I believe that families are not only blood relatives, but sometimes people who show up and love you when no one else will.
In May 1977, I was living in a Howard Johnson’s motel off Interstate 10 in Houston. My dad and I     a room with two double beds and a bathroom was too    for a 15-year-old girl and her father. Dad’s second marriage was       and my stepmother had       us both out of the house the previous week. Dad had no   _  what to do with me. And that’s when my other family      .
Barbara and Roland Beach took me into their home      their only daughter, Su, my best friend, asked them to. I       with them for the next seven years.
Barbara washed my skirts the same as Su’s.  She       I had lunch money, doctors’ appointments, help with homework and nightly hugs. Barbara and Roland attended every football game where Su and I were being cheerleaders.     I could tell, for the Beaches there was no    between Su and me; I was their daughter, too.
When Su and I   college they kept my room the same for the entire four years I attended school. Recently, Barb presented me with an insurance policy they bought when I first moved in with them and had continued to pay on for 23 years.
The Beaches knew    about me when they took me in – they had heard the whole story from Su. When I was seven, my mother died and from then on my father relied on other people to _  his kids. Before I went to live with the Beaches I had believed that life was entirely    __ and that love was shaky and untrustworthy. I had believed that the only person who would take care of me was me.
   the Beaches, I would have become a bitter, cynical (愤世嫉俗的) woman. They gave me a(n)    that allowed me to grow and change. They kept me from being paralyzed(使麻痹，瘫痪) by my _  , and they gave me the confidence to open my heart.
I      family. For me, it wasn’t the family that was there on the day I was    , but the one that was there for me when I was living in a Howard Johnson’s on Interstate 10.

In the lobby(休息室) after a long day at work, I found myself standing next to a handsome young man with a nice smile. A __ showed what we had in common: I had ____ in New York city from Germany while he had ____ from South America.
We exchanged stories about the ____ of starting a new life in a new country. “I’ve been ___an apartment within walking distance from my ____. And what I want is to have a good ____ of Central park! But I’m dreaming. I can’t ____ to rent a room like that myself and I haven’t found a roommate to share in expenses.” The young man wrote a ___ down on a piece of paper. “Her name’s Carol and she is a good girl,” he said. “You’ll ____ her, and she needs a roommate.”
I called her right away. “I’ve been ___ to hear from you,” said Carole, who lived near Central Park. ___, she became my best roommate, and has been my ___ for 34 years.
“We were sure lucky to ____ each other,” Carole said to me recently. “But I wondered what took you so ____ to call.” I said. “I called right after I ____ your South American friend.” Carole looked amazed. “Not a friend, ___ I met him only once, and he told me about you. But that was a whole week before you finally ____.” “But I don’t understand; I didn’t know him until that afternoon.” “Maybe he know of you before because you were ____ known in the company for your achievement.”
Though you are a small potato, if you work hard and do ___, people will find you sooner or later. 

It was her giggling(咯咯的笑)that drew my attention. Note taking really wasn’t all that funny.
　　Walking over to the offender, I asked for the    . Frozen, she refused to give it to me. I waited, all attention in the classroom on the quiet     between teacher and student. When she finally    it over, she whispered, “Okay, but I didn’t draw it.”
　　It was a hand-drawn    of me, teeth blackened and the words “I’m stupid” coming out of my mouth.
　　 I managed to fold it up calmly. My mind,      , was working angrily as I struggled not to      . I figured I knew the two most likely candidates for drawing the picture. It would do them some    to teach them a lesson, and maybe it was high time that I did it!
　　Thankfully, I was able to keep myself    .
　　When there were about six minutes remaining, I showed the class the picture. They were all silent as I told them how    this was for me. I told them there must be a reason    and now was their chance to write down anything they needed to tell me. Then I let them write silently while I sniffed in the back of the classroom.
　　 As I    the notes later, many of them said something like, “I’ve got nothing against you.” or “I’m sorry you were hurt.” Some kids said, “We’re    of you.” But two notes, from the girls who I    were behind the picture, had a list of issues. I was too    , too strict…
　　Reading those notes, I realized that over the course of this year, instead of    my students, I had begun commanding them to    . Where I thought I was driving them to success, I was       driving them away.
　　I had some apologies to make. But the next day in the classroom, one boy and one girl each handed me a card. The one    by all the boys expressed sincere regret for the ugly joke. The one from the girls asked for      .
　　This was a lesson for both the kids and me. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the    .

My tire was flat. And I was on a country road. When I      with the tire, a car pulled off the road behind me. I saw a male      and said, “Hey, do you need any help?”
　 I literally was     . This young guy was dressed in black. Nearly everything imaginable was tattooed(纹身). When he asked to give me a     , I      someone sitting in his car. That      me. Thoughts of robberies flashed through my mind.
Then, it began to     . It hit like a waterfall and made it      to finish the tire change. With the car jacked(千斤顶托起) up, I was      to get in my car. “Get in my car” he insisted, “We’ll wait with you until the rain stops.” “No. I don’t need your help.” I said. “Come on. Get in.” he said as he      my arm and pulled me toward his car. “Oh, God, protect me!” I      to myself.
As I settled into the back seat, suddenly a delicate      came from the front seat of the car. “Are you all right?” “Yes, I am,” I replied with much      seeing an old woman there. “My name is Beatrice and this is my neighbor John. John takes me to visit my husband in a nursing home every day. He is a really nice guy.”
“John, I had thought you were, well, ah, you know I…” Embarrassment      my words. John laughed, “I often experienced      reaction. I actually thought about changing the way I look.      then I saw it as an opportunity to see others.”
He was right. What he wore outside was just a      of the world as he saw it, but what he wore      was the spirit of giving and caring the world he wanted to see. I never believed that I should       people by the way they dressed. I was     with myself for what I did.
The rain stopped and John and I changed the tire. As we shook hands I apologized for my stupidity.

When I stopped by to get a newspaper, a tall, sincere man came over to me asking for help with directions. With a printout of Google maps, he was looking for a     on the main street, but just couldn't find it. After checking out his written directions, I mapped it on my phone and showed him     where he needed to go.
He, in     , mentioned that he had tried going there, but there was no such street number and he just couldn't locate his hotel. I      it again for him. He thanked me with a big smile, shook my hand, and     . I got into my car and he got into his, and we     ways. As I drove to the next grocery store and went in, I sensed     wrong about the directions－so I Googled the address again and _    that he was looking for the right address but in a city half an hour away!
       it had been several minutes, and in the peak rush hour time, the chances of finding him a mile away－where he was surely still looking around－were     . But I thought I'd give it a（an）     and set off in that direction. I'd     noticed what his car looked like, and was just about to give up. I parked my car as I considered what else I could do－     , like magic, he drove right by and pulled over into a nearby parking spot, still     about where the hotel was.
When I     next to him, he couldn't believe it: "     did you find me?!" he asked. "I'm not sure, but I     that you are in the wrong city!" I showed him the right directions, and after more    and a handshake, we    . ' Likely that we'll never meet again, and that makes it much more _   .

How far would you walk to learn about something that interested you? When he was young, Jacob Lawrence often walked more than sixty     from his home in the Harlem section of New York City to the Metropolitan Museum of Art．Jacob wanted to be a（n）     ，and he believed that studying the famous paintings     in that museum would help him．
It was 1930,when many people were out of work, money was     and people suffered a lot．Still the streets were     with energy and color．As he walked through Harlem, Jacob looked hard at the people, the churches, and barbershops and so on．He     those images in his mind, along with the images of paintings he saw in the     ．
Jacob came from a poor family．His mother believed there was little chance     her son could grow up to be a successful painter．She wanted him to aim for something more     ．But Jacob's teacher, Alston, in an art program saw that he was talented．Alston     him how to use paints to make stage sets．
As time passed, Alston let Jacob rent work space in his own studio． That was an exciting place for a young black man       to become an artist．Many creative people     there to talk about art, literature and history．From their     ,Jacob learned that history books often       the accomplishments of African Americans．He decided to paint a sel1es of pictures describing the story of a black hero．He        Toussaint, who had helped free his people     French ruling．
Many people admired Jacob's pictures, but he needed     admiration．To help his family, he often had to work at jobs that     him away from painting．Then something encouraging happened．An artist named Augusta got Jacob a job．For eighteen months, Jacob was given a     to paint pictures． For the first time, he felt like a     artist．

English was always my favorite subject. In my freshman year of high school, I could write a killer composition. In my second year, my teacher        me to give spelling tests to the class. I had a      time of my junior year. Mrs Alexander        me to sit at her desk and take over the class when she had to leave the room. Only my senior English class was       , as we had a teacher right out of college who expected       work. Every student received a "C" or "D" grade the first quarter. But English was still my favorite subject.
I graduated from high school,      early and had children.       about my English, I often helped my kids with their English homework. And I wrote long articles and beautiful poetry as a columnist for a newspaper. Fifteen years later, I went to college, and because I had been an "A" student, I remained an "A" student. I       up to my own expectations.
Yesterday, I        my high school report cards when I was reading old papers. That bundle of report cards        back the old days. I remembered sitting in my advisor's office, explaining that I had always be       at  English, and recommending that I did not deserve a '"D" from that inexperienced teacher of my senior year. The  advisor was        but unable to change a （an）       . Reading through my old report cards revealed something  else too. I wanted to       them or hide them. I was not an "A" student in high school English! Somehow, I had         myself of this, when the grades clearly reflected an average student with an        "A" or "B" but mostly "C” _S.
Had I lived up to those grades and       myself according to those letters, I would have never confidently sought my writing career. Had I       my early grades instead of myself, I would have allowed my fear of failure to       enthusiasm and damage my creativity. Instead, I       my younger self as an "A" English student, except for that undeserved "D".

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36～55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
My First Day
I was still shy in the presence of a crowd.And my first day at the new       made me a laughing stock of the classroom. I was sent to the blackboard to write my       .I knew my name, and knew how to write it, but standing at the blackboard with the ____   of so many pupils on my back made me       inside and I was unable to write a single letter.
"Write your name," the teacher called to me. I        the white chalk to the blackboard and, as I was about to write, my mind went blank; I could not remember my name,        the first letter.
Somebody laughed and I became         "Just forget us and write your name," the teacher called and walked to my side,       at me to give me confidence.
"What’ s your name?" she asked. "Richard," I ____  . "Then write it."
I turned to the blackboard and lifted my hand to write, but then I was        again. I tried to     ___  my senses but I could remember nothing.I realized how totally I was        and I grew weak and leaned my hot forehead        the cold blackboard. The room burst into a loud       and my muscles froze. I sat and        myself.Why did I always appear so dumb        I was called upon to perform in a crowd? I knew how to write as well as any other pupil in the classroom, and there was no         I could read better than any of them, and I could talk        when I was sure of myself. Then why did strange        make me freeze? I sat with my ears and neck    __, hearing the pupils around me whisper, hating myself.

The power of encouragement is great. You may draw some inspiration from the following story.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a famous 19th-century poet and artist, was once ______ by an elderly man. The old man had some sketches (素描) and drawings that he______  Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good, or if they at least showed ______ talent.
Rossetti looked them ______  carefully. After the first few, he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least______ of artistic talent. But Rossetti was a _____  man, and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were of little _____  and showed little talent. He was sorry, but he could not _____ to the man.
The visitor was _____ , but seemed to expect Rossetti’s _____. He then apologized for  _____ Rossetti’s time, but would he just _____ a few more drawings—these done by a(n) _____art student? Rossetti looked over the _____batch (一批) of sketches and immediately became enthusiastic over the talent they _____. “These,” he said, “oh, these are good. This young student has great talent. He should be given every _____ and encouragement in his career as an artist. He has a _____ future if he will work and stick to it.” 
Rossetti could see that the old man was _____moved. “Who is this fine young artist?” he asked. “Your son?” “No.” said the old man sadly. “It was I who painted the pictures 40 years ago. _____I had heard your praise then! For you see, I got discouraged and_____drawing—too soon.”

Bob was a life insurance salesman. Try      he might, he was still unable to get a couple to sign up for a policy. “I certainly don’t want to frighten you into a      ” he announced, standing up to     . How      he be successful in his post?
People can be      by many different means. Fear is the common one.      many people find that other kinds of motivation are usually        effective in getting more out of those with whom we live and work.
A twelve-year-old girl took her younger brother, who       from a mental disability, Christmas shopping. As they went into a department store, the       accidentally hit a display, knocking shoes in every      . at that       an angry clerk grabbed the boy by the arm and    , “Pick them up.”
“No,” the boy screamed in defiance(反抗).
“Pick them up,” the clerk       .
“No,” the boy shouted back.
His older sister began picking up the        . Then the boy started to      . Before long, the boy, his sister and the clerk were        together to put the shoes         in order.
When they finished, the girl taught the clerk a(n)        lesson with these words: “You have to encourage my brother to do it in action.”
If you live or work with other people, you may benefit from the older sister’s advice. If you want people to respond to you, try encouraging them in action. People prefer       . When you fill people with what they want, you’re        to get what you want out of them.