1 . This was my grandmother’s first Christmas without grandfather. When we reached her house, it did seem a little _________ without grandfather.

Grandfather had always said the Christmas _________ was the most important. So we set to work assembling (组装) the beautiful _________ tree which was stored in grandfather’s closet. After we finished, we stepped back to _________ our work. It looked wonderful. But something was missing.

“Where’s the star?” I asked. It was my grandmother’s _________. As we emptied box after box and found no star, my grandmother’s eyes _________ with tears. Grandfather had given it to Grandmother fifty years ago. Now, on her first Christmas without him the star was gone, too.

“Let’s start in the closet where the tree was,” my sister Donna said. We _________ under beds and over shelves, inside and outside _________ we had run out of every possibility. We could see Grandmother was _________, although she tried not to show it. By now, it was __________ outside, and time for bed, as Santa would soon be here.

The next morning, my sisters and I __________ early to see what Santa had left under the tree. After breakfast, the family sat together to open presents. “The last gift is to Grandmother from Grandfather.” Father said, in a puzzled voice.

“From who?” There was happiness in my grandmother’s voice.

“I found that __________ in the closet when we got the tree down,” Mother explained.

My grandmother opened it. Her face lit up when she pulled out a(n) __________ golden star. There was a note tied. Her voice trembled as she read it:

Don’t be __________ with me, dear. I broke your star while putting away the tree. Though it was time for a new one, I hope it brings you as much __________ as the first one. Merry Christmas.

2 . After the birth of my second child, I got a job at a restaurant. Having worked with an experienced waitress for a few days, I was _______ to wait on tables on my own. All went well that first week. When Saturday night came, I was luckily _______ the table not far from the kitchen. _______, I still felt it a little hard to carry the heavy trays (托盘).

Before I knew it, the _______ was full of people. I moved slowly, _______ every step. I remember how _______ I was when I saw the tray stand near the tables; it looked different from the one I was _______ on. It had nice handles (手柄), which made it _______ to move around. I was pleased with everything and began to _______ I was a natural at this job.

Then, an elderly man came to me and said, “Excuse me, dear, my wife and I loved ________ you work. It seems your tray stand has been very useful to you, but we are getting ready to ________, and my wife really needs her walker back.

At first his ________ did not get across. “What was he talking about! Then, I got it. I had set my trays on his wife’s orthopedic walker (助步器). I stood frozen as ice, but my face was ________ . I wanted to get into a hole and ________.

Since then, I have learned from many mistakes such as the one I just described. I have learned to be more ________and not to be too sure of myself.

3 . I am a girl, but I was born to be a rebel (叛逆者). I like games that can be _________. Some of the sports I like, even boys won’t play!

Wrestling (摔跤)is _________ seen as a sport for men, but I _________ to see if I could do it. Every Saturday morning, I got out of bed early to go and watch my brother_________. From morning to night, I would sit watching the boys have all the fun. Since then, wrestling has been part of my _________.

For three years, I beat all the boys and became the best player in the team. My _________ memory of wrestling is when a boy walked off _________ because he’d lost to a girl. My last match was at this year’s Girls’ State Wrestling Championships. I was so _________. I was sure I would win. My heart was beating hard when the match started. I could see _________ but my competitor. When the final whistle(口哨) blew, I had ____________ by four points. The cameras and ____________ all turned to me: I was the new wrestling champion. I felt so happy. But after a few minutes of enjoying being a champion, ____________ began to run through my knee. Because I hurt my knee, my ____________ of being a national champion ended. Even so, I won’t lose heart and still want to wrestle next year when I go to college. I have ____________ that you can do anything you want if you stay positive and put your ____________ into it.

4 . Seventy-year-old Tububatu and his wife Taoshengchagan live in a village near Badain Jaran, Inner Mongolia. They’ve been spending every day since they retired in 2002 fighting against _________. Before Tububatu others had tried but_________. He just wanted to make a difference. He started by_________ just 50 trees a year, but kept doubling his_________to the point where he now plants thousands of trees a year.

The retired couple have been slowly growing their little desert forest at their own expense, so that they live a very_________life. Even though they mostly plant drought-resistant (抗旱的) types, they still make sure to water them at least once a day to make them grow_________ .

Although they’ve been_________by some neighbors who think their they are sure to fail, they haven’t given up. Over the last 19 years, the couple have planted over 266 hectares of desert and have no _________ to stop.

Apart from _________ the spread of the desert, Tububatu is also making a living by planting, as the desert-living cistanche is a(n) __________medicinal plant that can sell for up to 100 yuan per kilogram.

It’s reported that so far they have planted over 70000 trees, __________more than 1 million yuan of their savings. The _________conditions have weakened their health and they look older than they actually are, but they refuse to__________their battle against the desert.

The couple have received several__________and honors from the government over the years, becoming a good__________for all environmentalists.

5 . Once a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching her students about how to manage pressure. As she lifted a glass of water, everyone _________ they’d be asked the “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How _________ is this glass of water I’m holding?”

Students shouted out _________ answers. She replied, “In my _________, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t _________. It all _________ how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its _________ might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up (抽筋) and feel completely numb, forcing me to _________ the glass to the floor. In each _________, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the class nodded their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your __________ and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and __________ happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache __________. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb—unable to do anything else __________ you drop them.”

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as __________ as you can, put all your burdens down. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong __________ that it’s time to put the glass down.

6 . After their business trip, John and Mary returned, eager to see their lovely children. As they drove into their hometown feeling glad to be back, they noticed ________, and they went off their usual route to see what it was. They found a ________ in flames. Mary said, “Oh, well, it isn’t our fire, let’s go home.”

But John ________ closer and screamed, “That home belongs to Fred Jones who works at the plant. He wouldn’t be ________ work yet, maybe there is something we could do.” “It has nothing to do with us,” Mary ________.

But John drove up and stopped and they were both horror-stricken to see the whole house in ________. A woman on the lawn was screaming, “The children! Get the children!” John ________ her by the shoulder saying, “Get a hold of yourself and tell us where the children are!” “In the ________,” cried the woman. “Down the hall and to the left.”

In spite of Mary’s disagreement, John ________ for the basement which was full of smoke and ________ hot. He found the door and two children. ________ he left he could hear some more sobbing. He ________ the two badly frightened children into ________ arms and started back asking how many more children were down there. They told him ________ more and Mary grasped his arm and screamed, “John! Don’t go back! It’s ________! That house will fall down any second.”

________ he ran into the smoke-filled hallway and at last he found both children. As he climbed up the ________ stairs, the thought went through his mind that there was something strangely ________ about the little bodies next to him, and at last when they came out into the ________ and fresh air, he found that he had just ________ his own children.

The baby-sitter had left them at this home while she did some shopping.

10 . One of the most inspiring quotes(名言) I ever heard was by Brian Tracy. He said: “The_________between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people_________many more times than unsuccessful people.”

I deeply understood the _________ of the quote soon after my first book was published.

I was living in Atlanta at the time and ___________ my first signing sale for my new book at the phoenix and Dragon, the largest bookstore in the city. Although a nice sign was placed outside the room ___________ images of both me and my book, The 9 Insights of the Wealthy Soul, not a single customer entered the room. _________ each minute passed, I became increasingly _________.

At 6:25 pm, just before the store’s _________, I began to get myself ready to leave. At that moment, just when I couldn’t fell any _________, a middle-aged couple walked into the room. I managed to ____________ my emotions and introduced myself and my book.

The couple turned the pages each other, and the husband ____________ to his wife. She then told me, “I think we’ll get the book.”

Despite the impulse (冲动) to jump ____________, and hold their hands to thank them for being my __________ readers, I realized the woman was trying to say something else.

“The __________ we’re buying it is that our son died two years ago,” she said. “Maybe your book will help us ____________ it .”

At that moment, I knew if I never sold a copy of the book, my four years of __________ had been meaningless.

Although I would have many more challenging years ____________ my book became a bestseller, this couple’s story was all the __________ I needed at that point to keep me __________.

Thanks to them, I would realize that the greatest of lives are made all in the same way : One challenge ... one challenge ... one difficulty ... one step ... and one small ____________ at a time.