阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

    My dad, “Mutt” Mantle is1 a father to me, sometimes more like a good judge of talent.

    He was 2 about baseball. He made his living working in mines. But he played baseball in several town teams.

    From the day I was born, Dad said he wanted me to make my living as baseball player. He named me Mickey3 a catcher he liked. He hoped I would play for the New York Yankees.

    Dad often 4 a toy baseball to my crib(摇篮). One day, 5. I caught one. Then he was sure that I'd be a ball player!

    I learned about the 6 on a ball field before I learned my ABC's. When I was three, Dad had Mama make me little uniform. He liked to 7 around town in it.

    When I five, I started school. That same day, I had my first 8 in switch-hitting(左右手都能击球)

    Dad and Grandpa were in the yard when I came home from school. They had a small bat and two9“Mickey,” said Dad, “ Grandpa and I have thought up at a new 10. Take this bat and try to hit our

    pitches(投掷).I'm left-handed. When I throw, you swing right-handed 11 you always have. Grandpa's right-handed. When he throws, turn around and swing left-handed.”

    Dad was going to make me a 12 ! He knew that a player who can bat both right and left has a good 13 of making hit.

    That day I tried and tried. But I couldn't swing left-handed. After about 15 minutes, I yelled to Mama for help. She said, “ I know it's easy. But please try.14, to make Dad happy .”

    So, every day after school we had switch-hitting 15. After two weeks, I didn't 16 it any more. My17 were getting trained. I began to hit a few.

    After a year or two, Dad and Grandpa began throwing as 18 as they could. And they put real curves(曲线)on those tennis balls. Then as I grew older, they began to use baseball 19.

    So you know20I, today's baseball star Mickey Mantle, got my star as a Switch-Hitter.

    My most rewarding experience throughout the past two years was volunteering at the swimming competition for Special Olympics where a disabled friend of my community took part. This had special 1for me because experiencing it helped improve my leadership skills, my character, and support my community.

    First, my leadership skills developed when I 2directed each swimmer where to line up at the platform and 3each player when they needed to swim. I had to make sure that the swimmers were 4and ready to perform. This kept me on my feet at all times and5of each event's time and location. I learned each swimmer's name, since many of them swam in more than one 6.

    Secondly, my7was greatly improved when I saw the swimmers get their awards for winning each swimming event, I was8that most swimmers could swim better than I. It astonished me by their 9attitudes, whether they won or lost. This also expanded my horizons, offering me the opportunity to10people I would normally not come across. I went out of my11zone and did whatever was needed to be done. It was especially 12when I saw the cheerful faces of the players.

    Lastly, I was of 13to my community by lending a hand to this organization in need of 14. To be a15of it gave me a chance to improve my community and become16with the people living in this area.

    As Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we do, but we make a lite by what we give. ”The17should be done throughout your life.18through the many opportunities my community has offered I was privileged to be 19in this exciting and important event in these players' lives. I hope to be a(n)20at this event in years to come.

    Steve, a 12-year-old boy, had been failing since first grade. He generally went 1 until he joined Miss White's class.

    "You all did pretty well," she told the 2as she went over the test results, " 3one boy, and it breaks my heart to tell you this, but ..." She hesitated, looking at Steve.

    "The 4boy in the seventh grade is failing my class." Steve 5his eyes and carefully examined his fingertips.

    After that, Steve refused to do his 6. Miss White was very 7and tried to encourage him to study.

    "Give yourself a 8! Don't give up on your life!" Miss White told him, yet it didn't 9.

    Then one day, she said, "Steve! Please! I care about you!"

    10, Steve got it. Someone cared about him.

    He spent the whole afternoon thinking about what he should do. Arriving at his house after school, feeling determined, he headed to his bedroom to 11.

    Monday morning, Miss White gave a 12on the weekend homework. Steve 13through the test, and was the first to hand in his paper. Miss White looked it over in total 14. The smartest boy in the seventh grade had just 15his first test.

    From that moment, nothing was the same for Steve. He discovered that not only could he learn, but he was 16it.

    After high school, Steve joined the Navy. During his naval career, he 17many young people who might not have believed in themselves if he hadn't believed in them first.

    Miss White saved one boy who 18changing many lives.

    You see, it's simple, really. A(n) 19can take place within the heart of one boy, all because of one teacher, who 20.

    You never know how far a kind act can go. You don't know who it can 1, either. When Gloria Porter and Jeff Reick began 2, they had no idea how much it would 3 others to shower (大量给予) people with kindness.

    89-year-old Gloria Porter was lying in hospital. She couldn't leave her ward. So to 4 boredom, she would often stare outside her window to watch construction workers building the new front entrance to the hospital. She wasn't expecting one of the 5 to wave to her. She couldn't help but wave back at the kind 6. This was only the start of a special 7 between the two.

    Jeff Reick knew Porter was 8, so he decided to send a kind 9 to her by finding some chalk and writing "Get Well" on one of the beams (梁) facing her 10. "I just thought that was 11," Porter said. "So I should do something to 12 that."

    When Porter saw construction workers working high above the ground one cold, windy day, she grew 13. She wrote "Stay safe" on a piece of paper, which she then 14 on the window for the workers to see. "When I saw 4 Stay safe' on a piece of paper, I 15 and said to my coworkers, 'Did you see that?'" Reick said.

    The hospital staff took photos of that and 16 them on social media. The simple acts of kindness 17 and many people were employed in similar acts, including one woman who delivered 18 pizza to the construction workers.

    "I just try to lead by example and never expect so much 19," Reick said. "If everybody 20 does things like that, the world will be a better place."

    I had reached the age of twenty-eight. Still, I1 whether the letter from my past would make it to me, all these years later. It was a2 writing task from when I was eighteen. The teacher collected our letters to our3 selves in self-addressed envelope with stamps and promised to4 them ten years later. But since so much time had passed, would he even5 ?

    Thinking back on the6 , I recalled giving my future self some advice. When you're eighteen Years old, twenty-eight seems like a7  age, but I wasn't feeling as mature as I believed my younger self had8 me to be.

    When the letter finally reached me, I opened it9 . It began, "How much do you bet this letter will never get to you? "It continued to greet me casually10 we were having an IM (instant messaging) chat. As a senior in high school, facing the11 SATS and college application, my eighteen-year-old self was so12 ! She was apparently not quite happy and hoped I wouldn't worry so much in the future, and that I wouldn't forget to be present and13 my life!

    14 to my belief, my eighteen-year-old self did not have any demands of me, or expectations I might have15 meet. Instead, she wrote, "I'll16 whatever you do. Even if you are not the one I'm imagining now, I'll support you, because maybe17 I'm imagining is someone else, but you're not someone else, you're me.

    I was18 , and tears welled up in my eyes at this19 through time. I had put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best version of myself that I could be.20 , I came to realize what I would have accomplished in ten years would pale in comparison(相形见细)to how I'd feel and who I'd be.

    A married lady was expecting a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had 1 a beautiful diamond ring. Knowing her husband could2it, she told him that it was all she wanted as a birthday gift.

    As her birthday approached, this lady awaited3that her husband had purchased the diamond ring.

    Finally, on the morning of her birthday, her husband told her how4he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He 5her with a beautifully wrapped gift. Curious, she opened it and found a Bible. She raised her6to her husband and said, "Only a Bible?" She was so7that she left him.

    Many years later, the lady8in a more beautiful house. Realising her husband was very old, she thought perhaps she should go to9him. But before she could make10, she received a letter telling her that he had11and given all of his 12to her. She needed to come back and take care of things.

    When she arrived at his house, regret13her heart. She saw the14brand-new Bible, just as she had left it before. With15, she opened it and began to turn the pages, finding a sentence16marked by her husband,

    "Bad as you, you know how to give good things to your children!" As she read those words, a bag17from the Bible: a diamond ring and the words "I LOVE YOU" could be seen.

    If your18is not packaged the way you want it, it's because it is better packaged! Always 19little things; they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, for they must be felt with 20.