My parents said that I started reading tomato soup labels when I was two. But my earliest________are of The Poky Little Puppy, comics I found on the bookshelf. I quickly moved on to the library. I_________Little House on the Prairie and absolutely anything by Judy Blume.

I don’t know whether I read because I was curious or I was curious because I read. Probably________I do know,________, that books were my refuge (避难所). They gave me________and comfort when life was confusing or uncertain. They were a(n)________and a shelter. Books transported me to places I never________and exposed me to ideas I had never considered. I preferred Watership Down to hide-and-seek with the neighbor________. My father worried that I was turning into a recluse (孤独者), but I was________. Maybe they made me smarter. I know they provided me with________.

So, when I had my son, it surprised no one that I filled his room with________. With a certainty I didn’t know, I read to him for hours, hoping that I would________the magic to him. It did. Now he writes________about fire engines, policemen and flying birds. He is becoming a(n)________storyteller--just like his parents. I________to him through stories in a way I didn’t envision (想象).

One day when I was 12, my mother gave me an order: I was to walk to the public library, and borrow at least one book for the summer. This was one more weapon for her to ______my strange problem—inability to ______. In the library, I found my way into the “Children’s Room.” I sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the ______ at random. The cover of a book _____ my eye. It ______ a picture of a beagle(小猎兔狗). I had recently had a beagle, the first and only animal companion I ever had as a child. He was my secret sharer, but one morning, he was gone, _____ to someone who had the space and the money to care for him. I never forgot my beagle.

There on the book’s cover was a beagle which looked _____ to my dog. I ran my fingers ______ the picture of the dog on the cover. My eyes ran across the title, Amos, the Beagle with a Plan. ______, I had read the title. Without opening the book, I borrowed it from the library for the summer.

Under the shade of a bush, I started to read about Amos. I read very, very slowly with difficulty. ______ pages were turned slowly, I got the main idea of the story about a dog who, like mine, had been ______ from his family and who finally found his way back home. That dog was my dog, and I was the little boy in the book. At the end of the story, my mind continued the final _____ of reunion, on and on, until my own lost dog and I were, in my mind, running together. My mother’s call returned me to the ______ world. Something ______ me: I had read a book, and I had loved reading that book. Everyone knew I could not read. But I had read it. Books could be incredibly _____ and I was going to read them. I never told my mother about my “miraculous” (奇迹般的) ______ that summer, but she saw a slow but remarkable ______ in my classroom performance during the next year. And years later, she was ______ that her son had read thousands of books, was ______ a PhD in literature, and authored his own books, articles, poetry and fiction. The power of the ______ has held.

My love for libraries grew after I joined the public library.

From the age of 8, I was allowed to walk from my home to the city _______. There the librarian gave     me my first library card, and I could ______ a range of books from then on. I was _______, and this love for libraries and reading changed my life, ______ me to create a safe ______ for high-school students one day, too.

By the time I was in high school, I could read about the ______ that we were studying in class, _______Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. When I studied English literature at university, I thought it was time to _______my own library. For the next 30 years as a teacher, I continued to ______ books. Until one day, I realized that all my ______ had become a part of the house, like wallpaper.

Toward the end of my ______ career, I became a teacher-librarian at my old high school, where I had first learned English literature. This ______ resumed (重获) my love and appreciation for libraries. I never forgot how ______ it was to be surrounded by books.

With the money intended for the library, I ______ for novels that would interest my teenage audience. I bought sofas and comfortable chairs, ______ the library into an inclusive (包容的) public space, ______ for everyone.

In doing so, I realized that the library isn’t just a place to do research. ______ , they are places that offer an opportunity to connect with the _______, the present and the future. All that is required for students is ______ a bit of curiosity. Libraries are places that should be full of life. And their doors must be kept open to everyone — ______ !