1 . Afraid to have a start, I was walking slowly into my first school in America. I had _______ a long way from India in order to join parents. They had been here for three years, and hoped America would help my future. My father decided that I would go to school here, so I found a local high school in my new town.

With _______ on one hand and fear on the other, I arrived at the classroom. Everyone’s eyes were on me as I entered the classroom. Without paying attention to them, I went straight to the _______ and asked if it was the right class. With a _______ voice, he answered, “Yes.” His voice comforted (安慰) me a little. He gave me a piece of _______ called “course requirements”, which I would never get in India. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I chose the _______   closest to the door instead of the corner where all of the boys were sitting. I didn’t _______ want to pick a seat. In India, the teacher _______ the seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the picture produced by the overhead projector (投影仪).

_______ it was my first day, I was confused (困惑的) about which hallway (走廊) to use, but I ________ to get to my classes without asking anyone. I was very confused about when I would have ________. It was noon when I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the normal process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. Feeling ________, she said, “That is the lunch bell.” I felt a little awkward. Without another word, I headed for the cafeteria (食堂).

At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus stop. I realized that all the ________ was like the difficulty I had to ________ to reach my goal. I ________ my bus and sat down inside happily. I said to myself: Today isn’t so bad.

2 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

3 . When my son Gene was about 12 years old, I started helping him learn to ______. I bought twenty chickens and asked him to ______ them. I told him that they would be his own chickens and we would ______ the eggs from him. However, he would have to buy chicken ______ with the money he made from the eggs. Whatever money was ______ would be his to keep. Gene was ______, thinking he would make his first ______.

After several weeks’ successful work, I began to ______ that egg production was going down. I ______nothing about it. Then one night, Gene told me he didn’t have ______ money to buy the feed. He said the chickens had never ______ a meal and he could not figure out why some of them had stopped ______ eggs.

Then I asked him if he had ______ the amount of feed he had given the chickens, he was ______. It was like he did not think anyone would ever ______ what he had done. After a long ______, he said yes. He thought he would make more money if he gave them ______ food. I asked him, “Did you fool the chickens?”

I was just astonished at the question in my own ______. I was dumbfounded (惊呆) at the ______of it. Yes, you can fool everyone else, but you cannot “fool the chickens,” because ______, you will find out, as the saying goes, “What goes around comes around.”

4 . Soon after my arrival in Luanda, I realised that I was going to have some free time available. I decided to spend it doing something useful and involving in the _________ community.

I started my search for volunteering opportunities here and a blog post _________ my eye. It was Ashima’s _________ on how she started her volunteering _________ in Luanda. Ashima has been volunteering at the Foundation for Art and Culture for more than a year. I decided to get in touch with them and soon after I got a very warm and welcoming _________ inviting me to the foundation. The next day as I _________ into the foundation little did I know it would become such a(n) _________part of my life in Luanda.

I was a bit hesitant at first as I had never worked with children before and my Portuguese(葡萄牙语) then was much _________ than now. But as I slowly started doing some activities with children, there were not any_________. All that you needed was a heart full of love and everyone __________the language of love.

I found plenty of __________ to do with kids, keeping them busy and having fun. Together we played, sang, learnt new things, __________new games and reinvented the old. The children coming to the foundation are wonderful, and full of __________ and energy. It is a beautiful place with wonderful projects. Without doubt it is the best __________ I could have found in Luanda, and I am very happy to go there as often as I can. The staff __________ there really make you feel welcome and at home.

5 . I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a ________ is my mother’s favorite. I was only two when the ________ occurred.We had just arrived home from a trip. Mom lifted me out of the car and ________to speak to the driver. I took advantage of my brief ________to dash across the lawn (草坪) and hit a large maple tree! I was running so fast that I bounced off the trunk and landed on my backside. Mom ________me to start crying, but I just sat there for a minute. Then I ________myself up and kept right on going.

Mom loves to use this story as an ________. It reminds her that children don’t enter life ________to take risks or unwilling to ________ again when they fall down. She never wanted me to lose that toughness as I grew older. When I ________ my major life decisions, I was still that little girl tearing full-speed across the lawn. I studied abroad and later moved away from my parents’ home to look for a ________. Through years of ________, I have become a respected teacher in a school serving high-need students.

We are almost certain to get ________ at some point during the process of achieving our goal. When that happens, don’t sit in the grass and ________. Just get up and keep on going. It will all be worth it ________.

7 . The 600-year-old Forbidden City is the world’s largest palace. It___more than 17 million ___ every year. If we were to travel back to the past, this huge palace would be a ___ to us with a lot remaining to be discovered.   

The Forbidden City was surrounded by high___and a wide moat (护城河). ___ an area of 720, 000 square meters in the heart of Beijing,the Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In the past,the Forbidden City was where the highest ___ of the country lay. Emperors were born,lived,fought and ___there. Various ___events happened there.It saw the ___ and downs of the Ming and Qing dynasties,as well as how feudal monarchy (封建帝制) ____ came to an end in China.   

The lives of the royal families were____ through many documents (文件). They ____a large amount of valuable material for today’s historical ____,as well as inspiration for literature and entertainment.   

In 1987,the Forbidden City was____ as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For world leaders who visit China,it is a must-see tourist ____.When they pay a state visit to China,our top leader may show them around there.

9 . William Butler Yeats, a famous Irish writer, was born in Dublin in 1865. He inherited (继承) excellent taste in ___ from his family—both his father and his brother were painters. But he finally ___ literature, particularly drama and poetry.   

Yeats managed to found an Irish national theatre in the late 1890s. His early theatrical experiments, ___, were not received ___ at the beginning. He didn’t lose heart, and finally enjoyed ___ in his poetical drama.   

___ with his dramatic works, Yeats’s poems attract much ___ notice. The subject matter includes love, nature, history, time and aging. As his literary life ___, his poetry grew finer and richer, which led him to worldwide ___.   

He had not____ a major public life ____ winning the Nobel Prize in 1923. Yet, he ____ writing almost to the end of his life. Had Yeats stopped writing at age 40, he would probably now be ____ as a minor poet, for there is no other example in literary history of a poet who ____ his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75. After Yeats’s death in 1939, W. H. Auden wrote, among others, the following lines:   

Earth, receive an____ guest:   

William Yeats is laid to rest.

Let the Irish vessel (船) lie.

Emptied of its poetry.

10 . “A public-speaking competition will be held next Monday. Each student will give a two-minute speech, ” Mr Taylor said.

The idea of _______ in front of the students made me _______. On the bus home, I asked Tanya, “What will I give a speech about?”

“I don’t know. What can you _______ for two minutes?” she said.

“_______!” I said. “All I’ll be able to _______ is my shaky legs and voice!”

For the whole _______, I felt nervous and worried. I even considered flying to Brazil for a holiday to avoid this speech.

The day finally came and my name was called.

“He-ll-o,” I said. Someone laughed quietly.

I _______ again, “Hello.”

Better — _______ I still sounded like a scared dog.

Yes! That was it. “I _______ public speaking,” I said. Some laughed.

I showed the ________ my shaking legs. Everyone laughed. I looked at Tanya and she gave me a big smile. My speech flooded back to me. My knees settled and my hands ________.

“Many people feel like ________ when they have to give a speech,” I stopped for a second. “But I guess I’m the only one who ________ bought a ticket to Brazil.” I was on a roll and my two minutes ________.

Laughter and clapping floated around me ________ I finished my speech. I had given my audience an excellent speech.