2 . When I was a child, there wasn’t much for me to read. It was not until junior high school that I began to ______ traditional Chinese classical novels. And books from other countries became ______ to me after I had been admitted into the university.

The first English novel that I read was Jane Eyre. Though ______ for a first-year student at university, I spent hours and hours ______ the meaning of every word and sentence. It took me almost half a year to finish the book. With Jane Eyre ______ my heart and soul, I was even more interested in the rich world of literature. I developed a ______ for reading Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, W. S. Maugham, D. H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway… The ______ goes on and on. Reading is what I cannot live without.

What can one ______ from reading? It can be said that serious reading makes one a ______ person. When we read serious books, we must ______ our minds so as to find some room for new ideas, knowledge, and inspirations. Reading helps us overcome the ______ of knowledge and our prejudice (偏见) by offering different insights. We may learn to develop an overall view of the ______, either inside or outside.

Serious reading is time-consuming and thus makes us more ______. If we want to finish hundreds of pages of War and Peace, we must be prepared for a long journey without taking any shortcut.

Well-designed classical novels make us more logical (合乎逻辑的). The writers put their hearts and minds into ______ plots, presenting descriptions, and expressing their values. To ______ the stories, we must make full use of our born logical competence, which might lead to reasonability.

3 . One day when I was 12, my mother ordered me to walk to the public library and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to ________ my strange problem — ________ to read.

In the library, I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf________ . The beagle (比格猎犬) on the book’s cover   ________   my eye. The first and only animal companion I ever had as a child was a beagle.   ________, one morning, he was given ________ to someone who had the space and money to care for him. I never ________ my beagle.

The beagle on the cover looked   ________ to my dog. My eyes ran across the ________, “Amos, the Beagle with a Plan.”   ________, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I   ________   it from the library for the summer.

I started to read about Amos very slowly and with ________ . It was about a dog who, like mine, had been   ________ from his family and found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of   ________ until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

My mother’s call returned me to the   ________   world. I suddenly ________ something: I had read a book and loved it. Everyone knew I couldn’t read, but I had read it! Books were ________ , and I was going to read them.

I ________ told my mother about my miraculous (奇迹般的) experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable ________ in my classroom performance during the next year. Years later, she was   ________ that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction.

4 . My love for libraries grew after I joined the public library.

From the age of 8, I was allowed to walk from my home to the city _______. There the librarian gave     me my first library card, and I could ______ a range of books from then on. I was _______, and this love for libraries and reading changed my life, ______ me to create a safe ______ for high-school students one day, too.

By the time I was in high school, I could read about the ______ that we were studying in class, _______Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. When I studied English literature at university, I thought it was time to _______my own library. For the next 30 years as a teacher, I continued to ______ books. Until one day, I realized that all my ______ had become a part of the house, like wallpaper.

Toward the end of my ______ career, I became a teacher-librarian at my old high school, where I had first learned English literature. This ______ resumed (重获) my love and appreciation for libraries. I never forgot how ______ it was to be surrounded by books.

With the money intended for the library, I ______ for novels that would interest my teenage audience. I bought sofas and comfortable chairs, ______ the library into an inclusive (包容的) public space, ______ for everyone.

In doing so, I realized that the library isn’t just a place to do research. ______ , they are places that offer an opportunity to connect with the _______, the present and the future. All that is required for students is ______ a bit of curiosity. Libraries are places that should be full of life. And their doors must be kept open to everyone — ______ !

5 . When I was young, my teacher gave a book Running on Faith written by Jason Lester as a gift. After I started reading, I really couldn’t keep my ______ off it. It is always inspiring to read a story of someone who has ______ obstacles（障碍）to reach his goals.

Jason Lester is a disabled extreme ______. When he was 12, a fast car ran a red light and ______ him. Then he was sent into the hospital with twenty ______ bones and a seriously injured arm. And his dream of becoming a famous baseball player was ______.

But as his body healed, Jason’s ______ began to heal. Jason ______ not to let his injury prevent his reaching his goal. He began ______ and taking part in Triathlon（铁人三项）in high school. Since then he has competed in many ______ races. In 2008, Jason became the first disabled athlete to ______ Ultraman (320 miles of biking, swimming and running), and in 2009, he won an ESPY award for the best Male Athlete with a(n)______.

But Jason didn’t only ______ sports. After becoming a famous athlete, he wanted to help others. ______, he founded the Never Stop Foundation to improve the lives of children and adults through ______.

If you are in ______ and don’t know what to do, Running on Faith is a good book for you. Jason believes that if someone ______ just one of the lessons in it, it will help them find their purpose. The path to achieve his goal hasn’t been ______. But he’s learned to view misfortune as a ______. Actually, you will get ______ after reading the book.

6 . My brother Gene was four years older than me. By the time I turned four, I was upset that he could read but I couldn’t. I burned with ______ to read a book like my brother. I begged: “Teach me to read, Mom! Please, please?!” Finally, Mom set aside time after lunch ______ reading lessons, and soon after my fifth birthday, I was reading.

I longed for my father, who was a great storyteller, to read me the books that I couldn’t yet read on my own. But my father worked three jobs to feed the family. He didn’t have the time or ______ in the evening to read to me.       ____, every Sunday morning, my brother and I lay next to him in bed, waiting for him to tell stories about his   ____. I can still hear my father’s voice ______ the cold winters on the family farm in Poland. His family didn’t have enough money to burn wood in the fireplace all night. He told us that he always volunteered to help with ______. I can smell the soup made by my grandma and ______ my father cutting onions, carrots and tomatoes for salad, and when no one was looking, putting a piece into his mouth. “I was always ______,” he explained. Hearing my father’s stories   ______ me closer to the books and the stories they held.

One Saturday afternoon when I was seven, we walked two blocks to the small ______ in our neighborhood, and my dad filled out forms for a card. That Saturday ______ my life: I met Mrs. Schwartz, the librarian, and my dad said, “You’re ______ enough to walk to the library yourself.” And so I did—almost every afternoon.

In my mind, Mrs. Schwartz was “the keeper of books and the guardian of stories.” Some days she read aloud to a small group of us ______. Most of time, Mrs. Schwartz let me ______ myself with books I pulled from the shelves and look through them to see which ones I’d ______ out. I remember that sometimes she’d ______ a book and tell me a part of the story. But she always let me choose. Books became my ______ who were my comfort when I felt lonely.

Yes, reading changed me. It gave me the _____ to study hard so I could become a teacher, and share my _____   of reading with my students. And inside my head, I can still hear the voices of my mother, father, and Mrs. Schwartz, which are with me every time I open the first page of a new book.