1 . Standing in front of the bike shop, Dave stared at the shiny red bicycle in the window. He could _______ himself riding the bike in Saturday’s race and winning the first-place medal and prize money. “With that bike, I could even beat Adam,” Dave thought.

He rode on and stopped at Peck’s clothing store. The coat he planned to buy his mother for her birthday was still on sale. Dave knew she would _______ buy it for herself. She worked hard just to make _______ meet. But the prize money would be enough for him to buy that coat and surprise her.

Dave looked at his old bike. Two years ago, he found some old bicycles at the _______ and used the parts to make one bike. He called it his recycled bike. “I’ll never _______ the race on this old bike,” Dave sighed.

As Dave passed the junkyard, he noticed a newer-looking bike tire. He started _______ the huge junk pile. Finally, he found what he was looking for. “These two tires and the handgrips (手把) are just _______ for my bike.”

Arriving home, Dave put the used tires and the handgrips on his _______ bike, and oiled the chained. He stood back and admired the _______ he had made. “I might win that race after all,” he said to himself.

The next morning, when Dave and his mom got to the park, about thirty kids had already __________. Dave headed for the start line __________ Mom found a seat at the finish line.

Bang! The riders rushed off. Dave __________ Adam, who was in the lead. He __________ to pass one rider after another and was approaching Adam. Leaning forward, Dave pedaled harder and faster. __________ he sped by Adam and crossed the finish line.

As the announcer awarded Dave the medal and the check for fifty dollars, he asked, “What are you going to do with the prize money, Dave?”

“It’s a __________ ,” Dave said and waved to his mom.

2 . A professor was traveling with a few of his students, they happened to pass a lake. Then the professor told one of his students to get some _______ for him.

When the student _______ the lake, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and,_______at that moment, a bullock cart(牛车) started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very _______. The student thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my _______ to drink!? ” So he came back and told professor, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is _______ to drink.”

After about half an hour, again the professor asked the _______ student to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The student went back to the _______. This time he found that the lake had _______clear water in it. So he ________ some water in a pot and brought it to the professor.

The professor looked at the water, and then he looked up at the student and said, “See what you did to make the water ________. You let it be ... and the mud ________ on its own — and you got clear water... Your ________is also like that. When it is ________, just let it be. Give it a little ________. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It is ________.”

What did the professor emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless. Having '________of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless ________. When there is peace ________ you, that peace permeates to the outside. It ________ around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

4 . It was in four decades of nursing that I'd had such a terrible problem with a colleague. Rita seemed to look down upon me and I had no idea why. Every _______ I expressed had the opposite effect. Our relationship was so impossibly _______ that I didn't even pray about it.

It is eight years since I _______ from nursing, and certainly retired from ever thinking about that _______ coworker. A pandemic (流行病) had _______ us all like a ton of bricks and even my town of Huntington had sold out of protective masks. I _______ for a box of hospital-grade masks I had left over. Well, I didn’t find the masks, _______ I found some old, unopened mail----a Christmas card ----I’d _______ placed near some reference materials a year ago. That kind of thing is always a _______ to find, but the return address was Florida and I couldn't ________ who I knew there.

I opened the envelope and read the card in ________ ----it was from Rita. ''Please ________ me for being such a mean person. '' she wrote. A ________ of love and forgiveness washed over me. I’m not really a(n) ________ because of a problem with my hands, but there at 11:30 p.m., I typed out an emotional message ________ her that there was no cause for concern, no need for forgiveness ________ there is only love and gratitude for the mercy and miracles of God. In a matter of seconds, I ________ a text back. Rita was over the moon with ________. She said that this reconciliation(和解) and my physical healing had been her ________ prayer. That was ________, I thought, but then again with God nothing is really ever that unexpected, is it?

5 . At age 19, Yohannes Gehregeoris borrowed a soft-cover romance novel entitled Love Kitten that changed his life forever. Born in rural Ethiopia to an uneducated cattle merchant who _______ his son’s education, Gebregeorgis had seen a few books in school. But it was the experience of having a book of his own that sparked a lifelong _______.

Today, at 56, Gebregeorgis is _______ libraries and literacy programs to connect Ethiopian children with books. “Most Ethiopian children have only _______ to textbooks in the classroom,” says Gebregeorgis. “Books children read _______ of school, those are the spices of education.”

Forced to _______ Ethiopia to the United States as a political refugee in 1981, Gebregeorgis finally _______ himself through university, receiving a graduate degree _______ library science. He took a _______ at the San Francisco Childhren’s Library in 1985. There, he realized the ________ children’s books could have on a child’s sense of wonder and vision.

“Children could imagine everything from books — ________ to other cultures, to other people, to other children, and to the universe ________,” recalls Gebregeorgis. “It gives them hope and pleasure. It gives them everything that they cannot ________ get in regular textbooks.” ________ Gebregeorgis found that there were none in Amharic, the primary language of Ethiopia. When the library __________ $1, 200 for the purchase of Ethiopian books, Gebregeorgis was ________ to find any.

So he wrote one and founded Ethiopia Reads in 1988. The nonprofit ________ his efforts to bring children’s libraries to Ethiopia. In 2002, Gebregeorgis ________ his job and his home and returned to Ethiopia. Then he opened the Shola Children’s Library on the first floor of his home.

Reading storybooks to children who have no access to television or computers, Gebregeorgis believes that literacy and education will ________ his poor homeland affected by AIDS. “With literate children there is no ________ as to how much we can do.”

6 . A Welcome Gift

Dario and his mother loved their new apartment. The living room was large enough for their piano. That night, the two of them _______ side by side at the piano. They played jazz music to celebrate their new home. The loud _______ filled the room and made them feel very happy.

The next morning, _______, their happiness disappeared. Someone had left a _______ under their door during the night. One of their neighbors had written to complain about the sound of the piano. Dario’s mother asked the building superintendent(管理员) if he knew anything about it. But he said that they were all _______ people and he couldn’t imagine any of them had done that. Later that morning, Dario suggested that they write a letter to their _______ and apologize for their playing.

“Maybe we could go and _______ everyone in person.” his mother said.

“What if we invited them to come here for a _______ instead?” Dario asked.

They both loved the _______. Over the next few days, they sent out invitations and prepared desserts __________ their guests. They decorated the apartment with streamers(彩带) and party lights.

Finally, the day of the party __________. Some guests brought presents. Others brought flowers. Some even brought desserts to __________. One woman, Mrs. Gilbert, __________ Dario’s mother with a book of piano music by Chopin.

“I heard you playing the other night,” she said. “The sounds woke me out of bed. I __________ that you might play like this every night. So I wrote a short note. I hope you don’t think I disliked the playing.”

Dario’s mother smiled at Mrs. Gilbert. “I think maybe we __________ you an apology.” she said. “I didn’t __________ how late it was when we were playing. Maybe we should play some quieter music at night.”

“You play, you play!” Mrs. Gilbert said. “I like what you play! Just not so loud at night.” She pointed to the book she had given them. “These songs are not such __________ music.”

“These songs are beautiful music.” Dario’s mother said. “We will be __________ to play them in the evening.”

“And we won’t play so loud or late!” Dario said. He was already looking forward to __________ the new music. More than that, however, he was happy to see the big smile on his mother’s face. It gave him a feeling of __________ and made him feel that they were home at last.