We were sitting in the doctor’s waiting room when my father said something that _________ me. “Are you my daughter or my sister? ” My heart broke as I stared at him.

The doctor told us my father had Alzheimers (阿尔茨海默病). It was a big _________ for me. I was facing a battle on two fronts, emotional and physical, and I was _________ for it. The disease didn’t snatch him away suddenly. Instead, it slowly _________ him. It made me sad to watch my father hide his _________ to read the clock.

As the disease continued to progress, his behaviors became _________ . We had to face another painful truth — we could no longer provide my father with the level of _________ to keep him safe at home. He _________ to move to a skilled nursing facility.

Babies are born helpless; parents keep on _________ . Children grow up and learn that relationships are reciprocal (相互的). However, the parent-child relationship isn’t __________ . The parents remain the giver, and the children remain the taker. That is the natural order of the world — __________ the child becomes the parents caregiver.

When a(n) __________ appears, we can do something to change the fact. __________ , my father is alive and taken good care of in the nursing home. If he can __________ the illness, then I can make it. I will give him everything he deserves to have as a great father. And we will be awarded a(n) __________ future by doing our best.

An elderly bricklayer was ready to_________. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and _________his extended family. He would miss the paycheck(工资)each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could_________just one more house as a personal favor . The bricklayer said yes,_________over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to bad workmanship and _________building materials. It was an unfortunate way to_________a dedicated(献身的)career.

When the bricklayer finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door _________to the bricklayer and said, “This is your house.--my _________to you.”

The bricklayer was _________!

What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our__________ , a day at a time, often putting __________ than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we __________ realize we have to live in the “house” we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.

But, you cannot__________ .You are the bricklayer, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or build a wall. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your__________ and the choices you take today, help build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build __________!

Imagine spending 1, 182 hours working hard and receiving no encouraging words. This was the situation I found myself in as I joined a new swim team with a Russian coach. As a long-time swimmer, I was used to receiving plentiful praises and ________ speeches from my coaches. However, after practicing for a few weeks, I noticed I did not hear any words like “you’re almost there”, “congratulations”, or “you’re doing great” that helped me through those hard practice. I received scoffs (嘲笑) when I was expecting ________ and praises. To me, Vladimir seemed like a ________ man.”

As I was trying to understand him through his heavy accent, I realized that Vladimir had been trained and ________ by the culture in Russia and that led to his different coaching style and unusually high ________. He spent over 1, 182 hours swimming, receiving no praises and was simply expected to ________. This method of coaching that seemed so foreign to me was from what he ________, leaving home at the age of twelve, and eventually winning an Olympic medal. I began to appreciate his ________ to give out praises. He had a much different idea on how best to coach and motivate swimmers. He did not feel the ________ to say compliments, since he believed one should be ________ without these praises.

It was the fact that he was so different from my previous coaches that made him ________. He forced me to really think about why I was swimming. I learned to swim not for ________ but to find the motivation. It became clear to me that the ________ of experiencing various coaching styles is that each one can bring out the best in me if I learn from these ________. Various training styles may be ________ to me at the start but can help me grow in many ways.