1 . Steph Clemence always intended to go to college. ________ when her father died in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters on a ________ income, paying for college became out of the question.

________ going to college, Steph found a job, and tried to________ what to do with a life so different from her plan. The ________came from two pages from her English teacher, Dorothy Clark. One afternoon she walked into the classroom carrying a stack of papers titled “Mrs. Clark’s Book List.” It wasn’t homework, the teacher announced, but it could be a road ________ .“Some of you might not go on to higher education,“ Mrs. Clark said, “but you can ________ to learn.”

“I was determined to ________ myself,” Steph says. She studied the ________ and so it began. Each of those books sparked her ________ to learn more. “Reading books is like a treasure hunt,” says Steph. “What am I going to ________ ? How will my heart change?” That made her look for other books that weren’t on the list, hoping to ________ her knowledge.

When the original list ________, she typed up a new copy. And then another. Over the years, the family moved around a lot. Through it all, the reading list was a ________ in Steph’s life, traveling with her even on vacations. Now Steph is 70, and she never did get to college. But she has only four books ________ to read from the list. She expects to complete them sometime in 2023.

2 . There are some books that I will never take off my daughter’s bookshelf. Most of those books are_________, books.

Picture books create concrete (具体的) images in readers’ minds. They come alive when they’re being_________. My daughter, 8 years old, is a_________reader. She can sit down with almost any book and read it all by herself for hours._________, I still read to her. When it’s bedtime, she asks me to_________her a picture book, which gives us lots of joy.

Picture books are the campfire (篝火) story of the reading world. Picture books are so_________that they are able to bring people together easily. They’re_________enough to be compelling (引人入胜的) or short enough to hold your interest. They’re better than other books when it comes to the_________of language. They can tell complete stories in thirty-two pages or less. Reading a thirty-two-page book is not a(n)_________for a girl who can read a 500-page book on her own. However, reading isn’t always about challenging oneself. Sometimes reading is about sharing a__________with a loved one.

Some picture books aren’t fit for my daughter as she__________. But the ones that really draw her in and need to be read aloud will always be__________for her. So this is why I’ll never stop reading picture books with my__________. We’re reading together because it__________us pleasure. That’s why I’ll always keep picture books on her__________.

3 . Steph Clemence always intended to go to ________. But life has a ________ to throw obstacles in the way. Growing up, she was always on the move, ________ 25 different schools as her mother divorced and remarried several times.

________, she had good grades and considered herself college bound. But when her stepfather ________ tragically, paying for college became ________. She got married, found a job and tried to figure out how to ________ a life off her planned track.

The ________ came one afternoon, when she found two stapled (钉好的) pages ________ “Mrs. Clark’s Book List” in her bedroom. It was from the English teacher she’d had her ________ years, Dorothy Clark. “Some of you might not go on to higher education” Mrs. Clark said, “but you can continue to ________.” It wasn’t ________, the teacher announced, but it could be a road map.

And so it began. It was 1970. “I was ________ and determined to improve myself,” she says. Starting at the ________, she would read every book in the order they appeared.

Now Steph is 70 and she ________ did get to college. But she has only four books left. She expects to ________ them sometime in 2023.

“Each of the books has ________ something to who I am and how I see the world,” she says. “They’ve opened so many doors for me. I’m no expert, but I now have the ________ to see why things happened and what it might mean.” She wishes she could thank Mrs. Clark and share with her teacher ________ reading the works on her ________ has changed her life.

4 . The British Cohort Study found that children reading for pleasure at a young age are not just better at language learning, they are better at other subjects. It can also________their growth greatly.

Reading for pleasure is________to problem solving. A fourteen—year—old boy who________the study said, “When big stuff happens in my life, I’ll think about what my favorite________would have done. They are the ones I________, who have different________to handling things. Then I try to________them to my life, to see which way works for me.” The situations children read in books give them________on how to react to________experiences in real life.

Besides, like any other hobbyist, readers often________with those who love reading. These interactions help children develop________skills at a young age. They learn how to________opinions as well as building their understanding of other cultures and perspectives.

Extending love of reading to the________is important. Have books________to be read at any place around the house. Instead of watching television, have a family reading night. Once your children are reading on their own, spend time________them by reading a book you like. It can________them to ask about your book and possibly introduce them to a whole different subject or series!

Reading for pleasure has benefits that go beyond students’________development at school. Reading for pleasure means giving students________about what they want to read, which helps create a lifelong________. Practice it and see where it________them!

5 . Three mornings a week, Iona walks six blocks from Eastern High School to Payne Elementary School. She ________ at the front desk just after 8: 30 a. m. and makes her way to a ________ , where she’ll be teaching second-and third-graders who are full of energy after the school day.

Iona, a senior at Eastern High, ________ this work back in the ninth grade. It’s run by Reach, a Washington D. C. nonprofit, which trains high school ________ like her to be reading tutors (教师) for elementary school students. It’s a tutoring program that works in two ________ . It’s serving a(n) ________ need in the city: Two-thirds of students in D. C. public schools can’t ________ and write at grade level when they start high school. Reach ________ these older students to become ________ readers by giving them the tools to teach younger kids.

Tutoring programs that ________ younger and older students are ________ . But most rely on ________ students. Reach turns the ________ on its head: Most of the teenage tutors start the ________ reading between the fourth-and sixth-grade level... The tutors ________ training in literacy (读写能力) instruction and they’re ________ as role models. With Reach, teens are given the ________ of helping a younger student. That’s a big ________ for them.

Iona says she ________ reading a lot more than she did when she started almost four years ago. She hasn’t decided on her future plans, but she does ________ one thing: She wants to work with kids.

6 . Time for girls to shine

Most of us grew up reading fairy tales that start with “Once upon a time” and end with “the princess and prince lived happily ever after”. They seem to be harmless- even _________, perhaps. But in the eyes of two Italian writers, Favilli and Cavallo, this is what’s been _________ with children’s stories for years.

“Children’s books have always _________ the same since we were children,” Cavallo said. And a study also found while 80 percent of male characters in most popular children’s books have a(n) _________, only 18 percent of female characters do.

So they together wrote a book _________ only female protagonists (主角). Good Night Stories for Rebel (叛逆) Girls is an “anti- princess” book, which gives young girls role models of their own to _________.

The original book was published in December 2019, and the second volume _________ on Feb 28, 2021. Both books contain the stories of 100 extraordinary women from all over the world, and much to the_________ of children’s book writers, every one of them has a job or professional ambition. The “characters”_________ pop singer Beyonce and tennis star Serena Williams.

However, the word “rebel” may make some people feel uncomfortable, since it’s not really seen as __________. But being rebellious is__________ being independent, which many of today’s girls need to develop.

“It is important to __________ — especially if you are a woman or a girl- a rebel attitude, a rebel character, because you have to __________ harder to reach your dream and to get what you want.

And this __________ is made clear, with the book’s first page reading “To all the girls of the world, dream __________, aim higher, fight harder”.

7 . Near my house is a library. As an enthusiastic reader, the idea to be surrounded by books itself is ______. So I volunteered to ______ it, managing books. But never had I realized reading had such ______ until I met an old lady.

One day I was arranging books when I heard a lady ______ something at the information desk, where I went to give ______. She was in her 70s with a beautiful smile.

After communication, I was ______ that she came to take the membership. Without family, she had ______ her house and settled in a nursing home, living off ______ the interest from her savings account. Her love of reading, even at such an age, never ______. Her confidence, whenever she ______ reading, livened her up.

The membership was ______ for her, so I explained the fee. She didn’t hesitate to open her purse and ______ for the amount. Noticing her ______ look, I offered to pay for her but she insisted, “I’ll come and pay tomorrow.” I failed to ______ her. The next day she returned, paid up and got her membership card. When I took her into the world of books, her eyes shone with excitement. She became a regular visitor, one I’d ______ every few days.

Now her cute smile in my mind still reminds me of the magic of reading.

10 . There are always some persons in your life who touch your soft heart with kindness.

As a little girl, my favorite thing was _______. And when I thought about _______ I wanted to be when I grew up, I figured I’d be a librarian, just because the two librarians changed my life.

At that time, the town library limited the number of books a person borrowed _______ two once a week. I _______ the books in just three days. So to read more, I was _______ about what books to choose. The librarian, Mrs. Tonne, was a warm person. Every time I went into the library, she greeted me, _______. When learning about my trouble, she often _______ some better books. Thanks to her help, I _______ a lot from these books.

Gradually, I developed an interest in writing, _______ poems. When I was in fourth grade, our school librarian, Mrs. Ketelsen, encouraged me to write more. When my poem was not accepted, she ________ me with comfortable words. Once she helped ________ some poems I’d written about dinosaurs to Highlights magazine. It was my first published writing!

Later, at the University of Iowa, ________ I majored in journalism, my dream was different. I realized that I was shy about interviewing people, which made me ________. When I recalled Mrs. Tonne and Mrs. Ketelsen, I made a decision without ________ to be devoted to writing. And now I am an editor at Reader’s Digest.

Whenever I think of the help from them, how ________ I am. It is their kindness that makes me what I am.