A month ago, my friend Nick and I experienced a(n) _______ event. It was the evening of the fourth day on our hitchhiking(搭便车) trip to Morocco. We were stuck on the side of a main road in the cold _______ . It was nearly dark. To our disappointment, there wasn’t a single bit of grass where we could put up our tent.

Finally, we reached a small town after _______ for about an hour and a half. We found a bar where we thought we might be able to _______   ourselves first. Then we would _______ where we are going. We each bought a coffee, but the barman, Jose, brought over some bread _______ . Full of thankfulness for his generosity, we explained to him what we were doing. He showed much interest in our journey.

Then, we asked Jose if we could _______ on his floor. We were very worried he would refuse. _______ , he said yes! Thinking he lived upstairs, we waited for him to lock us in _______ he could be sure we didn’t steal anything. To our surprise, he gave us the keys! He showed us how the door worked, said goodnight and was off.

We all stood in ________ . In only a few hours we had gone from standing in the cold rain to owning a ________ bar. All the fridges were ________ and there was a fair amount of money on the sideboard. We were amazed at how much he ________ us. Then it was a good night’s sleep. The next morning, he ________ and we let him into his own bar. ________ , he gave us a free meal, and then we were on our way.

I grew up in a small village in Ohio, where everyone knew a man called Tom. Uneducated, he couldn’t talk _______. And because he was _______ and not very smart, everyone teased him. I guessed he was an easy mark.

One day, he came walking by. I was about 12 and thought it would make me feel grown-up to _______ him like the adults did.

He asked how I was doing. I told him my father was _______, and that we lacked money. I could hear my friends _______ in the background so I went on with the lie. I had him _______ so completely that every time he inquired about the _______, I would make it seem increasingly worrying.

I knew he made a _______ by doing odd jobs (打零工), so it seemed _______ when he asked me if we needed anything. I told him that we didn’t know if we would ________. He responded, “You poor thing, I will ________ for you.”

That night I heard the ________ rattle (作响) softly. Thinking it was the wind beating against it, I ________ it. Later when I opened the door to go outside, I found a box of ________ I knew who had given the food. I ________ the small box of canned food with tears in my eyes. I felt ________, and wanted to return the groceries.

My father would not let me take the box ________. He said it would hurt Tom. Each day when we were to have dinner, my father would ask, “What side dish are we having from the ________ box today?”

It was ________ for me to eat the food. I knew Tom had given sacrificially. He gave the best he had, but I did not ________ the gift.

Mother’s friend came to my home with her eight-year-old daughter Rose this morning. When my mother was talking with her friend, Rose felt a bit _______. So I _______ that I go out with her. Her mother happily agreed. Then we went to the park near my home together. There we bought two _______ and started flying them. While we were doing that, Rose couldn’t help _______. She jumped up and down and I knew she was _______ having great fun. And I must _______ that I haven’t enjoyed myself like that for a long time.

Afterwards, we sat down on a bench, looking at the flowers and trees in the park. As we were _______ there, Rose looked up at me and said, “What a _______ day today! I smiled at her and agreed. I then started _______ what we had done that day. We did something quite ________, yet we were very happy.

Many people wait for their “best days”. But I think today is our ________ day. That’ s a lesson I ________ today. As adults, we often make plans carefully in order to have a great day. Some people think that they can have a nice day through spending a lot of ________. I   think we should be more like ________. They don’t think about money or what will ________ tomorrow. They really live in the moment and ________ the moment!

We often hear the expression that we should live in the ________. How do we do that? We’re not doing such a ________ job. Remember today is important as we are ________ a day of our life for it. Yesterday is a history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a ________. That’s why it is called present. So seize (把握) the day!