Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen __. They sought a university that __ the teenager's intended major, one located near a large city and a campus where their daughter would be __.

‘The safety issue is a big one,’ says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn't __ in his worries. On campus __ other parents __ similar concerns, and the same question was __ asked: ‘what about crime?’ But when college officials always gave the same __- ‘That's not a problem here,’ --Mahoney began to feel __. 

‘No crime whatsoever?’ __ Mahoney today. ‘I just don't __ it.’ Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of education had __ of nearly 400,000 serious __ on or around our campuses. That includes 754 homicides(自杀案), almost 6500 sexual assaults and __ 175,000 incidents of theft. ‘Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to college,’ says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. ‘Campus crime __ the rest of the nation.’

But getting __ information isn't easy. Colleges must report crime statistics   by law, but some __ for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking __. ‘The truth may not always be serious,’ warms S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation's leading campus safety watchdog group.

To help __ parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective __.

Mrs. June P. Garrett was my seventh-grade English teacher. Back in 1968, she had a major_________ on my life.

When I was in seventh grade, my father _________ me to play sports. Unfortunately, I did not have any of what might be called “_________ talent.” But I wanted to make my father _________, if not proud. So, I _________ the junior high school football team.

In the meantime, I _________ a post on the junior high school newspaper. I even created a parody (拙劣的模仿) advice column called “Dear Gertrude.”Mrs. Garrett, also the advisor for the newspaper, _________ my unconventional (非常规的) writing. One day, while grading a homework assignment, she wrote this short but _________ note: “You will make a living as a writer someday.”

From that point on, I _________ what I wanted to do with my life. In fact, in 8th grade, when it came time to write that “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?” essay, I no longer wanted to be a doctor (which is what my four brothers all became). __________. I wrote these words:

Now my mind wanders to a __________ thought. To be a writer is my search.

I got a B+ on that paper, and my path in life was __________.

Soon I ________ playing football in 8th grade and focused the rest of my school years on __________ !

We all have talents. Fortunately, I had just the right teacher at just the right time to help me __________mine.

Just a few months earlier, I would never have pictured myself acting in a play in front of two hundred people. If not for my teacher Mrs. Sather, I might never have found that _________.

In the first and second grade, I was extremely _________. It just wasn't in my personality to be very outgoing. I would escape in my writing. Mrs. Sather always _________ me to write more. I think she was the first person to see my inner _________.

One day, she announced our class was going to _________ a play. “I need someone to play the lead part of Dorothy.” A few _________ students raised their hands at once. I, of course, was not one of them. After school, Mrs. Sather said to me, “Dallas, I was _________ you didn't raise your hand.” Me, the lead? I was _________ just thinking of standing on stage in front of a lot of people. “You're great at _________ things, so you won't worry about lines. And you have such a sweet personality. Perfect for Dorothy! I had you in __________ for Dorothy while writing the play!”

I realized it was time to __________ my shy cloak (披风). After five months of __________, we finally made the play a success. At the end of the play, when the audience stood and applauded, I knew they were not just __________ for my performance that night, but for the __________ that they knew would come in later years because of my new-found __________.