One day, a woman from The Express News called. She said she wanted to work on a(n)  (1)  on me. When she had finished    (2)   me for the article, she asked, “What are you planning to do next?”

Well, at the   (3)   , there was actually nothing I was planning on doing next, and what   (4)   out for us was, “I’m thinking about    (5)    the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest-Talking Female.”

The newspaper article came out the next day, and the writer had    (6)   my final remarks(评论)about trying to break the World’s Fastest-Talking Female record. At about 5:00 that afternoon, I got a    (7)     from Larry King , asking me to go on the    (8)  . They would   (9)    me up at 8:00 — because they wanted me to do it that night!

I    (10)    the phone for a while, and then I called Guinness to find out   (11)    to break a fast-talking record. They told me I would have to recite something. I began   (12)  . I was both    (13)   and excited at the same time.

At 8:00, the car came. I practised the whole way there, and by the time I reached the     (14)    . I was tongue-tied. I asked the woman in charge, “What   (15)    I don’t break the record?”

“Larry doesn’t    (16)    if you break it or not,” she said. ” “He just cares that you try it on his show.” So I asked myself, “What’s the   (17)    that can happen? I’ll look like a fool on television!” A   (18)    thing, I told myself,   (19)    I could live through that. And what if I break the record?

So I decided just to give it my best shot, and I did. I broke the record, becoming the World’s Fastest-Talking Female   (20)    speaking 585 words in one minute!

There are times when people are so tired that they fall asleep almost anywhere. We can see there is a lot of sleeping on the bus or train on the __41__ home from work in the evenings. A man will be __42__ the newspaper, and seconds later it __43__ as if he is trying to __44__ it. Or he will fall asleep on the shoulder of the stranger __45__ next to him. __46__ place where unplanned short sleep __47__ is in the lecture hall where a student will start snoring（打鼾）so __48__ that the professor has to ask another student to __49__ the sleeper awake. A more embarrassing（尴尬）situation occurs when a student starts falling into sleep and the __50__ of  the head pushes the arm off the __51__, and the movement carries the __52__ of the body along. The student wakes up on the floor with no_53__ of getting there. The worst time to fall asleep is when __54__. Police reports are full of __55__ that occur when people fall into sleep and go __56__ the road. If the drivers are __57__, they are not seriously hurt. One woman's car, __58__, went into the river. She woke up in four feet of __59__ and thought it was raining. When people are really __60__，nothing will stop them from falling asleep-----no matter where they are.

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.