Early in my teaching career, I heard many excuses for why students didn’t have their homework.Most of them were fictional(虚构的)and many of them funny. And so I refused to_________any excuse.

One day, Anthony walked to me and said_________that he didn’t want me to think he was a lazybones because he came to school without homework so often. It was just that his parents had to work at night, so he had to_________his little brothers. Sometimes they cried a lot, and it made it hard to_________ ·

“Why are you just now telling me...?”I _________ in mid-sentence. I had already known the_________So I changed my_________at last.“Would it be _________if you stayed in my classroom after school and worked on it before you go home?” He_________ repeatedly.

The next day, I__________that I’d be offering an after-school study hall Monday through Friday. Anthony was the first student to__________. Before long,I had a room full of eighth graders who sometimes stayed until five o’clock to work on their__________. I never asked why any of them were there, but I soon__________a large collection of “I don’t have my homework because...”stories, such as“I don’t have my homework because I don’t have any paper in the house.” All were very__________ .None were amusing(好笑的).

“Oh, no! You’re moving?” Such was my neighbor’s ______ when she saw household items appearing on my lawn and ______ my driveway.

“Nope. Just cleaning house!” I called back, smiling.

This yard sale had been the result of six months of ______. I had searched every ______ and overflowing closet and cupboard—crazy about my seeking to find items to ______.

I met loads of ______ and friendly people. The Mirror Lady was ______ to buy the antique mirror from my first apartment for her daughter’s first apartment; and the Futon Girl, a college sophomore, said my futon (沙发床) and frame were ______ for her dorm room.

And how can I ______ the Camera Man? Bending absorbedly over the “technology” table, he spotted my husband’s faded ______ bag from the early 80s. Zippered compartments (隔包) ______ a broken camera and a few old lenses. “Wow!” he said, as he picked it up and made me a(n) ______. I asked what he was going to do with it. “It’s just cool—I have a shelf at home for cool ______ technology.” So apparently he ______ it just so he could look at it. As he walked down the driveway with the dusty bag ______ over his shoulder, for a second I ______ my journalist husband doing the same, heading out to ______ a story. That made me feel ______.

All yard sales lasted two days. As hard as it can be to let things ______, the true value of those things is to ______ you of a place you lived in, a special time in your life, or a loved one in your heart.

When I was a child my father taught me five words: stand porter to your mind. I’ve used it all my life — in my acting career, as a mother, and in my _______ activities. Nowadays this phrase might seem old-fashioned, but it still _______.

A porter is a gatekeeper, someone who stands at a door letting people in or out. Dad would get me to picture myself stopping _______ things — such as fear — at the door, but saying “Come in” to faith, love and _______.

As an actress, before I went on camera, I’d make sure anxiety stayed out and confidence in my ability _______. And as a mother, when I was anxious about my children, I would try not to let worry in but would fill my mind with _______ in them.

Of course, there were always times when I’d _______ those words. I remember one time _______. In 1972 my husband and I opened our own hotel. This was a new business venture for us, and it was more _______ than we had figured. Something was ________ going wrong. Once, a flu epidemic (流感) suddenly left us with no maids. Then there was the energy crisis. The price of gasoline doubled, and tourism in California ________. How could we fill our beds? What if we kept ________ money? Here I was at the front desk of the hotel, and those old uninvited guests, fear and worry, were sneaking in. But I ________ them just in time. I stood porter. I stood in the door of my mind and sent fear packing.

These days at the hotel, whenever fear tries to ________, I just smile and point to the ________ that reads No Vacancy.