2 . I don’t realize that I’ve been at college for nearly one and half year until now. Looking back into the last year, what shall I say? It was full of _______ and sadness. Life always goes like this, up and down. Now when I recall the past, no matter _______ I felt at that time, they are all treasures for me.

That was the moon festival last year, which was also the first time that we went out _______ we entered the college. It was said that the sea in San Diego was well-known and was also a wonderful place to watch the moon. After getting all the food and drinks ready, we four girls set off for the seaside. There were many people and we picked up a less _______ beach. At first, we enjoyed ourselves by drinking and eating. When the moon turned brighter, we played with the seawater. As a result, we were all _______ with water. Bathing in the moonlight, we ran and laughed. We seemed to land on another world, which was full of fresh air, _______ and love. The laughter is _______ echoing(回响)in my mind.

Life doesn’t stay the same, _______ having a particular taste. That is sadness. What _______ me deeply is a failure in a singing competition. It was the first time that I had given a ________ on such a large stage in front of so many people. I was so nervous that the whole song was performed out of ________. As you could imagine, I was greeted with boos(嘘，喝倒彩声)from the audience. I still remembered how gloomy I felt at that moment and I sat alone crying at the seaside. After that, I talked to mother about it. She told me that it was not a ________; at least, I was brave enough to show myself publicly.

Everything has passed. I’ve ________ them at the bottom of my heart. I am in the second grade already. Yet much needs me to ________. On the way, there’s both happiness and sadness. ________, I will go ahead just all the same.

3 . After a long day at school, I walked home with my heavy schoolbag. Sleepy and _______, I threw my things on the couch and picked up something from the _______ to eat. I passed by the living room and wished I could watch TV, but I knew my _______ would take me the whole night. I took my schoolbag and went _______ to my room. I tried to understand chemistry and _______ sleepiness at the same time. I tried to keep my eyes _______ and I wanted something to cheer me up.

Later, I _______ the sound of the front door opening. And I waited for it—the sound of my mom singing. Though she sang off-key, _______ made me excited that she was here. I ran down to _______ my mom. We hugged each other and talked for a while. I liked it when my mom was happy. Her ________ seemed to flow down to me and I got the strength to ________ the stress again.

Sometimes, I wonder how my mom can still be ________ after coming back from work. Every weekday, she wakes up ________ in the morning to go to work and spends all hour on the bus before getting downtown. At a ________ factory, she works standing for the whole day and draws patterns for clothes over and over. After work, my mom at times gets stuck in ________ for two hours on her way back home. When I ________ my life with her work life, I should not be the one to ________ . At least I have some interesting things to do at school, but one mistake at work can cost my mom her job. I ________ that my mom has a positive attitude and lives her life with a joyous heart, which encourages me to do my work well, ________ there may be difficulties. Seeing her happy makes me feel ________, too.

4 . Little Monty was son of a poor farmer. When he was in high school, he was asked to write a passage about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up. That night he wrote a seven-page passage describing his dream of owning a big farm. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a picture of his farm, showing the design of all the buildings, the animals and the track. He put a great deal of his heart into the homework and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, “See me after class.”

The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, “Why did I receive an F?” The teacher said, “For a young boy like you the dream is impossible. You have no money. You come from a poor family. You have no support from your friends. Owning a big farm needs a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the buying of your animals and later you’ll have to pay more to hire people to feed them. There’s no way you could ever do it.”

The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.” Finally, after a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”

Twenty years later, a teacher led his 30 students to visit a beautiful and big farm. When meeting the owner of the farm, the teacher said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough determination not to give up on yours.”

“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what,” Monty at last concluded.

Last Monday, having gotten my promise of taking care of my mother, my father left for a business trip.     1     (see) him driving away, my mother and I waved our hands and said goodbye to him.

I thought everything would go well , as this was not the     2     (one) time that my father had been away for several days. Unfortunately, my mother     3     (catch) a cold the next morning. Looking at her pale face, l experienced high levels of anxiety.     4    , I told myself that I had     5     (calm) down and look after my mum, as I promised to my dad.     6    moment I got my mum to sleep, I put a cold towel on her forehead, found pills in the medicine box, and made some noodles for her.     7     (lucky), she woke up and felt     8     (good) after taking the medicine and the noodles.     9     her fever was gone relieved me a lot. In the next four days, I was taking her body temperature twice a day to make sure that she was completely well. To our happiness, my dad went back home on Saturday. On hearing what I     10     (do) to my mum, he gave me a big thumb. Hearing their praises and seeing bright smile on their faces, I really felt overjoyed.

6 . It began a year ago, around Christmas.

While driving around the corner of our townhouse sports center, I always noticed an old man sitting by his front yard. He was usually smoking or drinking and looked unhappy.

One day, while I was driving past him with my daughter, I decided to ________ at him with a lot of excitement. At the beginning, when he noticed me waving at him, he looked a bit shocked. Then, I saw his ________ go up and he waved back.

“________ did you wave at him?” my ________ asked.

I told her that it was just an act of kindness that didn’t ________ anything, and it gave both him and me a sense of ________. She reacted by saying that she felt shy about waving to a stranger, ________ next time she would try it as well.

Lucky for us, we lived close to the old man, so we ________ him rather often. Whenever we drove by, both of us ________ wave at him and, pretty soon, the old man started waving at ________ who passed by his house.

One day, my daughter’s friend came to visit and she told my daughter that she saw this ________ old man near our home who waved at her very excitedly. She mentioned that she waved back at him, ________ she didn’t know him, and that it felt really ________.

Upon hearing this, my daughter told her friend the story of how all the waving ________.

Her friend said, “Tell your mom that’s really ________!”

Other friends made ________ comments, and this response taught my daughter just how much an act of kindness can be very natural and effortless, if you really want to ________ it. It ________ us how giving happiness did good to both the giver and the receiver.

Moved by all these good effects, we’re planning to give our elder waving neighbor a thank-you card, to express our ________ for the warmth that he communicated through his enthusiastic (热情的) waves. And to thank him for sharing this simple joy ________ all who pass by his house.

7 . Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and his family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him. He seemed unhappy with me unless got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We talked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions Gone was my father’s critical (挑别的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

The next day dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.