3 . When Deborah hiked cycling to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York last November, she _________ a female mute swan near the water’s edge. Deborah, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehab (康复) center, knew that mute swans can be aggressive. But as she _________ this one, it didn’t move.

She was certain that the bird needed _________ attention. Deborah covered her jacket over the bird’s head, _________ picked it up, and cradled it in her arms. And then a thought _________ her: What should I do now?

Her best choice was the rehab center, _________ that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to _________ a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some confused strangers driving by offered them a(n) _________ to a nearby subway station.

On the subway, no one seemed particularly disturbed by the _________ passenger. “One guy,” says Deborah, “was sitting right in front of me on his __________. I don’t know if he noticed the swan before him when talking with the person on the other end.”

Deborah called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higginbotham, an animal-care manager, __________ her up at the subway station and drove the bird, the bike, and the __________ to the center. There, staff members determined the swan might have lead (铅) poisoning, caused by __________ weights on fishing lines.

The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet (蹼足). The swan even made a __________ at the center—another injured swan. __________, even with all that TLC (tender loving care), the swan had a bacterial infection. Two months __________ Deborah came to her rescue, she passed away early this January.

It’s a(n) __________ ending, but the real story is just __________ some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city—literally. In all, Deborah traveled two hours by foot, __________, and subway (while hauling her bike). Higginbotham says, “That’s the perfect __________ of who she is.”

5 . I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn't like attention drawn to myself. And _________ otherwise assigned(指定）a seat by the teacher, I always chose to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this _________ after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy idea because I didn't have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the _________ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on _________ for it, I would not have decided to give a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts was only the _________ of it! When I first started _________ the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, much _________ what I was doing. Sometimes I'd get _________ and take a shot at the wrong direction----which made me feel really stupid. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one "new" at the game, so I decided to _________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t know “just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the __________ and the" moves". Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive __________ in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the __________—— friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my __________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from "__________ " in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, to raising my hand----even when I sometimes wasn’t 100 percent __________ I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

6 . I will never forget one summer in my childhood. While walking in the attic（阁楼），I stepped on something and _______ down, with my hand landing on a floorboard that popped up and almost hit my head. When I _______ and looked inside the open space. I could not believe my eyes：There was gold in there! I _______ a handful of shining gold cubes, ran to the bottom stair and _______ , “Mama，I found gold up there under floor!”

Back up the stairs I dashed, but my brothers almost knocked me down as they ran right by me. When mama opened the door and _______ her head in, she _______ said, “Honey, that’s insulation（隔热材料）. Now put it all _______ .”

I felt really disappointed. I had thought I made a real _______ .

When I _______ inside to put “the gold” back, my hand touched what felt like a book. I pulled it out. It was old and small：Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, which I’d never heard of. And ________ I was bored, I decided to see what was inside this little book. To my ________ , it was a book of passages, phrases and proverbs, and I could tell that this was going to be ________ .

So I spent quite much time on it and found ________ in these pages. As I didn’t know how to express things clearly, I often ________ to talk about them. This book helped me ________ that I didn’t need to feel ashamed or ________ , because other people had similar experiences.

When I went to college, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations came with me. Over the years, I’ve kept my ________ copy, which to this day I often ________ . Although it was a coincidence（巧合）to find the book, it liberated（解放）me in a way. It helped me see more than my young mind and heart were able to ________ .

The book discovered under those floorboards was, ________ , gold.

7 . I walked into the store. And this store held so many ________. Rudy often came with me and almost every time he’d ________ to go off and look for something special. And I knew what he was about to do. I’d always find him walking with three yellow roses in his hands.

Standing by the meat, I ________ the steak and remember how Rudy had loved his steak. Suddenly a woman came beside me. I watched as she ________ some T-bones, dropped them in her basket and then put them ________. She saw me watching her and she smiled, “My husband loves T-bones, but to be honest, at these prices, I don’t know ….”

“My husband passed away eight days ago.” I told her and tried to control the tremble in my ________. “Buy him some and ________ every moment you have together.” I told her.

I turned and made my ________ to other products to buy some milk. Suddenly, I saw a pretty lady coming towards me, then I recognized her. She was the woman I met just now. As she came closer, I saw what she ________ and tears were full of my eyes. “These are for you,” she said and placed ________ beautiful yellow roses in my arms. “When you go through the line, they will know these are ________.” I wanted to tell her what the roses ________ for me, but I was still unable to speak. I watched as she walked away as tears ________ down. I looked down at the beautiful roses and found it almost unreal. How did she know? Suddenly the ________ seemed so clear. I wasn’t alone. “Oh, Rudy, you haven’t forgotten me, have you?” I whispered, with tears in my eyes. He was still with me, and ________ was his angel.

8 . When I was young, each morning I woke up and would find my father nowhere around the house. He usually got up early before _________ and began milking the cow and cleaning the farmyard. In summer, he got up _________ earlier to mop the grass and water the flowers and vegetables in the garden. Once I helped my father to _________ weeds（杂草） from the corn field. It wasn’t long _________ I felt very tired but the field ridge（田垄） seemed _________. Finally I totally threw myself _________ in the field, feeling _________. My dad seemed to have _________ my mind. He came up and said，"Farming is backbreaking（使人筋疲力尽的） and really takes _________ and sweat, but in __________ the sweet harvest will be worth the __________. "Encouraged by his words, I struggled to my feet. My father __________ and added, "Rome is not built in a __________ but it can be built in hundreds of days. So whenever __________ with a huge project, just break it into __________ parts and then complete it one by one. Finally you will be amazed at your __________." Hearing what he said, I was greatly __________ and continued removing the weeds from patch（小片，小块） to patch. Believe it or not, at the end of the day, I __________ in weeding half an acre(英亩）of corn field.

Now, I have tried different jobs and finally __________ down a big restaurant. In my lifetime, my father's devotion to his job and his special working methods can always encourage and guide me __________ all kinds of difficulties.

9 . That cold January night,I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco． _______ home, I thought seriously about _______ both my job and San Francisco．City life had become too much for me．

As 1 walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and _________．I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers．About a block from my apartment, I heard a _________   behind me．I turned quickly but the street was _______．All I saw was a shining streetlight, which made me nervous. I started to _________ faster．Not until I reached my apartment building did I realize the noise had been my _________ falling to the sidewalk．

Suddenly 1 wasn’t cold any more．I ran back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk _________ for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be _______.

Just as 1 was about to give up the ________,I heard the garbage truck pull up to the ________ next to me．Then out jumped a small red—haired man with a(n) ________ look in his eyes．“Is this what you’re looking for?”He asked ________ up a small square shape．

That night, I got my wallet back．I also got back some ________ of city life．I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to __________ each other．