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.

3 . 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?

4 . 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.

5 . 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 . We moved there on my third birthday. My first ________ is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden through a hole in the chain-link fence. She and her husband, Bill, lived next door.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they’d watch me ________ they were out on a date. This ________ well for everyone, so it became a somewhat monthly occurrence. Arlene and Bill didn’t have kids. They had a ________ room in their house, which became “my” room. I had a cabinet and boxes of toys and books in that room, Arlene and I would do crafts together. Bill taught me how to ________ the lawn tractor and eventually a car (stick and automatic).

When I was about five, I had an idea. My parents were watching TV when I spit it out: “What if I adopt Bill and Arlene as my ________?” My parents said I could go over and ask them. I ________ on Bill and Arlene’s door, sat down in their living room, and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and ________ accepted. Soon after, they printed out an adoption ________, and it hung on their living room wall from then on.

I remember being surprised that they took my ________ so seriously —not because I wasn’t serious but because I was just a kid. They could have ________ it off. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There is something truly magnificent about a child offering up her love and ________ being so excited to accept it. Every child in this world ________ enthusiastically responded love.

Arlene passed away in 2013, two days before our adoption anniversary. Bill gave her eulogy (悼词). At the end, he said, “Arlene ________ her husband, Bill. And the greatest joy of her life, her granddaughter, Katie.”

After the funeral, Bill gave me the ring he’d gifted to Arlene on their 25th wedding anniversary. It’s a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a ________ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.

8 . 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.

9 . 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.