2 . My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat which was hanging at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass. All the other coats drooped (低垂) _______ this one looked as if it were holding itself up (支撑起来). The coat had beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an) _______ price of $28, which was popular just then with _______, but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better with that _______ of classic elegance. John tried it on and the fit was perfect.

John wore the coat to school the next day and came home _______ a broad smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said, _______ folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a _______ came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and reasoned discussion replaced fierce _______. He became more mannerly and _______, eager to please. He would ________ lend his younger brother his bike, which he normally wouldn’t.

When I mentioned this incident to his teacher and ________ what caused the changes, she said laughing, “It must be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good ________ not only because he had earned ________ but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ________ a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly, ________ John’s new height, assessing (评估) the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never ________ a person’s clothes for the real person within them. ________ there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for ________ what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

For John it is a time when it is as easy to try on different approaches ________ life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is right ahead, a vast landscape ________ all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

5 . My daughter overbought food over the last two months. Her food pantry (储藏室) was full. She asked me to   ______ two full boxes of ______ food to the local charity. I was happy to do so and ______ it over. I even bought some more food to give along with hers and impressed by the enthusiasm, the joy, and the love with which the food was received. The lack of donations plus the high price of food had ______ the charity and the shelves needed every donation to fill. We were ______ over and over. I said It was just a piece of cake. Then my mind went back to another time when we were the ones in ______ .

At that time, our ______ was very tight. My job ______   paid the rent. My next pay was a week away and we didn't have enough ______ to last till the next week. We went to a food store. I was worried and nervous. I had never expected to seek ______ like that before, and I just hope there would be enough food so our children wouldn't go ______ . I was playing with our little kids outside when I saw my ______ picked up a box full of food. My heart is filled with ______ when she finally walked out with that box, saying, “The food is all free of charge. ” As we drove home, I silently thanked and ______ for all the people who had given.

The world we live on is one huge circle of love. Take your place in the circle. Never be ashamed to receive a gift of love. Never ______ to give a gift of love.

7 . “Anything is possible at any age.” I got a deeper understanding of it when in college. On the first day of school we were challenged to get to know a new classmate. I was looking around ___________ a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I found a little old _________with a warm smile.

She said “Hi, handsome! I’m Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and _________ responded, “Of course!”

“Why are you in college _________ such a young innocent (天真无邪的) age?” I asked.

“I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have children, and then travel around.” She jokingly replied.

“Seriously?” I asked. I was _________ why she took on this challenge.

“I always _________having a college education and now I’m getting one!” She told me.

We became _________ instantly.

Over the year, Rose became a campus icon (偶像) and she easily made friends _________ she went. She loved to dress up and she enjoyed the _________ from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the term, we ____________ Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never ____________ what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we ____________ playing. Here are the secrets to staying young. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a ____________. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have many people walking around ____________ are dead, and they don’t even know it!” she said.

“There is a huge ____________ between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t ____________ any talent or ability,” she added. “But growing up ____________ finding the opportunity in change. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what they did, ____________ rather for things they did not do.”

One week after ____________ that year, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. She taught us by example that it’s ____________ too late to be all you can possibly be. Just keep doing what you love.

8 . The New Year was heartbreaking for Melanie Lee. A few weeks earlier, her 33-year-old son had ________ his battle with a long illness. Then the engine on her old car ________ working. She had no means of paying for it to be fixed.

“When it ________, I broke down,” Lee said. “Now I don’t have my ________, now I don’t have transportation. How am I supposed to stay ________ in my grandchildren’s lives?”

Eliot Middleton, 38, the owner of a barbecue restaurant and a former auto mechanic who, in his free time, ________ and gives away used cars. He’d heard about Lee’s difficult ________ from her nephew. On New Year’s morning, Middleton showed up unannounced at Lee’s home with a(n) ________: a white 1933 Oldsmobile.

“I had no idea what was going on,” said Lee. “He ________ me the keys and didn’t ask for anything.” Once again, she was able to ________ her granddaughters from school and take them to dance classes. “I got my ________ back.”

The ________ for the used-car giving away came to Middleton a year earlier during a ________ drive he’d organized. Many of those who’d lined up for a meal ________ up to four miles to get there because they didn’t have cars.

________ are the lifeline in this part of South Carolina, Middleton said. There’s no public ________, no taxis to take people to doctor appointments, even food shopping. So he ________ on a social media platform an offer to trade his restaurant’s specialty for broken-down ________. Since then, people have left more than 100 cars in ________ states of disrepair. Many cars sit in Middleton’s yard waiting to be fixed and ________, usually to those he’s heard about by word of mouth.

It’s a list of names that grow daily.

“People think Middleton is a good man,” Lee’s nephew said. “And I do too.”

9 . In 1971 a young man who grew up very poor was travelling across the country, trying to make a new start for himself. Along the way he had completely run out of _________ and was forced to spend the night in his car. This _________ until one morning, after a week of sleeping in his car, he walked _________ into a restaurant and ordered a big breakfast.

After eating his first good meal in _________, he found himself _________ to the waiter, telling him he had lost his _________. The waiter, who was also the owner, walked _________ the chair where the young man had been sitting. He bent down, _________ a $20 bill that looked _________ it had fallen on the floor and said, “Son, you must have __________ this,” the owner said. The young man couldn't believe his good __________! He quickly paid for the breakfast, left a __________ , bought gas with the change, and headed West.

On the way out of town, he began to understand __________ the fellow did. Maybe nobody dropped the money __________ . “Maybe that fellow just knew I was __________ and he helped me in a way that didn't embarrass (使困窘) me. So I just made a __________ to help others if I can.”

Later, he worked very hard and became a (an) __________ man. Now, he lives near Kansas City. Each year he __________ thousands of dollars. He is known as the “Secret Santa” because at __________ time each year, he personally hands money out to those on the streets and at __________. Last year, he gave more than $50,000 away in Kansas City.

10 . It was Christmas morning. The ground was white with _________. The birds could not get anything to _________.

Bessie looked out of the window and saw them _________ about the street. They were _________ food. Bessie was a kind little girl. She felt _________ for the poor birds. She wanted to ask them to come into her warm home. _________ she knew that they were afraid to come in. At last she thought of a good idea. She decided to make a Christmas _________ for the birds. Bessie put a little tree outside the window. Then she hung on it little baskets full of _________ and small pieces of bread.

_________ the birds did not come to the tree. But by and by two or three came near and looked at it. They ate some of the seeds and bread. Then they flew __________ to tell the other birds about it. Soon many birds flew here to get their __________. They liked them as much as Bessie liked her Christmas presents. They sang songs to give their __________ to her.

Being __________, Bessie told her parents that she would give some of her bread to the birds every cold day. But her father said that she could not feed all the hungry birds even if she gave __________ of their bread. Thinking for a while, she said that all the birds would be fed __________ other children did the same.