1 . Maybe you’ve heard the saying. “A bird with a broken wing will never fly as high.” I’m sure that T. J. Ware was made to feel this way almost every day in school.

By high school, T. J. was the most celebrated troublemaker in his town. I met him for the first time at a weekend leadership retreat (活动). All the students at school had been invited to _______ ACE training, a program designed to have students become more _______ in their communities.

At the start of the retreat, T. J. was _______ standing outside the circle of students. He didn’t _______ join the discussion groups. But slowly, the interactive games _______ him in. The other students in T. J. ’s group _______ his comments. All of a sudden, T. J. felt like a part of the group, and before long he was being treated like a _______ .

By the end of the retreat, he had _______ the Homeless Project team. The other students _______ T. J. co-chairman of the team.

When T. J. ________ at school on Monday morning, he faced a firestorm. A group of teachers were ________ to the school principal about his being elected co-chairman. The very first communitywide service project was to be a giant food ________ . These teachers couldn’t believe that the principal would allow the important plan to stay in the ________ hands of T. J. Ware. Mr Coggshall ________ them that the purpose of the ACE program was to uncover any positive passion that a student had and reinforce (加强) its practice until true ________ can take place.

Two weeks later, T. J. and his friends led a group of 70 students in a drive to collect ________ . They collected a school ________: 2,854 cans of food in just two hours. The local newspaper covered the ________ with a full-page article the next day. That newspaper ________ was posted on the main bulletin board at school.

T. J. reminds us that a bird with a ________ wing only needs mending (愈合). But once it has healed, it can fly higher than the rest.

4 . That year I was eleven and in sixth grade. In Wethersfield, all sixth-graders are _________ to take part in the R.O.P.E. Program. Its main _________ is to believe your peers(同龄人), work together, and _________ new adventures. These programs including falling backward and _________ peers to catch you, working together to fit into a small circle and something of that kind.

I was ready to take part in these _________. Falling backward and fitting into a small circle were nothing to me. Crossing over a stream(小溪)with nothing holding me up but a rope was brave, but I could _________ it.

Finally the day came when my sixth grade class would travel to climb and rappel(绕绳下滑)a mountain in Southington. Those people who were too _________ were allowed to practice climbing and rappelling a smaller area of rocks, but that wasn’t for me. I could climb the big mountain.

Twenty minutes later, my _________ arrived. As I was well_________, I set off at once. I got a quarter of the way up but couldn’t seem to get any __________. I tried and tried. I began to put myself down and cry. There was nothing more __________ than my classmates were looking at me. All I kept __________ was “Lisa, you can do it.

“Try to fit your foot in there. __________, Lisa. You’re almost there.” It was then that I thought to myself, “Why am I crying? I can do this.” Almost __________ I went on going up the mountain. Within five minutes I successfully __________ it to the top.

5 . The most important lesson I learned in high school had nothing to do with maths or American history. It came at graduation, several minutes before I left Miramonte High School.

I was rather shy back then, content to_______around and with my few friends and to concentrate on my subjects. I was doing so well that by the end of senior year I had perfect scores and enough_______to go to college.

But my good record soon became a fear to my well-being. In early June of senior year, the headmaster called me into his office. He asked me to give a leave-taking speech at graduation. I looked at him, my heart_______fast. This was the reward for my hard work? I said something, but not very clearly, and hurried away from the office.

I was_______about the decision, finally agreeing to compromise (妥协). I wasn’t the only speaker ——I would _______the honor with five other students. Still, it was doubtful whether the task was_______me. How in the world would I give a speech to hundreds of people?

Graduation day soon arrived and, as_______, I was nervous. I’d been practicing my speech for days, and I had it memorized. But I had never been so_______in my life. The first half hour of the ceremony passed, and then my_______came. My name was announced. I managed to reach the platform without falling down. But within minutes, I finished my speech,________back to my seat and feeling unsatisfied with my performance.

Now I still have the tape of that speech. My voice trembled a little, but________it was clear and strong. I’m proud of that tape. I achieved something I’d never________— I spoke in front of hundreds of people. ________I didn’t realize it at the time, the successful completion of that speech gave me the ________to participate in class at college, to give oral reports, and to eventually break free of my________.

I never would have chosen to give a speech at graduation. But I am glad I did. I know it may well turn out to be one of my shining moments.

6 . Last year a group of friends and I began a project called The World Needs You. Its aim is to show how ________ it is to make a positive difference in our community. Over the holidays, we collected hats, _______ and other cold-weather equipment for the “store” at an elementary school, where students can “buy” things with _______ earned through good behavior. It was a _______ way to get these items to children whose families might not be able to _______ them.

“Do the children need anything else?” I asked the coordinator(协调人) when we sent our ______ to him.

“Umbrellas!” she said. “Most of our ________ have to walk to school, and when it rains they come in very _______.”

Of course! I thought. It doesn’t snow much here, ________ we do have a lot of cold rainy days. Parents who are poor might not buy _______. My friends and I began to ________: We sent e-mails, called people and _______ the project at social events. Everyone had the same _______: “I’ve never thought about that before!” We collected more than 50 umbrellas for the school ________ April showers. We were very satisfied. _______, the kids will be singing in the rain!

7 . One day, a professor (教授) entered his classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the ________ to begin.

The professor ________ the exam papers with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to ________ the papers.

To everyone’s ________, there were no questions — just a black ________ in the centre of the paper. The professor, seeing the ________ on everyone’s faces, told them the following: “I want you to write about what you see there.” The students, confused, got started on the very task.

At the ________ of the class, the professor took all the exams, ________ each one of them loud in front of all the students.

All of them, ________ exception, described the black dot (小圆点), trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom ________, the professor started to explain:

“I’m not going to ________ you on this; I just want to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the ________part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot—and the same thing ________ in our lives. However, we insist on ________ only on the black dot — the health issues that trouble us, the ________ of money, the complicated (复杂的) friendship with a family member, the ________ with a friend. The dark spots are very ________ when compared to everything we have in our lives, ________ they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your eyes ________ from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be ________ and live a life filled with love!”

8 . A beloved school worker received a special surprise last week at his farewell retirement party. John Lockett, also called Mr. John, cried tears of ________ when the gentle old man was greeted by 685________ at Sand Hill Elementary School in Carollton, Georgia. “ He was so surprised that he just________ with the students,” headmaster Carla Meigs told Good Morning American. Finally, she said, “ The scene was so ________. He is very modest, hard-working, and________ to his job, so everyone loves him.”

Mr. John was________ to retire on May 24, but the school threw him a retirement party one week early. On that day, when Mr. John________ for work as usual, he found the passage of the hall lined with students of that very school________ there to wish him a very happy day! The students________ him a crown and a cape and told him that it was “Mr. John Day”. Many students were________ banners (横幅) and shouting “Mr. John Day! Mr. John Day!”, while many others walked up to him to give him a________! Mr. John was truly touched by the surprise. “They are all like my ________, I love the kids,” Mr. John told Good Morning American. “It was the perfect day to________ my retirement and make it about me.” “The school________ so much to me, I really love my job; it is for students,” he wrote in an email. The 83-year-old man had been a janitor (看门人) for more than a decade after previously having a________ in construction.