Mrs. Barrow, room 501, room 501, I repeated to myself as I scanned the hallways looking for the room number. It was my first day of fifth grade and I was really _______.

I came to the end of the hall and found an open door. Stepping into the room, I suddenly felt out of _______. I tried to act normal, but Mrs. Barrow saw right through me.

“Good morning, Courtni. You may _______ your seat.” I looked about the room and took an empty seat near a girl named Wendy Barber. As the year slowly _______, Wendy and I became good friends. I felt no closeness to Mrs. Barrow, _______. I saw her as “just another teacher.”

Then my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. About a month later, Grandma slipped into a coma (昏迷) and died. _______ her was unbearable for me. I missed some school because I was so sad.

At the funeral, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself when I _______ and saw Mrs. Barrow standing there. She sat down next to me and held my hand. She comforted me by _______ me that now Grandma had no more pain or suffering. It had never occurred to me that it was _______ for my grandma this way. All I thought about was how bad it was for me.

After the funeral, we went to my aunt’s house to see the flowers that had been sent. My mom ________me a pretty ivy plant in a pin pot. The ________ card read:

I’m sorry about your grandmother. Never forget, I love you. You are like one of my children.

With love,

Mrs. Barrow

I took the plant home and put it in my grandma’s old room. I am in eighth grade now and I still have that plant. I ________ thought a teacher could care that much about her students; now I know. I say this with all my heart: ________ who is lucky enough to have a teacher like Mrs. Barrow in their life is privileged (荣幸的) ________ words. She may not know it, but she means more to me than she’ll ever know. I can only hope this gives her inspiration and ________ to her a tiny portion of what she has done for me.

School breaks are chances for me to get away from boring life. For the Thanksgiving break of 2018, I decided to visit my ___________ in Ithaca. It was a(n) ___________ journey from my home to Ithaca by bus—9 hours.

The first leg of the journey, to Scranton, needed about 6 hours. I had to ___________ buses in Scranton for the last leg of the journey. ___________, my first bus got delayed .Then I ___________ my second bus and had to wait for several hours until I could take the next ___________. It was 6 p.m. in Scranton when I waited for the bus. I called my cousin to tell him about the ___________ and mentioned that it might be ___________ when I arrived.

While I was on call, I didn't ___________ that there was a lady standing close by, listening to my ____________. When I got off the call the lady approached me and ____________ about my journey. When she learned that it had already been a long and ____________ day for me, she took out a big cake and ____________ it to me.

This was a kind act but I ____________ the lady because I had something in my backpack. As I ____________ my conversation with her, I ____________ learned she came from a poor family. She didn't have much money ____________ the cake was her dinner. I was ____________. And at this time, I realized how true and kind an act of ____________ was when one gave away what she also ____________.

I had never eaten an oyster. I loved seafood, but the sight of that gluey, shapeless thing... Ugh. I just couldn’t _________ it. Once at a dinner with my colleagues, they ordered some oysters. _________ , I stuck one with a tiny fork, lifted it onto the biscuit and brought it close to my mouth. It smelled salty. I saw everyone else just _________ putting the terrible thing into their mouths happily, and at the same time they _________ me for not trying them. I’m no chicken. Why was this so _________ ?

I _________ brought one up to my mouth and then pulled it back away over the next forty-five minutes before I_________ the courage to actually put it in my mouth. Meanwhile, everyone else was snacking on them like popcorn at the movies!

Something strange happened at that time. It was the most _________ thing. I wanted more! By then, of course,everyone else had already taken my _________ .

__________ learned. That time, it was an oyster, but there have been too many times I’ve let that happen in my life —__________ for too long to try or do something. And then, once I did, I __________ not only that it was not terrible，but it was something I really __________ ! Oh, what fun I could have had if only I’d been __________ enough to try thing sooner! When __________ knocks, now I say, “Eat the oyster!”