This is my favorite first-year teaching story. During my third   (  1  )  , I was very upset because a number of students were   (  2  )  . I spoke loudly that I would like to fire some type of water gun at the sleeping students.

Later that day, I saw a strange object on my   (  3  )  while I was going to get something from it. When I went   (  4  )  , I saw that it was a toy crab(螃蟹). It had a   (  5  )  saying, “Miss Green, when I saw this in the store, I   (  6  )   thought of you.”

I used to    (  7  )   late at school since it was my first year teaching. I usually did not  (  8  )   until 11 or 12 at night. At about 9 p.m. there was a knock on my   (  9  )   When I opened the door, I saw a   (  10  )   standing outside. She had brought me something to   (  11  )  . She said that she   (  12  )  saw me work so late every night and that she was   (  13  )  that I was hungry.

I told her that it had been a  (  14  )   day--- someone had   (  15  )  I was crabby(暴躁的), but she had really made me   (  16  )  that night. It was nice to know that some people do care about me. She later  (  17  )  that it was she who put the toy on my car--- not because she thought that I was crabby, but because it would shoot water and was cuter than a   (  18  )  .

It was very nice to know that I was   (  19  )   by others. And the toy crab is   (  20  )  on my table today.

As a child, I started learning to play the piano, my favorite musical   (1)  , but I was forced to give up when I started my middle school   (2)   I could concentrate more on my studies.

It’s one of my biggest   (3)   to stop practicing the piano when I recall sadly today. During the following years, I kept telling my piano teacher that I would   (4)  . However, I didn’t keep my promise because I was   (5)  with my study.   (6)   I lost touch with my teacher. Some years later, my teacher died. I was very sad because I lost such a good teacher. She was a very warm and gentle person. It hurts me to think she may have been   (7)   that I never returned. I haven’t taken lessons since then but to be honest, I   (8)   to. Sitting at the piano, I couldn’t help recalling many   (9)  ---times of my practicing at home and playing before my teacher and one time my teacher   (10)  after I played entire pieces of music wrong in front of her colleagues. I was so   (11)  that I could hardly say anything. But her   (12)   helped ease my shame. These memories,   (13)   good or bad, never caused my   (14)   for playing the piano again.

This thought then led me to think that   (15)  is like music, and that we all try to play different   (16)   in the instrument of our life. Sometimes the pitch（高音）is   (17)  when we play it well, but sometimes we are out of tone. However, we all continue to create our own   (18)  style of music. No matter what style our music is, it is   (19)  that we sing the songs of joy, quietness and love. Though I may never make it back to piano lessons, it doesn’t   (20)  that I’ve stopped making music.

I left my friend’s house shortly after six o’clock. It was still too early for   (1)  , I thought, so I walked along Beach Driver for about an hour   (2)  I began to feel hungry. By that time I was not far from a favorite   (3)  of mine where I often went to have seafood. I   (4)  the owner very well and had been going there for years.

      I went into the restaurant, which was already   (5)  , and ordered my favorite seafood. While I was waiting for the food to   (6)  , I looked around the restaurant to see   (7)   there was anyone I knew. It was then that I noticed that a man  (8)  at a corner table near the door kept   (9)  in my direction, as if he knew me. I   (10)  did not know him, however. The man had a newspaper open   (11)  him, which he was pretending to read, but I could see that he was keeping an eye on me. When the waiter brought my food, the man was clearly puzzled by the  (12)  way in which the waiter and I talked with each other. He seemed even more puzzled as time went on and it became   (13)  that all of the waiters in the restaurant knew me.   (14)  he got up and went into the kitchen. After a few minutes he came out again, paid his bill and left  (15)  looking in my direction.

      When I had finished and was about to pay my bill, I called the owner of the restaurant and asked what the man had wanted. The owner seemed a little   (16)  by my question and at first did not want to tell me, I insisted. “Well,” he said, “that man was a   (17)  .” “Really?” I said, showing my surprise. “He was certainly very interested in me, but why?” “He followed you here because he thought you were the man he was looking for,” the owner of the restaurant said. “When he came into the kitchen he showed me a photo of the  (18)  man, I must say he looked very much like you! Of course, since we know you here, I was able to convince him that he had made a mistake. “ “It’s   (19)  I came to a restaurant where I’m known,” I said. “  (20)  ,I might have been arrested.”

“Ring! Ring! Ring!” The telephone rang for a long time in Bill Hewlett’s house. Bill was the director of a large   (1)   company called Hewlett-Packard. At that time, computers had already   (2)   but they were huge machines that cost a lot of money.

Bill answered the telephone   (3)  . He did not like being disturbed while he was reading his newspaper. A young-sounding   (4)   on the other line said, “My name is Steve Jobs. I am a   (5)   of the Hewlett-Packard Explorers’ Club. I went on a fieldtrip to one of your company’s laboratories and was   (6)   by the9100Acomputer. I’ve never seen anything so splendid!” He   (7)   for a while and continued. “I am looking for some computer   (8)   and will use them to build a frequency counter. Well, I thought you might be able to   (9)   me.”

There was   (10)  . Then, Bill asked the young boy for his   (11)  . Steve revealed that he was twelve. There was another silence.   (12)   by the boy’s enthusiasm(热情), Bill invited Steve to his office.

A few days later, Bill Hewlett gave Steve what he needed. Steve was also offered a   (13)  job in one of his laboratories.

Eight years later, Steve Jobs set up a   (14)   with his close friend, Steve Wozniak. Their first step was to find a   (15)   for the company. Steve Jobs loved apples and had worked on an apple   (16)   before. Although there was no   (17)   between apples and computers,

  (18)   thought “Apple” would be a catchy name. “I like the name. We’ll be in a great   (19)   in the telephone directory,” Steve Wozniak said confidently. That was how Apple was   (20)   in 1976.

I was born and raised in New York and I know how much money beggars make a day. I   (1)   give money to beggars. But last night around 3 am, I   (2)   ata McDonald’s in Harlem to use the restroom. I saw a beggar waiting for me to go over so that he could   (3)   the door for me and ask for change. I was   (4)   already. “Why can’t I go to the restroom without him asking me for money?” I thought.

I have no problem saying “  (5)  ” to beggars. I guess being New Yorkers we are   (6)   to it. But as I   (7)   him and he held open the door, I looked into his eyes and something   (8)   me. When he asked for change, I   (9)   my pocket, but only a cent was there. I gave it to him.

Sitting in the restroom, I   (10)   some more change in my wallet—about 3 quarters and some pennies. I was going to justgive him the pennies. It was   (11)   for me to part with quarters. A(n)   (12)   began in my mind. 

The dialogue in my   (13)   went like this. You didn’t know what he would do with the  (14)   . But I really thought he was cold and wanted something to keep him   (15)   . I was not sure why quarters were so hard for me to   (16)   .

The   (17)    he opened the door for me, I dropped all the change in his hands.As I drove my car away I watched the man   (18)   the change and smiling. I might not know   (19)   he was really hungry but I knew I won the battle over the change. Helping others always makes you the   (20)   .

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s  (1)  contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain,   (2)   one of the eggs to roll down the mountain   (3)   a chicken farm, which was in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must   (4)   and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen    (5)  to hatch (孵) and raise the large egg.

       One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful   (6)  was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a(n)  (7)  . Soon, the eagle believed he was   (8)  more than a chicken. The eagle   (9)  his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked at the skies above and   (10)  a group of eagles soaring in the skies. “Oh,” the eagle cried, “I wish I could soar   (11)   those birds.” The chickens shouted with laughter, “You cannot soar like those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not   (12)   .”

       The eagle   (13)   staring at his real family up above ,  (14)   that he could be with them high in the sky. Each time the eagle wanted to let his   (15)   be known, he was told it couldn’t be done. That is   (16)   the eagle learned to believe. Slowly, the eagle   (17)   his dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken.   (18)  , after a long life as a chicken, the eagle   (19)  .

  You will become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream of becoming an eagle,   (20)  your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

An old woman had lost her eyesight completely, so she went to a____  (1)  __to help her see again and made a bargain(交易) with him: if he could cure her, he would be paid well. But if he couldn’t, she would not pay him anything.

   The doctor had a(an)___  (2)  ____ointment(药膏). When it was put on the eyes for a period of time, it restored the eyesight of anyone who was sightless. The doctor began to___  (3)  ___his patient daily. But knowing that she couldn’t see, he started __  (4)  __the valuables in her house. When there was nothing left, he decided to cure her and ___  (5)  ___his payment. When the woman recovered her eyesight, she saw that her valuables had gone and ____  (6)  ___the doctor was the thief. So, saying that she was ____  (7)  ___cured, she refused to pay him. The doctor was ___  (8)  ___  and he insisted on his fees. But the old woman refused and the two went to the ___  (9)  ____.

   The judge asked the old woman____  (10)  ___she refused to pay the doctor. She said, “I did ____  (11)  ___ to give him the money if I recovered my eyesight. However, if I remained blind, I was to give him ___  (12)  ____. Now he ____  (13)  ____that he has cured me, but I am (14)___ blind.” Everyone there looked at her ___  (14)  ___. “How can you say that? Everyone can see that your eyesight has been restored,” said the judge ___  (15)  ____. The old woman replied, “ I ___  (16)  ______can’t see. Before I ____  (17)  ____my eyesight, I had seen many valuable things in my house. But now, I am not able to see a thing of ____  (18)  ____in it.”

   The judge ____  (19)  ____that she was indeed blind and let her go.

It was the first morning of the New Year and the weather was very cold. I have always been an early bird and my morning walks have been the   (1)    for the last 7 years, so I put on my shoes to   (2)    for my first walk of the New Year.

There was complete   (3)   outside. Litter could be seen everywhere．It seemed that everyone had an all-night   (4)  ．It was too cold to  (5)  anyone to be awake to clear all the walkways at 5 in the morning. I was    (6)  to walk on the dirty walkways and decided to go back home.

I was about to leave   (7)   I saw Sam cleaning the garden．He is an employee of our society association and is    (8)    to take care of the walkways and the garden．I walked up to Sam as it was a（n）    (9)    to see him there cleaning at this time. He saw me and politely   (10)    me, "Happy New Year!"

 “How come you are here and doing all this on the very first day of a new year?” I asked. Sam answered   (11)   , “It is just a day like any other day. I do not want people to walk on   (12)    walkways. It is the first day of the year so they should feel good and special. For me, today is like any other day and my job starts with the    (13)   .”

It was good to see someone so   (14)   at heart. Like other staff members, Sam could have taken a day    (15)  , but he woke up early and came for all of us. I suddenly realized life does not   (16)   when the clock strikes twelve at midnight and a New Year begins. We   (17)   all night, drinking and feeding ourselves. Then we leave the place in high spirits. However, we make the surroundings dirty. Life goes on and others need to    (18)    early and clear the garbage．Isnˈt the very next morning a new day of a New Year for all those who clear our garbage? Why canˈt we also keep our   (19)  clean so that everyone can have a New Year the very next day? It is true that small things can make a big    (20)    in our lives.

 As a young man, AI was a skilled artist, a potter with a wife and two fine sons. One night, his ____  (1)  ____ son developed a severe ____  (2)  ____. Thinking it was only some common intestinal (肠的) disorder, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very ____  (3)  ____. But the boy ____  (4)  ___ suddenly that night.

   Knowing the death could have been ____  (5)  ____ if he had only realized the seriousness of the ____  (6)  ____, he always felt he was guilty. ____  (7)  ____ still, his wife left him a short time later, leaving him __  (8)  __ with his aix－year－old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were more than Al could ____  (9)  ____, and he ____  (10)  ____ alcohol for help.

   As the alcoholism progressed, AI began to lose everything he ____  (11)  ___, his land, house, etc. Finally A1 died alone in a small bar. Hearing of Al's death, I thought, "What a ____  (12)  ____ wasted life! What a complete failure!"

   As time went by, I began to ____  (13)  ____ my earlier rough judgement. I knew Al's now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring, most loving men I have ever known.

   I hadn't heard Ernie talk much about his ____  (14)  ____. One day, I worked up my ____  (15)  ___ to ask him what ___  (16)  ____ his father had done so that he became such a(n) ____  (17)  ____ person. Ernie said quietly, "From my earliest memories as a child ____  (18)  ____ I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you, son.'"

   Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a ____  (19)  ___ I had been to judge AI as a failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he had been a kind loving father, and left behind his best ___  (20)  ____.