Cala didn’t like us. Any of us. We didn’t do anything to offend her and she didn’t know us but that didn’t matter, she still didn’t like us.

As new teachers in the Emirati school, we Westerners greeted her every day. She ignored us. She came into our rooms and bypassed us as she shook hands with all the non-Westerners. Whenever we saw her, she avoided eye contact with us. Eventually, we stopped trying to befriend her.

I won’t say her nationality but her friends had been fired from the school, we had been employed in their places and that was enough for her to have nothing to do with us.

Well after 16 months in the school we had a secret-friend gifting. To my surprise, I drew her name from the glass jar and that meant she was my secret pal. My role was to buy her a gift and say something about her when we publicly acknowledged who our secret pal was.

I decided to gift her a coloured bangle(手镯). I added a postcard and wrote “Love and Blessings, Rose-Marie.”

Then came the day. We all gathered in the meeting room. When you received your gift, you said a few kind words about your secret friend and passed the gift to them. What could I say?Everyone knew she didn’t like the Westerners. She taught music in the school so I said “My secret pal is someone who brings music to our ears every day.” She came forward with a huge warm smile. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks and accepted my gift.

Since then, she smiles often. We hug and shake hands when we meet. I have seen her wear my gift several times and I am so pleased.

When I was 13 my only purpose was to become the star on our football team. That meant _______ Miller King, who was the best _______ at our school.

Football season started in September and all summer long I worked out. I carried my football everywhere for _______.

Just before September, Miller was struck by a car and lost his right arm. I went to see him after he came back from _______. He looked very _______, but he didn’t cry.

That season, I _______ all of Miller’s records while he _______ the home games from the bench. We went 10-1 and I was named most valuable player,_______ I often had crazy dreams in which I was to blame for Miller’s _______.

One afternoon, I was crossing the field to go home and saw Miller __________ going over a fence—which wasn’t __________ to climb if you had both arms. I’m sure I was the last person in the world he wanted to accept __________ from. But even that challenge he accepted. I __________ him move slowly over the fence. When we were finally __________ on the other side, he said to me, “You know, I didn’t tell you this during the season, but you did __________ .Thank you for filling in for __________.”

His words freed me from my bad __________. I thought to myself, how even without an arm he was more of a leader. Damaged but not defeated, he was __________ ahead of me. I was right to have __________ him. From that day on, I grew __________ and a little more real.

The way you walk may be determined by your daily schedule, and it may also reflect your personality. The     43     (choose) you make can tell something about your inner thoughts. At least, that’s    44     science has proved. Lately, researchers     45     (observe) the way that people walk and how it relates to their personalities. Available online via Sage Journals, the study examines both the walking styles and personalities of 15,000 adults aged from 25 to 50. According to the study, when     46     (face) with the new challenges, fast walkers are more likely to be active while quiet people tend to walk more slowly. Meanwhile, the study has also found    47     (power) evidence that walking speed in adulthood reflects the individual’s personality. However, speeding up your walking pace can’t     48     (instant) make you the life of the party,     49     means that you needn’t change your personality. Actually, there are     50     (hide) strengths of being a quiet person as well as an active one. Make the most of your strengths,     51     you can be successful regardless of which type you fall into and     52     fast or slowly you walk.