“Ring… ring…” the telephone suddenly rang. Sam got up to _______ the call. It was his aunt.

“Sam, _______ are you still at home?” she asked surprisingly.

Sam looked at the clock. It was already 7:30 a. m.

“Oh, my goodness! There’s an important_______today,” Sam shouted out.

He hurried to wash his face and get_______. When he was going to leave the house, he_______that he had not put away his books. He ran quickly to the_______and put them into the bag. He then went to the bus stop to go to school as_______as he could. When he got into the classroom, his classmates were_______writing.

“Why are you so_______?” asked the teacher.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Sam answered, afraid of looking________. “It was my clock.. It________to wake me up this morning and ....”

“Don't say anything about it,” his teacher________him. “Don’t try to come late next time!” Sam said yes and walked to his________quickly. But when he tried to do the paper, he could not ________in a right way. He put his head on the desk and said, “What a________day it has been for me!”

Each of us fails from time to time. If we are wise, we accept these failures as a necessary part of the learning process. As a parent or a teacher, we should help our children _________ this fact. Donnie and his teacher, Mary Anne give us a good example.

Donnie was a third-grader. His _________ of failure kept him from classroom games that other children enjoy. Mary was a young and pretty teacher, and she loved children. She tried to build Donnie’s self-confidence, but _________ changed for quite a long time.

One morning the students were working math problems on the blackboard. Donnie had copied the problems with neatness. _________ with his progress, Mary left the classroom and went for some other materials. When she returned, Donnie was in tears. He’d _________ the third problem.

Mary looked at her student _________. Then from the desk, she got a container filled with pencils. “Look, Donnie,” she said, kneeling beside him and gently _________ his face from his arms. “I’ve got something to show you.” She removed the pencils, one at a time, and placed them on his desk. “See these pencils, Donnie?” she continued. “They belong to me. See how the erasers are _________? That’s because I make mistakes too, but I erase the mistakes and try again. That’s what you must learn to do, too.”

She kissed Donnie and stood up. “Here,” she said, “I’ll leave one of these pencils on your desk so you’ll remember that everybody makes mistakes, even teachers.” Donnie looked up at his teacher in _________ and with a smile.

The pencil became Donnie’s prized __________. That, together with Mary Anne’s frequent encouragement, gradually persuaded him that it’s all right to make mistakes—as long as you erase them and try again.

Nathan was a boy in my band class as well as in my math class. I never really liked him. He didn’t have any friends at all and always sat _________ at the lunch table listening to music with his phone. People just walked past him without _________. In class, whenever he was asked a question, he would take a long time to answer it, which made the whole class get _________. Whenever he got an answer _________, the whole class would _________.

One day, when I walked into band class and was _________ to play my flute (长笛) , Mr. Kohler began the class. After we had played _________ for a little while, Mr. Kohler asked the class, “Who can tell what _________ it is just by hearing the pitch (音高)?” Nobody raised their hands except Nathan. When I saw him, I laughed and thought he couldn’t do anything _________. How could he possibly guess the note when the pitch was played?

Even Mr. Kobler laughed a little and then told Nathan “Come here, buddy.” Nathan __________ and went to the front of the class. Mr. Kohler had a tuner (校音器). He played a pitch and asked Nathan to __________ it. Nathan said, “E flat.” Mr. Kohler said, “OK. Good.” He played another pitch. “F sharp,” Nathan said. The whole class went __________. Mr. Kohler __________ Nathan by playing two pitches together. “C and B flat,” Nathan said. “Good job, go back to your seat.” he said.

Then I got surprised. Nathan had guessed all the pitches __________. That day I realized I shouldn’t judge people __________ little things I saw and that I needed to see the great things people can do.