1 . Every time I passed boys who were playing basketball, I stopped to silently watch them. I really envied them. But as a girl, I once thought that I could _______ play basketball.

I like playing basketball though I’m not good at it. I’ve had a basketball _______ I was a child. At first, I could play freely because no one _______ when I was just a kid. But as I grew up it seemed harder for me to enjoy basketball. At school, boys always played basketball during PE classes. The girls were _______ allowed to play volleyball or badminton. My parents did not _______ me play basketball at home.

“Basketball is not fit for girls,” they said. _______ I went to play basketball with my friends, boys _______ at me on the court as if I were an alien. I was feeling _______ and had lost hope of playing basketball. _______, something changed the first day of high school. I made some friends who also enjoyed playing basketball. They ________ me to get back on the court.

One of them told me with a smile, “Go your own ________, let others talk.” This girl would always play basketball with me. Even the boy who sat next to me in class talked about ________ with me almost every day.

I was inspired by them. Confidence and passion ________ to my heart. I will play as well as I can, ________ for me, even the sky is boundless (无限的).

Basketball has become an important part of my ________. I am interested in it. I watch matches and enjoy playing almost every day. Through basketball, I not only feel happy and confident, but also ________ a lot.

I’ve heard the NBA star Tracy McGrady say, “Nothing is impossible.” I have ________ to realize that life is just like playing basketball. You should have an ________. After that, just be confident and ________ going. Never give up and you’ll make it sooner or later.

I love the motto of the NBA. It can ________ my strong feelings for basketball, “I love this game!”

2 . Lily was a French Canadian girl who grew up in the farming community. When she was sixteen, her father_________her to drop out of school to contribute to the family income. With English as her second language and_________education, the_________didn’t look bright for Lily.

Lily’s father was a stubborn man who_________took “no” for an answer. He_________Lily to find a job. With small hope of gaining_________,each day she would just ride to the city, walk_________around and return home at dusk. On one of her_________,Lily saw a sign at a big company._________she knocked on the very first door. In her__________English, Lily told the office manager she was interested in this position. The manager____________to give the girl a chance. He directed her to type a letter, and then____________. Lily looked at the clock and saw it was 11:40 am. She thought everyone would be leaving for____________at noon, when she could____________away in the crowd. But she knew she should____________the letter.

On her first try, Lily____________one line of five words and made four mistakes. When she attempted the letter on her second try, she completed a full paragraph, but still made many mistakes. She looked at the clock:11:55—five minutes to____________. Just then, the manager walked in. He came directly to Lily, read the letter and said, “Lily you’re doing____________work!”

With those simple words of encouragement, her desire to escape disappeared and her____________began to grow.

Lily thought, “Well, if he thinks it’s good, then it must be good. I think I’ll stay!” Lily did stay—all because someone had given the____________and uncertain girl the gift of self-confidence when she knocked on the door.

3 . I was said to be the worst student in my class and my family thought I was hopeless. I had to _______ sixth grade. At that time a new teacher, Miss Sadia, came to our school.

One day after class, she _______ that I was staying alone during the lunch break. She came to me and began to talk to me. It was just a _______ conversation. After that day, she gave me particular _______ and it made me feel special. I started to work hard because she gave me the feeling that _______ believed me. So my _______ started to improve in her subject.

Months later, she moved into a house near my _______. We would walk home together after school. Her constant support helped me, _______ in my studies. I knew she would _______ my grades both in her subject and the other subjects. So I tried my best and finally ________ second in my class.

Then, after sixth grade, she started to drift apart (逐渐疏远) ________   still kept a constant check on me. By the time I was in seventh grade, we ________ spoke. But by then I had become the ________ in my class. When I left school, I lost ________ with her, as she never answered the ________ when I called her.

Then I graduated and went to a good university. One fine day, our paths ________ again. I met her at a wedding. I could not ________ asking her, “Why did you stop talking to me?”

“Yon are a clever boy. I wanted you to be a tree ________ on your own roots, not depending on others. Now here you are and I feel ________ of you. You are your inspiration and do not need to ________ a shoulder,” she said. I could not say anything, but I smiled. I’ll always thank her.

4 . A lady wanted a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had liked a beautiful_________, and knowing her husband could _________it, she told him that was all she wanted. On the morning of the_________ , her husband told her how_________he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He_________her a beautiful gift package(纸盒). She opened it and_________ a Bible. _________, she raised her voice and said to her husband, “With all your money, you give me a Bible?” She was so_________that she left him.

Many years passed and the lady was very_________in business. She owned two large companies. She__________her husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should go to__________ him. But before she could, she__________a letter telling her that he had died, and gave all of his possessions(财产)to her. She needed to come back and__________ things.

When she arrived at his house, sadness__________her heart. She saw the still new__________, just as she had left it years before, With__________, she opened it and began to turn the pages. A ring__________from the Bible to the floor and a __________could be seen. She picked it up and found it was the ring she wanted in those days. And on the card was the date of her birth, and the words “LUV U ALWAYS”.

__________your gift is not packaged the way you want it, it’s because it is better packaged the way it is! Always appreciate little things; they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched for they must be felt with the__________.

5 . Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches computer science in a school. It is a normal school except for the fact that it didn’t have______

Owura became famous after he posted photos of him on the Internet. In the picture. people could see he was teaching his students by______ an entire computer on the blackboard.The photos showed the______level of education for children in Ghana. People were______ that Owura made sure each button was drawn correctly. He would come to school half an hour ahead of______every day. He drew the computer on the blackboard, but at the end of his class, it was______off to start the next class, so he had to______it the next day! Owura’s efforts______when Microsoft took______of his act. They first took him to an international educators’ meeting in Singapore. He made a______about his teaching methods at the meeting and ______a standing ovation(欢呼) after the speech.

______,Owura got the thing he always wanted for his students—some companies______computers to the school. Not a single child in the school had seen a real computer in their lives. Thanks to their teacher’s______the world took care and treat them with ______

7 . I worked in a restaurant. One night, a woman came in with three small children. As a waiter, I could _________ tell who is going to tip well and who isn’t going to tip at all. She asked about the _________ of everything on the menu, but she ordered _________ water to drink. Her daughter asked her “Mum, can I have milk?” The woman pulled out her purse and _________ her change before saying yes. Then I was _________ that I wouldn’t get a tip.

At the _________ of the meal, she paid entirely in coins. When I went back to clear the table, to my _________, there were a lot of coins left for me. It amounted to 8 dollars, about the 25% of the _________ . Here was a woman who _________to count her money before __________ her daughter chocolate milk, __________she wanted to make sure she still had enough to tip me generously.

Was it the __________ tip I’ve ever got? No, but it’s the only one I __________ after all these years.

This story is a(n) __________that the very best aspects (方面) of __________ nature can shine through in even the most __________ everyday situations. The first __________ may be powerful, but it’s important to let others __________ their true nature rather than making quick __________ about them. Generosity is a valuable virtue to develop, whether you __________ to be rich or poor.

8 . Last year, I was assigned to work at an office near my mother’s house. ________, I stayed with her for a month. During that time, I helped her out with the housework and contributed to the ________.

After less than a week, I started to________ the groceries (日用品) were running out pretty quickly. Confused, I began observing my mother’s daily routine for two weeks. To my ________, I found that she would pack a paper bag full of canned goods and headed out every morning at about nine. She took the food to the slums (贫民窟) and distributed it to street ________.

I asked around and ________ my mom was popular in the area. The kids looked up to her as if she were their own mother. Then it hit me—why didn’t she want to tell me about what she’d been doing? Was she ________ that I would stop buying the groceries if I knew the truth?

When she got home, I told her about my discovery and before she could react, I gave her a big hug and told her she didn’t need to keep it a ________ from me. She told me that ________ of the children lived with an old lady in a shelter while others ________ on the streets. For years, my mom has been helping out by ________ them whatever food she could spare. I was so moved by how ________ she was. She used what was meant for her to help others in need. And I was so ________ of her.

I ________ to buy groceries for my mom. But now, I always add a(n) ________ bag for her other children.

9 . As I head down the narrow hallway of my high school, my ears are filled with the sounds of complaints. The _________ around me are constantly complaining about school. These complaints fill the _________ and make it hard to breathe. I try to mention the _________ side of our current situation in high school but meet with criticism. The feeling of _________ school has become widespread among students worldwide. This can create a _________ educational environment. In my opinion, school is and should be fun.

I don’t want to enter such a negative environment. We should enjoy school! As students, we are so _________ to have the opportunity to attend school while millions of children around the world still do not have that opportunity. We should feel grateful that we are given the _________ to learn. School allows us to _________ some of the most interesting topics from science to foreign languages. High school allows students to find their whether they are physics or European history. _______, school has allowed me to find my love for debate, history, English and computers. High school has shaped me into a person of __________ interests and ambitions, even though I must __________ at 6 o’ clock in the morning.

As students, we should __________ all the wonderful opportunities we are given in school social events, meeting new friends, and learning. I have met so many __________ people in school. There is so much to be __________ in school.

Lighten up and find the positive aspects of school. __________ school and everything it has offered.

10 . I wrote my first novel when I was 22. It was a mess. I didn’t know how to properly organize dialogues and structure a plot (情节). Those were all _________. I planned to work out later. I gave the book to my father to read, and he left me a voice mail in a few days saying that it was _________ and that I was going to sell it for $300,000.

_________, and rather quickly, the book was _________ by every publisher in New York. If there were a literary prize for Most Rejections, I would have won it. I was _________: of course, but I knew better than to give up—writing wasn’t an easy job, and if this book wasn’t my _________ in, maybe the next one would be. I got back to work.

But this scenario (剧情) happened again: I wrote books...and then they wouldn’t _________. Still, my father’s faith in me never wavered (动摇), even if I worked a host of other jobs. Some of the jobs, like being a bookseller, were great and _________ to my writing life. Some, like selling overpriced jeans to 12-year-olds, were only insofar as they were material for future _________. And they were—because it finally __________. I sold a book! I was going to make it big!

I completely agree with the motivation speaker and author John Maxwell’s words: “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities but in their __________ to reach their potential.” Life’s not __________. It never was, it isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. But do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling you are a(n) __________. You are not. Get over it and __________ with it. And yes, most things are more __________ when you break a sweat to get them.