I grew up in a tiny Baltimore row house in a faraway mountain area. My parents        the necessities of life        they couldn’t give much more. If I asked my father        a pair of jeans, he would say, “If you want them, make the money and buy them       .” He wasn’t being mean; he just couldn’t        them. From age 12 on, I did part-time jobs after school.
When I         from high school, I joined the navy. Soon I was in a boot camp(新兵訓練營) at Parris Island, S. C., where I learned that life in the navy centered around completing daily     . These could be anything from cleaning the camp to conducting mock(模擬的) battles. Completing these tasks successfully        discipline, team-work and responsibility. It didn’t     whether you were black, white or Asian; everyone worked together for the       of the company.
I went         to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and later became an officer in the navy. The part of my job I        most was the consulting(咨詢) meetings I         with the family members of the men and women in my       , trying to help them deal with the long periods of       . These proved popular and word of them spread.       I was being asked to give encouraging        to business groups, educators and kids across the country.
But I consider the boot camp my first real       , and my life is still guided by the      lessons I learned there. It taught me discipline, friendship and the pride related to setting a task every day and working hard to        it.

It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25. I didn’t think there would be any     , sighing about having to work on Christmas. Just then five bodies      at my desk, a pale woman and four children.
“Are you all      ?” I asked. “Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.
But when it came to      of their problems, things got a little strange. They all claimed to have headaches, but the headaches weren’t        by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still.
Something was wrong. Our hospital policy,       , was not to turn away any patient. I explained it might be a little while      a doctor saw her. She responded immediately, even a bit      “Take your time,” and then added, “It’s warm in here.”
Then, I checked their registration form out of curiosity. No address—they were     .The waiting room was warm. I went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned we had a homeless     in the waiting room. The nurses, complaining of      on Christmas, turned to sympathy for a family just trying to get     on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there’s a      emergency. But this was a Christmas emergency.
We were all      a free meal on Christmas Day, so we took back that meal and prepared a big dinner for our     .We needed presents. We      from different departments candies, fruits and other things      that could be presents. As seriously as we met the     needs of the patients, our team worked to meet the needs of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas.
      , as the family walked to the door to leave, the mother came      back, gave me a hug and whispered, “Thanks for being our angels today.”

My daughter performed（表演） on behalf（代表） of her class in the annual（每年的） school concert today. She played so       that I could not help cheering her. The very        reminded me of her experiences of piano practicing.
When she was five, we gave her a piano as a birthday present. With great       , she began learning it. However, when she was no longer       , she became sick of （厭煩）it.       , it is a tough job to learn the piano, not to mention the daily routine（常規(guī)）of       .
When her first teacher left, my friend        me to an American teacher whose way of teaching was completely American. After practicing, she would give my daughter some        comments（評論）, and then point out what should be       . Every time she came,        beginning the lesson right away, she would first play some       . She said, “To learn the piano, you should learn not only the        of playing, but more importantly, to        the music and love it.”
After some time, my daughter became fond of her lessons. Sometimes she        would like to      a little bit when her skill had reached a certain level.
Surprisingly, my daughter said to me one day, “Mom, I was        that you didn’t give up my piano lessons. Learning it is like climbing a mountain. You’ll feel        when you are on the way. When you look        from where you are, you will realize that you have been making       . But if you       , you’ll never take one more step.” That was the very thing I wanted to teach her.

I will never forget the year I was about twelve years old. My mother told us that we would not be        Christmas gifts because there was not enough money. I felt sad and thought，“What would I say when the other kids asked what I'd        ？” Just when I started to        that there would not be a Christmas that year，three women        at our house with gifts for all of us. For me they brought a doll. I felt such a sense of        that I would no longer have to be embarrassed when I returned to school. I wasn't        .Somebody had thought        of me to bring me a gift. Years later, when I stood in the kitchen of my new house, thinking how I wanted to make my        . Christmas there special and memorable, I       _ remembered the woman’s visit. I decided that I wanted to create that same feeling of        for as many children as I could possibly.
So I        a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help. We gathered about 125 orphans (孤兒)at the Christmas party. For every child，we wrapped colorful packages filled with toys，clothes，and school supplies，       with a child's name. We wanted all of them to know they were        .Before I called out their names and handed them their gifts，I        them that they couldn't open their presents        every child had come forward. Finally the        they had been waiting for came as I called out，“One，two，three. Open your presents！” As the children opened their packages，their faces beamed and their bright smiles       up the room. The        in the room was obvious，and   wasn't just about toys. It was a feeling —the feeling I knew         that Christmas so long ago when the women came to visit. I wasn't forgotten. Somebody thought of me. I matter.

To celebrate the end of our exams, my friends and I went to a fast food restaurant. We ____ hamburgers and Coca Cola at the counter. When our ____ came, I started walking towards an empty table. By bad luck, my purse strap(帶子) got ____ on a chair and the tray(托盤) that I was holding slipped ____ my hands and went flying in the air. The tray, and its contents, ____ on a man who was just about to ____ a bite of his sandwich. I stared, greatly ____， as the drinks soaked(浸濕) his white shirt.
Then I ____ my eyes and prepared myself for his burst of ____. Instead, he said “It's OK” to ____ me before he disappeared into the washroom.
Still shaky and unsure ____ to do next, my friends and I went to a table and sat there, trying our best to look ____. A moment later, the man came out of the washroom and ____ our table. My heart almost stopped ____. I thought he was going to ask for my father's ____ and call him.
To my surprise, he merely smiled at us, handed us some cash and said, “____ yourself new hamburgers.” He then walked ____ without even finishing his food.
He could have made what was already an uncomfortable situation worse, ____ he chose a different way and gave us a reason to believe that there is still ____ in this world. I'll never ____ his actions.

While I lived in Ireland, part of my college course was to work in the area of children with special needs. I was selected to ____ in a school with children with ____. I had numerous rooms to ____ from. I chose to work in the ____ that was apart from the school. Children ___ 5—16 with severe disabilities. They had no speech and most were in a wheelchair.
The ____ of that room asked if I would work with one girl who had ____ of epilepsy(癲癇癥), autism(自閉癥), and other brain development disabilities. She was 15 years old. At her school they would think that just being able to zip up(拉上拉鏈) her own coat was a(n) ____ . I saw more in her. She always wanted to put ____ through the shaped blocks to make a necklace. For the 5 years she was in the school, the teachers always tried to ____ her do all the work. I knew this smart girl could do ____ and so I encouraged her. She had a thumb which she could not move but I ____ her so much to try. She got very ____ most days and sometimes I wanted to quit. ____ after a week, this young girl was able to do ____ she had been wanting to do by herself for so many years. Her teacher cried when she saw what this ____ was able to do with just some encouragement.
People with disabilities should never be ____ that they can't. We are all human and with just some encouragement we can do it. The ____ on that girl's face when she was able to do it herself ___ the world to me. I wish everyone would encourage people rather than telling them they can't ____ doing it for them.

The tale of a heroic pet
Luke has always been my closest companion these past five years. In fact, he is very obedient to me ____ when I take care of other furry friends in our shelter.
As you already know, there have been a lot of forest fires during the ____ season. Many forests are badly ____ by fire each year. Not far from our shelter, a forest caught fire during this hot summer and a heat wave has been going on for three days.
Luke rushed towards the forest where flames gave out a fierce heat. There's no longer any ____ at the moment to wait for Luke to come back to the shelter. ____， I was waiting for the fireman to ____ me his death in the forest. Suddenly, a fireman burst into my office and ____ me that my dog Luke succeeded in saving four kittens that were ____ by the flames. According to the fireman, Luke seized the kittens, one by one moving them to a(n) ___ place.
I ____ accompanied the firemen to the forest to pick up the rescued kittens. Once on the ____ of the incident, Luke was not there. Then we heard the sound of a dog came from the forest barking furiously. I ___ the sound of my dog Luke. The firemen followed the tracks of the dog ___ they found him barking loudly by the side of a(n) ____ fireman who was lying on the ground and desperately waiting for ___.
Thanks to Luke, four kittens and a fireman were saved. That day, I was very proud of Luke for his heroic ___. Luke showed much compassion for both animals like him and for a man trying to put out the fire with his ____. Honestly, my happiness is great and immeasurable.
I visited the fireman in his house accompanied with Luke. What a ____ scene when the fireman hugged Luke ____ to his chest! “One thousand thanks, Luke, for saving my life，” the fireman said.
This true story of love and compassion shows us that pets are loving and caring. We should love and protect them, for little animals can make enormous things for ____.

One day, our teacher, Mr. Sims, announced that the destination of the seventh­grade field trip would be the amusement park. The classroom buzzed with ____ as the girls discussed what they would wear and what they should bring with them. I sat back and listened, ____ that my parents did not have the money to send me. It made me ____ to feel so left­out. But not Danny. He ____ told everyone that he wouldn't be going. When Mr. Sims asked him why, Danny stood up and ___， “It's too much money for me right now. My dad hurt his back and has been out of ____ for a while. I can't ask my parents for money.”
Sitting back down in his seat, Danny held his head up proudly, even though ____ had begun. I could only shrink in my ____， and surely those whispers must be about me if they found out I would not be going either.
“Danny, I'm very proud of you for understanding the ____ that your parents are in. Not every student of your ____ has that ability，” Mr. Sims replied.
____ not everyone accepted Danny after that day, he won ____the respect of many of us. I was especially ____ by how he didn't back down under peer pressure. For so long, I could never ____ to my friends that I couldn't afford to go there. ____， in order to continue to ____ in, I lied about why I couldn't do things and ____ with excuse after excuse.
By standing up and admitting he was poor, Danny changed my life. His self­confidence made it ____ for all of us to understand that what his parents had or didn't have did not ____ who he was. After that, I no longer felt I had to lie about my family's situation. And Danny, ____ because of his courage and honesty than his great looks, is someone I will never forget.

We experienced and unusual weekend last month!
Early in the morning, we went to the country and spent a whole day           wild flowers.         the car full of             we were going home. On our way back, my wife          a bookshelf outside a furniture shop. “Buy it,” my wife said at once. “We’ll            it home on the roof-rack（車頂架）. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
Ten minutes          , we were back with the bookshelf in the flowers on the roof.
In the gathering darkness I drove         . Other drivers seemed unusually          that evening. The            even stopped traffic to let us through. I had thought carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “ There’s a long line of cars         . Why don’t they overtake（超車）, I wonder?” Just at that time a police car did         . The two officers inside looked at us seriously          they passed. But then, with a kind smile they asked us to          their car through the busy traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the            came to me.
“Right, sir,” he said, “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit         . “Thanks, officer,” I said. “You have been very kind.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the bookshelf. “Well, well,” he said,         . “It’s a bookshelf you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. Suddenly I understood          the police drove here. The truth            me. I smiled at the officer, “Yes, it’s a bookshelf,           thanks again.” Then I            home as fast as I could.

I take the train to work every morning from a train station near my house. I can get to the station quite     because there is a short cut(捷徑)to the station. But in the summer, it can get quite smelly because of all the       . So I always try to       through it. Today I was trying to do so as usual       something made me stop for a moment. I saw the most beautiful       by an old woman walking in front of me with the help of a white     .
She was short and       and had white hair. She was walking       as each step took some effort. I hadn’t specially noticed her       ,until she stopped near a rubbish bin.
She slowly placed her walking stick     the rubbish bin. Then she leaned(斜倚著)on it with her right hand. She bent down and       the rubbish. She clearly found it       and it took her a while. She       some rubbish with her left hand and slowly straightened(伸直) herself up again. All the while she used the rubbish bin to       herself. She threw the rubbish inside the bin and then       walking. It all took her great effort（努力）.
There’s so much rubbish and no one ever does       about it. I was moved to       this old woman make such a great effort to keep even a small part of it     ! I haven’t been able to       thinking about that all day.
I want to follow her example. I’ve decided to pick up rubbish off the       if I meet from now on. I hope people will do the same as I do.