【推荐1】A few months ago, I was waiting in line at Starbucks, a large multinational chain of coffee shops. When______what to get there, I______a woman in her mid-thirties, who was______dressed with a resumein her hand. Just then, one of the employees told her that the manger would be with her______and that she should be______to be here for a few minutes.

While we both waited her phone rang. I happened to overhear the______. She started______to the person on the line, “I’m truly sorry. I lost my job a few months ago and I could______pay tuition.______I promise you I’ll buy the girls their books as soon as I can. Please trust me and just give me______.”

My birthday was the day before and because I loved books, I got many bookstore gift cards. I wanted to give the woman a hand, I______what my mom said to me, “Don’t hesitate and just take______action if you know what to do.”

I searched my handbag and gave her several gift cards which were worth 60 dollars. I did hug her and told her she was in my prayers. I______my friends who gave me the gift cards won’t be______. Those gift cards are helping someone in need. So I am really______to you, my friends, you did help someone today.

【推荐2】My husband had just bought a new washing machine for me. I decided to_______ it the very day, and I washed a lot of things. Everything worked _______, but I couldn’t find_______ of my husband’s socks though I had looked _______ for it.

The next morning, I got ready for_______ as usual. When the bell rang, the students came in. I greeted them and told them _______ we were going to do _______.

When I turned _______ to write on the blackboard, the class burst out _______. They laughed and laughed. They laughed so much, in fact, that I was ________ the headmaster would be in to see all this.

I asked the class to ________, but the ________ I talked, the more they laughed. So I thought I had better pay ________ attention to them and continue to write on the blackboard. When I did this, they laughed even more.

Before long, the teacher who had the room next to ________came to see the reason ________ all the students were laughing . When he came in, he started ________, too.

“Good Heavens!” I said. “Will ________ please tell me what is so ________?”

“Oh, God,” said the teacher, “you have a brown________stuck to the back of your shirt.”

So that’s ________ I found my husband’s missing sock.

“Oh, well,” I said to the class, “let’s just say you have had an unforgettable lesson on static electricity (静电).”

【推荐3】Wheeling her red chair and scissors around the city, a salon owner Katie Steller gives those less _______ strangers the gift of visibility one free hair do at a time.

Steller is highly aware of the _______ of her cleanup job. She knows that a haircut can change a _______. One changed hers: As a teen, she suffered from a disease which was so ______ that her hair soon thinned. Seeing this, her mother_______ Steller’s first professional haircut. To sit down and have somebody look at her and _______ to her like a person and not just an _______ made her feel cared about and less _______.

After that, Steller wanted to have her own salon so she could _______ people to feel the way she’d felt that day. Not long after finishing school, she ________ her Red Chair Project, ________ to people on the streets.

"Part of what ________ my heart was just how lonely some people looked," she said. “I thought maybe I’d go around and ask if they want free haircuts, though I couldn’t ________ their problems.”

Steller listened to people’s ________ of loss, addiction, and ________ to get back on their feet. The attention ________ worked. When she was cutting a woman’s hair one day, someone drove by and ________, you look ________!” The woman in the chair ________ and said it was the first time that she had thought herself not invisible.

To date, Steller has given over 30 haircuts to people who are all living in poverty and it all began with a ________ in simple acts of kindness.

【推荐1】When I re-entered the full-time workforce a few years ago after a decade of lonely self-employment, there was one thing I was looking forward to the most: the opportunity to have work friends once again. It wasn't until I entered the corporate world that I realized, for me at least, being friends with colleagues didn't emerge as a（n） ________ at all. This is surprising when you consider the prevailing emphasis by scholars and trainers and managers on the importance of cultivating close ________ relationships at work. So much research has explored the way in which collegial（同事的）ties can help overcome a range of workplace issues ________ productivity and the quality of work output such as team-based conflict, jealousy, undermining, anger, and more.

Perhaps my expectations of lunches, water-cooler gossip and caring, deep-and-meaningful conversations were a ________ of the last time I was in that kind of office environment. Whereas now, as I near the end of my fourth decade, I realize work can be fully functional and entirely fulfilling without ________ to be best mates with the people sitting next to you.

In an academic analysis just published in the profoundly-respected Journal of Management, researchers have looked at the concept of “indifferent relationships", a simple term that summarizes the fact that relationships at work can ________ be non-interpersonal, inconsequential, unimportant and even, dare I say it, disposable or substitutable.

Indifferent relationships are neither positive nor negative. The limited research conducted thus far indicates they're especially ________ among those who value independence over cooperation, and harmony over confrontation. Indifference is also the ________ option among those who are socially lazy. Maintaining relationships over the long term takes effort, which, for some of us, is much too________.

As noted above, indifferent relationships may not always be the most ________ approach in resolving some of the issues that pop up at work. But there are nevertheless several apparently proven benefits. One of those is ________ . Less time chatting and socializing means more time working and churning（产出）.

The other is ________ . As human beings, we're programmed to compare ourselves to each other in what is an anxiety-causing phenomenon. Apparently, we look down on acquaintances（泛泛之交）more so than friends. Since the former is most common among those ________ to indifferent relationships, their predominance can promote individuals' sense of self-worth.

Ego aside, a third advantage is that the emotional ________of indifferent relationships has been found to enhance critical evaluation, to strengthen one's focus on task resolution, and to gain greater access to valuable information. None of that might be as ________ as after-work socializing but, hey, I'll take it anyway.

【推荐2】It was a Friday morning, 7:30 am. I felt too late to drive my car, so my daughter _________ an Uber (优步). In five minutes, the Uber reached the entrance gate, waiting for my arrival. I just saw the cab _________ and entered the car. I was so busy that I didn't pay any _________ to the driver. I was searching for important papers from my leather bag, so. _________ said, “Please, go quick. I'm in a hurry!”

The _________ came, “Yes, ma'am.”

I was literally surprised when I heard a _________   voice! I stopped my work for a second and looked at the driver. The driver was a young lady. For the first time, I saw a lady driving an Uber!

The car was running on the national highway towards the _________ , It was quite a distance from my home. She was driving _________ well. I didn't know why I became so _________ to know why she had chosen this ____________ . I started the conversation, “If you don't mind, can I ask you some questions? ”

“I guess, you are well ____________ .”

“Yes, ma' am! I have completed my ____________ , I have done my MBA course.”

“Oh, wow!!! Why did you then chose this profession, instead of going for an ____________ career?”

I could see her face in the rear — view mirror. She ____________ and then she expressed her views. I was really amazed!

Very politely, she said, “Driving was my ____________ from my childhood, ma'am! of course I do ____________ each and every job. In this case, ____________ I fulfilled my desire. I love driving! I don't mind big or small jobs. I wanted a job where I can get satisfaction. I got ____________ from international companies but this one I preferred because I like it. I know I can't get enough money out of it, ____________ as I told you — I love driving! That's it!”

“Is it worth it?”

“____________ you like it, yes.”

【推荐3】Few 17-year-old girls know how to weld (焊接) two metal pipes together. I have learned this skill in the past five years as an assistant for my father’s personal plumbing (管道装置) business. This summer job often needs to deal with the mess that causes physical and mental ________, and, to some extent, ________ a tough and elegant attitude. It is often difficult to cope with. But I________.

Every morning, I had to put on a pair of men’s jeans. Most of my peers are ________ to wear it in public. I ________ tied my hair when I rushed out of the house, and climbed into the front passenger seat of the plumber’s construction ________ .

When my peers were part-time babysitters or lifeguards, I was ________ my father in the dirty bathroom or the wet basement. Thick dust covered my nose and mouth, and my hands became black. There is nothing beautiful and neat; everything in front of you is ________.

Honestly speaking, I felt powerless, discouraged and unable to think hard. Pipe work is a tough job, and I sometimes hate it. I asked myself why I had to tolerate these dust and sweat. I can even find another job, a ________ job more like my peers. ________, just as I hate messy pipes, I also hate being affected by these little ________ emotions. After all, the world is built by people who are willing to get their hands dirty. Life is a process of ________ chaos (混乱) and learning to clean up, and pipeline work is no ________.

My dad and I not only create chaos, we also create ________. When customers are ________   for our work, I understand that we have brought order to their lives in small places. The physical and mental discomfort of plumbing work is worth it.

【推荐1】I had spent the 22 years following my childhood dream—becoming a professor of marine biology. However, in graduate school I saw how applying for research funding is a constant source of ________ for many professors. I decided I did not want to ________ a career in research after all.

I began to ________ career panels (咨询组), from which I expected to get some ________ proposals. I walked into the room with other ________ graduate students, confident that the panelists would have the ________ I needed. Well-meaning as the panelists were, they fell ________ when I brought up my ________. I felt totally lost.

I went to my professor for help ________. After listening to my complaint, my professor told me that instead of focusing on finding a dream job, I should ________ what I am good at and what makes me ________ at least 80% of the time. These words surprised me at first, but it ________ being exactly what I needed to hear.

I was relieved to finally have practical ________. But I discovered that finding overlap (重叠) between what I enjoy and what I’m good at was not ________. I love diving, but the physical demands are a(n)________ for me. I’m good at teaching but I don’t like ________ the same content every year.

To ________ the waters, I started a blog about the history of scientific discoveries. I found that I loved the ________ to choose what to write about, and I never ran into a challenge I didn’t enjoy. After 3 years of ________, I was offered a position as a science writer. It’s ________ like my childhood dream. But I am happy—more than 80% of the time.

【推荐2】My mother told us that we would not be _______ Christmas gifts because there was not enough money. I felt sad and when I started to _______ that there would not be a Christmas that year, three women _______ at our house with gifts for all of us. For me they brought a doll. I felt such a sense of _______ that I would no longer have to be embarrassed when I returned to school.

Years later, when I stood in the kitchen of my new house, thinking how I wanted to make my _______ Christmas there special and memorable, I _______ remembered the women’s visit. So I _______ a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help. We gathered about 125 orphans (孤儿) at the Christmas party. For every child, we wrapped colorful packages filled with toys, clothes, and school supplies, _______ with a child’s name. We wanted all of them to know they were _______. Before I called out their names and handed them their gifts, I reminded them that they couldn’t open their presents __________ every child had come forward. Finally the __________ they had been waiting for came as I called out, “One, two, three. Open your presents!” As the children opened their packages, their faces beamed and their bright smiles __________ up the room. The __________ in the room was obvious, and __________ wasn’t just about toys. It was the feeling I knew __________ that Christmas so long ago when the women came to visit.

【推荐3】I had an experience with a stranger recently that really touched me. In February, I lost my mom and I flew to my _________to tackle a few things. After a few days with my family, it was time to head back. I _________ the plane to find a young man sitting in the window seat, next to me. Somehow that day I _________ wanted that seat — I could just put on my headphones and sleep.

I asked him shyly if we could _________ seats. Upon my request, he did it and I _________ him many times. After the plane began to taxi to the runway, the _________ began to hit. Leaving the place I grew up and knowing Mom was no longer there, I _________ . The ground grew more and more _________ outside the window and my eyes became _________ as tears welled up.

Then I felt a tap on my elbow as I ____________ them away. That same young man was ____________ on me. He asked me if I was OK and I told him I lost someone I loved. Without ____________, he said he was there if I needed to talk. ____________, we had a three hour flight sitting in the same row.

I told him I wasn't ____________to talk, adding that his words made me feel better. Honestly, I felt ____________

Actually, I felt like I wasn't ____________ on that plane. Although I never took him up on his ____________ , I was touched that a ____________ knew that I may need someone at that moment.

That moment has led me to seek ways to serve and help others. They may seem ____________, but they may be big to that person. ____________ can be displayed in a simple but grand way.