Old friends They finish your sentences, and they tell you the truth when you've had a bad haircut. ____ mostly, they are always there for you-whether it's in person or late-night phone calls-in good times and _____. But as the years pass, it becomes increasingly _____ to see each other, to make new memories. ___, my high school friends and I promised to have reunions.

A few months ago, we met up for a two-day _____ in the American Southwest. We grew up together in Maine and have said for years that we should have a（n）_____ event, yet it was often put off or _____ due to schedule conflicts（冲突）. Not this year.

The weekend _____ long talks by the pool, wonderful meals, and a hike that brought the entire group to _____. Not tears of sadness or anger, but a close tie with such physical ______ between us. It's heartbreaking that we can't spend our days together in the same neighborhood. But that's ______. Grown-up life.

The most ______ is the group's adaptability to one another. The time we ______ apart is non-existent. No need to get reacquainted, we jump back in the saddle（车座）and it's as comfortable as ever. Old friends—friends with an ever-present ______ of support and sisterhood, friends that know each other-are hard to come by and yet we ______ today as we were years ago, laughing in the back row of Mr. McKechnie's 9th grade math class.

Life today,______, has no math class. Our world is full of ______, full of fear. Yet it ______ me— now, more than ever—how important it is that we stay ______. We may have questions about our future, but we have true faith in our past, and though this reunion of friends has come to a close, we are already ______ our plans for the next one.

When Jack was a small boy，he was once asked to give a speech about "A Big Challenge in My Life". He was 【小题1】（terrible）shy the moment he thought of so many eyes staring at him. He had no other 【小题2】（choose），though. First Jack was to draft the speech，which was just a piece of cake for him 【小题3】he was a good writer. But the hard part 【小题4】（lie）in his oral presentation（陈述），for it was not allowed to read from the paper. He had to give the speech from memory in front of such a big audience！

A real trial began when Jack stood on the platform with his legs trembling and his mind blank. How much time had passed 【小题5】, he didn't know. His listeners were still waiting patiently and without any signs of laughing. Gradually he found himself back, giving his speech without much difficulty. After 【小题6】seemed to be a hundred years, he found the audience applauding. He made 【小题7】! From then on, his fear of talking before an audience disappeared. Actually with his confidence 【小题8】 (build) up, Jack now turns out 【小题9】 (be)a great speaker. As we know, the greater difficulty we meet on our way to success, the【小题10】( likely) we will be to achieve our goals.

   This is the time of the year when I feel the memories of the small town and country days come alive！In October each year，we planned to spend a weekend with our grandparents in Michigan. Riding by fields already harvested for the winter，we could still see remains of summer corn stalks. Smoke would fill the air as we drove through the country. Chimney smoke reminded us the area we were visiting was colder than the city and fireplaces in homes were heated as the months would soon turn to cooler winter days.

While riding along the country road，we saw the trees stand tall and many fallen leaves lie on the ground. And we could see the birds of the season，the pheasants，and watch as they flew in the sky flapping（扑动）their beautiful wings to a hidden area away from the eyes of a hunter. On arriving，our grandparents always had a decorative pumpkin with a smile. It might be weeks before Halloween，but Grandpa grew a supply of pie pumpkins and cooked the seeds with salt for us to eat.

Often the small town would have a homecoming parade（返校节游行）on Saturday morning. We'd walk two blocks to the main street where the school band would start off the festivities. Store owners would all come out to watch the parade. Church women's groups would have tables along the sidewalk to raise money. Children played together and adults talked. What fun it was！

And early in the morning，Dad would meet some men. In an area，they waited for pheasants to fly.

Although pheasants tasted good，I secretly hoped they would let the beautiful birds fly away. They belonged to the blue sky.

As time goes by，all becomes more precious to me. When I married and raised my family，fall trips became a yearly event. Whenever I drive along a country road, I often picture scenes from the small town where my grandparents live in Michigan.