Passage Two

Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library.com. The program had been opened up to the public for many years. 

B

    This year the marathon(马拉松) in my hometown took place in the hottest month. My job was to follow ____  (1)  ____ the runners to see if any of them needed medical care.

    "We should stay behind the last runner, so take it ____  (2)  ____. " I said to the driver. Bob.

    "Let's hope that the last runner is fast!" He laughed.

    Soon the front runners started to ____  (3)  ____, and I saw a woman in a white T-shirt.

    "Bob, look!"

    "We knew we were already watching our last runner ". She was ____  (4)  ____ the others because of her age.

    "I think she is over 60, too old ____  (5)  ____ any sports match. How can she finish a marathon?" Bob said.

    We watched ____  (6)  ____ as she slowly moved forward. We would move forward a little, then stop and wait for her. Then we would move ____  (7)  ____ more.

    As I watched her try to put one foot in ____  (8)  ____ of the other, I found my heart beating for her. I wanted her to stop, but at the same time. I hoped that she ____  (9)  ____.

    Soon she was the only runner that we could see. Tears (泪水) ran down my face. She was so great! For her, it wasn't about ____  (10)  ____ the other runners or winning something; it was about finishing what she had decided to do.

    Later in my life, when I think things are too difficult. I will think of the woman—the last runner.

 Do you remember your first day at a new school or in a new area? How about the life when your family   (1)  to a new place?What about the feelings of being a   (2)  ?

    Friends are great gifts in   (3)  . Sometimes my friends need   (4)   a lot .And I know I ask too much from them. I hope my friends, like my father,   (5)   about me a lot.

    I once told my friends to give me all their love and be friendly. I told my friends, in other words, to love me   (6)   I loved them.

    They didn't   (7)  me at first, but then they became kinder. My love for them  (8)   made them learn to love friends. They learned to love others and   (9)   the idea that   LOVE is a part of life.

f we listen to and try to understand each other,love comes. We should work on it,   (10)  it's hard at first. A true friend loves us at all times.

   Do you usually feel unhappy because of your looks?“Why do I look so fat?”You may complain(抱怨) about you____  (1)  ____．“She’s so beautiful；why can’t I look like her?”You might hate your looks like this．

    If you feel bad about yourself，you need to read Alice’s____  (2)  ____．Alice uses stories from real teenagers to teach girls so learn to____  (3)  ____themselves．“If you learn to look after yourself，you must learn to beat yourself in thinking habits，”she says．“Bad thoughts about yourself come____  (4)  ____habits of thinking，”she adds．

    Alice has three brothers．They often said____  (5)  ____things to her like“Nobody likes you”．Of course，her brothers did not really wants to____  (6)  ____her．But what people say can become a part of your thinking．So Alice tells us to be careful with our thinking．It’s very easy to change these bad thoughts to good____  (7)  ____．

    When you have____  (8)  ____minutes alone，think of some nice things．Slowly you will feel better about yourself and you will feel____  (9)  ____．If you think of something bad，try to bring your mind back to good thoughts．

    It could take a little time to change____  (10)  ____from bad to good．But when you try saying nice things to yourself，you will understand that no one is perfect(完美的) and you will like yourself much more．

A famous violinist enters the stage to perform a solo in the music hall of New York City. Getting on the stage is not a small ____  (1)  ____ for him. A brain disease he got as a child forces him to walk with crutches(拐杖).

    Seeing him walk across the stage is hard to forget. He walks painfully, but gracefully, until he ____  (2)  ____ his chair. He sits down slowly, puts his crutches on the floor and places his legs in the correct place. Then he ____  (3)  ____ the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and starts to play.

    But suddenly ____  (4)  ____ goes wrong. The violinist finishes the first few parts of the piece, but one of the strings(弦) on his violin breaks. Everyone hears it clearly.

    People think the violinist will stop to ____  (5)  ____ another string or violin. But he doesn't. ____  (6)  ____, he stops for a moment, closes his eyes and goes on. He plays from where he stopped, with a passion and power that people have never seen before.

    It is ____  (7)  ____ to play with only three strings, but this violinist refuses to give up. He seems to play the violin in new ____  (8)  ____ to make the sounds he needs from the missing string.

    ____  (9)  ____ he finishes, everyone in the hall bursts into applause.

    He smiles and says, "Sometimes it is up to the musician to find out how much music he can make ____  (10)  ____ what he has. "

Every year when Mother's Day cards show up, I remember my mother. She never cared much for ________  (1)  ________. I could just send a card or give her a call, and she'd be very happy.

    A few months later after her death, I was in a store ________  (2)  ________ out a Mother's Day card when suddenly I realized I had ________  (3)  ________ one to send it to.

    Each Mother's Day, I miss her so much:

    When I asked her not to send my ________  (4)  ________ brother to a boarding school, she said, "They'll teach him to read Braille (盲文). ________  (5)  ________ he wants to have a life, he has to learn to read. "

    When I ________  (6)  ________ that she should get a life, she replied, "I work five days a ________  (7)  ________, clean my house on Saturday, go to church on Sunday. I don't need a life. I need help. "

    When we fell on hard times, she said, "Life is a ________  (8)  ________ . Sometimes you give, other times you take. But try to remember how hard it is to take, because one day, you will do the giving. "

    My mother was really a ________  (9)  ________ woman. I remember my mother. In the meantime, I'm ________  (10)  ________ to learn a lot from her.