【推荐1】Lessons of a Monitor

Time goes by fast I can still remember the day when I _________ stepped into senior high school. On my first day, I stood alone in a comer of the classroom, _________ in the world of my own thoughts. Other students got to know each other quickly, _________ I wasn’t speaking.

Soon, the class bell rang. We all sat silently in our seas. Mr Song, our new teacher, _________ into the classroom. As he finished his introduction speech, Mr Song asked, “Who wants to he the monitor?” So many students tried their best to _________ their hands.

As usual, I quietly sat in my seat. I had never _________ being a monitor because I didn’t believe I could do it well. _________, to my surprise, Mr Song turned to me and said, “The boy at the back, you’ll be the monitor, OK?” Looking into his trusting eyes, I could not _________. Although I thought about the _________ tasks I would face, I decided to accept it and said, “OK, I’ll do it!”

That was my first time that I __________ and showed my determination (决心). And it __________ me forever. Carrying out the monitor’s duties every day, I discovered my hidden __________ for leadership (领导). I came to understand the importance of standing up __________ difficulties. Now I can stand __________ in front of the whole class and give a speech. And I never shy away from asking teachers questions. Standing up has given me __________ and courage. And these qualities (品质) will stay with me on the journey of life, no matter what I experience.

【推荐2】Tia Wimbush and Susan Ellis have been co-workers for a decade. _________, they didn’t know each other well.

Their spouses each needed a kidney _________, and while Wimbush could have given her husband one of hers, she wasn’t a _________ match. Ellis, meanwhile, was no match at all for her husband.

One day, _________ the fall of 2020, the women saw each other in the office restroom and started chatting,   _________ that patients may wait many years for their name to _________ on the national kidney cadaver donor waiting list. Both women   _________ their husbands didn’t have that kind of time.

Wimbush asked Ellis what her husband’s blood type was.

After exchanging the replies, the women were amazed to find it was a _________ that they were both going through this with their husbands at the same time and they could also be in a position to help. Then Wimbush made a _________ to get tested.

So they did. Antibody tests __________ that each woman was an excellent match for the other’s spouse. And in March 2021, seven months after that chance __________, they made the donation.

The surgery was a success, with no __________. “It’s really just a story about simple __________,” Susan Ellis says. “For us, it started with two people just being good humans.”

Rodney Wimbush says he will be forever __________ that his wife decided to __________ a subject about blood types in the office restroom.

【推荐2】It’s not every day that someone goes out of their way to help a total stranger.

Dee Harkrider recently dropped by a _________. After loading her purchases into the car, she _________ left her wallet in the shopping cart and drove away. She wasn’t even _________ that she’d left the wallet behind.

It was her friend, Elaine Keown, that rang her up, _________ if she knew a young man named Delivontae Johnson. “I’ve never heard that _________,” Dee recalled.

It turned out that 19-year-old Delivontae visited the same supermarket and _________ her wallet in the shopping cart. He opened the wallet and found Dee’s driver’s license, but with no phone number to _________ her, so he turned to social platform. Once he _________ her profile picture with the one on her driver’s license, he sent her a message.

Dee didn’t reply, so Delivontae reached out to Elaine, who’d recently _________ with Dee on the platform. It certainly took some detective work to __________ the wallet’s owner!

Dee and Delivontae arranged to meet at a restaurant, where Delivontae returned the wallet and Dee pulled $ 20 to give him as a(n) __________. “He was like a hero,”   said the __________ grandmother.

Delivontae says it felt “great” to help someone in need, and urged others to perform random acts of __________ to brighten someone’s day. “You’ve just got to be __________,” said Delivontae, “There’s no telling what the __________ might be. If you do good things, good things will follow.”

【推荐3】Architect Brian Bononi was at a job, measuring a portrait (相片) studio that had been shut down. That was when he _________ it—dozens upon dozens of family portraits that had been taken but never delivered to those who _________ their photos. He couldn’t get the _________ off his mind. They were waiting to be thrown out, and that didn’t sit right with him.

“My heart _________ every time I looked at the pile,” said Brian. “I knew that those photos _________ a lot to the people who were in them. _________ I didn’t do something, they’d _________ be gone and forgotten.” Then and there he decided to _________ these portraits and reunite as many families with their long-lost portraits as he could.

Brian, with the help of his wife and four children, took all 167 _________ portraits to their house. They developed a system of ____________ photos—alphabetizing all the portraits with the available information. Then they started tracking down the parietal ____________. It’s really a lovely ____________, especially because it turned out to take so much ____________.

So far they have been able to ____________ over 60 people and returned more than 40 photos. Just recently, they created a Facebook page to help spread the message with the hope that more people will ____________ themselves.