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.

   I’m a woman, whose colleagues are nearly all women as well. So having a son can be a strange experience. I sometimes tell my husband that raising our 3-year-old boy _____ someone dropped me off on another _____ where I didn’t know the language and had no map.

My son makes me laugh, but his desires and _____ sometimes do feel as _____ to me as another galaxy (星系). He has taught me so much about the bigger man (my husband) in my life and even _____ about men in general.

When I get _____ at my husband now, I look at our son and stop. He was once as sweet and precious as my son, _____ he is so annoying now.

My mother-in-law’s attitude used to be puzzling to me, but now I _____ it. I love my son so much. If some woman ever _____ him, she’d be punished for that.

______ my daughter can’t find something, she will search. But my son is ______ calling, “Mommy ! Daddy! Where is my toy?” It’s so much like my husband. He will also spend 0.1 second ______ for it before calling out to me and ______ where the butter, cheese, or coat is. My son has taught me it’s a man’s thing.______, that doesn’t mean I won’t make him stop having the bad habit. I ______ will. Isn’t that what all moms say?

My husband showers every day on most ______ days. But on weekends or on vacation? Forget it. Now I understand that. My son ______ bath time and screams the whole time. I have to bribe (诱哄) him to get ______.

Nothing is sweeter for a mom than her baby boy. My daughter and I are equally ______, but in a different way. He tells me he loves me and how beautiful I am. I wish I could bottle that sweetness and ______ it for his teen years.

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.