Yesterday, our teacher asked us when a man could be referred to as an old man. David stood up and said people with wrinkles could be called old people. However, Mary didn’t _______, for some people may gain wrinkles at an earlier age owing to their tough work. Then Lily expressed her idea that those reaching their 60s or more could be called old people. This time, Emily expressed her _______ that some old people may still be energetic and trying to pursue their dreams, which makes them appear young. The class was over and we still didn’t reach any _______, so the teacher asked us to think about it after class.

The _______has made me think about the saying of J. Barrymore that a man isn’t old as long as he is _______ something.

My grandma is such a woman who pursues her dream _______ when she’s 70 now. She has _______her dream of being a painter since she was a little child. _______, because her family was poor, she had to _______ her dream and stepped into the society to raise money so as to support her family. Though she has ________ abandoned her dream, she could hardly find any time to realize it because of the tough work. ________, chance came when she retired from her work. ________she had all-white hair and lots of wrinkles, she began taking her painting lessons. At first, I ________her idea of attending school at so old an age, but after seeing her paint happily and enjoyably, I ________ feeling it a good choice. She seems energetic and looks fine.

So if we have our dreams and seek for them, we aren’t old. It’s when we don’t know what we want and let ________ be the center point of our lives that we can finally be regarded as the old.

The best graduation speech I’ve ever heard was only five minutes long. It got a standing ovation (热烈鼓掌)---something I never saw before at a __ ceremony. Most surprising of all, the speaker was an eighth grader. It was my daughter Abridlle.

Sure, I’d given her __ ----“Make them laugh, make them think, and make them cry”---and she let me read and __ on her text, but she stressed that this was to be her __, not mine. And it was. It was unique, not just in __ but in a charming delivery.

She told funny stories, making fun of herself, her classmates, and __ her teachers. Then she __ the teachers and led the audience to give a big cheer for them, only to conclude, “Okey, teachers are __, but let’s not get carried away. Getting an __ is a side benefit. The real purpose of middle school is to make friends and have fun----am I right?”

Then she changed the mood, __ her classmates to think about the three years of __ adolescent emotion----conversations, fights, __ deepest thoughts, and crying on each others’ __.

Summing up, she said, “__ we think back to these years, we will think about what __ to us and around us. But what was __ the most important was what happened __ us.”

“When all is said and done,” she __, “the crucial years we spent in middle school were really about __ ...and you know what? That’s what high school is going to be like. And, in fact, the __ of our lives.”

The sun was shining brightly over our heads and sweat (汗水) was pouring off our backs and faces. We stood still without _________ any noise, all hot and tired. But everyone kept standing as straight as trees. It was _________ most high schools give to new Senior One students — military training (军训). We _________ seven days in a closed environment. Although we couldn’t go home at night and the training was _________ and difficult, our humorous young drill sergeant (教官) with a funny accent was a real _________ of our days. We laughed at his jokes, sat in rows singing different songs and _________ him telling true stories about his life. He gave us the feeling that _________ and sweat were not the only things that military training _________.

After this journey, we were more _________ than we had imagined and we were much braver than we had __________. Girls who looked pale rested for a little while, and then right away came back to the team. Boys who were being punished __________ to the playground at once and began to run. Sweat flowed down our faces when we thought about how to shout __________ than other classes.

Military training taught us perseverance (坚持不懈) and determination. On the last day of our training, the confidence could be __________ on our faces. We shouted so loud that our __________ could be heard across the heavens. With eyes like burning torches (火炬), we walked into the future. Now the sun is __________ at all of us.