My sister, Cathy, who lives in Vancouver, sent me a package full of Christmas gifts. She told me that she had 36 it in advance to make sure it would arrive at my house weeks before the 37 . Christmas was drawing near, but no package arrived. Cathy checked the tracking number every 38 with Canada Post, and every evening she would call me to 39 if there was any sign of it on our end.
The 40 always started with questions about the package, but twenty minutes later we would still be 41 . We talked about our family, such as parents, our kids, 42 and so on. Of course we also talked about our jobs. We had never made so much 43 for each other! The talk always took us back to the hours we spend together in our childhood.
By Christmas Eve we finally had to 44 the fact that the package was 45 lost. On Christmas morning, Cathy got on the phone with everyone in my 46 and told them what she had sent. Later on, after a big Christmas dinner, I had forgotten all about the 47 package when there was a knock on the door. Who could it be at such a time? As I 48 the door, a man was standing there. “I 49 this is yours.” he said, holding a package. Just then I 50 that it had been delivered to the wrong address. “I just got home from vacation,” he explained, “51 I wanted you to have this in time to open for Christmas.” I thanked this 52 stranger for taking so much trouble to 53 this gift to us on Christmas Day, and 54 thanked God that the package had been lost in the first place.
The real gift that holiday season was the new 55 to my sister who lives far away from us. Now there’s one gift I never want to give back!
A．booked B．decorated C． listed D．mailed
A．appointment B．deadline C．holiday D．party
A．year B．morning C．week D．month
A．pick out B．take out C．figure out D．find out
A．complaint B．conversation C． discussion D．quarrel
A．chatting B．arguing C． kidding D．scolding
A．gifts B．secrets C．husband D．clothing
A．food B．time C．achievement D．money
A．consider B．ignore C． accept D．study
A．entirely B．simply C．mostly D．suddenly
A．restaurant B．office C．house D．class
A．terrible B．outstanding C．big D．missing
A．opened B．locked C．left D．watched
A．understand B．forget C．know D．believe
A．expected B．dreamed C．realized D．remembered
A．because B．but C．or D．so
A．generous B．honest C．polite D．kind
A．show B．present C．return D．offer
A．silently B．carefully C．gently D．actually
A．connection B．guide C．recognition D．closeness
Several years ago, my son and I had a brief conversation that has really stuck with me.
My Son: “ Were you there for the first of my game, Dad? I started!”
Me: “ I didn’t get back into town and to the game the second quarter... But you did great!”
My Son: “Oh.”
Me: “ But you really need to start better.”
My Son:(Silence)
So, what was wrong with I said? Well, he understood my flight was late and so I the first quarter. And my compliment(表扬) was good. But, the “but ” was the . Instead of just praising him for his accomplishment, I_him for his eating habits. And that criticism crushed(碾碎) the compliment.
, I realize that the words I had spoken weren’t the words my son heard. The moment I said, “ But you really need...” what my son heard was, “ What you did was good, but not quite good enough.”
So what did I take away from this ? First, I learned that accomplishments should be strong and . Saying “great job” or “good work” is a good when complimenting. But it’s even to say something like, “I’m proud that you the staring team. You preserved and worked really hard to get there.” Second, I learned that criticism should not be a compliment. Criticism can be so to the listener that he won’t even hear a compliment more than criticize. Mark Twain once said, “ I can live for two months a good compliment.” Giving your child a strong compliment can greatly and push him forward. Criticizing your child, although necessary at times, quickly take the wind out of his .
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I had a lot on my mind as I picked up the pieces of what had once been my teddy bear on the snowiest day last year. Only twenty-four hours before, I had been with it in our farmhouse. How quickly things ! The house I had lived in disappeared. The fire had all those things with my memories.
I have never known my mother to be . In fact, my whole family has always been . But when picking up my ashen (灰白色的) clothing on this cold winter morning, she moved with emptiness. The was so heavy to us.
Days passed and the situation didn’t become . After moving to the temporary house, my father told me dealing with this would cost money. It brought about a wave of and life became a struggle.
“Hey, Tony,” a classmate came up to me at lunchtime with a box in her hands. , all my classmates stood up. “Tony, we know what a few days ago. This is not something you have to go through . Alex, Phoebe and I started up the Shoebox Fund for you. Almost every student in our school . We love you and we want you to have this. ” She me with the box. I opened it to find piles of twenty-dollar bills and notes of love.
My eyes were filled with , and I had never been so moved. I had felt so lonely for the days after the fire that I became , unwilling to communicate with others. But these people looked past the rudeness I had them. They were my true friends and by sharing this , they were my family.
Yes, things are getting back to . But what I learned from this journey of discovery will with me forever.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
My mother only had one eye.During elementary school, there was a time my poor mom came to my classroom.She was such a(n) that I showed her a hateful look and ran out.Soon word that I had a one-eye mother.Everybody me.So I told myself that I would grow up and become , because I hated my mom and our desperate .Then I studied really hard and later became a powerful businessman.I was living happily in Seoul and when my mother came to see me, I felt the whole sky was falling apart on me.My little daughter ran away, of my mom’s eye.I asked my mother coldly, “Who are you? I don’t know you!” as if she were a .My mother quietly answered, “Oh, I’m sorry.I may have got the wrong ,” and disappeared.Thank God! She didn’t recognize me.I was quite .
One day, a letter a school reunion came to my office.I decided to take part.After the reunion, I to my old home, only to find my mother falling on the cold ground with a in her hand, which read:
My son,
I think my life has been long enough now.I won’t visit Seoul anymore, but would it be too much if I wanted you to visit me once in a while? I you so much.And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion.But I decided not to go to the school, for you.I’m that I was an embarrassment for you.You see, when you were very small, you got a(n) , and lost your eye.As a mother, I couldn’t watching you grow up with only one eye, so I gave you mine.I was so proud of my son seeing a new world for me in my place, with that eye.You mean the world to me.
My world shat tered.Then I cried for the person who for me—my mother.
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Many Tuesday mornings.I have coffee with my father.Although my fatheris a man of few words.I really the time along with him.
One recent Tuesday, I found it a bit when I rang the doorbell, no oneseemed to be home.I climbed in through the window, noticing the lights thatshone from the kitchen, and that my dad must be there, but he wasn't.I through his home, checking every room.I tried not to _.Yet.upstairs.downstairs, no Dad anywhere.
I was worried. , my father was seventy-one years old.Anything could have happened to him.Then, I got in my car and drove to my mother’s aerobics（有氧运动）class.
On the drive, I thought a lot about my father and our together.Suddenly, I was three years old and he was me up to the living room window to see the Christmas lights.In his , I was safe and secure.At age ten, he used to wake me up with warm breakfast in bed.Then I was twelve and my dad was ___ all the kids at my birthday party with his magic tricks.I was so of my father for being so and talented.He’d made my party a .
As I entered my mother’s class, I was nervous.My mom looked at me in .
“Mom, where’s Dad?” I asked, “He’s working in the on the side of the house!” she answered.
And I hurried to my car and back to the yard.“Hey, Dad!” I yelled out and told him about my fears of the last half hour.My dad laughing his typical laugh that was always .I was so thankful that I still had my daddy.And so , as I the door to my father’s house, we went inside for our usually cup of coffee.
Thanks, Daddy, for all the and more importantly, for all your love.
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The journey of water as it flows upon the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life.Water begins its _____ on earth as it falls from the sky and streams down a mountain into a stream or river.In the same way, we come into the world and begin our lives on earth.Like a river that flows within the ____ of its banks, we are born with certain defining characteristics that ____ our identity.We are born in a specific time and place, within a specific family, and with certain gifts and ____.With these limitations, we move through life, ____many twists, turns, and barriers along the way just as a river ____.
Water is a great teacher that shows us ____ to move through the world with grace, bravery, determination, and ____.When a river ____ at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we face our own waterfalls, we may fall hard ____we always keep moving on.Water can inspire us not to become rigid (死板的)with fear or stick to what’s familiar.Water is ____ and does not waste time sticking to its past, but flows onward without ____.At the same time, when there is a ____ to be filled, water does not run away from it in ____ of the dark; instead, water modestly and bravely fills the empty space.In the same way, we can face the ____ moments of our life rather than run away from them.
____, a river will empty into the sea.Water does not hold back from ____in a larger body, nor does it fear a loss of ____ or control.It gracefully and modestly falls into the vastness by contributing its energy and joining without ____.Each time we move beyond our individual characters to become part of something bigger, we can try our best to _____ the lead of the river.
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