1 . The Wolf at the Door

Russ Fee was asleep inside his tent last summer when a series of screams shocked him awake. Throwing on his shoes, he ran out to investigate. Fee and his wife were travelling through Canada’s Banff National Park to enjoy its breathtaking beauty and awesome wildlife. It was the latter he now experienced. Although it was dark, Fee could see a neighboring tent was in a mess. Backing out was a wolf, dragging something in his teeth. That thing was a man.

Moments earlier, Elisa and Matt Rispoli, from New Jersey, were asleep with their two young children when the wolf broke into their tent. “It was like something out of a horror movie,” Elisa posted on Facebook. “For three minutes, Matt threw his body in front of me and the boys and fought against the wolf. At one point, Matt got the upper hand, pinning (压住) the wolf to the ground. But the wolf held its jaw onto Matt’s arm tightly, set its powerful legs, and began dragging Matt outside while I was pulling on his legs trying to get him back,” Elisa wrote.

It was then that Fee entered the picture. He ran at the wolf, kicking it “like I was kicking in a door,” he told ABC New York. The wolf dropped Matt and emerged from the tent. “Wolves are large,” Fee told the radio show Calgary Eyeopener. “I felt like I had hit someone that was way out of my weight class.”

Before the wolf could turn its anger on Fee, Matt, his arms bloodied, flew out of the tent to continue the battle. The men threw rocks at the wolf, forcing it back, then the Fees and the Rispolis escaped to the shelter of the Fees, minivan and called an ambulance. Matt was taken to a local hospital suffering from open wounds. Luckily, he has fully recovered. The wolf was tracked down by park officials and killed in a painless way.

As for Fee, whom Elisa called their lifesaver, he does admit to a fleeting, if less-than-heroic, thought during the heat of battle. The moment the wolf locked eyes with him, Fee says, “I immediately regretted kicking it.”

4 . Dad had a green comb. He bought it when he married Mum. Every night, he would hand me his ________ and say, “Good girl, help Daddy clean it, OK?”

I was ________ to do it. At age five, this boring task brought me such ________ . I would excitedly turn the tap ________   and brush the comb carefully. Satisfied that I’d done a good job, I would happily return the comb to Dad. He would ________ at me and place the comb on his wallet.

Two years later, Dad started his own ________ which wasn’t doing so well. That was when things started to ________ . Dad didn’t come home as early and as much as he used to. Mum and I became ________ with him for placing our family in trouble. With   ________ , an uncomfortable silence grew between us.

After my graduation, Dad’s business was getting back on track. On my 28th birthday, Dad came home________. As usually I helped him carry his bags into his study. When I turned to leave, he said, “Hey, would you help me ________ my comb?” I looked at him a while, then ________ the comb and headed to the sink.

It hit me then: why, as a child, ________ Dad clean his comb was such a pleasure. That routine (惯例) meant Dad was home early to ________ the evening with Mum and me. It ________ a happy and loving family.

I passed the clean comb back to Dad. He smiled at me and ________ placed his comb on his wallet. But this time, I noticed something ________ . Dad had aged. He had wrinkles next to his eyes when he smiled, ________ his smile was still as ________ as before, the smile of a father who just wanted a good ________ for his family.

A couple had been married for 25 years and were celebrating their 60th birthdays,     1     fell on the same day. During the celebration a fairy appeared and said that     2     they had been such a loving couple for all 25 years, she would give them one wish each. The wife wanted to travel around the world. The fairy waved her hand and Boom! She had the tickets in her hand. Next, it was the husband’s turn. He paused for a moment, then said     3     (shy) , “Well, I’d like to have a woman 30 years     4     (young) than me. ” The fairy picked up her hand, and Boom! He was ninety.

6 . In the corner of my desk is a note, slowly yellowing from time. It is a _________ from my mother, containing only four sentences, but with enough impact to _________ my life forever.

In it, she praises my abilities as a writer. Each sentence is full of_________ . The word “but” never appears on the card; _________ , the word “and” is there many times.

Every time I read it, I am _________ to ask myself how many times I’ve “but-ted” my own daughters.

Although our eldest daughter _________ got all As on her report card, teachers would always suggest that she _________ too much in class. I always forgot to ask them if she was making improvements. _________, I would greet her with, “Congratulations! Your Dad and I are very _________ , but could you try to talk less in class?”

The same was __________ of our younger daughter. Like her sister, she is a lovely and bright child. She also treats the floor of her room as a closet ( 壁 橱 ), which has often caused me to say, “Yes, that project is great, but __________ your room!”

I’ve noticed that other __________ do the same thing. “The hockey ( 曲 棍 球 ) team won, but Mike should have made that last goal. ” “Amy’s the homecoming queen, but now she wants $200 to buy a new dress and shoes. ” But, but, but.

What I __________ from my mother is to start thinking “and, and, and” instead. __________: “The hockey team won, and Mike did his best the whole game. ” “Amy’s the homecoming queen, and she’s going to look perfect!”

The __________ is that “but” feels bad, “and” feels good. When our children feel __________ about what they are doing, they do more of it.

This is not to say that children don’t need or won’t respond to their parents’ __________ . They do and they will.

When those expectations are __________, amazing things happen.

It’s not __________just to say we love our children. We’re also going to have to start guiding and taking part in what is right with our children.

“No more buts!” is a call for __________. It’s an opportunity every day to put our attention on what is promising about our children.

And if I ever forget, I have my mother’s note to remind me.

8 . A Leap (跳跃) to Honor

Leaping on a narrow balance beam (平衡木) is not easy. But Lola Walter, a 13- year-old gymnast, is an expert at it.

To perfect her skills, Lola trains for four hours a day, five days a week. At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.

That’s especially impressive. Since she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift constantly. She often sees double and can’t________ how far away things are.

When she was little, her mom________ that even though she couldn’t see well she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the sport right away and gymnastics became her favorite.

Though learning gymnastics has been more________ for her than for some other teammates, she has never quit. She doesn’t let her________ stop her from doing anything that she wants to.

She likes the determination it takes to do the sport. Her biggest________ is the balance beam. Because she has double vision, she often sees two beams. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. Sometimes she even closes her eyes. “You have to trust your mind that it’ll take you where you want to go.” says Lola.

To be a top-level gymnast, one must be brave. The beam is probably the most________ for anyone because it’s four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn’t fall________ the beam. In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10---her highest score yet.

Lola doesn’t want to be________ differently from the other girls on her team. At the competitions, the judges don’t know about her vision________ . She doesn’t tell them, because she doesn’t think they need to know. Her mom is amazed by her positive attitude.

Lola never thinks about quitting. She is presently at level 7 while the highest is level 10 in gymnastics. Her________ is to reach level 9. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she’s learned to other kids when she grew up.

Lola is proud of all her hard work and success. She says it’s helped her overcome problems in her life outside gymnastics, too. Her advice for others is “just believe yourself”.

9 . Perhaps the most interesting person I have ever met is an Italian professor of philosophy who teaches at the University of Pisa. ________ I last met this man eight years ago, I have not forgotten his special qualities. First of all, I respected his ________ to teaching. Because his lectures were always well-prepared and clearly ________, students crowded into his classroom. His followers liked the fact that he believed in what he taught. Furthermore, he could be counted on to explain his ideas in an ________ way, introducing such aids to understanding as oil paintings, music, and guest lecturers. Once he ________ sang a song in class in order to make a point clear. Secondly, I admired the fact that he would talk to students outside the classroom or talk with them ________ the telephone. Drinking coffee in the cafe, he would easily make friends with students. Sometimes he would ________ a student to a game of chess. Other times, he would join students groups to discuss a variety of ________: agriculture, diving and mathematics. Many young people visited him in his office for ________ on their studies; others came to his home for social evenings. Finally, I was attracted by his lively sense of humor. He believed that no lesson is a success ________, during it, the students and the professor ________ at least one loud laugh. Through his sense of humor, he made learning more ________ and more lasting. If it is true that life makes a wise man smile and a foolish man cry, then my friend is indeed a wise man.