2 . Standing on the edge of the plane, my tandem skydiving (双人跳伞) instructor, Bill, turned to face me. “Do you have any last words?” he asked. “Yes,” I said, joking. “I hope my parachute (降落伞) ________.”

I’d never felt more alive as Bill and I ________ and started our free fall. As we reached 4,000 feet, I felt a parachute open. This, I was told, would slow us down for a smooth ________. But why were we still ________ so fast? I could hear Bill swearing as he tried to ________ whatever had gone wrong.

Worse still, our emergency parachute unexpectedly got ________ on something. At that moment, I just felt so ________ that I’d even invited my family along to experience sorrow instead of watching my wonderful performance.

We ________ the ground. An unimaginable pain shot up my back. Feeling weak and tired out, I gathered all my ________, and turned to face Bill. He started screaming. From my neck down, I could hardly ________. My mother couldn’t help crying as we were placed into a(n) ________ from the hospital.

After years of treatment, the deep physical and mental pain is ________. I heard Bill made a full ________ and returned to skydiving.

I was always terrified of being myself and doing the things I wanted. Now I’ve learned I need to be ________. There’s nothing like falling from 15,000 feet without a parachute and surviving. It forces me to ________ every day!

4 . I had worried myself sick over Simon’s mother coming to see me. I was a new teacher, and I gave an honest _________ of the students’ work. In Simon’s case, the grades were awfully low. He couldn’t read his own handwriting. _________ he was a bright student. He discussed adult subjects with nearly adult comprehension. His work in no way reflected his _________.

So when Simon’s mother entered the room, my palms(手掌心)were _________. I was completely _________ for her kisses on both my cheeks. “I came to thank you,” she said, surprising me beyond speech. _________ me, Simon had become a different person. She talked of how he _________ me, he had begun to make friends, and for the first time in his twelve years, he had _________ spent an afternoon at a friend’s house. She wanted to tell me how grateful she was for the _________ I had nurtured(培养)in her son. She kissed me again and left.

I sat, stunned(惊呆), for about half an hour, __________ what had just happened. How did I make such a life-changing difference to that boy without __________ knowing it? What I finally came to __________ was one day, several months before, when some students were __________ reports in the front of the class, Jeanne spoke __________, and to encourage her to raise her voice, I had said, “Speak up. Simon’s the expert on this. He is the only one you have to convince, and he can’t hear you in the __________ of the room.” That was it. From that day on, Simon had sat up straighter, paid more attention, __________ more, and became happy. And it was all because __________ to be the last kid in the last row. The boy who most needed __________ was the one who took the last seat that day.

It taught me the most __________ lesson over the years of my teaching career, and I’m thankful that it came early and positively. A small kindness can indeed __________.

5 . “Ding... ding...,” the bell rang. The English teacher came into the classroom with test papers in his hand. All the students shouted. The teacher_________with a smile on his face, “I know there are too many tests for you these days, but the test today is very_________.” After hearing the teacher’s words, all the students sat up straight and _________for the test to begin. The teacher started to_________the test papers to each student._________he finished handing out the test papers, he asked them to begin.

There was not a question but only a small black “X” in the middle of the paper. The students were very_________to see that. The teacher _________ the students’ surprise. Then he said, “I would like you to_________about what you see there. You must finish it all by_________ .”

All the students thought about it hard and then wrote down their answers quietly. At the end of the class, the teacher collected their papers and read the answers. __________ of them described the black “X”. The next day, the teacher said, “Everybody only paid attention to the black ‘X’, but __________ wrote about the white paper.” The whole class listened __________ , because they worried that they might fail the exam.

Then the teacher said, “Don’t worry about the __________ of this test. I just want you to think about your life.” Everyone smiles. The teacher added, “The white paper is like our whole life and the black ‘X’ in the middle of the paper is just __________ problems in our daily life. Do you have some more thoughts?”

Then the students discussed and expressed __________ opinions actively. Finally they understood the teacher and this special test.

Our life is a __________ given to us by God, with love and care.________, we just care about the problems like illness and hunger, and never see that these problems are much__________ than everything else we have in our life.

We should try to take our eye off problems and __________ each moment life gives us. Only then can we start a nice   __________   and find true happiness in our lives.

6 . A friend of mine met with an accident driving in darkness. His legs were so hurt that he couldn’t move. What was the _______ was that he found himself unable to ask for help—his mobile phone went out of _______ as a result of exhausted (用尽的) battery. Nothing could be done but _______ in cold wilderness. It was 8 hours later that day broke, and then the _______ of the rescue.

It was almost _______ that he could stand the horror in the darkness for so long. Even more surprising was his _______ ,“First of all I checked up my _______ conditions and found myself not in deadly danger. As there was no _______ to call for help, I leaned back in my seat trying my best to keep the wound from _______. In this way I dozed (打盹) off.”

His story put an end to my regret for the ________ of an exploration adventure that happened last year. A group of young men ________ to explore a mountain cave and got lost.________ to find a way out in the dark cave, they were frightened and ran anxiously without a sense of ________. Finally they fell dead in fear and exhaustion. According to the ________people that found them, the place where they got lost was only about 10 meters away from the ________of the cave. If they stayed on the spot when they lost their way and tried to__________themselves, they would probably sense a faint light flashing not far away.

Don’t you think that you can compare it with ________ itself? When you meet with difficulties in life, you are lost in darkness.________ you that it’s unclear yet and you needn’t put up struggle ________. It seems to be a negative (消极的) attitude,________ a person who can do so must have foresight as well as a great courage in the first place.

8 . This morning, when 1 shaved in the mirror. I found my body was growing older. There was no doubt about it My __ which used to be brown with a touch of gray was now gray with a touch of brown. There was even so __ hair left on the top of the head. My forehead wrinkles appeared when I smiled I thought about letting my __ grow for a second but I didn't really want to look like Father Christmas.

When 1 stepped back. I could see I had become __ as well. It's because while my metabolism (新陈代谢)had __ ，my eating hadn't. My muscles were painful and my body was also __ , However, the work must go on. ______ was my deepest love. An article in my __ seemed to be formed I was thinking of writing the words down in case 1 would __ them when 1 came into my study. When I looked in the mirror again. I ____ and felt a joy in my heart. 1 thought that no matter how old I looked my soul was forever ______. The truth is while I have been gradually growing older on the outside, 1 have been for a while. growing younger on the inside. I can remember how serious, __ _ and worried I was in my twenties and thirties. I often felt the burden of life was _____ heavy. But now at fifty, my heart feels __ and my days look brighter. 1 have more faith and less fear. In the end. all of our bodies will __ and die. but our soul won’t.

9 . I remember the day when shyness took over my life. I was 14 and having a French lesson. The teacher told us to record ourselves _____about a film. Perfect! I recorded myself______Then I pressed “play” to listen back. What I heard was a little kid talking. My______reaction was to assume I was listening to someone else’s recording. But that was my______! I realized there was something______about me.

My little voice has made me feel really shy. And my shyness has caused me to _____attending events, not make important______, and keep my ideas to myself. As a shy person, working from home, hiding behind my computer was______, but the more time I spent hidden away, the smaller my comfort zone became. Everyday______, like ordering a coffee, became increasingly awkward and______.

And, then, one day I was at a big conference and it suddenly _____me like lightning. All speakers were confident, comfortable with being______. There were no quieter voices. But the_____is, if the loud voices are the only ones you hear, we quieter people feel even more______. The world needs mixture of personalities. Success is not just about who can shout the _____. The world needs quieter people, too. That day I chose to stop______and hug my shyness. No more feeling like I needed to change who I am in order to______. No more living a small life.

Then I created the Shy and Mighty Society, a space for shy people like me to______, and in the process of helping others, I could also push myself______, bit by bit. Now, I’m happy to tell people I feel shy. I’m not______any more. And I know that I’m not alone.

10 . Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands but never made it because most people were afraid of the awful_______

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age,_______ the farmer."Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him.

＂Well,I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, _______for help,still hired him.The little man worked well _______ the farm,busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt _______ with the man's work.

Then one night the wind _______ loudly in from the offshore. Jumping out of the bed, the farmer grabbed a_______ and rushed next door to the hired man's sleeping quarters. The farmer shook the little man and_______,"Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!”

But the little man. _______ in bed and said firmly,"No sir. I told you,I can sleep when the wind blows."

The farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot.________,he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his ________,he discovered everything had been tied down.The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were   ________.The shutters were tightly secured. ________ could blow away. The farmer then understood ________ his hired man meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

When you're prepared,spiritually, mentally and physically , you have nothing to ________.Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?