I grew up on a 10-acre farm in the small rural community of Catawissa，Missouri，as the sixth of seven children. My parents，Archie and Altha，often _________ during meals how everything on the table came from the _________.

Besides running the farm，Dad was also a _________. in the fall of 1970，he was working on a house when the ladder broke all at once. His back was fractured（折断）in two places and _________ needed rescue.

He stayed in the hospital for three weeks，_________his back to be treated correctly so the bones would _________ perfectly.

On Thanksgiving Day，Dad was still in the hospital. We always _________ pigs the day after the holiday so that we had enough pork _________for the next year，and that year my uncle _________ with a couple of cousins to help my three older brothers prepare our year's supply.

After Dad returned home，he was in a back brace and saddened for __________ to work. Worse still，the doctor told us his chance of complete recovery was __________. I was too young to realize our family had no __________ coming in as Christmas approached.

One night we heard a car coming up the long driveway. Always __________ about company（客人），we kids were curious about who was visiting.

Peggy Phelan was at the door，holding an envelope __________ with money which，according to her account，she had __________ in the community. And she was there to __________ it！

Dad tried to __________ but Peggy would have none of it. I can still hear her saying，"Archie，whenever someone's baler（压捆机）is broken，you bale their hay. Every time someone passes away，Altha is cooking. It's our __________."

That evening，I understood what being a good neighbor was，and that __________ my parents were good neighbors, their __________ would be paid back.

Right since my childhood，I have always been encouraged by my parents. They have stressed the 【小题1】（important）of being a good human. Both my parents were doctors，【小题2】 I was sure they would have expected me 【小题3】（become）a doctor. But my parents gave me the freedom to choose football 【小题4】 my career.

They often told me that 【小题5】 was not the career but your attitude（态度）to it that influenced you. In fact，I knew a lot of my friends，【小题6】  were not allowed to do what they liked，but I was a 【小题7】（luck）child. Today，when I am a father of two lovely kids，I always fall back on my parents' teaching when it comes to 【小题8】（teach）them. I know what difference my parents 【小题9】（make）to my life in the past，so I now try and do the same to my kids. Of course，it is a different generation，but yes，I am a better father because of my own father. I also 【小题10】（deep）admire（饮佩）my mom because of the way she balanced her career，home and kids.

   Shortly after the war，my brother and I were invited to spend a few days with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented a cottage in the country，although he rarely spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture（家具）in it；many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked（渗漏），making the whole house terrible.

On our first evening，we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories which our uncle had to tell of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed；but I could not stand missing any of my uncle's exciting stories.

He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash from the bedroom above，the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.

"It sounds as if the roof has fallen in！"cried out my uncle，with a loud laugh.

When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door，we could see nothing at first because of the thick clouds of dust which filled the room. When the dust began to clear，a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had fallen down，falling right onto the pillow（枕头）on my bed.

I was glad that I had stayed up late to listen to my uncle's stories，otherwise I should certainly have been seriously injured，perhaps killed.

That night we all slept on the floor in the sitting room downstairs，not wishing to risk our lives by sleeping under a roof which might at any moment fall down on our heads. We left for London the very next morning and my uncle gave up his cottage in the country. This was not the kind of adventure he cared for either！

   Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days, but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.

If I have learned anything in my 16 years, it is that communication is very important, both when you disagree and when you get along. With any relationship, you need to let other person know how you are feeling. If you are not able to communicate, you drift apart. When you are mad at your parents, or anyone else, not talking to them doesn’t solve anything.

Communication begins with the concerns of another. It means that you can’t just come home from school, go up to your room and ignore everyone. Even if you just say “Hi” and see how their day was for five minutes, it is better than nothing.

If you looked up the word “communication” in a dictionary. It would say “the exchange of ideas, the conveyance (表达)of information, means of communication such as a letter or a message”. To keep a good relationship, you must keep communication strong. Let people know how you feel, even if it's Just by writing a note.

When dealing with parents, you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent. If you are trying to make them see something as you see it, tell them that you’ll listen to what they have to say, but ask them politely to listen to you. Yelling or walking away only makes the situation worse.

This is an example: one night, Sophie went to a street party with her friends. She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks, but she didn’t feel she could just ask to go home. That would be rude. After all, they had been nice enough to take her along with them. Needless to say, she was late getting home. Her parents were mad at first, but when Sophie explained why she was late, they weren’t as mad and let the incident go. Communication is the key factor here. If Sophie’s parents had not been willing to listen, Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.

Communication isn’t a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie’s, tell the other person how you feel-listening is the key factor to communication.

   It was Christmas evening. I just _______ home from the nearby grocery store with all kinds of things. The kitchen was _______ with brown bags and boxes. On seeing me coming back, my youngest son, Isaiah, reached me and _______ if I would play a game with him.

I took Isaiah's _______ . He stood there and his green eyes were _______ . “Here is a Christmas _______   for you. Please find it. You can look for something silver. ” he said. I began to do it. I _______ the table in the corner and some other places.

After a few seconds, I saw there was a _______ snow globe on the top of the piano. It was silvery and beautiful. I held the cool _______ in my hands. Isaiah said to me that it was to ________ the one that he had broken the year before. I was puzzled completely. So I bent(弯曲) my ________ beside him. He added how he ________ enough money and asked his elder brother,Logan, to help him buy this one to ________ the broken one. They just wanted to give me a (n) ________ .

Logan nodded and smiled. When I ________ the key on the bottom of the globe, the quiet room was full of music. Isaiah said,“Mum, do you remember how I by accident ________ your snow globe? It broke on the ground ________ the music was still going on. I was so,so sad. ”His face turned a little ________ . But the truth was that I did not quite ________ the broken snow globe after a long time. But Isaiah had been sorry for his ________ all the time. I was sure I would keep this snow globe in my mind forever.