1 . The Best Thing that ever Happened for Being Nice

A few weeks ago, my family and I were at a restaurant. We had just finished having lunch when I excused myself to go to the _________.

When I was in one of the stalls (隔间), the lady in the stall next to me was saying something. At first, I didn’t realize what she was saying, but _________, I heard her say, “No tissue! No tissue!” with an accent (口音). She seemed like she was really panicking (恐慌), so I asked her if she ran out of toilet paper. Thankfully, she   _________ me and said, “Yes! Yes!”

I passed her some paper. When we got out of the toilet stall, she kept _________ me over and over. I said, “You’re welcome, Ma’am,” and tried to leave. The lady stopped me _________ the toilet again, saying some things that I couldn’t understand. I simply smiled at her and agreed quietly. She then _________ on buying my lunch. I tried to politely _________, but the lady seemed so happy and determined to_________ me to lunch that I finally accepted.

Some people were staring at me and the lady as I walked back to my family and our table, but I didn’t care. The lady was _________ like I had just saved her life, and I was feeling like a _________.

When I got back to our table, my parents were looking at me, puzzled. Their daughter had simply intended to go to the toilet for a minute or two, _________ she came back with her entire meal completely paid for. When they asked me to explain everything, I kept laughing for a while before I could get out a single word.

A few moments later, someone came up to us. It was the lady again. She thanked me again then _________ that she had just moved to our _________ and that her English wasn’t very good. She also said that she had been in that toilet stall for a long time, and despite her calling out to people, no one gave her toilet paper. She thanked me again.

The best thing that happened to me that day was not only getting a _________ meal, but more importantly, gaining a new understanding of what it means to be truly _________. The next time you have a chance to help a stranger, remember this story.

2 . Sally Smith is an unbelievable woman who looks like a fit 40-year-old, although she just turned 70. She follows a special raw(生的；未加工的) diet and only drinks rainwater.

She looks so young that people mistake her for her daughter when she’s out with her husband of 54 years, but I think he isn’t complaining.

Mrs. Smith says the secret to her beauty lies in her special diet, consisting of organic vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts grown in her own garden; she calls it the “fountain(源泉) of youth”. The woman doesn’t touch anything that has been cooked.

And another strange thing she does is to collect rainwater, to keep her garden blossoming, but also to drink. But Mrs. Smith, who is from Miami-Dade County, Florida, didn’t always have such a healthy lifestyle. In fact, she ate meat regularly, as her husband used to own a meat factory way back in the 1960s. It was then that she decided to change her eating habit forever. And what a great decision that was! I mean, just look at her!

When she started off, Mrs. Smith was just looking for a few health benefits and never expected that she would look like a 40-year-old at the age of 70. Over the 27 years, she has been eating raw food, and she has written two booklets called Journey to Health and also produced a DVD containing all her healthy secrets.

Her husband, Mr. Smith, wishes he had followed her example, because now he looks much, much older and also suffers from diabetes (糖尿病) and high blood pressure. He takes prescription medicine every day, but Sally doesn’t even take an aspirin(阿司匹林).

A man was spending his holiday in Africa. One day he watched the elephants    1    (pass) by. To his great surprise, these giant, strong animals were being held only by     2    small rope tied to their front leg.     3    (obvious), they could easily run away any moment.However, they did not. Then he saw a trainer and    4    (ask) him how come not a single elephant tried to break free. The trainer explained: “    5    the elephants are very young, we use the same size rope to tie them, and at that time it is enough to hold them. Gradually they grow up and get    6    (strong) than before, but they never attempt    7    ( get) away, because they believe that the rope will still hold them.” Sometimes people act    8     elephants; they give up after the first failure. Remember that failures are part of learning If we want to be     9    (success) one day, we should never give     10    ,but try and try again.

5 . The First Try

Every girl dreams and Mary is no ________. She has read dozens of books on how to be a ballet dancer and Swan Lake is her favorite. She ________ one day her dream will come true. She has taken ballet lessons and all her teachers ________ she is a good student.

One day she saw an advertisement that a famous ballet troupe（芭蕾舞剧团）will be ________ in her hometown. Her thoughts ran wild, “I must meet the leader of the troupe and show him my ________.”

She dressed herself in her ballet costume and ________ to hide in the dressing room. To her luck, the leader entered and she ________ approached him and handed him a bunch of red roses and in her ________ the thorns（刺） pricked her hand but she did not ________ the pain. Mary told him her dream. “Alright, you dance and I will give you my verdict（意见）.”________, half way through the dance he stopped her, “I’m sorry you’re not good enough!” On hearing this Mary was ________ and gave up her dream.

Years later, the same ballet troupe was performing in her town again. Bitter（痛苦的） ________ of the leader’s harsh words came back to her. This time she was determined to find out why the leader had told her she was not good enough when all her teachers thought ________.

This was his reply, “I tell this to every student.” She angrily shot back, “You’ve ________ my life!” Then she got a further shock. “I remember your gift of roses and how the thorns had pricked your fingers but you carried on bravely. If you only had treated ballet like that and did not give up so easily; therefore, you still ________ my verdict!”

Early one cold November morning, my mother dressed me in thick clothes. “Now come outside with me.” she said. Once outside, she handed me a brown paper bag that held something that smelled like wet dirt.” We need to plant bulbs before the first hard freeze. I have already dug the holes.” she said. “So take each bulb from the bag, drop it in the hole, and then gently push the dirt back into the hole covering the bulb—like so.”

I opened the bag. “These bulbs are ugly and look dead!”

“You're right. They’re not at all pretty. But they’re not dead; they’re just sleeping until spring.”

“And all the bulbs look alike,” I continued. “How do we know what they’ll look like next spring?”

“We won’t know for sure until spring, but that’s the joy of gardening. We’ll just have to be patient.”

All winter long I hoped that the flowers would bloom some day.

One day in late April, I found some pink pushing up through the ground. My mother was excited when I showed her. "Perfect!” she said. “They'll be ready at just the right time.”

A few days later, she took me to the local store where she gathered up colored paper, colored ribbons, and all the baskets on sale. “Okay, now we’re ready to make May baskets.”

“May baskets? What are May baskets?”

“They are small baskets filled with fresh flowers and secretly left at someone’s front door.” Her eyes shone with delight. “So when we get home we’ll cut the flowers that are blooming in the garden to make May baskets. Then tomorrow, May first, we’ll get up early and take them to our neighbors. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

“But I waited all winter for the flowers to bloom, and they’re so beautiful. And... and... I thought we would keep them forever,” I said, close to tears.

“I know you’re disappointed, sweetie, but flowers—like kindness—are meant to be shared. Their beauty is not ours to keep. You understand?” my mother replied in a tender voice.

“No! I don’t understand. I want to keep the flowers.” I protested.

Shortly after dawn the next morning, we began our journey through the neighborhood.

There were twenty-two children in Wilma Rudolph's family, and she was the    1    (twenty) child. As a little girl, Wilma had many illnesses.    2    fact, she spent most of her early childhood    3    (lie) in bed. When she was four years old, she was diagnosed (诊断) with a disease    4    can affect the muscles. Doctor said that Wilma would never walk. However, Wilma's large, caring family helped and encouraged her. Every week, her mother    5    (take) her on a long trip to a hospital for medical treatment. Suffering from the disease, Wilma herself was determined and never gave up. And    6    (final) one day she removed her wheelchair and started walking.

Wilma not only learned to walk, she also learned to run-and to run fast. She ran so fast that at the 1960 Rome Olympics Games, she became the    7    (fast) woman in the world and the first American woman    8    (win) three gold medals at one Olympics.

Wilma said that it was most important to be    9    (you) and believe in what you can do. And it is not what happens to you that matters,    10    how you respond to what happens.