A Lucky Pen

"Mommy, I’ve got something for you! George ran through the door after school one day. He waved something above his head. “See, it's a lucky pen!” ____26____ I looked at the pen in my hand. There was nothing special about it. But I didn't realize how special it was at that moment. I had made the decision to pursue a career in writing. ____27____ I had dreamed about it for a long time but I was afraid to take a chance. I was scared of rejection.

The night before, I had voiced those fears to my husband when I thought George wasn't listening. But George must have overheard us. Now he stood in front of me, watching me examine the pen. “You don't have to be scared now,” he said. “This pen will make your stories great and everyone will love you.” Tears filled my eyes. ___28_____ Rejection didn't seem like such a big deal any more. Even if I never sold the first story, I had everything I could ever need. George in my life!

I found out later how lucky I was when I heard what he did to get the pen. During lunch break at school that day, George heard a boy talking about a lucky pen he had. ____29____ The boy was a tough negotiator but George didn't give up. In the end, he traded his lunch, his favorite cartoon book, and his new football, his most prized possession for that pen. Just to make me feel better.

____30____ It never fails to remind me just how lucky I am! I am the luckiest mother in the

world now and forever.

A recent ____31____ has found that chocolate may be good for your heart. This is a fantastic message for all chocolate lovers. The study was ____32____ over eight years. It followed 20,000 chocolate-eating people, and ____33____ the amount of chocolate in their diet to the incidence of heart attack. Lead researcher Brian Smith said: “The good news is that chocolate is not as bad as we ____34____ to think, and may even lower the risk of heart disease.”

Experts ____35____ that natural compounds in chocolate called flavonols are good for our heart. They are found in cocoa beans（可可豆）. As dark chocolate has more cocoa than milk chocolate which has more fat, it contains more flavonols. “So, dark chocolate is the ____36____  kind to eat” said Smith.

The study showed that people who ate the most chocolate reduced their ____37____ of having a heart attack by 27 percent. But Smith warns people not to ___38_____ eat lots of chocolate.“Eating higher amounts will most likely ___39_____ weight gain. If people start ____40____ small amounts of chocolate, it should replace something else, preferably other high-calorie sweets, he said.

A: healthiest

B: believe

C: conducted

D: risk E: compared

F: suddenly

G: study

H: running

I: used

J: result in

K: eating

L: from