1 . An Effective Commercial

I have to admit that I rarely watch commercials, since most of them are boring and stupid. When watching commercials, we are “learning” that consumption makes us happy and that we need to buy everything. This really makes me _________. Recently, however, a commercial for a major retail (零售) store got my attention

A young lady is talking over the phone to her family right before Christmas. She is upset because she won’t be with them for the holidays. I believe she is talking to her mother, who asks her if she has received the _________ that were sent to her. The young lady _________ that she hasn’t, and the mother expresses concern that they should have arrived by now. The mother suggests that she check the doorstep. At this point, the young lady opens her front door, and _________ there is her family on the doorstep. They have come to celebrate the Christmas season with her.

This is where I got _________. What a surprise! This has never happened to me, but I can _________ how wonderful it would be. The holidays are a good time to _________ connections and renew relationships among family members. People can communicate with each other and _________ a sense of belonging. So once again I am reminded that the best Christmas gifts are not the ones you buy in the retail store. They are gifts of love, family and time spent together happily.

Commercials can _________ the audience if they are made effectively. A good commercial for me is when I can forget that it is a commercial for something I have to buy and instead __________ it with an experience in my own life or the lives of others.

2 . Colleen and her husband were part of a group walking the Overland Track. It was the fifth day of a 6-day walk. The guide, who was waiting for them at the nearest camp, had _______ them about the slippery and potentially dangerous conditions. Colleen, an experienced adventurer from Sydney, was a naturally _______ walker. She walked in front of her husband and carefully checked the safety of the track when they were going down a steep slope (陡坡). Suddenly she heard a cracking sound from _______.

"When I realized what was happening, I was heading to a deep ditch (沟壑), my pack on my back." Colleen's fall was only _______by the presence of a branch that stretched across the ditch and kept her from a fall that could otherwise have been deadly.

Colleen hit her head badly and went into _______. She soon woke up and turned around to see her husband sitting stunned on the side of the track. He had accidently fallen from the top. He had first slipped above Colleen, and his full weight, with his pack, _______down on top of her. He was uninjured, and Colleen was suspended on the branch. He reached out to grab Colleen's arm. Colleen felt so painful, the worst physical suffering she had ever felt in her life. She knew _______that her arm was broken.

Her husband took her pack along with his own and together they struggled for the final three kilometers to the camp. Once they reached the camp, the guide gave her first aid and called for the rescue helicopter immediately.

Colleen was _______to the nearest hospital by helicopter. She was examined in the hospital and was told that her head and neck were okay, but her arm had been broken in four places.

Later, Colleen recalled with emotion, "After this personal experience of near-death and being saved, I realized that in some situations there's absolutely no _______to get to hospital, and the rescue helicopter was the only way. At that moment, the most ________ noise was hearing the helicopter come. The helicopter rescue workers were so generous, so highly skilled as well. When they arrived with the policemen, I was never more grateful to see anyone in my whole life."

Beware of those who use the truth to deceive. When someone tells you something that is_______, but leaves out important information that should be_______, he can create a false impression.

For example, someone might say, “I just_______a hundred dollars on the lottery. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and_______it in for one hundred dollars!”

This guy’s a winner,_______? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought two hundred_______, and only one was a winner. He’s really a big_______!

He didn’t say anything that was_______, but he deliberately left out some important_______. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically__________, but they are just as not__________.

Untrustworthy candidates in__________campaigns often use this tactic (策略，手段). Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and__________three million jobs. Then she__________another term. One of her opponents runs an ad__________, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true.__________, an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of__________million jobs.”

Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s__________the law to make false claims so they try to mislead you with the__________. An ad might boast, “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples.” It__________to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.

This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.