【推荐1】A few years ago, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I didn’t tell it to anybody. Like most people, I had the ________ that depression was a(n) ________ of weakness.

But I wasn’t weak. I’d ________ a Master’s degree in Media Studies and I’d even won two Emmy Awards for my hard work. Sure, I was totally _________ . I lacked interest in things I used to enjoy. But depressed? No, not me.

It took weeks ________ I could admit it, but the doctor was right: I was depressed. Still, I didn’t tell anybody about my diagnosis. I was too ________ . I had a loving family and a successful ________ . When I thought about the unspeakable horrors that my ancestors had been through in this country, my shame grew even deeper.

On July 4, 2013, my world came ________ . My 22-year-old nephew, Paul, had ended his life, after years of ________ depression and anxiety. Words ________ me when I wanted to express my desperation. Paul and I were very close, but I had no idea he was in so much pain. Neither of us had ever talked to the other about our struggles. The shame kept us both ________ .

I spent the next two years researching depression and anxiety, and what I found was ________ . Depression is the leading cause of sickness and disability in the world. Research suggests that most mental disorders develop, at least ________ , because of a chemical imbalance in the ________ .

Black Americans had a 20 percent greater risk of developing a mental disorder, and 63 percent of black Americans ________ depression for a weakness.

Now, seventy percent of people struggling with depression will improve with therapy and medication. Armed with this information, I ________ not to be silent anymore. I would share our story in hopes of ________ a national conversation.

A friend, Kelly Pierre-Louis, said, “Pretending to be strong is ________ us.” Having feelings doesn’t ________ mean weakness.

Life is beautiful. Sometimes it’s messy. But it will all be OK. If your burden gets too heavy, stay ________ , and you can ask for a hand.

【推荐2】During the past nine years, much of my spare time has been spent in taking things apart. I _________ fixing almost everything from electronics to vehicles.

I _________ discovered my love for taking things apart when I was eight. I was playing with one remote-controlled car when it _________ and broke into pieces, showing its inside _________. I had no idea what they were, but I was _________ by everything inside—the motors and circuit boards that made it _________. So I began to take apart all of my remote-controlled toys to _________ out their principles of movement.

As I got older, I understood how those parts _________. Then I realized that if I took something apart, I could use the pieces to make something else. That led to _________ many things, like an elevator for my building and motorized wooden boats, all __________ electric motors and circuit boards. I guessed my __________ for fixing things came from my father. Ever since I could hold a tool, I’ve followed him around, helping him __________ things. Then he taught me not only how to repair things but how to build them.

When it was time for me to __________ to repair cars, I immediately loved it. My first __________ was an oil change. When it was done, I felt __________. Since then, I’ve been proud of my knowledge of cars. Now, I can fix almost anything on a(n) __________.

People always say, “You should choose your __________ not based on money, but on what you love.” I’m lucky that I found my favorite occupation at such a __________ age. I know becoming a(n) __________ will give me the opportunity to take my interest in creating new things and __________ it to the world.

【推荐3】When I was a child, I was always climbing up the conker tree in our back garden or tackling oaks (橡树) in Epping Forest. And I’ve never lost the ________.

Writing the Wolf Brother books about stone age hunter-gatherers kept it ________. On a research trip to Bialowieza Forest in Poland, I climbed a lime tree that had survived a lightning ________ a few years before. The tree was growing well, the rope-like scar down its ________ making it temptingly climbable; I put it in one of my ________. And in the Taygetos mountains in Greece I shinned up a tree rather ________ to avoid a wild boar (野猪) with piglets.

I didn’t ________ to climb more trees during lockdown; it just happened. I live on Wimbledon Common, and over the summer I was in the ________ by dawn most days. Climbing the odd tree has been a(n) ________ from worrying about my 89-year-old mother. I’ve never been so ________ to live near woods, or so conscious that many people don’t.

My favourite trees for climbing are some secluded (僻静的) oaks with low branches for that tricky first hoist (拉高), as well as one ________ enormous beech (山毛榉树) that is difficult, but worth it. Wild creatures don’t expect people to climb trees, and they often don’t ________ I’m there. I’ve had close ________ with bats, crows, ________ little goldcrests, squirrels and, of course, the trees themselves: lichen-crusted branches, faces in the bark.

When I’m feeling ________ or low, being up a tree gives me perspective: it has lived ________ than me and seen it all. Tree climbing is also brilliant for solving writing problems. It doesn’t give me the answer ________ it helps me see the question I should be asking. I’m very keen ________ owls, and during the summer, two tawny owlets practised flying from a pair of lime trees close to my house. If that’s ________ next year, I’d love to be up a nearby tree when they do it. An owl’s-eye view of the woods at dusk— that would be ________.