When school started on that warm August day, I threw myself into everything I did, including playing volleyball. I decided to become _____ ,or at the very least, skinny. I stopped eating completely. Soon I began losing weight, which thrilled me, and I even grew to love the tiredness and lightheadedness that came with my _____ diet, for those feelings meant that I was _____.

_____ the season progressed, things had become _____ between my head volleyball coach, Coach Smith , and me. She felt that something was wrong with my _____ .She talked with me about my eating and was_____ that I turned a deaf ear to her when she tried to make me eat. She tried to persuade me in a determined way and so we fought _____ .Then my _____ started to affect my performance. I was so tired that practice and- games were becoming a (n) _____ .One afternoon, with hurt in her eyes, Coach Smith asked me what I had eaten and I told her nothing yet, _____ I was going to. She looked at me, _____ in her eyes, knowing she couldn't make me stop, and walked away.

A couple of weeks later I attended a formal dinner for our volleyball team. I stood there as my coach managed to say something nice about me. I _____ then that I had ruined my senior year by being _____, and I had probably ruined hers as well. So that evening I wrote her a letter _____ and thanking her.

Then one Saturday, as I was reading in the library, I felt someone _____ take my arm and say softly,“Lynn Jones, how are you doing?” I _____ and saw the familiar face. “Thanks for the letter,” she said. “It meant a lot.”

When I think of a coach, I think of someone above me, someone who gives _____ — not a friend. But Coach Smith is _____, and, like any other good friend, she dealt with my problem in a determined way even when I hated her for it at that time. I didn't _____ her kindness, but she gave it anyway. I will forever be grateful for her help, and now for her friendship.

I’ve recently started reading the Little House books to my seven-year-old daughter. And I’m excited to discover that I love them just as much now as I did when I was her ____. There are a lot of ____ for that. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a ____ writer. She’s simple and always crystal clear, but at the same time, she uses so much detail and has such a great sense of the rhythm of ____ that her writing is beautifully poetic and always a joy to ____ aloud. And the characters, of course, are among the most beautifully drawn characters in literature: the bad-tempered Laura who has such a hard time doing what she’s ____ to do, her perfect sister Mary, her strict but kind parents. ____ the animals in the book come across as ____ characters. No matter how tired I am in the evening, I ____ look forward to getting out Little House and reading a chapter ____ two.

Those were the things I ____ about it as a child, and still love now. But as a(n) ____ I’ve also come to appreciate how ____ American this book is. It’s the kind of book that makes you think about our heritage (传统), and makes you ____ to be American. In these books, Laura and her family keep facing ____ and meeting them head-on. When necessary, they pick themselves up and move on to a new place, ____ from the very beginning. They don’t expect anything from ____, and yet they care about their community and their ____. You often hear the words “pioneer spirit” used to ____ America’s best values, but after you read Little House that’s not a(n) ____ phrase. You, and the child you read it to, understand it in your heart.

The sound of glass breaking is instantly recognizable. “Oh, no, not the vase!” Missi said ______ . “You're my best friend. If you had broken anything else in the apartment, I would have gladly said I did it. But you are going to have to tell my mom that it was your ______ and she's going to be really mad.”

I was ______ . I'd destroyed a priceless family heirloom (传家宝) while playing in Missi's house.

A couple of minutes after six we heard a key ______ in the door. Her mom returned home.

“I'm so sorry…” I said helplessly. She was ______ and said nothing when she saw the ______ on the ground. This terrified me even more. Then she erupted into a loud scream of ______ that filled the entire apartment. She ______ me, kissing me on both cheeks.

“Thank you! I always ______ that ugly vase, but I had to keep it because it was ______ in my family. Now it's gone! You've done me a great service!” She ______ me again.

I couldn't stop the tears running down my face. I was so relieved to have   ______ , but I was also in shock. This was not at all the ______ I had expected.

I'll admit it wasn't until I ______ my adult years that I recognized how generous and kind Missi's mom was! She taught me a lesson that has ______ with me forever.