2 . I was in the back seat of a taxi holding my mother’s hand like a child. But, in fact, I was already 28 years old, still ________ and hoping my mom would make it all right. We were coming home from the ________, having survived spinal operation (脊柱手术) a week earlier, and ________ to the tiny apartment in San Francisco. Each time the taxi bounced (弹跳) over the mountain roads, I felt as if my bones were ________. I doubt I would get ________ again during the journey.

I was about to ________ at the driver, when my mother said ________, “Thank you! You’re the best driver I have ever seen.” She continued, “These hills must be very hard to drive on. And I’m so ________. My daughter just had spinal operation and is so ________. Because of you, she’s going to get home safe. Thank you. You’re wonderful.”

In the mirror (后视镜), I could see the driver smiling proudly. I felt a flash of anger but before I had a chance to ________ my mother, a ________ happened. The driver slowed down. He moved his neck left and right to make sure a ________ ride before making each turn. ________, he drove us home like the best driver I’d ever seen.

At that moment, what my ________ mom had done clearly showed that she was really certain of the power of ________.

3 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard___________a little dog going around his camp trying to ___________herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all ___________, he had packed just enough for the whole ___________. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a___________ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog ___________ him again. He waved her away, worried that she might be stepped on by the runners. ___________, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race ___________. That night the dog snuggled (偎依) up to Leonard and even___________ to get a little food from him. By then, he was determined to name her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi____________ a distance of 125km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a____________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi on the race ____________my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, rather than just focusing on winning, ” said Leonard, who finished second. “It also made my running more enjoyable , giving me a lot of pleasure.”

As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home, she was missing. With a group of 20 local volunteers coming to his ____________ , he finally found her. After that, Leonard never let Gobi out of his____________. Now Gobi’s favorite activity is still running, and she__________ does at least 8km a day with Leonard up the hills.

5 . Boundaries are everywhere. Some are for security. Some are for privacy. But some are just for us to _________.

One day, after supper, I took a walk on the _________. Taotao, my 5-year-old son, was bouncing excitedly behind me. He _________ a thin stick and acted as the Monkey King all the time. The sidewalk was paved by red bricks, _________ sharply with the pitch (沥青)-paved bikeway and formed a clear _________. “Use the sidewalk. It’s safe”, I _________ my son frequently.

Suddenly a maple leaf was blown off and _________ quietly on the bikeway, about two steps away. Taotao was totally _________. He stopped, bent down and tried to fetch it but failed. He _________ his stick, tried hard again but still failed. A bit _________, he stood up and moved one step forward, but not beyond the boundary. After several more attempts with the stick, the leaf was still not moving to him. I was right beside him, worried a lot about his further _________.

Finally, he stood up, threw away the stick _________, stepped across the boundary and picked up the leaf directly. Yeah! I saw a _________ smile on his face!

Many times we _________ our thinking within a boundary and can’t find a good solution; many times we hold existing _________ at hand, never thinking about whether they are still useful. We are not lacking in knowledge but short of knowing how to break the thinking boundaries.

6 . On a summer day, the sun was shining brightly and the hotness was into Lerable. All I could_______was cooling down with my favorite ice cream. So I decided to make a quick trip to the newly opened ice cream store close by for a midday_______. I ordered my ice cream and asked the server to_______two tubs (盒) of chocolate ice cream for my daughter and my husband, which I had_______to them. While waiting for the ice cream, I was_______my own ice cream and watching so many people coming in and out of the store. It seemed that they, just like me, could hardly_______ the hotness that day, so they wanted to cool down with ice cream too.

I went to_______when the ice cream to go was ready._______, the cashier had forgotten to bill (将……记入账) the ice cream I had eaten and counted only the ice cream for my daughter and my husband. A few seconds passed by as I_______between doing what was easy—clearing the bill and________, and doing what was right—pointing out the error. I knew if I didn’t bring the error in the bill to his notice, my ice cream would be paid from his salary (工资). That moment, my decision was made. I pushed away my________and pointed out what he had________. He thanked me for__________ him of the error. The others around also praised me for my________. The smile on his face made me smile too.

I came out of the ice cream store feeling really good about myself. I knew that day how wonderful it felt to do what was________rather than what was easy.

7 . Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the students had been studying hard for some months, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn’t _______ the exams, they would have to resit (补考) in September. There were usually a few students who _______ in them, and Lucy didn’t want to be one of them. So Lucy worked very hard to _______ that she could pass the exams. And Lucy was working so hard that her mother was worried about her. Her mother thought she went to bed too late. So the night before the first exam, her mother_______that she should have an early night. Her mother also advised Lucy to take a sleeping pill (药片) if she felt too much stress. Meanwhile, her mother_______ to wake Lucy up in the morning.

_______on the bed, Lucy found it very difficult to fall asleep. She was afraid that she might oversleep and missed the exam. Her _______kept jumping from one subject to another. At last, with the help of _______, she fell sleep. In no time at all, she had a dream: she was sitting in the classroom, looking through the_______ on the desk but she couldn’t answer any of the questions. ________ around her was writing confidently. ________she worked very hard, she couldn’t find anything to write about. She kept looking at her________. Time was running out. There was only an hour left. “It is impossible to finish all the questions within an hour,” Lucy told herself, “but if I ________ now, all my efforts would be useless.” Without any other solution, her body started shivering(颤抖). It shook so much that she ________up. Lucy opened her eyes. ________ came into her view was her mother trying to shaking her awake.

8 . My father was a strong fisherman. He loved the sea and would stay out until he caught enough to ______ the family.

When we met ______ weather, he would drive me to school with his old track. And after we arrived, he would bend over and give me a ______ on the face and then tell me to be a good boy. I always felt very shy in front of so many other ______. I was already a twelve-year-old young man, but my father still kissed me goodbye!

Then on a rainy day I ______ to tell him my feeling. When we stopped at the school gate, the ______ big smile appeared on my father’s face. I ______ what would happen next. I ______ put my hand up and for the first time said “No” to him. The smile on his face immediately changed into a ______ look. He looked at me for a long time, and tears began to appear in his eyes. I was shocked. I had never ______ him cry! Then he said, “You’re right. You are a big boy... a man. I won’t kiss you anymore.”

Not long after that, my dad went to the sea on a bad day. Most of the ______ stayed at home, but not Dad, because he had a big family to feed. But after that day, be ______ came back. Later his boat was found with its nets half in and half out. He must have ______ a strong wind and was trying to save the nets.

How I wished I hadn’t ______ my father’s kiss! And from this I have learnt that we should take every chance with our family and friends as the last one in our lives. We can have ______ regrets(遗憾)by doing this.