1 . In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the _________, most of them on their way to _________.

About four minutes later, the violinist received his first _________. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At six minutes, a young man leaned _________ the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother pulled him along_________. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the _________ pushed hard and the child continued to walk,_________ his head the whole time.

At forty-five minutes, the musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal _________. The man collected a total of $32.

After one hour, he finished playing and silence _________. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no __________ at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most __________ pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a __________ in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

In a common-place environment, at an __________ hour, do we perceive beauty?

If so, do we stop to __________ it? If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made... How many other things are we missing as we __________ through life?

3 . In my mind, the effect that experience had on me lasted forever. I was determined to learn swimming at the age of ten. There was a pool, at the K. P.L.B., offering the opportunity. My mother constantly warned against it, and bore fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the K. P.L.B. pool was safe.

My fear of water started from childhood. It began when I was four years old and father took me to the beach. There the huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.

The K. P.L.B. pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, "Hi, Skinny! How'd you like to be ducked?" With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits-when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing bur water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.

When I came to consciousness, I found myself on the bed in the hospital.

I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by. It deprived me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, I practiced hard and finally he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not. Sometimes the terror would return.

This went on till July. I swam across the Lake Wentworth. Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, "Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?"

I had conquered my fear of water.

5 . It was an early blow to my self-confidence. I was attending my first group meeting in the lab _______ a postdoc (博士后), and I was _______ that I could follow most of the discussion. Then, in front of everyone, the professor turned to me and asked about my previous accomplishments. I _______. As a PhD student, I had achieved lots to be _______ of. But _______ of those were in my home country of Brazil. Now I was in Washington D. C. and I didn’t know what the word “accomplishment” meant. So all I could say was “I don’t know”.

I had decided to do a postdoc abroad because I thought the training would _______ me a teaching position. I applied for it and received a Brazil in government fellowship to spend 18 months working abroad and got a position in a lab. It all seemed so easy—until I _______ started.

In a new country, I _______, After the _______ lab meeting incident, my confidence took another ________. The paper I had finished painstakingly did not ________. I used to be invited to give talks. Now, I was asked to speak more ________ because of my accent. My confidence was ________.

After months of ________, I reminded myself that I had ________ of success. I needed to do something to ________ my confidence. I thought a change of environment might be what I needed. So I made the ________.

In another new lab, I still felt insecure. ________, I was determined to make the most of the time I had. There were more opportunities to interact with other, which forced me to ________ more. It was awful at first, but with practice I began to feel more confident in my English. I proposed new projects. I began to receive ________ feedback on my presentations.

My confidence is back.

6 . The news that all teachers were expected to attend camp with their students left me feeling unsettled. For the first time in more than 20 years, I would need to spend three days in the early autumn bush with 120 14-year-olds.

I love spending time with teenagers. But I teach Grade 12 English and am 51 years old. There is a difference between a literary seminar on King Lear, no matter how lively it may be, and late-night party in a campground. Besides, my idea of “outdoors” is biking on the Ottawa bike paths or sitting in the backyard with a cup of tea and a good book.

Eventually, we turn down a long dirt track that dives deep into a forest. I read the schedule and note the impressive minute-by-minute detail for the next 72 hours. I’ve never faced such a structured(高度组织化的) time since, well, when I went to camp in Grade 9. I think of home.

The next morning, I arise early. It is 7 a.m. Time for the polar bear dip. Everyone asks if I am going to swim. I respond with lame excuses and then wander, like a Grade 8 boy at the edges of a middle-school dance. Kids charge in, great plumes(股流) of water rising up around them as they shout with joy. My colleagues link arms, count down and run into the water bravely. Toweling off, the swimmers discuss the water temperature. The regret that I knew I would feel starts to kill me. I will now forever be the guy who did not take part in the polar bear dip. I walk slowly up to the dining hall and decide that from that moment on I will commit fully to camp life. My unwillingness to do anything is replaced with a burning desire to do everything.

At 7 a.m. the next morning, I am the first person on the beach in my bathing suit. I dive into the water. I scream about how good it feels. Toweling off afterward, I talk to anyone within earshot about the temperature of the water.

Later that day, the camp winds down. Something has happened in this camp. To the students, for sure, but also to me. When the last camper leaves, I give the camp director a big hug.

7 . At a young age, Darrius Simmons fell in love with the piano. As he watched others play, he was _________ by the joy the piano gave them. He wanted to experience that, too, but knew for him it would be a/an _________.

“I decided at age 10 that I wanted to learn how to play the piano, _________ it was going to take a little bit _________ work for me to learn,” Simmons says. “I knew most people had 10 fingers while I had four, yet I was pretty _________ I could make it work.”

The Warren, Ohio teenager was born with a genetic _________ called ectrodactyly (先天性缺指畸形). He has three fingers on his right hand and _________ finger on his left. But it didn’t _________ Simmons from following his _________. With no formal training, Simmons taught himself by ear how to play the piano. He practiced and practiced, finding a way to __________ the keys with four fingers while mastering the pedals with his prostheses(假肢).

Simmons knew he would have to __________ his own style of playing. “I couldn’t base it __________ the technique of somebody who has 10 fingers. It just wouldn’t __________.” He says. “That’s __________ it was hard for me to take piano lessons. It’s very __________ for somebody who has learned how to play with 10 fingers to adjust and teach me with only four.”

The now 18-year-old not only learned how to play and read music but also began composing.

His mother, Tamara Simmons, isn’t surprised by Darrius’ __________. She knows how focused and __________ he can be.

From mastering music to beating __________ challenges, Darrius Simmons sets out to __________ the world. “I like to be somebody’s __________,” he says. “If I play in front of a whole crowd and I see one person smile, that’s a job well done.”

8 . You Mi, a lovely and confident 17-year-old student, is the first Chinese high school student to appear on the cover of the popular young adults’ fashion magazine Seventeen.

“You is IN,” said Wang Lihua, Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen. “She is active and mature (成熟的) because of her knowledge on everything from academic studies, to books on art, to movies. We found she’s the very style we’re looking for to represent young people’s attitudes.”

You also impressed Wang with her fluent English when they first met last year. As the hostess of an English broadcasting programme at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University, You is always praised for speaking English almost like a native speaker. “I’ve built up my English by watching thousands of English DVDs since I was 10,” she explained.

But for You, watching isn’t enough. Last year, while in Senior 1, she met a talented boy who showed self-made DV movies at the English Corner in her school.

“I thought it was so cool and I knew that I should start making my own films,” she said. So she wrote a campus (校园 ) story, persuaded schoolmates to star in it and then began shooting a 30-minute DV movie, all in English. “I played one of the leading roles， actually I was everything in my film. I worked on it every single day during the SARS holidays,” she recalled. The movie finally became a big hit on campus, earning You a strong reputation (名气) as a DV movie director.

But this is not the only field she wants to master. Despite being a science student, You likes art, literature and fashion design very much.

“There are people who can be artists，there are people who edit books, and there are people who become film producers. But I just hope to mix all the things up!” she said. “There is an old saying I believe: Chance favours only the prepared mind.”

9 . As the train picked up its speed, the passengers slowly settled down on their seats, I _________ the lower berth(铺位), so that I could enjoy the _________ of outside from the moving train. I don’t know why I always preferred to get the _________ seat. An elderly lady _________ the front seat of mine. I looked at her. She must be in her eighties, I guessed. At one point, we met our _________. She smiled at me and I gave her a response. Both of us were _________. By that time, the train was in its full speed.

It was 4:50 pm, evening time. So, _________ time was still in a long way, I couldn’t _________ myself any longer and asked, “Auntie! Where are you going?”

She looked at me and friendly said, “_________ camp, dear.”

Suddenly my enthusiasm __________ to know the reason. I politely said. “Auntie, you are __________ someone?”

She smiled and said, “Yes!”

Just to continue the conversation, I talked to her in a very cheerful __________. “Auntie, you must be feeling so __________ to see your child and your grandchildren.”

________, this question hurt her a little but boldly (大胆地) she answered, “Oh, dear! You are so sweet! Anyway, I had only one son who was __________ and was killed in a battle just a few days before. I bought so many new clothes for him. So, I thought why not __________ my son’s clothes for some other soldiers, so that I would control my __________ and would be happy thinking that my own son has __________ it.”

I was shocked hearing her heartbreaking story! But I __________ the old lady from the core of my heart, I was thinking of her __________ heart!