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.

As a working mom with three young sons，keeping the house clean is a big challenge. 【小题1】 we clean the house every week，one hour later after cleaning our bedrooms and bathrooms are back to their 【小题2】（mess）look. When asked, my boys will help neaten their room, clear their plates from the table and pick up their school junk. But I need to remind them 【小题3】 it again and again.

If I don't remind them, I will step over all the things 【小题4】 make my house look like a garbage can. This is quite 【小题5】 change from my pre-kid years when I never 【小题6】 (leave) any waste in the house. 【小题7】 seems that I cannot get these days back again at my own house.

When last week I found a program 【小题8】 (call) Share a Healthy Habit in a newspaper, I saw a great chance to engage my sons in doing chores. Why not encourage these behaviors during the 【小题9】 (relax) life in summer vacation?

The goal for my boys is to clean their own bedrooms themselves when they are free. The rewards for clean habits start young and continue as they get 【小题10】 (old), so I need to start my plan as soon as possible.

   I was surprised when I received a short message from my father wishing me a happy birthday.

I had _____ to hear from my mother，my grandmother and my other relatives，but never from my father. Lying in bed，_____ of my father flooded back.

When I was a little boy，I regarded my father as a（n）_____  able to do anything. _____ ，things slowly began to _____ .The more I learned，the more I doubted what he said. The gap between us _____ and，at last，I didn't even like communicating with him.

My father，in my mind，had no _____ in talking with me. Dinner was the only time we were together. He had no time to watch TV with me. He would tell me to ask my mother _____ I needed something. He even refused to answer my _____ when I phoned from school. I got ______ the changes. I thought that perhaps my father no longer ______ me.

Over time, however, I began to wonder whether my ______ was right. One day, my mother told me that each time I called, my father was always ______ beside her. Suddenly, I hated myself for my ______ behavior toward him.

I planned thousands of times to ______ to my father. In the end, however, I was always too embarrassed about what I had done.

But that Saturday, I was so ______ by his short message. I ______ then that my father's love for me had never disappeared. I decided to send a ______ “Thank you, my dear father.”

Two days later, when I returned home, my mother told me that my father had been so ______ when he received my reply. She said he had ______ from morning till night. At that moment, I felt truly happy.

   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.