3 . When I am reading a newspaper at home, my friends call me. “Will you _________here and give us some help?” I throw the _________ away and run to them.

My friends are playing a _________ game. And the ball goes right into Mrs. White’s   _________ . They know I live next to her,   _________   they want me to get the ball for them. I am afraid (害怕) of my neighbor, Mrs. White. She looks unfriendly. Everyone says that she doesn’t like the children. And   _________   knows Mrs. White well, because she _________ comes out of her house or speaks. I walk   _________ her garden slowly. I am nervous (紧张的). Suddenly I see a tall   _________ walking to me. It is Mrs. White. I feel worried when I see   _________ . “Is this your basketball?” she asks. I say, “Yes, and we’ll never do it again.” To my   _________   , Mrs. White says, “Why don’t you kids   _________   here? This hoop (球架) here is better than        _________ .” Wow! We are so glad to hear that! Mrs. White is   _________ us to play in her garden! We all learn an important lesson: what many people _________ isn’t always true.

4 . As the youngest kid in the family, I used to be told, “No, do it this way.”I knew my family members were all trying to _______ me. But I didn’t like feeling _______ all the time.

One weekend, I went to help Grandpa with _______. Grandpa had flattened out one side of the green bush with a pair of shears(大剪刀) and told me to _______ the other side. He _______ to watch, but I didn’t do anything. I was _______ of doing it the wrong way. “I can do it by myself, ”I said. Grandpa said he would come back to _______ me. When he was gone, I _______ the big shears to cut the branches, but _______. I wanted to cry.

Then I took a pair of regular scissors and cut the bush. Little branches fell to the ground. I took a step back to ________ my work. The bush looked flat and neat on my side. Grandpa came back. He looked at the side he had cut, then back at mine. “Your side looks ________ than mine, he said.

I was ________. ”You mean my way isn’t wrong?“

”No. Your way works just fine,“ Grandpa said.

I was so happy my ________ was right this time. As I grew up I realized learning from other people didn’t necessarily mean having to always ________ them. It is okay to do things a little ________. Being different is fine.

5 . A few weeks earlier, my pastor (牧师) had called upon me to be one of ten team leaders to help with the church’s upcoming fundraiser for building improvements. Though I said yes, this was definitely outside my _________.

Each team leader needed to find five to seven people to _________. I already had three team members. I only needed a couple more. _________ the crowd, I noticed Beth. I thought she might have time for the project. I explained everything to her. She listened _________ and agreed that the church needed some _________, and then she said, “I’ll happily donate towards the improvements, but I had the _________ to say no.”

I stood there shocked by her _________. I wasn’t upset about her refusal. _________, I was completely awed (充满敬畏的) by the way in which she _________ it. “I’m giving myself the right to say no.” It had never __________ me that I could say no when asked to help out or volunteer for a project. I was afraid that by saying no, they would __________ me.

Beth had just opened up an entirely new world to me, and I __________ it was time that I gave myself right to say no as well. The next time I was asked to __________ in a project that I didn’t feel was a good fit, I __________, just like Beth had taught me. I discovered that there were no hard __________ when I said no, and it gave me the necessary free time to do a better job with other projects.

6 . Have you ever felt the need to grab a pen and start writing your thoughts on paper? Words—beautiful and fascinating. But you know what is better than putting your imagination somewhere? In my case, to win the competition for the best novelist.

That was a small tournament organized by my school annually to _______ our creative writing and vivid imagination. Since I had a burning passion for _______, I decided to show my power. I thought no one could _______ me.

I finished a long story and e-mailed it. As I _______ the email every day, my eyes were wandering to _______ the line “Congratulations! It is a great pleasure to inform you that…” _______, no such thing came.

I was not accepted. I _______ my abilities. The next day at school, I tried my best to be _______, avoiding the usual contact. But in the corridor, I _______ Stacy Williams, my school rival. Could she be the ________? I started walking sneakily. In class, I was just looking out of the window at the ________ clouds which were a reflection of my soul.

Thankfully, a film that night—Forrest Gump lifted my ________. I wouldn’t let a stupid competition ________ my future. I could win on the next one or even at a better tournament. The important thing was to ________ my head and face my challenges without losing hope when everything seemed ________.

8 . Driving the mountain roads can be both a delight and an adventure at times. In the summer the beauty of them is _______. Yet, you have to watch out for rocks that have broken loose and _______ down the side of the hill.

I _______ to see a rock in the road the other day. A car ahead of me swerved (转弯) around it. I knew a rock that size would be a _______ to any driver if he didn’t see it in time to move. I quickly _______ to a wide spot, walked over and got it into the ditch (沟) after a great deal of _______.

The incident reminded me of an old story. “In a far-away land a king had _______ a huge rock in the road and hidden gold coins _______ the rock. He watched all day as many people _________ about the rock and found nobody making an attempt to move it. __________, a poor peasant arrived dragging a cart of vegetables. He stopped, and with all his __________ pushed the stone off the road. __________ his surprise when he saw the gold coins. The king had left them for the one who cleared the __________ for those who came after.”

Now while there wasn’t any __________ under the rock I moved, I did feel __________ as I walked back to my car. Maybe the real reward is the love we feel, the joy we scatter, and the kindness we share.

9 . Born to be likeable, my older sister grew up with lots of friends, parties and attention. I wanted the _________ my sister had. I _________ her for years and never came close, so I _________ kids my own age for role models. Jen, the girl I always sat next to in school, put her head to one side when she asked for favors. “Okay,” I thought. “I’ll try her _________.” I put my head to one side and asked my teacher for a pass to the bathroom. She looked at me, _________, and said, “Don’t you _________ well?”

That led to my _________ to try being cool instead of being popular. I’d do anything to escape my _________ of social status. My big _________ came when a new girl named Tiffany came to my class. She was cute, trendy, and best of all, she __________ me. Our friendship lasted four weeks, just long enough for me to learn that Tiffany took European vacations and went skiing in Aspen. __________, I’d never been outside of Illinois or on skis. Tiffany was way too much for me. I crawled back into my familiar state of __________.

One day, my mom said to me, “You’ll never be anything your heart won’t let you be. Start looking inside, __________ out.” It took me a while to get what those __________ meant. But once I __________ trying to be like other people, life got a whole lot easier. I’m even growing up to be someone I really like.