2 . There once was an ordinary street in the suburbs where no one cared much for their gardens. The lawns were overgrown, the weeds were_______and the hedges (树篱) desperately needed to be cut back. It looked very_______. But when the neighbors saw their gardens, they just looked at each other and went away with_______.

It seemed too hard to_______all the gardens and no one could be bothered to make them better because everyone's garden was_______terrible. No one felt it was urgent for a_______. Then a man named Bill moved in. Bill was a_______, hard-working and patient man who started working in the garden as soon as he_______in the street. He took his lawn mower (割草机) out to cut back the grass and pulled out all of the_______. Finally, he took up his gardening and started________his hedges, making them look like flowers, plants, stones, balls, etc.

Attracted by the hard-working________, the neighbors walked by and admired the newly manicured (修整的) garden. Over some time, something interesting happened. One by one, the neighbors started to put in more________in their own gardens and the sounds of lawn mowers could be heard again. After a few months, the street was________from a dirty, unappealing collection of houses to a beautiful avenue that wouldn’t be out of place in a stylish magazine.

One person’s action showed everyone what could be achieved with a little hard work. It’s easy for us to________the environment around us because no one else cares about it. Remember what you positively do not only brings________to yourself, but also results in a change to the whole world.

3 . Almost everything was fantastic in the nature camp except for a girl, Elizabeth. When I saw her ______ alone in the hot sun at lunch, I asked her to eat with us under a shady (阴凉的) tree. However, Elizabeth refused my kind ______. When we invited her to play volleyball with us, Elizabeth ______ our invitation, too. After a few more unfriendly refusals like that, I decided to stay away from Elizabeth.

It ______ that we were going on a nature ______ and that our instructor paired everyone up with a partner. Guess who my partner turned out to be? It was Elizabeth!

“What do you like to do ______?” I asked, trying to make small ______ as we started out. “I like to walk in peace and quiet,” Elizabeth replied. So we had the quietest and most peaceful hike in the world ______ we saw a bird. “I think his wing is hurt. Poor little bird,” Elizabeth said ______. “He might be taking a rest over there,” I said. Elizabeth nodded. Then she whispered, “But what if he’s in ______, like my granddad?” “Your granddad?” I said. “He fell and broke his leg the day the camp started. He’s ______ in hospital and is in so much pain,” Elizabeth explained. I noticed she was ______. “I’m sorry for what I have done. For some reason, whenever I get really sad, I act ______ and want to be alone,” she added.

“I get it,” I said. “I don’t always know how to ______ it when I’m feeling down, either.” “Thanks,” she said, wiping off her tears.

After that, Elizabeth seemed to get along well with us, and I think she actually ______ the last days of the camp.

Next time, if someone is unfriendly, give him a second chance. Maybe he’s going through a difficult time.

4 . In all one’s lifetime it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with. But it is ______ oneself that one has the least understanding of. When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate yourself. It seems that everything you seek for is within your ______. When you are going downhill you tend to underestimate yourself.

To get a thorough understanding of oneself is to gain a correct view of oneself and be a realist-aware of both one’s strengths and shortages. You may ______ hopefully to the future but be sure not to ______ too much, for ideals can never be fully realized. You may be ______ to meet challenges but it should be clear to you ______ to direct your efforts. That’s to say, so long as you have a perfect knowledge of yourself, there won’t be difficulties you can’t overcome.

To get a thorough understanding of oneself needs self-appreciation. Whether you think you are a towering tree or a blade of grass, a high mountain or a small stone, you ______ a state of nature that has its own reason of existence. If you ______ admire yourself you’ll have a real sense of self-appreciation, which will give you confidence. ______ you gain full confidence in yourself, you’ll be ______ to fight and overcome any difficulty.

To get a thorough understanding of oneself also requires doing oneself a favor when it’s needed. In time of anger, do yourself a favor by giving an ______ to it in a quiet place so that you won’t be hurt by its flames; in time of sadness, do yourself a favor by sharing it with your friends so as to change a gloomy mood into a cheerful one; in time of tiredness, do yourself a favor by getting a good sleep or taking some stimulant. Show yourself loving concern about your health and daily life. ______ you know perfectly well when and how to do yourself a favor, you won’t be confident and ready enough to ______ the attack of illness. As you are aware, what a person physically has is but a human body that’s vulnerable when ______ to the elements. So if you fall ill, it’s up to you to take a good care of yourself.

In a word, to get a thorough understanding of oneself is to get a full ______ of one’s life. Then one will find one’s life full of color and flavor.

5 . We live in a world increasingly dominated by science. Since elementary school, I have always ______subjects like science and math. To me, these subjects, full of discoveries and ______, seem to play more significant role in human progress than humanities. And I always ______thought of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right ______I thought, why bother? But recently I had an ______that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was ______. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve. I imagined getting into pretty long and boring conversations ______intended to reflect on the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite ______.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones — “but you can call me Rob” — was far from the white- haired, buttoned-up old man I had ______. Rather than pulling us into dull arguments about difficult-to-understand philosophical points, Rob ______us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own obstacles. To talk morals, we looked at ______we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most ______ones.

It ______me that if I let go of my ______, I can actually get a lot out of the subjects I once thought little of. The class taught me — in more ways than one — to look at things with a(n) ______mind.

6 . I’ve had a string of bad luck lately. Last week, my washing machine broke. I planned to _________ it myself but soon found the repairs would cost more than a new one would. Then this week the _________ thing happened to my daughter’s washing machine! This time I _________ called a friend to help. Once again, however, it was broken beyond _________. I ended up having to _________ two. While both the new machines got delivered quickly, I still _________ about what I was going through in my heart.

The moment I did, my _________ traveled back to the days when I was a child. I saw my grandma _________ an old-fashioned washing machine with my jeans and shirts. It didn’t have a spin dryer (甩干机) inside so she had to put each item through a pair of rollers to _________ the water. When the washing was done, she’d often pat the machine __________. She had grown up hand-washing clothes and was __________ for the machine that did so much of the work for her.

Remembering this helped me realize that I was looking at things in the __________ way. I was getting __________ in the inconveniences of modern life instead of being thankful for all I have. The good old days had their share of __________ and joys. And so do the good new days. What __________ is how we live them and what we can learn from them.

7 . There are many principles(原则) and values all people live by. The _________that I live by is honesty. I have always been taught that lying will just get me into more trouble than I might already be _________. Being honest is a _________ all people need to have and use to go _________ in life.

Ever since I was a little kid, my parents have _________ me to be honest _________ it is the right thing to do. As I got _________, I realized something very important that could _________ the way people take me to be a person. If just once you stop being honest and tell a lie, it will _________ change people’s opinion of you and their whole way of acting __________ you. When you tell a lie, you lose that person’s __________ forever or have to work your whole life to get it back.

It is my personal __________ to achieve great things in life and honesty will sure help me get there. For me right now losing somebody’s trust would be a truly __________ thing. Whatever you do for a living or __________ you live, honesty is something important for all of us.

Honesty gets you much higher in life than getting into more __________ like lying . Lying can __________ get you into trouble dealing with the government. Honesty is just as important to me as my family. Already, I know it is something that will __________ my future and my relationship with all people. It is something about myself that I hope to never __________ no matter what happens. Most of all honesty will help me no matter whether I’m at school, home or just __________ with friends. It is something I hope my children will also have and __________.

8 . The sun was shining brightly over our heads and sweat (汗水) was pouring off our backs and faces. We stood still without ______ any noise, all hot and tired. But everyone kept standing as straight as trees.

It was ______ most high schools give to new Senior One students — military training (军训). We spent four days in a closed environment. ______ we couldn’t go home at night and the training was ______ and difficult, our humorous young drillmaster (教官) with a funny accent (口音) was a real ______ of our days. We laughed ______ his jokes, sat in rows singing different songs and listened to him telling true stories about his life. He gave us the feeling that ______ and sweat were not the only things that we received from military training.

After this journey, we were more ______ than we had imagined and we were much braver than we had expected. Girls who looked sick rested for a little while, then ______ came back to the team. Boys who were being punished ______ to the playground at once and began to run. Sweat flowed down our faces ______ we thought about how to shout ______ than other classes.

Military training taught us perseverance (坚持不懈) and determination (决心). On the last day of our training, the confidence could be ______ in our faces. We shouted so loud that our ______ could be heard across the heavens. With eyes like burning torches (火炬), we walked into the future. Now the sun is ______ at all of us.

9 . Almost everything was fantastic in the nature camp except for a girl, Elizabeth. When I saw her _________ alone in the hot sun at lunch, I asked her to eat with us under a shady (阴凉的) tree. However, Elizabeth refused my kind ___________. When we invited her to play volleyball with us, Elizabeth ___________ our invitation, too. After a few more unfriendly refusals like that, I decided to stay away from Elizabeth.

It ___________ that we were going on a nature ___________ and that our instructor paired everyone up with a partner. Guess who my partner turned out to be? It was Elizabeth!

“What do you like to do ___________?” I asked, trying to make small _________ as we started out. “I like to walk in peace and quiet,” Elizabeth replied. So we had the quietest and most peaceful hike in the world ___________ we saw a bird. “I think his wing is hurt. Poor little bird,” Elizabeth said ___________. “He might be taking a rest over there,” I said. Elizabeth nodded. Then she whispered, “But what if he’s in ____________, like my granddad?” “Your granddad?” I said. “He fell and broke his leg the day the camp started. He’s ____________ in hospital and is in so much pain,” Elizabeth explained. I noticed she was __________. “I’m sorry for what I have done. For some reason, whenever I get really sad, I act __________ and want to be alone,” she added.

“I get it,” I said. “I don’t always know how to ________ it when I’m feeling down, either.” “Thanks,” she said, wiping off her tears.

After that, Elizabeth seemed to get along well with us, and I think she actually __________ the last days of the camp.

Next time, if someone is unfriendly, give him a second chance. Maybe he’s going through a difficult time.

10 . Today, I’ll tell you a story about a boy who was the son of a horse trainer. When he was a pupil, he was _________ to take out a piece of paper to write on it about what he wanted to do when he _________.

That night he wrote on the paper saying his goal was to _________ a horse farm someday. He made a drawing to show a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream farm. The next day he handed it in to his _________. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a _________ that read, ‘‘See me after class.”

The boy went to see the teacher after class and asked ‘‘Why did I receive an F?” The teacher said, “This is not a _________ dream for a young boy like you. There’s _________ you could ever do it.” Then the teacher _________,’’If you rewrite this paper with a better goal, I will consider your grade again.”

However, the boy _________ the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my __________.”

I’m the right boy and you are seated in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse farm. I still have that school __________ framed (装裱) over the fireplace.

The best part of the story is that last summer the __________ schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my farm for a week. When he was leaving, he said __________, ‘‘Sorry, 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. __________, you had enough courage not to give up yours.”

Don’t let anyone __________ your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.