One day when I was 12, my mother ordered me to walk to the public library and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to ________ my strange problem ________ to read.

In the library, I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf ________. The beagle (比格猎犬) on the book’s cover ________ my eye. The first and only animal companion I ever had as a child was a beagle. ________, one morning, he was gone, given ________ to someone who had this space and money to care for him. I never ________ my beagle.

The beagle on the cover looked ________ to my dog. My eyes ran across the ________, “ Amor, the Bengle with a Plan.” ________, I I had read the title. Without opening the book, I ________ it from the library for the summer.

I started to read about Amos very slowly and with ________. It was about a dog who, like mine, had been ________ from his family and found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final scene of ________ until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together.

My mother’s call returned me to the ________ world. I suddenly ________ something I had read a book and loved it. Everyone knew I couldn’t read, but I had read it. Books were ________, and I was going to read them.

I ________ told my mother about my miraculous (奇迹般的) experience that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable ________ in my classroom performance during the next year. Years later, she was ________that her son had read thousands of books, was awarded a PhD in literature and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction.

Stories play a vital role in the growth and development of children. The books they read and the ________ they get to know can become like friends. It’s also good for children to understand that books are a useful ________ of information and that good reading skills are important for ________ in their future lives.

Children who can read well are more likely to have higher confidence levels. This will ________ them in school as they’ll feel able to participate ________ in activities. Another part of ________ confidence is to know where you ________ the world. Stories can help with this process by showing children what people’s lives are like where they live and in other parts of the world.

Stories are a great way to ________ new words and ideas into a child’s language—starting with picture books for the very young, working up to more ________ novels for teenagers. Fiction based on real life can also help children with their own life experience—it shows them how ________ the world is and that some people’s lives are greatly different from theirs. And the process is done in a ________ way. There’s no actual teaching ________ at all, but they learn from simply reading the story.

Reading helps children understand that there are other children who feel the same way and they are not alone. This helps children understand that feelings are normal and should be ________. Watching their ________ to the feelings of the characters in the stories will give you some idea of how a child feels about certain ________ and emotions. For example, how the child responds to the character in the story feeling sad or ________ will give you some idea of how the child thinks.

As you can see, children’s stories are important for a number of ________ and form a vital part of the growing process. Being part of that process can bring children a sense of ________ as well as being great fun. ________, go and get your children some wonderful books to ________ them to enjoy a relaxing bedtime story.

I was an obsessive (痴迷的) lover of books, who was ______ at two and polishing off chapter books by kindergarten. In grammar school I worked my way through the library, gradually getting less picky as the options ______. However, what I wanted to read was science fiction. It was ______ to find. A sixth-grade teacher lent me a copy of Watership Down, a(n) ______ experience.

I am sick. My symptoms (症状) are odd, and no one really knows what my ______ is. I grew weaker and more isolated, but I got a ride to the library once a week and ______ all the novels I could carry. I kept reading ______ my disability.

Later, I met a technical nonfiction writer, who explained to me how to make a living ______ for magazines. At last, something I could ______! I subscribed to Writer’s Digest but wrote a fantasy novel instead.

After ______ that first novel, I made writer friends online. I thought my life ______ at last. Here was a career path where all my reading would ______ and where my disability wouldn’t shut me out. I wrote two science fiction novels, which later got published.

It turns out that in writing science fiction being unique can be a ______, practice eventually works, and persistence (坚持不懈) is really what matters. Without ______, I wouldn’t have had anything to aspire to, and I would never have ______ something I could share with the world.