1 . Growing Roots

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t _______ lives, he was planting trees.

The good doctor had some interesting theories on planting trees. He believed in “No pains, no gains”. He never _______ his new trees, which was _______ many people. Once I asked why. He answered that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each following tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things _______ for them. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water. I came to understand that he meant deep roots were to be _______. I planted a couple of trees a few years back and I took good care of them. Two years of _______ has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake and tremble their branches. Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’. The lack of water seemed to _______ them in ways comfort and ease never could.

I used to pray for my sons that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to _______ my prayer. I know my children are going to meet _______, and I’m praying they will be strong. The prayer for comfort is seldom met. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the winds blow, they won’t be __________ away.

2 . “I hate New Orleans! I wanna go home!” I _______ to my mother as we moved boxes. _______, going home was not easy because my home was 1,100 miles away.

I was born and _______ in northern Virginia. Virginia was my home, and I never expected that to _______. In 2014, my family experienced a tragedy (悲剧), so my parents decided to move to my mom’s hometown of New Orleans.

Only three months after my parents made the _______ to move, I found myself moving boxes into our new house. My announcement to my mother that I _______ the new environment was partly motivated by how hot it was, but it was mostly due to the fact that I felt like my entire life had been turned upside down. 1,100 miles away from everyone and everything I had ever known, I was _______. To make matters worse, I was starting high school in two weeks. Beginning high school is a scary _______ on its own.

I spent my first few months in New Orleans, _______ wanting to go home to Virginia. But after a few months of missing home, I ________ that I had a choice. I could continue thinking about how much I missed my old home, or I could start trying to build a new home right here. I chose the latter.

As soon as I stopped giving all my attention to how much I missed Virginia, I was able to begin accepting the love that people were already giving me. I joined some clubs at school, which gave me the chance to make friends. My neighbor taught me how to cook some New Orleans food, and I found a wonderful race of fellow cooks and neighbors. Overall, I seized every possible opportunity to better myself and to rebuild my life.

3 . My adult son walked to the table this morning for breakfast and opened his arms to me. I opened my arms too and gave him a big hug just like I do every morning. And this time when I did, a beautiful memory came back to me. It is ________ how one simple act of love can forever ________ one’s soul.

My Italian Granny had been a big hugger when I was a boy, but my mom had grown up in a more ________ household. She hugged me sometimes but less often as I grew into my teenage years. By the time I was a teenager then, except for my Granny, I didn’t hug anyone.

When I was sixteen, I left on a trip with a group to ________ a Seminary College in the Mid-West. And on our way there, we also stopped by an old Monastery. As we entered, we were ________ there by the largest monk I had ever seen. He was over six and a half feet tall with huge arms and a ________ voice. And as he greeted us, he gave each one of us a HUGE HUG. When my own turn came, I felt scared but ________ in and hugged him back. I felt a warmth in my heart. Later that day I began to wonder why I had ever stopped giving and receiving hugs when they brought so much ________. When my own children were born then I ________ to never stop hugging them and telling them I loved them.

What use are arms, after all, if we can’t use them to hug each other. What use are lips if we can’t say “I Love You!” God gives us ________ ways to share our kindness and delight here. Let’s use them all to share our love.

4 . 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 education, 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 between his farm-work routines. He stopped taking part in 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 light. During this period, Dale was slowly _____ an inferiority complex (自卑感) which his mother knew could _____ him from achieving his real potential. She suggested 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_____ made it. This proved to be a _____ point in his life. Speaking before groups did help him gain the confidence he needed. And his hard work paid off. By the time Dale was a senior, he had won every top _____ in speech. Now other students were coming to him for coaching and later they, in turn, were winning contests.

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

7 . Over the years, thanks to my life’s obstacles (障碍). I understood the meaning of faith and the strong will to survive. It was Hurricane Ike that made me fully _________ the beauty of our strength and a human’s motivation to _________.

Mom had a two-week vacation in summer. While we enjoyed our holiday in Southeast Texas, we didn’t realize the fact that Ike would cause months and likely years of “labor”. By September 7th, the “eyes of Texas” were watching Hurricane Ike more closely, making the typical mad rush for last-minute hurricane _________. Two days later, both oil and food were in _________ demand.

In the early hours of September 11th, some neighbors were planning to _________the storm in their homes, while others were making final preparations to get away. At first, we decided to stay. But that afternoon, the Houston-Galveston area would be on the more dangerous side of the storm. Mom and I packed some of our most _______ belongings in the car and headed for the East Texas town of Lufkin.

As Ike pushed farther inland, we _________ power in Lufkin. On Sunday, our next-door neighbor told us via cell phone that our house had remained well. Our hopes could not have been _________. But a few hours later, the neighbors reported that our brick chimney had gone, and it was sitting on our living room _________ a hole in the roof between two skylights (天窗).

We wouldn’t be allowed to return home until September l7th. I climbed upstairs, and looked toward the hole in the roof which showed a beautiful blue sky.

Without hesitation, I shouted, “Wow! A third skylight!”

My neighbors could not believe I was making jokes instead of crying, but __________ is always good medicine. It was with that joke that I knew, given time, everything would be okay.

8 . From my childhood on, my mother didn’t have a job. If she was asked to _______ a personal questionnaire, she would leave the question “Employment” _______. She believed that her job was to be my mother—full time.

There is an old photograph of my mother and father, taken in 1942. In the photo my mother looks very beautiful, I think. When I look at the photo, I see a woman full of _______ in life. If she had put her mind to getting a career, the whole world would have been in her hands. The story of her youth fully _______ this. She got a brilliant exam in one of the finest schools in the country.

_______ she has always been a housewife and mother. Everyone in the town _______ her for her great effort into charity work, but if someone asked her what she did _______ she answered that she was Robert Greene’s wife, and Robert’s mother.

What I _______ best from my childhood is how it felt to get home from school. She was always there waiting for us. Today there are probably many women seeing what she did as a _______ of my mother’s good abilities. I don’t make ________ either. But so many years later, I still remember how it felt to rush home—and there was mum, waiting for us.

9 . In high school I had a math teacher, Mrs. Davies, who took her job seriously and expected her students to put forth the same degree of commitment (付出). Strict but fair, she held our attention with her great method. One of her classes was for students who were more advanced academically. I chose to _________ it and soon realized that the course was a bit over my head. I _________ with complex problems that others seemed to learn without much effort.

One Friday we were tested _________ our ability to use a theorem (定理) that no one in the class thoroughly understood. The teacher would grade our papers based on our ability to progress through the problem which easily filled two pages of formulaic notations (公式符号). I was absolutely _________. Finally, I didn’t use the required theorem. Instead, I decided to use more familiar theorems to arrive at an _________. I knew I had failed because I hadn’t done the required assignment. I became resigned (顺从) to my fate.

Our test papers were handed back the following Monday. Everyone received a “C” except for me. To my surprise, I received an “A”. I _________ that there must be a mistake. I watched _________ as the teacher approached my desk, smiled, and asked for my test paper back. She went back to copy my work onto the blackboard, showing the class how I have arrived at the correct answer. “Mathematics is meant to be a creative tool, pushing our minds to a rewarding answer,” she said with confidence. _________ I didn’t use the required theorem, she seemed really proud of how I’d worked through the problem.

My teacher would have been justified (合理的) in giving me a _________ grade. Instead, she used the opportunity to deeply influence a student who often struggled. And after forty years, I still cherish the memory. I opened up to a broad boundary of possibilities which has made my life an adventure. She understood that teaching went beyond strict demands and could be used to __________.

10 . Learn to Meet Challenges

My classmates called me “the alien”, and they avoided me like the plague (瘟疫). As a young boy, I ________ from a serious skin disease, which filled my arms with scars. The true ________ of my condition, however, was social: I lived a life of loneliness.

Doctors predicted (预言) that I would never fully recover, but my parents encouraged me to hope for the future, teaching me that my difficulty could be overcome. I therefore took a/an ________role in fighting against my disease, trying many medications and herbs, and my health improved greatly before I graduated. I realized that my personal ________ had led to this improvement. I regained self confidence and made many friends at school.

Years later, like my personal battle against disease, I learned a great deal about ________by overcoming difficulties.

I joined the Culture Club as a Special Event Director. I ________a group of six students in organizing various activities. I was the most advanced ESL (English as a second language) student among the group. So I considered myself the most capable. But I quickly learned my ________. While preparing for our first presentation, I was strict with my team members and often rejected their ________. I performed most of their tasks myself, allowing them to help me only with small details. As a result, the presentation was not very successful. The setback ________me, and I spoke of it to the club’s director. She responded that she ________ my ability to succeed in the future. This comment filled me with ________, for I realized that I had never trusted my own team members.________they were weak in English, they had many valuable talents. I immediately ________ my policy, allowing my team members to choose the tasks they desired and to complete them on their own. For our program, we had many meetings, which gave ________ to many good ideas. Most importantly, the atmosphere among us improved dramatically. We were happy and eager to devote time to the program, and I learned what true leadership is.

My experiences ________ improved my ability to handle challenging situations.