1 . “Nothing will ever be the same again,” Ally said to herself.

Ally’s father _______ last summer. It wasn’t fair, Ally thought. Dad was young and had never been sick. Why had his heart _______ stopped? Ally sank slowly into her father’s favorite chair and looked at his picture on the bookcase. “I miss you, Dad,” she said _______.

She felt a hand smoothing her hair and _______. “Why don’t you come outside with me , Ally?” her mother asked. “By this time last year you’d already taken dozens of pictures of birds.”

But her mother must know bird watching wouldn’t be the _______ this year. How could it be? Ally wondered. Ever since she could remember, she and Dad had been a team, _______ the woods for the special wood warbler (林莺). “I’ll be out in a while, I promise,” she answered.

After her mother left, Ally _______ the photo album. On the cover was a photo of a tiny yellow bird with blue-gray wings and black eyes. Dad _______ it from a local newspaper. Ally smiled, remembering the _______ look on Dad’s face when he showed her the pretty bird.

“I can’t ________ someone spotted this little guy way up here in New Jersey,” he said. “Wood warblers are usually ________ in the south not this far north. I bet ________ we search real hard, Ally, we’ll see this little guy together someday.”

Ally closed her eyes. She loved ________ about the times she and Dad had spent searching the woods for the little bird. They’d never spotted the warbler ________ her father had an amazing way of making each outing seem ________. If only I could get that good feeling back, she thought, sighing.

2 . When I was a little boy, I lived in my grandma’s old house. It was _________ by four huge vegetable gardens, and around the house were planted so many _________. On the back porch, Grandma had dozens of potted (盆栽的) plants hanging on hooks (挂钩). She _________ them, and talked to them. With a little water and a lot of _________ she kept them alive, green, and growing even during the coldest, darkest months.

As a little boy, I was confused by all the effort she _________ them. I understood the vegetable gardens for they helped to _________ the family all winter long. I _________ understood the flowers around the house as they were pretty and smelled so sweet in the summer months. The reason why she _________ to those potted plants with so much effort, however, made me feel _________ a lot. They didn’t give us any food and they __________ had any flowers on them. They remained an unknown to my mind as a(n) __________.

Now as I’ve grown older, I am beginning to __________ why my grandma had those potted plants. It is the same reason why I have so many pictures of sunrises and forests __________ in my home. They remind me of the dark cold winter months __________ of bare trees and yellow grass when light, love and growth still exist. But my greatest __________ of light and love was Grandma herself, who was light to my soul even in my darkest times.

3 . Last night my husband and I were walking when we saw a man bent over on the ground, crushing (碾碎) something with a rock. He was so focused on his _________ that he didn’t look up at anyone passing by. We kept noticing him and _________ what he could be doing. I thought he was crushing stones to make sand, but why would he do that?

_________, we decided to go up and ask him. He was crushing pieces of left-over bread that he had _________ to prepare food for the birds that come there early morning. The large pieces of bread would be _________ for the birds to eat so he crushed them into powder. Every _________, after coming home from his job as a tailor, he goes around the villa (乡间别墅), collecting left-over bread from all his housemates. He then eats a quick meal and comes here, and spends the next 1 — 2 hours _________ crushing each piece and makes a neat pile for the birds. He has been doing this for the last 3 — 4 years. What _________ us more was that he was _________ that we were even taking an interest in this, since for him it wasn’t a big __________.

4 . I love everything about animals. Today, I went out for a simple walk to my library, when I _______________a dog! The dog looked like a German Shepard, and I, being an animal _______________, approached it. I noticed it had a _______________, but no leash. I tried asking multiple people around the dog if it _______________them, but everyone said no. I felt so bad, and didn’t know what to do. She was so friendly and sweet that I felt _______________about just leaving her there.

Then, what do you know? She started _______________me! I couldn’t help but smile at that. I was the only one who showed any _______________in her, petting her, talking to her, walking with her. So, together, we walked towards the _______________. I finally got a chance to _______________the number on her collar, but no one picked up! I was so ________________about this animal, and I was determined to not just leave it ________________around. I planned to head to a pet store.

However, before I even got to a store, a car ________________up in front of me with a father and two kids. It turns out that she was their dog, and had gotten ________________when the little boy opening their fence! They were so relieved to find her, and ________________me non-stop. I was relieved too! The dog ________________jumped into the car and I said goodbye to her.

8 . During my first three years of college, I put on weight quickly. Between classwork and a part-time job, I had zero time for ________. Besides, I ate a lot of fast food. Not surprisingly, I ________ a fat stomach.

After leaving college, I ________ to take exercise. Invited by a friend, I ________ working out with exercise machines three times a week. I was the kind of person who did not try something ________. I ate the same food; I did the same thing. Clearly, I ________ my routines (习惯). My friend, however, became ________. One day, he said, “We’re not getting enough exercise. We should play tennis instead.”

Me? Play tennis? No way. I was strongly against his ________. I was not good at sports and I was ________ the exercise machines. ________, weeks later, I found my-self standing on a tennis court (球场). As I held my racket (球拍), I felt ________. I ran after every ball he served to me, completely ________ about 90% of them and hitting the rest into the other court. The first few months were quite ________. But one day as the ball came flying toward me, my racket and the ball finally met in the place where it is most effective to hit a ball I watched ________ as my return landed where I had aimed (瞄准) it. I had finally ________ how to play tennis properly!

9 . Serena was walking to her class slowly. She worried about the ________ test she would have to take that morning. As she was reaching the classroom, a piece of paper suddenly fluttered (飘落) down and ________ near her feet. As Serena ________ the paper, her heart nearly missed a beat. It was the history test paper complete with ________!

Serena’s very first ________ was not to tell anyone what she had found. She would ________ all the answers and do extremely well in the test. After some hard thinking, however, she realized that it would be a very ________ thing to do. Besides, it would be ________ to her classmates. In the end, Serena ________ the paper to her history teacher, Miss James.

“Thanks, Serena. I have been ________ for it everywhere,” said the teacher. “Sorry, Miss James. I’ve read all the questions already.” Serena said.

Miss James told her not to ________ as she would think of new ________ for the test. Serena’s heart sank. She was half hoping that the test would be cancelled (取消). However, she did her best in the new test later that day.

A few days later, the test papers were returned to the class. To her pleasant ________, Serena discovered that she had scored eighty marks.

“You know,” she told her friends, “I could ________ have got full marks if I had cheated. But I wouldn’t be as ________ as I am now with the eighty marks I got.”

10 . Yesterday, my daughter had to go to work earlier than usual. Since the gym where I work out is not far from her _________, I decided to take her to work and then go to the gym.

At quite an earlier hour, the gym was_________full of men and women of all ages, working out. I_________go to the gym at this early hour, and was_________to see so many people. It seems that many go to the gym before going to work. Some want to lose weight, others want to_________ their body, and a great number of people like to build their muscles (肌肉). I know how difficult it is for most people to start exercising. Most people know it is good for their body, _________they are too lazy to go to the gym, _________ in the morning. They_________to spend an extra hour in bed before starting their day. In the afternoon, they are too_________ after work, and want to stay at home or go out to meet friends.

If you’re one of them, you need to overcome (克服) your__________. If you__________going to the gym and exercising, you will start to like it. This usually __________when you see you’re losing weight, that your body is getting into a better shape, and that you feel stronger.

It is the same in every other area of life, when you study a foreign language, develop a new skill or a new habit and when you make up your mind to__________your dreams. It is__________at first. But when you start to see __________, everything becomes easier because you have great motivation.