1 . Eighty-year-old retired tailor, James McKay, spent Saturday night in prison after hitting 30-year-old Keith Smith over the head with his walking stick. McKay’s wife, Laurene said that, while McKay is usually a(n) ________ and pleasant person, he had been driven to this act of ________ by literally getting wet just once too often. He could no longer ________ it.

Smith lives above the McKays. He is a(n) ________ gardener, and also a fish collector. Unfortunately, the water he ________ over his balcony (平台) every day ended up on the McKay’s floor, or too often, on the unsuspecting McKays themselves.

“For the last two weeks, since Smith moved into the flat above us, we dared not go onto our ________,” said Laurene. She added that it wasn’t only the water ________ their balcony from Smith watering his plants that ________ them, but also the way he cleaned his fish ________. “We’d be sitting there happily reading our newspapers, when suddenly so much water would come from above that we’d be as wet as if we had ________ with our clothes on! We could hardly ________ the smell of fish!”

And on Saturday evening it was just too ________, “It was James’ birthday,” Laurene recalled, “and it was such a beautiful night to enjoy the starry night ________. I made him a birthday cake. The candles were a great sight as you can ________, but James didn’t get to blow them out.” Instead, Smith ________ one of his larger tanks over his balcony and both the McKays and the cake were wet through. “I have never seen him move so fast and I couldn’t stop him. He was up there in a(n) ________.”

Smith is not going to take things further with the police. He has also ________ to change his ways from now on. And what of James McKay? As he left the ________ station, a large crowd of supporters sang him “Happy Birthday”. “Definitely the most exciting birthday ever!” said the ________ old man. “The best since my ________, I’d say!”

2 . When Garvison flew from Chicago to Atlanta earlier this week with a baby in her arms, she saw the unhappy looks of her seatmates.

“As soon as we got on the plane at 5:30 am, it was very quiet and it was a full _________,” Garvison wrote in a Facebook _________ , “I noticed that the two seats next to me were _________ and this couple looked annoyed and I could tell by their body _________ that they weren’t _________ sitting next to Rylee, my baby.”

Garvison asked if she could change _________. And her new seatmate _________ all the difference in the day of this young mom, who was on a trip to surprise her military husband.

The next thing I knew was that I was sitting next to this amazing woman! I was not sure if she could tell how _________ I looked or what, but she turned our day _________ around. Rylee wouldn’t stop ____________ no matter what I would try and do so she asked whether I would ____________ if she could try and of course I let her. As soon as she had her, Rlyee was looking out of the window and stopped crying.When we got in the air, she fell right asleep and slept the whole flight ____________ we got to our gate. She kept saying it wasn’t a problem __________ and it was ____________ a comforting feeling for her. She ____________ carried her off the plane.

“Miller，” she wrote, “you will never understand how happy this act of ____________ has made my family. You could have just ____________ your eyes and been unhappy like everyone else, but you took her and held her the entire flight and let me get some rest and ____________ of mind. It brought tears to my eyes while I sat there and watched you and Rylee sleeping next to ____________. I just couldn’t believe how that ended up ____________ and how caring you were to us. Thank you so much!”

4 . The simplest way to say it is this: I believe in my mother. My belief began when I was just a kid, who _______ becoming a doctor.

My mother was a domestic worker (家政人员). Through her work, she observed that _________ people spent a lot more time reading than they _________ watching television. She announced that my brother and I _______ only watch two to three pre-selected programs during the week. With our _________ time, we had to read two books each from the Detroit Public Library and _______ written book reports to her. She would mark them up with check marks and highlights. Years later we realized her marks were a _________. My mother was illiterate (文盲).

When I entered high school, I was a(n) _________ student, but not for long. I began to like fancy clothes. I wanted to _______ other guys. I went from an A-student to a B-student to a C student. One night my mother came home from her various jobs and I __________ about not having enough Italian knit shirts. She said, “Okay, I’ll give you all the money I __________ this week scrubbing floors and cleaning bathrooms, and you can buy the family food and pay the bills. With the money __________, you can have all the Italian knit shirts you want.” I was very ________ with that arrangement but once I got through allocating (分配) money, there was nothing left. I realized my mother was a __________ genius to be able to keep the roof over our heads and any kind of food on the table, let alone buy __________ . I really realized my desire wasn’t going to get me __________. Success requires intellectual preparation. I went back to my __________ and became an A-student again and eventually I________ my dream and I became a doctor.

My story is really my mother’s story — a woman with ________ formal education who used her position as a parent to change the lives of her children. There is no job more important than __________. This I believe.

6 . I remembered Ricky came back to see me ten years after he was in my class. He told me how I had _________ changed his life.

Ricky often looked out of the window during one of my ninth-grade history classes early in my teaching_________. He was quiet, and his good grades and mild manner were the reason_________ I did not move him away from the seat by the window.

One day, I _________ over his shoulder and quietly asked, “What are you looking at? You look out of this window during every class.”

He said, “I am looking at the band.”

According to Ricky, I said, “If you like the band so much that you have to look at them during this class every day, I want you to go down to Mr. Overby (the band teacher) and tell him that I_________ you. Tell him that you want to be in the band. Now _________ and finish working before the bell rings.”

The next day Ricky went to Mr. Overby and told him I had sent him and he wanted to be in the band. He _________ that he did not know how to play any instrument.

When Ricky visited me ten   years later, he thanked me_________ telling him to go to Mr. Overby because he fell in love with music and discovered his musical talent that had not been _________. His musical talent __________ him getting a(n) __________ to college and earning a degree that allowed him to provide for his family. Most of all, music had brought great pleasure and __________ to his life.

After Ricky thanked me, I__________ that he did all of the hard work it took to become the wonderfully talented person that he was. I did not make him walk downstairs to join the band, practise his__________, and get the good grades that led to his college scholarship.

Ricky responded that I could have yelled __________ him for looking out of the window. Instead, I gave him a(n) __________ that changed his whole life.

After he left, I thought about his words. I __________ that I was teaching children with every word I said, every action I took, and with every decision I __________. Ricky’s story __________ my teaching bar. Most of all, I have never forgotten the lesson Ricky taught me, a __________ teacher.

7 . The day I met Hani Irmawati, she was a shy, 17-year-old girl standing alone in the parking lot of the international school in Indonesia, where I teach English. She asked if I could help her improve her English. I could _________ it took immense courage for the young Indonesian girl to _________ me and ask for help.

“I want to go to a US university,” she said with _________. I was surprised.

I agreed to work with her _________ a volunteer basis. For several months, Hani woke each morning at five and caught the city bus to her public high school. During the one-hour _________, she studied for her regular classes and finished the English _________ I had given her. At four o’clock in the afternoon, she arrived at my classroom, _________ but ready to work.

When I met Hani’s family at their _________ little house, I realized they would never be able to _________ the expenses of a US university. Hani’s enthusiasm was __________ with her language ability, __________ I was becoming more and more discouraged.

One day I received the announcement of a(n) __________ opportunity for a major US university. After reading the requirements, I knew Hani couldn’t meet the __________. I told her that there was only a __________ chance of her getting the scholarship and encouraged her to be more “realistic” about her dream. But she remained __________.

“Will you send in my name?” she asked.

I couldn’t __________ her down. I completed the application, with the painful truth about her academic life, but also with my __________ of her courage and perseverance.

Three weeks later, just before Hani went to Jakarta to take the Test of English Fluency, she received a letter from the scholarship association. She had been __________.

I leaped around the room, overjoyed and shocked. Hani stood by, __________. I realized that it was I who had learned something Hani had known from the beginning: It is not intelligence alone that brings success, but also the __________ to succeed, the commitment to work hard and the courage to believe in yourself.

8 . If you have strong arms and feet, you might make a good waiter. You must ______ , however, not in the restaurant, but in the ______, helping the head cook, to learn exactly ______each dish is prepared. Then you will be able to tell the customers what the ingredients (成份) are and how the food is______. From the first step, you may enter the restaurant as a(n) ______. But you won’t be allowed to serve the customers yet. They will ______let you do the simplest jobs,______the tables and carrying the plates. But all the time you must watch and learn. Later, you will be taught how to ______food, and if you are good at it, you may become a waiter in charge of a number of ______. You may even become a head waiter ______you are afraid of hard work.

When Carlo Bianchi first arrived in London, he ______only two words of English—“Please” and “Hello”. He______to get a job helping in the kitchen of an Indian restaurant, and he did ______he could to learn English. He was a good worker and soon he got a job in the restaurant as a waiter. Every night, Carlo used to go home tired, but ______too tired to study the language for half an hour before going to sleep. He always managed to ______a third of his wages, ______he put in the bank regularly every Friday. And no matter how tired or ill he felt, he always has a warm ______for his customers. They liked him, ______people used to come to the restaurant and ask to be served by Carlo. Now twenty⁃five years later, Carlo is the manager of six restaurants, and he hopes to open a seventh ______. But he still believes in the personal ______, and every night he goes to one or another of his restaurants to welcome the customers with a friendly greeting.

9 . As Christmas drew near, Ursula was faced with just that problem. She had come to live in an American home and learn English. _________, she would mind the children and _________ anything she was asked

One of her task was to keep track of _________ Christmas presents. Ursula did this faithfully, but she became increasingly _________. What could she buy for her _________ with the little money she had that would compare with the gifts she was recording daily? _________, even without any of the _________ her employer seems to have everything

Ursula _________ long and hard. On Christmas Eve, she went to a _________. She moved slowly through crowds of shoppers, __________ things in her mind. Finally she bought a baby dress. She immediately called __________. “Excuse me, please, can you help me find a poor family with a baby?” “A poor family?” said the __________ driver. “Yes, a very poor family.” Ursula told the man of what she was trying to do. He __________ in silence, and then said, “I know a family who __________ just about everything.”

When they reached a __________, the driver said, “They live on the third floor.” Ursula shook her head, “Would you take this dress to them and tell them it’s from someone ... someone who has everything.”

Early the next day Ursula __________ everyone for the presents she received. Then, she began to __________ why there seemed to be none __________ her. She told about what she did the night before. When she finished, there was a long   __________. “You see,” she added, “I try to do a kindness in your __________. And this is my Christmas present to you.”

10 . I had a busy to - do list today and was about to get started when my sister called.

I talked with her for a short time and could _________ my seven - year - old niece (侄女，外甥女) in the background, full of energy as always, and getting blamed for something. I _________ to speak with her, both because I love talking to her and because I was _________ that I could help redirecting (使改变方向) some of her energy in a more _________ direction and give my sister a break.

I listened and talked with her on the phone, giving her as much _________ as she needed to share her thoughts and _________ herself.

The conversation went for quite a while. _________ my time, she gifted me her funny stories and sense of _________. She said the cutest things that always _________ me and caused me to laugh out loud! She told me about her friend’s birthday party, which __________ a cake, chocolate ice cream, and sand art! Then there were __________ about her new little brother, cute animals she saw recently and of course, the weather!

Forty minutes later she __________, saying, “Well, I should __________ have let you get going.”

At one point in the conversation my __________ had turned back to my “to - do” list, but then I consciously (有意识地) turned it back to her. I chose to be __________ with her and give my full attention to her so that she __________ important and special. __________, she is indeed important and special. Children are so precious (宝贵的) and __________ so fast! And we can learn so much from them, including the __________ they see the world. When choosing between my niece and my to - do list, I __________ that chores and errands (差事) could wait — every time!