping out strangers.

The next day, I _________ something from downtown and took her to shop. We were walking around _________we heard a beautiful male voice singing. We turned around to see a middle-aged man sitting on a corner with his guitar. A couple was sitting on a bench nearby and listening to his _________.

After I ran my errand (杂事), we_________to sit at an outdoor restaurant across from him on the other side of the street. My niece kept_________and saying how wonderful his singing was. Seeing how moved she was by his music, at the end of our_________, I gave her a $10 bill and asked her to put it in his bowl.

She was __________, and headed over. As she __________, the man was just finishing a song, and they had a conversation. She told him how __________ she was by his music, and he told her she__________his day. As she was excitedly talking about the __________with me, she mentioned, “He didn’t even know how much it was. He just__________ that someone was enjoying his music.”

10 . Last summer, we went to Hawaii for holiday. During my week-long trip with my husband, we spent most of our time _______during the day in the sea, and then enjoying walks along the beach in the evenings.

We didn’t take any _______because we had enough. We had visited the island many times _______. On our way to the _______we joked that other than our sun-burnt skin, we had no way to show that we had _______there!

As we stood in line at the check-in, we noticed the _______who had been on our plane the week before. _______, they all had tear-filled eyes this day. On the plane, we sat directly behind them: a mother and her four children without Dad’s attendance. We learned that the father had been _______in a jet-skiing accident that week, and his wife and children had to _______make their way home without him.

We watched the children become unworried while they were playing cards. But the mother stared at her knees, ________to believe her husband’s death. We could ________feel her pain as we realized that this could have happened to any of us. While we were laughing and playing in the water, this poor family had been ________the sufferings. The vacation they had dreamed about had ________the terrible dream they would never forget.

I suddenly ________that we had no pictures for this vacation together. I closed my eyes, hoping that my mind had recorded all the wonderful moments that I had ________with my husband that week. What a trip!