I used to believe in the American Dream, which meant a job, a mortgage (按揭), credit cards, success, I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us   46   chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell   47  . I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56. I   48   the countryside for some place I could rent for the   49   possible amount. I came upon a shabby house four miles up a winding mountain road   50   the Potomac River in West Virginia. It was  51  , full of broken glass and rubbish. I found the owner, rented it, and   52   a corner to camp in.

The locals knew nothing about me,   53   slowly, they started teaching me the   44   of  being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, and tools, and began   55   around to chat. They started to teach me a belief in a   56   American Dream — not the one of individual achievement but of   57  .

What I had believe in, all those things I thought were   58   for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place.   59   on the mountain, my most valuable passions were my   60   with my neighbors.

Four years later, I moved back into   61  . I saw many people were having a really hard time,   62   their jobs and homes. I managed to rent a big enough house to   63   a handful of people. There are four of us now in the house, but over time I’ve had nine people come in and move on to other places. We’d all be in   64    if we hadn’t handed together.

The American Dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about   65   we can all get by together.

An old Spanish proverb states, “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week”. How many  (1)   have we put off our dreams until tomorrow? I’d say, too many. Our dreams should not, and cannot wait. We have to go for them now! Here’s    (2)    .

  Tomorrow is not (3).

Nobody likes to talk about death，but the   (3)  is everybody is going to die  (4)  . None of us know the day, or the hour.   (5)  today is all we have．Make the decision to go after every dream, big or small, right now.

   The world is   (6)  your gift.

You were born into the world with a  (7)  gift, which nobody on this earth can copy. Sure, other people may be able to sing, but they’ll never be able to sing   (8)  like you . Sure, other people can write, but they’ll never be able to write in the same  (9)  that you write. Don’t deprive (剥夺) the world of your gift. It’s the oxygen that we need to  (10)   .Therefore, it is your responsibility to   (11)  exactly what your gift is，and use it to   (12)  your life and the lives of those   (13)  you .

   You can’t let fear win.

One of the biggest dream   (14)  is fear. Many people could have achieved amazing

things   (15)  they weren’t afraid. Just think about all the things you’ve wanted to do，but allow fear to tell you that you were not good,or   (16)  enough. Never let fear stop you from   (17)  your dreams.  

   You will be much happier if you go for it.

Imagine how much happier you will be if you’re living the life you  (18)  dreamed about. The only thing that is stopping you is you.  (19)  your own happiness. Don’t keep your dreams waiting. Go after them today!

On August 26, 1999, New York City was struck by a terrible rainstorm. The rain caused the streets to    (1)   and the subway system almost came to a stop.
  Unfortunately, this happened during the morning rush hour. Many people who were going to work were    (2)   to go home. Some battled to    (3)   a taxi or to get on a bus. Still others faced the    (4)   bravely, walking miles to get to work.
  I    (5)   to be one of people on the way to work that morning. I went from subway line to subway line only to find that most     (6)    had stopped. After making my way    (7)   crowds of people, I finally found a subway line that was     (8)  . Unfortunately, there were so many people waiting to    (9)    the subway that I could not even get down the stairs to the     (10)   . So I took the train going in the opposite direction, and then switched back to the downtown train. Finally, after   (11)   seemed like forever, the train  reached my stop. Then I had to walk several blocks in the increasingly heavy rain. When I finally got to my office, I was    (12)   through, exhausted and     (13)   . 
  My co-workers and I spent most of the day drying off. When it was 5:00 p.m., I was ready to go home. I was about to turn off my computer     (14)    I received an email from Garth, my Director:
   I would like to thank all of you who made the effort and  (15)      reported to work. It is always reassuring( 令人欣慰 ), at times like these, when employees so clearly show their    (16)    to their jobs. Thank you.
  Garth’s email was short, but I learned more from that     (17)   message than I ever did from a textbook. The email taught me that a few words of   (18)   can make a big difference. The rainstorm and the traffic    (19)   had made me tired and upset. But Garth’s words immediately     (20)   me and put a smileback on my face.

When you are getting ready for a job interview, don’t forget to prepare questions for your potential boss or hiring manager. Employers often ask at the end of an interview if a   (1)  has questions. You should be prepared with a list. That’s your moment to  (2)  more, and maybe even win the deal.

“Always have questions,” says Bill Caskey, president of Caskey Achievement Strategies, an Indianapolis-based coaching and training firm. “If you say you have no questions that tells the employer that you are not very   (3)  .

Asking the right questions tells the employer that you have   (4)  time in learning about the company or organization.

“The candidate who doesn’t have questions  (5)  as someone who is ill-prepared or just not interested,” says Tim Dugger, career coach and owner of Career Café, LLC in Indianapolis.

So what questions should you ask? Here are a few suggested by Dugger and Caskey.

1Find out about the position. Why is the position open? How long has it been open? “  (6)   you know, if it’s been open for longer than six months, there must be an issue,” Dugger says.

2What skills and experiences are you looking for in your ideal candidate? This will give you an idea of what   (7)   they want and if you missed an opportunity to elaborate on a skill you have, this will be your chance.

3Find out about the company’s work   (8)  . Ask the manager, how he or she contributed toward it, Caskey says. Ask about what they enjoy most about working in that company or organization. This will let you know whether people are satisfied with their jobs and why. If they can’t define it, that’s a definite red flag.

4Find out who’s been the most   (9)  person in that position and why. That would give you an idea of the kind of growth or path you might have in the company.

5Ask about the potential for future earnings. Sometimes we take a job with a pay cut and   (10)   with the hope that there will be room to grow the paycheck. So a question about future potential earnings is relevant. It will also give you an idea of the income track you are in, Caskey says.

6Inquire about the rules tied to innovation and future projects. Do your homework and mention a new product or service the employer is working on and ask how it was developed. The answer will let you know about research opportunities and the process and also give an idea on how open they are for creative and innovative   (11)  .

7Ask if they offer continuing education and professional training. This demonstrates that you are interested in expanding your knowledge and skills, which   (12)  will benefit the employer.

8Ask a hypothetical question: if you were hired, what would they like you to accomplish in a year. “Find out what will get you an outstanding   (13)   if you get the job and that way you can set your goals,” Dugger says.

9Don’t just walk away from the interview. Always find out what’s the next step. How long is the waiting process? What do you need to prepare if there is   (14)   screening?

10Lastly, always ask follow-up questions. “Don’t let the employer   (15)  one-word answers,” Caskey says. “You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you, and you want to know that your abilities and skills would achieve their full potential.”

My name is Wang Gang. Last summer, I went to a coastal city called Brisbane in Australia on an exchange(交换) program. I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their daughter Joan. They lived in a big house close to the     41   . I like that area very much, because there is a cinema, a swimming pool and a     42   .

I got along very well with Joan. We shared many     43    interests. Almost every day, we went swimming in the swimming pool. Sometimes we swam in the sea if the     44    was nice. We went to the zoo and I really     45    seeing those wild animals and the     46    ones. I saw those cute koalas and kangaroos, but I didnˈt get close to them     47    people said actually koalas were not as gentle as they     48   . They might bite people. We also went to the cinema a couple of times and I really liked the films there.

We visited Sydney on a sunny day. Brisbane is about 1 000 kilometers     49   

from Sydney, so itˈs not a short distance.   50   , we went there by plane. The journey by plane was quite fast and     51    and it took us only two hours to get there. When I got     52    the plane, I was so excited to see this modern city. The next day, we visited the famous Sydney Opera House. It was amazing!

The     53   in Sydney was absolutely beautiful and the food there was well-cooked. My favorite was sea fish. The Smiths were very nice to me. They even

   54  me to some very expensive lobster(龙虾). That was the first time I    55 

lobster, and I     56    say it was really delicious.

The whole trip was very enjoyable     57    the last day. We planned to go boating on the sea. However, it rained the whole day. We     58 in the hotel that day and chatted. In the end, we decided to go back to Brisbane by     59   , because the ticket was cheaper and also we could enjoy the scenery outside the train windows.

On the whole, I really had a great time in Australia. It was a     60    trip. Iˈd like to go back there again! 

It was a Thursday in Canada. I was taking an autumn walk through the fields.

    On the way I saw a   (1)  lying on the ground. There was no one around. Thinking it might have been stolen and   (2)   aside, I picked it up. But when I opened it, I found the contents seemed untouched and that there were some   (3)   inside. As the papers showed, the bag belonged to a young French woman called Lale, who appeared to live on the other side of the town.

    I took the bag home, and tried to   (4)   Lale. However, her name wasn't listed in the phone book. Then I found a prescription(药方)inside with her doctor's phone number on it.  (5)  it was late in the evening, I made a phone call to the doctor. Unfortunately, he didn’t have her phone number either.

     (6)   I borrowed a friend's car and drove to her house. I rang the doorbell and then an old woman came out to   (7)   the door, who turned out to be Lale's mother. She was so happy that I had returned her daughter's bag and invited me   (8)   dinner. At dinner I was told that Lale was going on a trip to Singapore and wouldn't be able to do so without   (9)   passport. After dinner I was served coffee and sweets. When I was leaving, Lale's mother asked me to come back and visit again.

    How  (10)   life can be if you just follow where kindness leads！

There is a holiday next week and I can’t decide what to do．I have a lot of work to do  16   and this would be a good chance  17   ．But I don’t like _18__the holiday in such a way． I can work at home all the rest of the year．Last year I went  19   to the mountains． __20  there was beautiful，but it is too cold this time of a year. And it’s really  21   far to go for a short holiday．I decide __22   this isn’t a good time to  23   the mountains．But I __24    to go somewhere else．

Perhaps this would be a good chance to go to the beach（海滨）．I like to go for walks _25 the seashore  26  the warm sunshine and watch the water. It’s only eight miles away and I could get there  27   about two hours．After thinking it    28  ，I am sure that this is a  29  time for the seashore than   30  ．Oh， here is a letter  31   Jim． He  32  he is going to his house in the mountains for the  33  ，and he  34  me to go with him． 35  giving it some more thought， I wrote back to Jim and thanked him for that．

You Did More Than Carry My Books

　　Mark was waking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with a baseball bat and several other things. Mark 21 down and helped the boy pick up these articles. _22  they were going the same way, he helped to carry some of them for him. As they walked Mark _23  the boy’s name was Bill, that he 24 computer games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of _25  with his other subjects and that he had just broken 26 with his girlfriend.

　　They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was 27 in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed _28 with a few laughs and some shared small talk, and then Mark went home. They _29 to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both ended up from the same high school. Just three weeks before 30 , Bill asked Mark if they 31 talk.

　　Bill _32 him of the day years ago when they had first met.“Do you 33  wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day ?”asked Bill.“You see, I _34 out my locker（小橱柜）because I didn’t want to leave a mess (脏乱) 35 anyone else. I had panned to run away and I was going home to 36 my things. But after we spent some time together37  and laughing, I realized that_ 38 I had done that, I would have39a new friend and missed all the fun we would have together.