2 . 23-year-old Taleigh Loven walked downstairs to her graduation party last October. She was ______ balloons, treats and congratulations from her family. What didn’t cross her mind was her ______ wearing the same graduation cap as she did. ______ him carrying a certificate (证书) with his name on it, she instantly burst into tears.

Mike Loven, 47, decided four years earlier that he was going to restart his study in Grand Canyon University, the ______ school his daughter had just been ______ to. A few weeks later, Mike was taking his first______ course while Taleigh was getting settled in her dorm — with no ______ that Mike was a fellow freshman.

“There was no real reason for ______ it a secret from the family—I merely thought the _______ would be fun,” Mike said. “I work a lot and I’m always on my computer, so no one ______ knew that I was working on stuff (材料) for ______ all those years.”

The ______ part about the whole thing, Mike said, was during ______ midterm seasons when his family would constantly ask him for help with tricky (棘手的) school-related issues. He had his own ______ as well, but he couldn’t tell them. That, he said, ______ many late nights at the computer.

3 . My father was born in a small town in the US. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from _______, but something told him to _______ and begin a new adventure.

He began that adventure traveling to cities in the US before going on to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. He took my mother and us three daughters with him and went wherever the road _______ him.

It’s easy to feel _______ when you’re on the road. We made lots of new friends on our trip — most of them are mechanics, since we often _______ hours in repair shops. But that was a way much _______ than sitting by the roadside while waiting for the engine to cool off when it was 40℃ outside.

Getting along well sometimes seemed _______. There were always a lot of _______, especially among us back seat passengers about who had to sit in the middle. But even if it was hard, we learned a lot about tolerance (包容). When we were traveling in the Philippines, we drove to Quezon City one day. It should have been an hour’s drive but was nearly three thanks to bad roads and _______ traffic. “Did you put our suitcases in the car?” my father asked my mother as we arrived there. From the back seat, we saw her slowly turn toward my father. “No,” she said. “I thought you did.” That was how a seven­hour car trip turned into a 16­hour one, which was mostly spent in vain (徒劳).

On occasions like that, we had to learn to let go of our anger because we were ________ in a rolling box with the same people for the rest of the ________. Even if I sometimes felt like opening the car door and ________ one of my sisters out, I kept my feelings to myself.

This is why road trips were like ________   universities to us. We ________ our PhDs (博士学位)   in how to get along with other people just by traveling in our old car.

If we were ________ given a second chance at life, we would do it all over again. Only this time would I put the suitcases in the car myself.

5 . Exercise and I had never had a good relationship due to my fear of sports. From a young age, my dad _______ me into a dozen sports. I didn’t like any of them, _______.

When I entered the University of Regina, my dad _______ telling me “You have to find a way to stay _______.” or “You don’t want to get the Freshman 15, do you?” So I _______ to give swimming a shot, but I _______ managed to go to the pool twice during the fall semester (学期). Worse still, I was _______ to convince myself that’s OK.

The spring semester came. A friend of mine _______ me if I wanted to try Zumba (尊巴) with her. All I knew about Zumba was that it was basically a kind of exercise: dancing to Latin pop songs. It didn’t sound too bad, but I couldn’t be _______.

I went, and that was it. Zumba became my ________ of tea. The instructor would always say, “Don’t worry about the steps. Have fun. Do your own thing.” That removed my ________ of sports. I didn’t have to be ________. I didn’t even have to be good. I just needed to ________ the music and move. Zumba did ________ me from the Freshman 15, and it also did so much more. It let me make ________ with my unpleasant past about physical exercise, and enjoy staying healthy.

6 . I was walking home from school one day and it happened to be a particularly cold and windy day. It was________ and I was crazy enough to forget my hat and scarf. You can imagine my cheeks were rosy red and my hands were as numb as they could be.

All of a sudden, an old lady ________ up beside me and asked if I would like a ride home. At first, I said it was OK and her ________ smile melted (融化) away the thought that I should never talk to strangers! We had an amazing chat and she was just ________ a good woman. She told me her address and she dropped me off.

I didn’t see her or talk to her for about a month and one night as I ________ her kind gesture, I decided to return the favor. So, I made a lot of ________ and walked down to her house with my friend. At first I was a bit ________ she wouldn’t remember me or think that I was a bad man who poisoned cookies but luckily, I was ________ wrong. She was so happy, and she hugged me and kissed me and seemed so ________ that someone would do something like that!

When I got home my mom told me that the old lady ________ and told my mom on the phone that she ________ because she was so touched. She said she would never ________ the kindness that was given to her! That filled me with such ________! There really is nothing else joyful like helping ________ and making someone’s day ________!

7 . It’s hard being an astronaut’s son, I _________, everybody expects you to be special or _________, but I’m just an average student.

I often wonder _________ my father ever had a son like me. I mean he’s so _________ and so good at everything. So I used to dream about doing something spectacular (令人印象深刻的) to _________ my father.

In one class, my teacher _________ a Father’s Day essay contest for us and the winners’ essays would be read in front of all the parents and students. After school I walked home, _________ about my father, who I would write about in my essay.

He sat with me in the _________ when I was a little kid and had a nightmare. He _________ me with a new puppy at my eighth birthday party. To me, he wasn’t a world-famous astronaut, but just my dad.

I wrote about all these __________ in my essay. One of our neighbours said, “I __________ you’ll win the contest, David. You’re the only one in town whose father is an astronaut.” I didn’t want to win __________ because my father was an astronaut.

I won the second prize. When I finished reading my essay, the __________ applauded. I saw my father blowing his nose.

Dad nodded to me, __________ his throat, and put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, this is the __________ moment of my life,” he said.

It was the proudest moment of my life, too. Maybe I’ll never be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize, but just then, it was enough just to be my father’s son.

8 . On the first day of my school life in the USA, I showed a great interest in my marketing class. My teacher, Mrs Tolman, suggested I ________a national marketing club called DECA attracting many students with talent and interest in ________. So I did.

The first ________ was to collect money for the marketing competition later in the year by selling candles. Mrs Tolman said the competition was due in a week and that 40 percent of the ________ would go into my personal account.

At the beginning, I tried to sell some candles to my host mum. She said that if I could ________ confidence and do a wonderful sales presentation, she would certainly buy some. I started my presentation with a ________ handshake. Then I introduced all the different kinds of candles and the special sales I could offer and made her ________ that our candles were the best choices for gifts and home decorations. Finally she bought three candles.

Greatly ________, I decided to sell my candles around the neighbourhood. On Saturday morning, with great courage, I knocked at the door of my first potential ________.

“I’m a student at Skyline High School and we are raising money for DECA. I’m trying to sell...”

“Not today, sorry,” the man interrupted me and ________ the door.

Embarrassed, I walked away and said to myself the worst thing that might happen was being refused like that again. I couldn’t even count how many times I was ________ with reasons like “Not today”, “I don’t have any extra money right now” or “I just bought some”.________, I had to continue with the day. Finally, a woman kindly bought nearly $60 worth of candles. I couldn’t even hide my________and said “Thank you very much.” to her with a bow.

After a week’s hard work, I turned in my $408 worth of sales of candles, which gave me $163.2 in my own account. I was ________ to find out I was the second highest seller in all classes.

It was the first time that I had worked as a salesperson. Now I look back on this experience with satisfaction, and I feel glad that I did not ________ in face of difficulty.

10 . Our family enjoyed a beautiful house plant for over thirty years. It had stayed with us through _________ years and good times, pain and joy. I had never thought of _________ it.

However, two weeks ago, we _________ some changes in its leaves, which began to lose color. We watered and looked after it _________, but it just showed no sign of _________. We finally picked a few almost dead leaves and _________ replanting them in another small pot.

What _________ us was that these leaves planted in the new pot grew strong. In order to know the reason why the house plant died, we dug the dead plant out of the pot. Then, it became _________ to us—its roots（根）were in disorder, completely tangling up. Our once-beautiful plant died because it grew out of its environment—it became root-bound（根满盆的）.

People can become root-bound, too. Those who _________ personal growth or development often want to make __________ that can lead to greater achievements or much more happiness. However, they more often find they outgrow their environment and want to __________. Their view becomes larger and they need __________ environment to live in. They need people who will make __________ for their growth. If they cannot be __________, some problems are sure to appear.

So if your new-found growth causes you to abandon the old ways, you may need to __________ you are bigger now.