So, what is plogging? As a matter of fact, it is a    1    of picking and jogging, which means picking up garbage while working out. Many people    2    it because plogging benefits us a lot. It not only helps us keep    3    and mentally healthy but also is of great    4    to protect the environment and our homeland. People of all ages can participate in this kind of exercise. More than that, it raises the public    5    of environmental issues and develops their sense of responsibility.

Everybody can be a great ... because anybody can     1    . You don’t have to have a college     2     to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul     3     by love.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mark was walking home from school one day when he saw the boy in front of him fall over and drop all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a basketball, a glove and a Walkman. Mark stopped and helped the boy pick up these things. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of his       4    . As they walked, Mark discovered that the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved computer games, basketball and history, that he was having lots of     5     with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch television. The afternoon passed happily with a few laughs and some     6     small talks, and then Mark went home. They continued to see each other at school, had lunch together once or twice, and then they both graduated from that middle school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief     7     over the years. The long awaited senior year came at last, and just three weeks before they finished high school, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

Bill     8     to remind Mark of the day years ago when they had first met.“Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker (储物柜) because I didn’t want to leave anything for anyone else. I had stored away some of mother’s sleeping pills and I was going home to     9     suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I began to understand that if I killed myself, I would have     10     that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”

Climb

Just take a minute or two to marvel at your fingers. The way they can grip onto any surface and how they move and adapt to anything. Suspended halfway up a rocky cliff face, I am painfully     1     for this, as my life is dependent on the endurance and strength in my fingertips.

I started the morning with a quiet stroll along the     2     of the cliff. I wasn’t afraid as I had done this many a time to clear my mind. As I looked out at the crashing sea below I started to shiver; it was late November and it was predicted to be a(n)     3     cold winter. As I reached the furthest point of my walk, turned around and started on my way back home, my foot slipped as the ground beneath my leather boots     4    . Clutching wildly, I plummeted towards a near certain death in the cold and uninviting sea. “Grab something quickly” said an urgent voice inside my head.

As a child, I had had climbing lessons, and I managed to grab hold of a small ledge on the side of the cliff face. My other hand and feet just slipped into place and I started to make my way up; a long and     5     process of hand, foot, hand, foot and so on. About fifteen minutes later I got to the first big ledge, I hauled myself up and sat down and     6    my body; my knees were cut up and bleeding from the fall and my hands were raw and sore. I had also wrenched my shoulder which I rubbed tentatively, while I slowly started to relax.

As I was just about to fall asleep, I was jerked back to my senses by the voice, “No, not now, don’t go to sleep now, keep going.”

I responded by getting up and starting again, the voice was so insistent. After about half an hour I had to stop to rest. I found a ledge, and with the     7     of the voice inside my head, fell asleep. In the morning I continued but I no longer felt alone, it was as if somebody else was guiding my hands and feet and encouraging me. With the seagulls screeching above me and the sea crashing on the rocks below me, the only thing I could do was climb. I     8     that I could get to the top in about an hour and I did exactly that.

On reaching the top, I remembered that when I was small my father had told me the story of Reinhold Messner, a well-known climber all over the world and I admired him so much. The realization     9     on me: it was his power that had guided me to the top.

I whispered a quick thank you and then collapsed in     10    .

One evening after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Bond called a family meeting. “We have to make a final decision”, Mr. Bond     1    , “You see, your mother has been offered a post as co-director of a TV station in Chicago. However, the station is not here. After thinking long and     2     about it, we’ve concluded that the right decision is to move to Chicago.”

Marc looked shocked, while his sister Rachel     3     started asking when they’d be moving. “It’s surprising but exciting!" she said. Marc simply said, “I can’t leave my friends. I’d rather stay here and live with Tommy Lyons!”

The Bonds hoped that by the time they moved to Chicago in August, Marc would grow more     4     to the idea of leaving. However, he showed no signs of accepting the decision, refusing to pack his     5    .

On the morning of their move, Marc was nowhere to be found. His parents called Tommy Lyons’ house, but Mrs. Lyons said she hadn’t seen Marc. Mrs. Bond became increasingly anxious while her husband felt angry with their son for behaving so     6    .

What they didn’t know was that Marc had started to walk over to Tommy’s house with a faint idea of     7     in the Lyons’ attic(阁楼) for a few days. But as he walked along, all the familiar landscape of his neighborhood     8     him of the things he and his family had done together: the green fence he and his mother had painted; the trees he and his sister used to climb while playing hide-and-seek; the park where he and his father often took     9    together. How much would these mean without his family, who made them special in the first place? Marc didn’t take the time to answer that question but instead, he hurried back to his house,     10     if there were any boxes of the right size to hold his record collection.