1 . William was one of my students. He adored plants but struggled with his reading. After the mid-term test, William’s ______ showed no sign of improvement. Until the last few weeks of the year, when we ______ the life cycle of plants, William excelled. I'd never seen him so ______ in the classroom.

As a class project, each child planted a sunflower seed in one of the containers and ______ its growth. I did this every year, with varying ______. Planting the seeds was exciting for many of the students, the ______ part much less so. It took too long to see results from daily watering, and most kids lost ______ and interest. As a result, they forgot to ______ their sunflowers-to-be.

But not William. Every afternoon, William made sure all the containers were ______ and nurtured (培育). By the last week of school, the ______ were about four inches tall, which really ______ me. In years past, few seeds successfully produced new shoots. And those that did had never gotten so tall. But these were ______. These were William’s sunflowers.

This is what it means to be a ______. At that moment, I knew I didn’t have to ______ William. I’d seen that special seed planted inside him. Others would too. And, one day, he’d start to ______, mature and shine —just like his sunflowers.

2 . With almost all the spare time spent watching television and playing video games, many of today’s children have never experienced the rewards (回馈) of a hobby.

Not long ago, _________ to a large audience, I asked, “How many of you, when you were children, had a hobby?” Nearly everyone _________ their hands. I then asked them to keep their hands in the air if at least one of their children had a hobby. Most of the hands _________ down.

Thirty years ago, almost every kid in my neighborhood had some kind of hobby. Collecting and trading baseball cards was a(n) _________ hobby, as were coin and stamp collecting. One of my friends was into photography. He’s now a well-known _________. Another enjoyed building radios and he’s now an electrical engineer. So you can see, hobbies often _________ lifelong interests, even careers (事业).

Hobbies benefit children in many ways. Because they are _________ of personal achievement and a way of self-discovery, hobbies help build _________. Hobbies are actually educational _________, too. For example, a child who becomes __________ making rockets learns about propulsion (推进力) and aerodynamics (空气动力学). By working on hobbies, children learn to set goals, make __________, and solve all kinds of problems.

Some parents __________ that hobbies will not influence the kids’ lessons positively. However, studies have shown that children with an active hobby __________ do better in school. Hobbies sharpen their focus and open their minds, __________ kids academically (学业上).

In a word, having a hobby outside of school will enrich kids’ lives and can provide many extra benefits you might not be __________ of.

3 . In my whole life I’ve been interested in martial arts. But it was only when I _______ in another city where there was a kung fu club that I really enjoyed it and fully understood why they call it an art. It is fighting and _______ yourself, but it’s also understanding your body more, making it stronger and healthier. Kung fu is a big _______ of Chinese culture. I have always watched kung fu movies (who doesn’t know Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li?), because I love their _______. When I started to practise kung fu, I realised how _______ it was and a simple kick demanded months of practice. But I loved it! A whole new world was opening to me.

After I _______ four years of kung fu in New York, I wanted to go to the _______ where this martial art originated. I went to China with a travel organisation. It was a trip that included some kung fu and tai chi lessons. It was a(n) _______ group, so there were people from all over the world. We went from Hong Kong to Guilin,Yangshuo, Xi’an, Luoyang and Shaolin Temple and _______ Beijing. We did two kung fu lessons in Yangshuo with the brothers Gao, who had a family style which was ________ Bu Di Zhen. We did one tai chi lesson in Xi’an and two more kung fu lessons in Shaolin Temple. I was ________ by Yangshuo and the Gao brothers. Yangshuo is a beautiful town in the middle of mountains and near the Li river. The Gao brothers’ family ________ of kung fu practice was close to mine in New York. I could only ________ of my next trip to China.

The next year my dream ________: I went to China again, together with some friends of my kung fu club. We ________ one month in Yangshuo, just to practise kung fu, which made me understand more of the rich culture of China.