At my heaviest I weighed 370 pounds. I had a very poor relationship with food: I used it to   (1)   bad feelings, to make myself feel better, and to celebrate. Worried about my health, I tried many different kinds of   (2)   but nothing worked. I came to believe that I could do nothing about my   (3)  .

 When I was 50, my weight problem began to affect me   (4)  . I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with this   (5)   weight any more.

That year, I   (6)    a seminar(研讨会) where we were asked to create a project that would touch the world. A seminar leader shared her   (7)   story —she had not only 125 lost pounds, but also raised $25,000 for homeless children.

  (8)   by her story, I created the As We Heal(痊愈), the World Heals   (9)  . My goal was to lose 150 pounds in one year and raise $50,000  (10)   a movement founded 30 years ago to end hunger. This combination of healing myself and healing the world   (11)    me as the perfect solution.

  (12)   I began my own personal weight program, I was filled with the fear that I would  (13)   the same difficulties that beat me before. While the   (14)  hung over my head, there were also signs that I was headed down the right   (15)  . I sent letters to everyone I knew, telling them about my project. It worked perfectly. Donations began   (16)   in from hundreds of people.

Of course, I also took some practical steps to lose weight. I consulted with a physician(内科医师)，I hired a fitness coach, and I began to eat small and   (17)   meals. My fund-raising focus also gave me new motivation to exercise   (18)  .

A year later, I   (19)   my goal: I lost 150 pounds and raised $50,000! I feel that I’ve been given a second life to devote to something that is   (20)   and enormous.

Mary is ten years old. She is disabled because she has some brain damage. She could not do even the simplest thing until a year ago. She could not comb her hair or   (1)   herself. Her parents loved her, but they treated her like a baby.

Mrs. Williams has a daughter and a son. They are both   (2)  . They lived far from their mother. Mrs. Williams felt   (3)  . She decided to do something about it. She decided to become a grandmother to a disabled child. And that was how she met Mary. Foster (养育) grandparents are grandparents who are not related by  (4)  , but foster grandparents love the children they  (5)  for. They love them just as natural grandparents love their grandchildren.

The foster grandparents also help the disabled children in special ways. They help to dress and feed the children. They read to them and tell them stories. They also help with the disabled children’s treatment.

Mrs. Williams became a foster grandparent to Mary when she was nine years old. At first Mary was   (6)  . She was afraid because Mrs. Williams was a stranger. But she came to see Mary every day. Gradually, she began to   (7)  Mrs. William.

At last Mary let Mrs. Williams do things for her. She came at lunchtime and fed her. One day she  (8)  the spoon and guided it to her   (9)  . She told her she must learn to feed herself.

      “Most of the lunch ended up on us   (10)  in Mary’s mouth.” Mrs. Williams remembers. “But it was a   (11)   for Mary. Mary learned to feed herself in a few months.”

      Then Mary was ready for more treatment. Thanks to Mrs. Williams, she had learned to do one simple thing, she could learn to do other simple things. Mrs. Williams was   (12)  to help with Mary’s   (13)  .

      To become foster grandparents, people must be at least sixty-five years old and in good   (14)  .They must be willing to give their   (15)   to disabled children. They are volunteers, so they are not paid.

      Mrs. Williams   (16)   for most foster grandparents when she says, “We all benefit. The disabled children benefit   (17)  we help them live more useful lives. And we benefit because we know the children   (18)   us and love us. For any  (19)  , there is no greater happiness   (20)  that !”

It had been a nice and sunny day. I stepped slowly towards the edge of the cliff and looked out. The  (1)   was wonderful. I could   (2)   the gentle wind coming from the coast while watching the brilliant sunset.

My dad and I used to enjoy the sunset together on that very  (3)  . We would also watch the waves crash into the   (4)   below. My mother would always annoy us how  (5)   it was. I was never worried,   (6)  ___ I always felt safe next to my father, who spent most of his life out   (7)   in his boat.

I remember one time on his boat；I had  (8)   off the back and into the cold water accidentally. My dad immediately jumped off to   (9)   me. I would never forget that day, and from that point I knew   (10)   would prevent my dad protecting me if I was in danger.

As I   (11)   there on top of the cliff, I remembered the times I spent with my dad. I looked down sorrowfully at the urn (骨灰瓮)   (12)   . My father was my rock, someone I could   (13)   when I needed him most. But now he was gone, and I felt sorrowful and   (14)  .

It had always been my father’s last  (15)   to have his ashes scattered out at sea. I   (16)  the urn, said a   (17)   farewell (告别) and then slowly twisted off the lid. The wind started to change  (18)  , blowing out towards the sea. I looked last time down at my father’s ashes and then   (19)   for a moment, I scattered the contents out over the cliff.

I wiped away a tear, but it was perfect happiness rather than sadness, because I finally knew the man who  (20)  ​     so much to me, my father, was finally at peace.

Every year, our school has a dance for all the students. It’s a little funny seeing friends in clean shoes and trousers or colorful   (1)  , instead of the usual school uniform.

Most of us think the dance is great   (2)   --- even the teachers enjoy being there.   (3)  , two weeks ago someone said that there would be no   (4)   band this year ——only CDs.

“I don’t   (5)   it!” Amy cried out during the lunch break.

“Someone said the school couldn’t   (6)   a band, and they think it’s too noisy anyway.” added Daniel.

“Well, I don’t think it’s   (7)   enough without a band!” declared Angela,  “and I’m going to see what can be done.”

Angela was as good as her   (8)  . In the afternoon she went to see the school headmaster who agreed to give the   (9)   some more thought. And he suggested that one   (10)   for having a band was to increase the price of each ticket from $5 to $10. Angela had to    (11)   out whether the students would like to do that.

“I need all of you to help me,” she   (12)   to our group before school the next day, “Mr. Berry gave me a list of all the names and suggested we ask each one for their   (13)   about the band and the extra cost.”

  (14)   the day we asked around as Angela suggested, and wrote down people’s feelings about the band and the cost. We were amazed how much   (15)   there was for the band and everyone agreed to pay the extra $5.

“I’m surprised,” smiled Mr. Berry, when we gave him the   (16)  . “I really thought that only a few people   (17)  their band and that the cost would be too high. OK. Angela, your next   (18)  is to find a good band and line them up for the dance. ”

Angela was all smiles and   (19)  the news to Amy and Daniel. “You’re   (20)  ,”smiled Daniel to Angela as he thought how close they came to having a less than perfect dance.

Learn the power of words

One day, one of my children told me, “I hate you.” I have to   (1)  that I often say things that are unpopular. They may hate me, but as a responsible father, I’m certain I’m doing a  (2)   job.

There are three other  (3)  that I won’t allow in my house, however. Last week,  I was  watching my older son  play with  a paper airplane. After he  (4)  threw it into a wall and it came apart, his eyes were soon  (5)  with tears. “I hate myself,” he said. I was  (6)  that he’d started to actually believe it.

I knelt down (跪下) next to him and made him look into my eyes. I told him that  I  never  wanted  to  (7)  those  words  again,  and  that  he  needed  to  (8)   himself.

The   (9)   between your kid telling you they hate you and them saying they hate  (10)   is that, five minutes later, they’ve already forgotten they “hate you.” But self-hate is much more  (11)   and for young people, it can influence the rest of their lives.

Kids who start to believe they hate themselves  (12)  the chance to make a possible friend, because they assume they’ll be  (13)  . And as  (14)   they might choose not to apply for that dream job because they assume it won’t  (15)  .

I know this  (16)  I didn’t have a high opinion of myself as a child. I found myself  (17)  in many aspects, and I’d hate to see my children   (18)   the same.Sometimes, words are just words. But some words can have the kind of  (19)   I’d very much like to avoid on my children. I don’t fear strong language; I fear language that makes us   (20)  

Great importance should be attached to speaking inspiring words.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I had just finished   (1)   my daughter to the airport to catch an early morning flight. My sons and I   (2)   went to a fast-food place for   (3)   before heading back home. After eating, we all got into the car and pulled out of the   (4)  . The restaurant was at the very top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill was a   (5)   sign, so we found ourselves at the end of a   (6)   line of traffic waiting while the cars at the bottom turned onto the   (7)   road one at a time.

As I looked down to the bottom of the hill, my eyes saw an elderly man standing   (8)   the stop sign. His clothes were   (9)   and shabby (破旧的). He held a cardboard sign with the words “  (10)   Help Please!” written on it. My heart went out to him and I   (11)   myself in his situation. As car after car turned onto the main road without   (12)   for him, I reached for my wallet to look for whatever   (13)   was left in it. As I was pulling it out of my wallet,   (14)  , I saw a young woman walk up to him along the side of the road. She was carrying a bag full of   (15)   taken out from the restaurant I was just at. I watched as the old man   (16)   the young girl and smiled as she reached out her arms to give him a hug.

Suddenly a   (17)   honk (喇叭声) from the car behind me made me realize that I hadn’t been   (18)   forward because this simple choice for  (19)   had captured (attracted) my attention and my heart. By the time I reached the   (20)   of the hill, both the man and the lady who had helped him were gone. Yet, as I drove home, the sun seemed to shine even brighter and Heaven felt a bit closer to Earth.

Love Is Blind: The Magic of Tabby

In October, 2003 I started my work at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. Over the years, more than 50,000 animals have __（1）__ the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are ___(2___ animals, who touch me so deeply that I could never possibly ___（3）___ them. Tabby was one such animal.

Tabby was an ancient Cocker Spaniel, probably 14 years old. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances at adoption seemed __（4）__ at best. After all, we didn’t have many adopters coming in ___（5）___, “Can you show me all of your really old dogs who are also ___（6）___ ?” We had all thought that Tabby would live out the rest of her life at the ___（7）___.

One day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, had ___（8）___ Tabby’s picture and stories on the shelter’s website at home. They were interested in meeting her! It was the only ___（9）___ we ever received about Tabby. What could a young child possibly see in a 14-year-old dog who was both blind and deaf? Most boys would want a dog who could grow with them and __（10）___ through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would ___（11）__ be able to do that. But after meeting her, Loretta and Gary decided that she was the right dog for their family. They adopted Tabby!

If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her ___（12）___ adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed. ___（13）___, it was what happened after her adoption that people might regard as “magic”. Gary __（14）___ fromseizures(癫痫). Since Gary and Tabby met they became ___（15）___. They did everything together. They became so “in tune” with one another that Tabby began to predict Gary’s seizures ___（16）___ they occurred, giving his family ___（17）___ that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby’s ___（18）__.

How could it be? Nobody could explain __（19）__ Tabby did it. But those of us who were fortunate enough to know her and her family had ___（20）___ the magic, the kind that has its roots in love. 

Once I spoke at a high school. After the speech, the principal asked me to see a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an     (1)  in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him. I  (2)  ．He was Matthew. When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, then they were told he would not  (3)   it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal weight lifter, and I    (4)     about overcoming obstacles(障碍) and   (5)  for my dreams．

I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never did he   (6)  ．He spoke aboutwinning and succeeding and seeking his dreams  (7)   he knew what he was talking about.He just talked about his   (8)   for the future, and how one day he wanted to  (9)  weight with me．

When we finished talking, I went to my briefcase and   (10)  out the first gold medal I won and put it around his  (11)  ．I told him he was more of a   (12)  and knew more about success and overcoming  (13)   than I ever would. He looked at it for a while, then took it off  (14)   handed it back to me. He said, “You are a   (15)   ．You earned that medal. When I get to the Olympics and win my own medal  (16)  , I will show it to you．”

Last summer I got the news that Matthew had passed  (17)   and a letter Matthew had written me a few days before：

Dear Rick，

My mom said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent  me. The doctors are   (18)   to tell me that I don't have long to live any more. But I still   (19)   as much as I can．

I told you that in the future I was going to the Olympics and win a gold   medal. But I know now I'll   (20)  . But I know I'm a champion, and god knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you．

Thank you for loving me.

                                                                                                                                                                                       Your friend，

                                                                                            Matthew

Two old beggars were sitting on a busy corner. They watched ____(1)____as a lot of people walked by without looking at them. Sometimes, a kind-hearted woman or a small child would ____  (1)  ___a few coins in the hats in front of them.

Today was not a____  (2)  ___day for begging. The men were able to ____  (3)  ____enough for a big meal. As it was getting dark, they started to___  (4)  ____their things.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, they ___  (5)  ___a man walking toward them. He was a ___  (6)  __man——they could tell that from his fine clothes. The first beggar whispered to the second with ____  (7)  ____, “ He’s coming our way!” The man stopped, ____  (8)  ____into his pocket and took something out. What looked like a piece of hard ____  (9)  ___, wrapped in white paper, hit each of their waiting hats. The rich man turned and __  (10)  ___his way.

“He could have easily left us a few ___  (11)  ____or a bill, but he laughed at us with a piece of rock candy,” said the first beggar. He looked at the offering ____  (12)  ____. “There’s no way we can ___  (13)  ___this——we have no teeth.” With these words, he picked up the thing and threw it away. Then he collected his things and____  (14)  ____.

The second beggar wanted to do the same, ___  (15)  ___a second thought made him change his ___  (16)  ___. “I haven’t had anything like this for ages,” he thought. “How____  (17)  ____of that man to offer me something so sweet!” With that, he opened the white paper. To his ___  (18)  ___, there was no hard rock candy inside. ___  (19)  __, a shiny white pearl worth thousands of dollars fell into his hand.

About six years ago I was going through a tough time, trying to work two jobs to afford my rent. One cold Sunday morning, I went to Gameshop-a video game retailer (零售商), to   (1)   the game I had reserved. A woman in a car parked outside called me when I   (2)   the store. Though it was in broad daylight, I was   (3)   about it and kept some distance when I walked over. She said she couldn’t walk and    (4)   me to purchase a Kinect, a popular game, for her as her  (5)   Christmas gift. Due to her leg disease it was   (6)   for her to move around. She called ahead but the employer wasn’t willing to   (7)  . She gave me about ＄100 in cash and her credit card.

I walked back in and bought the Kinect. Then it   (8)   me. What was it   (9)   stopped me from lying about the payment method and just pocketing her cash? She couldn’t know I wasn’t a   (10)  ; and how could she possibly have so much  (11)   someone?

I handed her the cash back,   (12)   I had to pay with her card—it was above ＄100 at the time, and handed over the   (13)  and her credit card. “This is what my son’s been longing for. Thank you! By the way, just from   (14)   at you, I know you are the one who’ll be a friend to someone   (15)  . You have a face of an angel!” she said. She gave me ＄10 and   (16)   to take it back. Then she   (17)  , saying “Merry Christmas”

She had no idea how much of a   (18)   even ＄10 made. I was able to buy a few cheap groceries for the week and it really made a   (19)   time in my life a little better. She may think I helped her; I truly like the one who was being gifted something amazing,   (20)  .