1 . When I was a teenager, I was invited to a formal dance party. I was _________, but also nervous about what to wear. Mom suggested I wear high heels (高跟鞋).

“Mom, I don’t know if I can wear these,” I said, feeling _________. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Just take small _________ and keep your weight centered,” she suggested.

As I arrived at the party, I tried to be _________ and act like everything was fine. But _________ struck when I stepped onto the dance floor. I _________ my own feet, falling to the ground in front of everyone.

I quickly got up and laughed it off, pretending like it was _________. But deep down, I felt like a tomato, wanting to _________.

My friend Lilly helped me _________ that incident and managed me another high heels as a support so that nobody would understand my hesitation. But a little bit __________ continued in my mind.

When I returned home, I told Mom I felt like a complete __________ at the party. “It’s okay. You tried something new, and it didn’t go as __________. But that’s how we learn and grow. Don’t be too __________ on yourself and wear what you feel __________ in,” Mom said, giving me a hug.

From that day forward, I stuck to flat shoes. I learned to __________ my true self and not worry about what others thought.

2 . Are parents rational (理性的) about their children? No. Parents aren’t rational because _______ isn’t rational. Young people can understand this about romantic love, but they find it hard to _______ this element (元素) in parental love.

My eldest daughter’s _______ the other day brought this up. “Let me ask you something, Dad,” she began in a tone of patiently controlled _______ that every experienced parent knows.

“I sailed around the Mediterranean in a yacht (游艇) when I was seventeen,” she said. “I hiked through the Pyrenees from Spain to Paris. I’ve done rock climbing and deep-sea diving and slept in rainforests in the jungle of Indonesia. Right?”

“Right,” I said, “So _______?”

“So this,” she went on. “When I go to the corner drugstore to pick up some shampoo, why do you always tell me to be _______ when I cross the street?”

There is no _______ answer a parent can give to this.

All I could mumble (嘟囔) in _______ was that when I was 50, my mother would _______ me not to drive too fast. If I were 80 and she were still alive, I would be getting the ________ warning. No matter the ________, a child is a child.

There is something else, too, that children find it hard to ________ . When they are far away, there is nothing we can do about their ________ . They are in the hands of the gods. Parents try not to ________about it.

But when the children are ________ , the old protective urge quickly comes back, and it doesn’t ________ how far they have been or what experiences they have got through.

Most ________ happen around the corner, not in the rainforest. The most instinctive (本能的) act of almost every creature is to ________ its young, and with humans this ________ stays for a lifetime.

In the parent’s mind, a child ages but does not ________. Rational? No. But if we were rational, would we want children at all?

3 . Ice cream can’t cure cancer or bring back a lost love, but it can make one feel better for a while. About 18 months ago, my father was in hospital recovering from a major lung operation. My mother had recently_________ , and my father had taken the loss of his partner of 55 years very hard and had lost interest in ________. Trying to get him to_________ each day was quite a chore (苦差事) as he didn’t want anything. The one thing,_________, that he would ask us to bring him was ice-cream. One evening, to our ________, he refused to eat the ice-cream,_________ I placed it in a staff room freezer (冰箱). A little while later, my son decided he wanted it, so I ________ it for him. As I passed another ward (病房), a ________ asked, “Are there more ice-creams?” When I explained the ________, she apologized. She then said that she had cancer and could eat very little,_________ the occasional ice-cream. The next evening, I decided to buy two ice-creams. On the way to Dad’s room, I stopped in at the ________ woman’s room, and ________ her the ice-cream I’d bought for her. She was ________ stunned (大吃一惊) that I had thought of her, and ________ the gift with tears in her eyes. I spoke with her for a few minutes,_________ what was happening in my family and listened to her ________ story of pain and suffering. It was apparent that she did not ________ many visitors, and the ice-cream and our short chat meant a great deal to her. I ________ the gesture (举动) a few days later, and this time was_________ with a huge hug. I never even thought to ask her name, and never saw her again, but it made me realize that an act of ________ can be more rewarding when you give it, rather than receive it.

4 . I had worried myself sick over Simon’s mother coming to see me. I was a new ________ and I gave an honest account of the students’ work. In Simon’s case, the grades were awfully low. He couldn’t read his own handwriting. ________he was a bright student. He discussed adult subjects with nearly adult comprehension. His work in no way reflected (反映) his ________.

So when Simon’s mother entered the room, my palms (手掌心) were sweating. I was completely ________ for her kisses on both my cheeks. “I came to thank you,” she said, ________ me beyond speech. Because of me, Simon had become a different person. He talked of how he________ me, he had began to make friends, and for the first time in his twelve years, he had ________spent an afternoon at a friend’s house. She wanted to tell me how grateful she was for the ________I had nurtured (培养) in her son. She kissed me again and left. 

I sat, stunned (惊呆), for about half an hour, ________what had just happened. How did I make such a life-changing ________ to that boy without even knowing it? What I finally came to ________ was one day, several months before, when some students were ________ reports in the front of the class, Jeanne spoke ________, and to encourage her to raise her voice, I had said, “Speak up. Simon’s the expert on this. He is the ________one you have to convince, and he can’t hear you in the ________of the room.” That was it. From that day on, Simon had sat up straighter, paid more attention, ________ more, and became happy. And it was all because he ________to be the last kid in the last row. The boy who most needed ________was the one who took the last seat that day.

It taught me the most ________lesson over the years of my teaching career, and I’m thankful that it came ________ and positively. A small kindness can indeed make a difference.

6 . Children like to copy what they hear. They copy their parents, their friends and even the TV. This teaches them _______ to speak the language. They don’t practise grammar, _______ use the language to talk about things that interests them. They don’t worry about their _______ or poor grammar. They can find ways to _______ themselves, and they do it successfully.

Copying also good for students to learn a foreign language.When you listen to foreigners speaking English, _______   what they say as loudly as you can. You should also pay your attention to communication. Look for chances to _______ with native speakers of English. If you can’t find a _______ to talk to, talk with other students in English _______. You can also join an English club or go to an English corner to talk about music, movies or_________interests you.

Don’t worry about   making ____________. The aim is to learn how to communicate (交流) easily and comfortably. Remember that you can communicate successfully even with a small vocabulary.

7 . I was working as a consultant (顾问) in a beer company, helping the president and senior vice-presidents with something important. It was a big ______. At the same time, my mother was in the______ stages of cancer.

I worked during the day and _____40 miles home to be with her every night. It was______ and stressful, but it was what I wanted to do. My promise was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day, ______my evenings were very hard. I didn’t want to_______the president with my situation. ______I felt someone at the company wanted to_____ what was going on. So I told the vice-president of Human Resources, asking him not to______ the information with anyone.

A few days______, the president called me into his office. I ______ he wanted to talk to me about one of the many issues we were ______ on. When I entered, he asked me to sit down. He faced me from across his large _____, looked me in the eye and said, “I _____ your mother is very ill.”

I was totally______ by surprise and burst into tears. He just looked at me, let my_______subside (平息), and then he ______ said a sentence I will never forget: “______ you need.” That was it. His ______and willingness both to let me be in my pain and to offer me everything were qualities of compassion (同情) that I _____ with me to this day.

8 . One student took a box of chicken to class. Another carried on a cell phone _________ , and still another whistled loudly every time the _________ turned his back. Reform school? No. College.

More and more, professors say, they are coming across _________ students in their classrooms. Many of today’s young scholars(学者) arrive late, leave_________, talk loud or take care of personal _________ such as paying bills during class.

Why are the students behaving badly?

“Because they can,” said a student of University of North Texas. “A lot of the time, the professors let them get _________ with it. ”

Some educators say it is time to bring politeness back to their classrooms—and even _________ taking some of the blame for bad behavior. They say that rude students are by no means the majority but that one of them can ruin an entire _________.

People are _________ when they learn that impolite behavior is becoming more and more common in __________ education, says Dr. Gerald Amanda, a counselor at City College of San Francisco. They __________ some high school students to misbehave but think those who get to __________ will behave more politely.

Dr. Amanda believes that society in __________ has become more tolerant(容忍的) of rude behavior and __________ people in power, including professors, no longer __________ standards for __________. That leads to a growing imprudence(轻率行为) __________ some college students. “There’s a great __________ of bad behavior in the world around them, and young people see it and __________ disrespect,” said Dr. Amanda, __________ that sometimes students have no idea that they are being rude.

9 . One day a famous speaker gave a speech to a crowd of people. He held up a 20-dollar bill. He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill” Hands were raised. Then he said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first let me do this.” He began to crumple（弄皱）the  _______ . He then asked the audience, “Anybody still wants it?” Still the hands went  _______ in the air.

“What if I do this?” He asked, and he _______ it on the ground, and started to step on it. He _______ it up. Now the bill was _______ and crumpled. “Now who still wants it?” Still the hands went up.

“My friends,” He continued, “You have all learned a good lesson. No matter _______ I did to the money, you still wanted it because the bill did not lose its _______ . It was still worth $20. Many times in our _______ , we are dropped, crumpled, and stepped on, because we sometimes _______ wrong decisions, or we may ________ with something we do not ________ . When that happens, we feel depressed and think we are ________ . But in fact no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. The worth of our life comes not ________ what we do or whom we know, but in who we are! Don’t forget ‘the worth of a thing does not depend on its outside ________ , but on its inner value.’ This is the ________ of life.”