1 . When I was a boy, we lived right next to a forest. I spent a lot of time ________ alone. I would spend hours every day playing in the ________ with the oak trees (橡树).

That was why it was so hard for me ________ I worked in a lumber mill (木材厂) as a young man.It wasn’t just the ________ work and the low pay. It was also seeing day after day beautiful oak trees being ________ and made into flooring (地板). I thought they looked more ________ as living trees reaching up to the sky than as dead flooring lying under my feet.

One afternoon after a long day’s work, I was feeling particularly ________, thinking I should be out somewhere. I then decided to take a ________ in the forest in the hope of lifting my spirits.As I walked along with my aching body I longed for those ________ days again. Suddenly, I saw a single acorn (橡子) that had somehow ________ the hungry squirrels all winter long. A ________ flashed through my mind, “Eventually an acorn becomes a forest!” I smiled, bent down, dug up a handful of dirt, and ________ that little acorn. My heart was filled with joy.

In this life we all start out as an acorn, but whether we ________ a forest or not is up to us. We have the ______ to grow, learn, laugh, love, smile... Don’t just be an acorn. Embrace this gift of life.________ it to your everyday life to stretch your soul towards the sky and create a large forest of love.

I can well remember that I was once asked to deliver a speech titled “A Real Test in My Life” before the whole class at the age of 9! You can imagine how     1     (terrible) shy I was with so many eyes     2     (fix) upon me. I had no     3     (choose) but to prepare for it, though.

First of all, I was to draft the speech, which was just a piece of cake for me, a good writer. But the hardest part     4     (lie) in my oral presentation from my memory—for to read from the paper was not allowed. The real moment began     5     I stood on the platform with my legs trembling and my mind blank. But my listeners were waiting patiently without any signs of rushing me. Gradually I found myself back,     6     (deliver) my speech with difficulty. After     7     seemed to be a hundred years, I found my audience applauding—I made it! From then on, my fear of talking before the audience disappeared.

Actually with my     8     (confident) building up, I now turn out to be a great speaker. Looking back, I know the greatest difficulty on our way     9     success is our fear. Overcome it     10     we will be able to achieve our goals.