When I first met Miss Harold, she was the school librarian at Lakeview Elementary, and I was a timid (胆怯的) fourth grader. I was desperately trying to go unnoticed, because I had some big _________, like terrible handwriting and a messy desk. And I was trying to _________ the fact that I liked to read—something that was cool for girls but not for boys.

Miss Harold took me under her wing and helped make it okay for me to be a(n) _________, nerdy (呆子似的) boy who was reading lots of books.

She _________ me out of my shell (壳) by sharing her love of books. She started by _________ questions like “What do you like to read?” Then she _________ me a lot of books, ones that were more complex and _________ than the books I was reading at the time. Once I’d read them, she would make the _________ to discuss them with me. “Did you like it?” she would ask, “Why? What did you learn?” She _________ listened to what I said. Through those   ________ in the library and in the classroom we became good friends.

Looking back on it now, there’s no __________ that my time with Miss Harold helped __________ my interest in libraries and my focus on helping every child in America get the benefit of great teachers. I’m so __________ to the dedicated librarian and teacher who helped me find my __________ when I was nine years old. It’s absolutely remarkable how much power one good can have in __________ the life of a child.

When I was young, I read only comic books. My mother, who was a keen reader, tried to get me to read regular books, but they seemed _______ to me. Why would anyone want to read a book without pictures, I wondered? It would be _______ watching a movie with your eyes closed. And novels seemed to be too _______！ In my mind, a comic book was a roller coaster ride _______ a novel was five hours in rush hour traffic.

Whenever she saw me with a comic book, my mother would complain, which totally _______ my comic book reading experience. One summer, she even _______ me. “If you don’t read at least one book this summer, we’re not going to go on our camping trip,” she said. What could I do? I had been looking forward to that _______ for months!

“Fine,” I _______, “I’ll read one book.” _______, my mother took me down to her evil dungeon (地牢), the local ________, where the librarian ________ The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia by C．S. Lewis. I unwillingly ________ the book while my mother and the librarian exchanged a(n) ________ glance.

When we got home, I cracked the book open and started reading. I ________ I’d read the first few pages then skip to the end because I knew my mother would ________ me about it. Imagine my ________ when my mother called me to dinner and I was halfway through the book! ________ a comic book was a roller coaster ride, the novel was all the rides at Disney world rolled into one!

I ________ reading the entire The Chronicles of Narnia series that summer, which I consider the ________ of my great friendship with books. Now I read an average of one book a week, and sometimes my wife ________ that I read too much!

When I was about ten,my family moved to a neighborhood near a public library. Every evening, I would________to the library soon after school. On weekends, I would be there five minutes earlier than the opening hour of the library. Instead of________the librarian to do the cleaning, I would________ the kids’ section’s seats, turn on the lights and start my reading.

I was________ of the librarian at first, as I used to hear him being hard on people who had late returns. Every day, fifteen minutes before the________closing time, he would start to ask people to________Because I did not have a library card, I wasn’t ________ to take my half-read books with me. After a few days, the librarian must have silently________my long face, because he started making________ about closure only in other sections. He would leave the________ on just enough for me to read while he tidied up the rest of the place. ________, this gave me another ten minutes to read. Five minutes before closing, I would put the books back and join him in ________the doors. Very soon, in my head, we formed a team that opens and closes the doors of the library.

I lived there for about five years and the librarian and I had become ________. He would simply point at the new books and smile at me. If I missed going to the library, the librarian would be________and ask why I had missed my routine.

I love books,________ the silent librarian.