I come from one of those families where you have to yell at the dinner table to get in a word.

Everyone has a strong ______, talks at the same time, and no one has a _______leading to heated

____ a family like mine has made me more ________ about the world around me, making me tend to question anything anyone tells me. But it has also made me realize that I'm not a good listener. And when I say "listening", I'm not_____the nodding-your-head-and-_____-answering-Uh-huh-or-Ooh-I-see variety. I mean the kind of listening here you find yourself deeply        _______with the person you're speaking with, when his story becomes so__________that your world becomes less about you and more about him. No, I was never very good at that.

I spent summer in South Africa two years ago. I worked for a good non-profit __________     called Noah, which works tirelessly ________ children affected by AIDS. But ___________you asked me what I really did in South Africa, I'd tell you one thing: I listened, and I listened. Sometimes I __________ , but mostly I listened.

______that summer, I knew how to hear. I could sit down with anyone and hear their          ______and nod and respond at the _____________time-but most of the time I was _________       about the next words out of my own mouth. Ever since my summer in South Africa, I have noticed that it's in those moments when my mouth is closed and my ________ is wide open that I've learned the most about other people, and perhaps about myself.

I love the feeling of exchanging goods with my parents. When we visit them, we often end up _______home more things than we brought with us.After packing up at the end of our most _______ visit, and after the last _______and sounding of the car horn (喇叭), I took a quick look at the back —_______ of our car. At the top of the pile, folded _______,and smartly, were, a 50-year-old baby blanket, several doilies (小型装饰桌巾）_______ from generations of women in my family, and two small _______

These creative quits, looking _______but quite lovingly worn (破旧的), remind me of my great-grandmothers who were always _______hard. I think of the pieces of cloth ____________ over the floors of their living rooms. I think of their ____________hands and the regular pattern of ____________from their sewing machines (缝纫机). I think of their laughter their smiles and the wisdom found in the comers of their eyes.

I wish l could go back in time, and watch them ____________these quilts, and I value the quilts my great-grandmother ____________. I love knowing that the women who ____________the way for my own path through life have left behind touchable expressions of themselves.____________I touch the worn cloth of each creation, I will always remember the women whose hands brought them into ____________. I will be ever ____________for the strong women in my family who have lived ____________me and with me, who have left behind unbelievable examples to ____________lovely quilts to pass on.

As a senior, my future is constantly on my mind. Because of this, words of ______ are a source of encouragement. Steve Jobs addressed Stanford University's graduating class in 2005 and his words reverberate (回响）whenever I think about my _______. His touching stories and humorous comments have made a collection of words that anyone could proudly live by.

_______of the future have kept me spending countless sleepless nights and made me worried enough to do poorly in more than one test. It wasn’t always like that,_______. It started when I became a junior and college came into_______. When Jobs discussed his life as a student, some fears were eased. He, _______, felt the need to attend college to make something of himself. He _______ what many are particularly afraid of: uncertainty. His lack of understanding caused him to stop attending college and focus on what he felt was_______. His story had a _______ending since eventually things turned out all right.

This doesn’t mean that students shouldn’t attend college but that they shouldn't________so much. You’ll get where you need to go even if your path is a bit more________than you’d like.

One particular part of his speech________with me. Jobs quoted (饮用）the saying “Stay hungry, stay foolish” and it’s become my________. Staying foolish is realizing that you’re still a fool however much you’ve learned or experienced. There’s always more to ________. Staying hungry is wanting to find those things about which you’re still ignorant.

That’s what ________ is. A person has his work, family and hobbies, if every day starts to seem the same, ________that’s not a life. It’s about going out into the world and ________everything you can. Live as Plough you’re a(n)________child, with everything to learn and   nothing to lose.