1 . War started in our house in late July with a month to go before my first day of college. It was a battle of wills over what college I was to attend. Mom wanted me to attend a famous ________ school, but I wanted to go to a small writing college. Every night for two weeks, we argued, shouted and gave ________ treatments until both sides went to bed with regrets.

It was mostly my fault. Since my junior year of high school, I had ________ at being a nurse. I took all the science courses, and even worked as a ________ in my town’s local hospital. My goal was to help the sick and be superwoman to the world.

However, as graduation and college neared, it all changed. Treating the sick was ________, but I came to realize it was not what I was meant to do for the ________ of my life. I could picture myself in hospitals, making rounds(查房), and taking temperatures, and ________ I couldn’t picture myself happy. It wasn’t the future I wanted.

Then, I realized I had been creating and writing stories for as long as I could ________. I loved it, and writing was what I had been doing as a ________. It was going to be my career. And it had to be.

On August 1^st, Mom and I sat down at the dinner table and I told her that she had every ________ to choose where to spend her money, just like I had every right to decide where I wanted to go to school. If it was her choice not to ________ any of my college education, then I would take a year off to work and earn money so I could go to the college I wanted.

Standing by my decision to be a writer had proven my firm belief to my mom. Finally we were at ________, and she decided to support me, which ________ the world to me.

Before that time, I had never stood up ________ my parents on any major decision. Choosing which college to attend allowed me to become a separate and ________ adult. I am now finished with my first semester(学期)as a Professional Writing major and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

My deskmate Liu Xiao is warm-hearted. He is such kind a boy as we all like. Young though he is, he had read many books, especially stories about hero. Deeply inspired, he has made his mind to do as many good deeds as possibly. Every day he gets up earlier to help his neighbor, an old man living alone, do some cleaning. Beside, no matter who is in the trouble, he will lend a helping hand. Admire him so much, we also join him to help others.

Such is Liu Xiao, a boy of who I really feel proud.

I hardly remember my grandmother. She used to holding me on her knees and sing old songs. I was only four when she passes away. She is just a distance memory for me now.

I remember my grandfather very well. He was tall, with broad shoulder and a beard turned from black to gray over the years. He had a deep voice, which set himself apart from others in our small town, he was strong and powerful. In a fact, he spent a lot of his spare time read books. In short, he was the gentlest man I have never known.

A role model around me

The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a     1     business career and study music. My parents, though     2     and sharing my love of music,     3     of it as a     4    . This was     5     in view of the family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College and,     6     much beloved and respected in the     7    , earned     8     enough to provide for his large family.     9     a consequence of this example, my parents     10     upon college instead of a conservatory of music.

9 . I arrived at my mother’s home for our Monday family dinner. Mother was pulling out quilt after quilt from the boxes, _____ showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to ______ and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the ____ of one box.   

“What is this?” I asked.

“Oh?” Mom said, “That’s Mama’s quilt.” 

I _____ the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together;   irregular

designs,   childish pictures, a winding line on the right.

“Grandmother made this?” I said, ______. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This _____ didn’t look like any of the quilts she had made.

“Yes, right before she died. I _____ it home with me last year and made some   changes ,” she said. “I’m still working on it. See, this is what I’ve done so far.”

I looked at it more ___. At the center of the quilt, she had sewn a piece of _____with these words:  “My mother made many quilts. She didn’t get all lines _____. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it ______. Her last quilt.” 

“Oh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said. It ______ to me that by completing my grandmother’s quilt, my mother was honoring her own _____. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family

____. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and ______ with the loving hands of another.

10 . My mother was a giver. The occasion never _______ – Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries or no occasion at all.

She was always thinking about who might _______ what. Creativity and _______ went into the gifts she gave, and she _______ a thank you note. Once she sent out a note to her own children and grandchildren who had not acknowledged gifts, _______ that they were now on her “Fecal Roster(黑名单)” and would not be removed

Even if you didn’t   _______ a thank you, she’d give you another gift the next _______ she had. She figured

Every time Mom and Dad ________ to visit, all of us would gather in the driveway as they unloaded luggage. There was always something for the kids, ________ a couple of little toys or a big ________ of homemade cookies. They weren’t gifts for particular occasion. They were ________ “Isn’t life great?” gifts.

One spring when they came to visit, she handed me a ________ bag. Inside was a painting that ________ : “A Special Daughter. You’ve ________ laughter and joy to our lives and so much love to our hearts. The most precious things we can ________ for you are the things you have given us… ________ and Love.”

Mom was a ________ gift giver, but the best gifts we will always remember her for were her lover for________and her love for us.