Some years ago, when I was selling club memberships from office to office, I would end my presentation by giving the prospect (潜在的客户) a booklet (小册子) ________ the membership benefits and   ________   him to “think about it”. I was not confident so I could not bring myself to ask the prospect to make a   ________ decision. And as you might imagine, I was not making any ________ .

I was getting ________. I was living from hand to mouth at the time. Although I was   ________   lots of prospects, I was making very few sales. Then I had a ________   which changed my career at the time. I realized that it was my   ________ of asking for the order that was causing all my   ________. It was not my prospects. It was me. I needed to change my self-image and my behavior if I wanted results to ________   .

The very next morning, I made the ________ that I would not call back on a prospect. At my very first call, and I still remember it, when I had finished my ________ ,the prospect said, “Let me think it over.” I told him I did not make call backs because I was too ________ , and then I said,“You know everything to make a decision ________ . Why don’t you just ________ it?” I remember him ________ for a while and saying, “OK, I’ll take it. How would you like to be ________ ?”

That week, I sold more than anyone else in the company. By the end of the month, they had made me the sales manager. My sales life ________ and, with few exceptions, it never stopped. And the   ________   point was that conscious choice to change my self-image and make it more   ________ with the results I wanted rather than the results that I was getting.

When I was a kid, if someone told me that I would grow up to become a________author and founder of a youth ________foundation, I would have laughed and kept walking. ________now when I see the title of my latest picture book, My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World, I shake my head, not quite believing that book has my name on it. But the truth is, this story comes from my own personal experience.

It took me a very long time to find my personal reading voice. In Valdosta, Ga., where I grew up, my community ________two pathways to a better life for little boys like me: being an athlete and being an entertainer. I was no different than the other kids, so I did what felt ________: Play football and overlook school. School presented challenges every day and so did football practice, but overcoming ________adversity(逆境) was ________my neighborhood’s culture. Reading books not so much.

Fortunately, I went to college. That’s where my reading difficulties really________. Trips to the grocery store were stressful because there was so much reading ________in the simple act of buying food. I would misread labels and grab the wrong________. Once, I________apple sauce thinking it was apple slices. I didn’t notice my mistake until I got home and realized that it was my________to understand the differences in the wording on the labels that caused the mistake. I realized that I needed to make an important________. If I wanted to be a better version of me, I had to become a stronger reader.

I joined a book club and read every free moment I had. My journey with reading also created a desire in me to inspire others who_________reading. So I started a nonprofit, Share the Magic Foundation, trying to ________the lives of children living in under served communities through literacy.

Today was another enlightening day at my new American school. Back in China, lunchtime is a____hour. We eat, talk, and most importantly, take a short nap (小睡) to____for the afternoon. This relaxing routine of our midday break allowed for a____escape from the day’s demands. But here? It’s like a ____against the clock.

The bell rang, and everyone____to the cafeteria. I followed, naively (天真地) thinking I’d have____time to eat and perhaps even close my eyes for a moment. However, I barely had time to finish my sandwich before the next bell hit. Where did the time go?

And the nap? Forget about it. There’s no____for that comfort here. In China, we have these cozy mats in the classroom for our post-lunch rest. But in America, the ____of napping in school seems as____to them as the absence of a nap is to me.

At first, I felt quite sleepy in the afternoon classes. I ____that brief break we get in China.

But then I noticed something. Even without the nap, my classmates were hardly tired. Perhaps they’re used to this fast schedule, or maybe they____on pure youthful energy. Who knows?

I’m beginning to_____that life here is simply faster. People eat_____, converse rapidly, and shift swiftly. It’s a(n) ____   with the life style back in China, but perhaps it’s not harmful, just another____of life.