短文填空。（每空2分，共16分）
根据下面短文内容，在短文的空格处填上一个恰当的词，使短文完整、通顺。
My stutter(口吃) had always been a problem. As I walked down the hallway to meet a new teacher, memories came to my mind of how painful being a kid who stutters had been. It still hurts.
“Hello! I’m Mrs. Claussen. I hear you’re from Texas!”
“Ye-Ye-Ye-Yes m-m-m-m-m-m-m-aam, I am…” My ____ felt like it was pounding(重击) through my chest and beating faster with my hands wet.
“Well,” she said with a kind smile. “I’ve always liked Texas.”
She ___ out to be the best speech teacher I’d ever had, not like those who told me to clap my hands while speaking. She spent the first several weeks just talking to me—asking me all kinds of questions about myself, especially my feelings. She then began to teach about the speech.
I ____ to sing in my old school as a pretty good tenor（男高音）, but I learned that the new school’s singing group was all filled up. It was ___ bad news that it made me really disappointed. That was because it was the one thing I could really do well—and I could do it ____ stuttering. Somehow Mrs. Claussen finally got me in the group. I felt like she really cared about me as a person, not just a speech student.
During the next two years, my speech didn’t get much better—except with her. When I was in college, things got worse. I once even wondered if I would ever be ____ to communicate! When I was feeling sorry for myself, I remembered Mrs. Claussen had told me whether I could change my speech all ___ on me. She had told me not to fight for perfect speech, just for a better one. She was right about that. I finally made it.
Many years later, each time I think of her, wondering if she influenced her other students as ____ as she had influenced me. I like to think that she did. Her name was Mrs. Claussen. I’ll never forget her.