A Great Monday

Monday started out well. I woke up on time, ate breakfast and did some last minute studying for my math test later that morning. I was confident of getting good grades. I left my house and ten minutes later, I sat with my friends on the school bus. We were busy chatting about how we spent our weekend. At the next stop, a student named Ryan got on the bus. He was in a rush and tripped (绊倒) over someone’s foot. There was a loud noise as he fell to the floor.

Every one of us on the bus laughed. Ryan got up, brushed his jacket and went to an empty seat. He tried to laugh with us, but his face was red with embarrassment. The rest of the morning went by quickly. I did well in my math test. I read two more chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird in English class. Soon we heard the lunch bell. I met my friends from the cheerleading team in the dining hall. I noticed Ryan a few tables away, sitting by himself. He caught me looking at him. I smiled at him quickly and looked away.

When we finished eating, we went to the courtyard to practice a cheer we would do at that night’s football game. After much practice, we finally managed to do the cheer perfectly. We decided to practice it again one last time. Just like the rest of my day so far, the cheer was going great. I raised my leg for one last toe touch. That was when I felt my jeans (牛仔裤) split (裂开) down the middle of my backside.

I froze. I had no idea what to do. I heard people burst out laughing and I saw them pointing at my torn jeans. I tried to cover myself with my hands, I tried to laugh too, but I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes.

Then I saw Ryan running towards me.

That night, after the cheer at the football game, I found Ryan.

2 . Roman McCormick is just a 15-year-old teenager, but he’s already been through more __________than some people ever experience. He was born with a rare __________, which causes kidney (肾) failure over time.

Faced with dialysis (透析), Roman and his parents anxiously __________their community to get tested to see if they were a match for Roman on TV. But they were not positive about anyone_____ to help.     They had no idea that someone who ______   knows Roman happened to be watching the _______   that night.

Eddie McCarthy taught Roman maths last school year.   He______ the teen right away,   and as a     parent himself, Eddie couldn’t help but take pity on him. So he___ to be the donor and got his blood tested. When the result came out five months later, it _______   he was a perfect match. All that was left to do was tell the McCormick family that their nightmare (噩梦) was about to ________. “When he called me, I was just too____,” Roman’s mother, Jamie said.

Both Eddie and Roman’s parents were ________   that a new kidney would give Roman a fresh chance at life. Roman’s   been ______ so much from his illness over the years. Jamie hoped the surgery would       give her son “his teenage years back”. On July 19, Roman and Eddie___ the surgery. It was a success, and both are___ now. Let’s wish them the best of health.

3 . The very wealthy English Baron Fitzgerald had only one child, a son, who understandably was the apple of his eye. His wife died when the child was in his early teens. So Fitzgerald devoted himself to fathering the kid. Unluckily the son died in his late teens.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald’s wealth greatly increased. He spent a lot on art works of the masters.

Later Fitzgerald himself became seriously ill. Before his death, he had carefully prepared his will as to how his wealth would be settled — to sell his entire collection at an auction (拍卖会).

Because of the large quantity and high quality of his collection, a huge crowd of possible buyers gathered for the auction. Many of them were museum directors and private collectors eager to bid (竞拍). Before the auction, the art works were shown, among which was a painting of Fitzgerald’s son by an unknown artist. Because of its poor quality, it received little attention.

When it was time for the auction, the auctioneer gaveled to attention. First the lawyer read from Fitzgerald’s will that the first art work to be auctioned was the painting of his son.

The poor-quality painting didn’t receive any bidders…except one — the old servant who had served the son and loved him, and who for emotional reasons offered the only bid.

As soon as the servant bought the painting for less than one English pound, the auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the lawyer to read again from the will. The crowd became quiet and the lawyer read from the will, “Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my collection.” Then the auction was over.

4 . Michelle couldn’t have been better prepared for the speech, her first presentation as a college student. She had learned her speech ________ The day before the talk, alone in her room. Michelle felt ________. But as soon as she was invited to the stage, she was full of fear she had ________ too many times before-the fear of getting ________ because of her stutter(口吃).

It began when she was a child. She felt ashamed and ________ as little as possible at school. She put a lot of ________ into math and science. In these subjects, she could ________ her teachers with written exams and reports rather than spoken ones.

But by the time Michelle got to middle school, her stutter had made her a ________ for bullying(欺凌), which hurt her academic performance. ________, she went to a cooking school, where she hoped her cooking would speak for itself.

Michelle saw her future as a ________ until a nutrition class, when the teacher’s lecture ________ her of her love of science. She found that her thirst for learning more biology was ________ than her fear of stuttering during oral exams. She started to work in a research lab and tried speech therapy(治疗). With the help of her therapist, she ________ realized the real problem was not the stutter itself; it was her fear of stuttering. It took her about a year to _________ during one weekly meeting that she loved herself as she was.

Now, instead of ________ public speeches, she actively seeks opportunities to be on the stage. And if she happens to stutter along the way, so be it.

5 . When Marco was a boy, he tried everything to get his father’s love and attention. He studied hard to get good ________ and tried to behave well. He was shy and shorter than the other boys. Besides, his father was ________ and had little time for him. Except for his ________ for housework after school, there was no communication. Marco felt very ________.

One day, his maths teacher called him that some young teenagers were ________ a public speaking contest. She thought he should give it a ________. She firmly believed he could perform on stage (舞台) like other kids. Feeling her strong trust, Marco agreed to ________ the contest.

All winter, he took a bus to ________ twice a week in another city, where the competition would take place. Marco was taken by a strong ________ he never felt before. Finally, the big day arrived. His father, and yes, his maths teacher, were present. When he stepped onto the stage and began to speak, he felt ________ at home. He was funny, and acted very naturally. He won! He noticed his father’s eyes were ________ — he was so proud. It was then that his father ________ he should pay more attention to the child.

As the winner, his name was ________ in the local papers. He knew this was the ________ of his new life. It all happened because of a phone call, from one who ________ him.

7 . Rain beat against the window, matching my mood. I should have known that my new job at the hospital was too good to be true. Throughout the day, rumors (传言) warned that the newest employee from each department would be laid off. I was the newest one in the training department.

My boss appeared. “You probably know we’re cutting back,” he said. “Administration wants us to offer outplacement classes to help those employees find other jobs, showing them how to act in an interview, for example.” “Fine,” I answered unwillingly, not knowing what else to say.

I decided to go home early that day. In the hall, I met the lady who brought us cookies every Friday. She was a little woman with gray hair. Only her head and the top of her green apron (围裙) were visible over the cart (小车) loaded with cleaning supplies. At least she had a job!

At the final meeting, laid-off workers formed a line at the door. A colleague whispered, “I can’t believe our Cookie Lady is being laid off. We’ll miss her as much as we’ll miss her cookies.” When the colleague spoke to her in Spanish, I knew my classes would be useless for her and I realized how much better off I was than this poor woman.

I decided to do something for her. I wrote to a newspaper expressing how I felt about the unselfishness of the Cookie Lady who needed a job. A few days later, my article appeared in the newspaper and the Cookie Lady was allowed to stay in her position. On the same day, I received a letter, which seemed so unlikely that I read it twice. “An editor of a local magazine likes your piece and wants you to call her next time you’re looking for work…”

8 . An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) perched on the tree near their window. The father asked his son, “What is this?” The son replied, “It is a crow.” After a few minutes, the father asked his son the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father, I have just now told you ‘It’s a crow’.” After a little while, the old father again asked his son the third time, “What is this?” “It’s a crow, a crow, a crow.” said the son loudly. A little after, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “What is this?” This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this? ”

A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was there on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel annoyed; I rather felt affection for my innocent child.”

9 . Grace and her family thought they had lost Thor forever when they moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia from British Columbia last August.

“We probably spent seven or eight months looking for Thor,” Grace said. “What made it worse was that there were rumors(谣言) going around that there was dogfighting in our area. We still always hoped that somebody had taken him to be a pet, but you just never knew.”

“It was terrible. My daughter Bronwyn would try to find Thor everywhere, which had been a Christmas present for her. Even while watching TV programmes, she would say, ‘Oh, look! That dog looks like Thor!’” Grace said. Then the family moved, and the hope became impossible.

But one day, the phone rang. It was their former vet in British Columbia, saying Thor was in a rescue shelter(收容所) in High River, Alberta. He had been found at a work camp in the northern part of the place and taken to south by a man planning to keep him. But the man was forced to turn him over to the shelter when he couldn’t keep Thor in his rented home. Luckily, the ring on Thor’s neck gave people some information.

Thor was flown to Nova Scotia last week. The family picked him up at the airport. “Thor was just lying in his box and looking down, and my daughter walked over and said, ‘Hey Thor.’ He immediately stood up, trying to greet my daughter. We let him out and he jumped on her as if he was giving her a big hug and he kissed her face. Then he sat down suddenly at her feet and rolled over for attention. He was cute.” Grace said.

10 . “What’s it like to have a gap legwear your teeth?” a girl asked me one day.

Nobody had ever______before. My hand unconsciously rose to cover my mouth. But, as she looked at me, sincerely waiting for a(n)______, I realized she was not trying to be rude. I never think about it, ” I truthfully replied. She nodded and turned away. I was left wondering if people ______me and saw only gappy teeth.

Later that day at home, I began to______my teeth again. I felt______I thought my life would be somehow better if my teeth were not gappy. How I wanted the perfect teeth that everyone else seemed to have!

Of course, Mom______everything. She has lived her whole life with gappy teeth, and tried to______me that there was nothing to______.When I refused to listen, she told me. I could get the surgery to close the gap if it was that important. “Let’s be______though,” she said! “if everyone got surgeries to become attractive, everyone would be exactly the same. There is beauty in______.”

Her______made me consider my teeth seriously. The thought of losing my gap was more terrible than the reality that people were going to notice it. I realized how important it was to me.   It is part of my______

Nowadays many people do crazy things to realize their dream of “perfection”. The______is that no one is perfect. When all potential for ugliness is removed, so is all of the potential for______

So if that girl ever asked about my teeth______, I would truthfully answer, “You know? It’s really cute.”