【推荐1】With the Statue of Liberty positioned perfectly behind me, I turned my attention to my husband, Mark, holding the camera. “Ready?” I called out. “One, two, three, go!” he shouted. At his _________, I started doing star jumps, as he held the shutter button down to _________ the moment.

It was 2013, and Mark and I loved to travel around the world and _________ silly photos with our friends and family back home. It was the first time I’d tried this _________ and when I posted it on Facebook later that day, it was _________ popular. I was amazed by dozens of likes and comments.

When I got home, it was all my friends could talk about. “Your star jumps really _________ me up,” one said over a cup of tea. It made me happy knowing I’d helped others _________ a smile at my expense. Years went by, and the pose became a(n) _________ part of my travels, from France, the Greek Islands and Italy to Bali and New Zealand.

Then in June, I saw a(n) _________ advertised online searching for Australia’s happiest person. “We’re __________ four stays at Oaks hotels and all we want to see is your happy face,” it __________. “That sounds like me,” I thought, so I posted the __________. A couple of months later, I got a phone call announcing I was the __________. I was excited at the news and raced to tell Mark.

Now, here’s our plan: First, we’ll __________ to Sydney for the Vivid Festival and climb the Harbor Bridge. After that, we might go to Kings Cliff in northern New South Wales and even Darwin.

Life’s all about chasing happiness. And for anyone searching for __________ in their lives, my advice would be to smile.

【推荐1】Mum-of-three Alli Smith ________ her heaviest weight of 125 kg after three difficult pregnancies caused her to rise to a size 20. She wasn’t ________ with herself, and she wasn’t living life to the fullest. She didn’t want to go to events because she didn’t have any clothes that would suit her.

Most of the time she was ________ herself with diets. However, snacking on nearly two blocks of ________ a night, the 27-year-old factory worker chewed doughnuts (甜甜圈), chips and biscuits throughout the day. Apart from that, she was ________ chocolate and was into it mainly for the taste.

She tried every diet under the sun and was spending all this money on all these ________ to just fail every time.

________ to change her ways, Alli saw her doctor, who recommended she conduct gastric (胃部的) sleeve surgery to prevent health complications (并发症) in the future ________ her size.

She soon ________ her nightly chocolate habit and has since dropped 35 kg in just seven months and ________ her sugar heavy diet for fresh fruits and salads.

Now, Alli also has more ________ to play with her children with Henry, four, Kate, two, and George, one. “I’m more energetic, I run around with my ________ and they’re enjoying it,” says Alli. She feels more ________ than ever in her new 90 kg frame, recently wearing shorts outside the house for the first time in six years. She delightedly says, “My son said to me, ‘Mum, you look so pretty.’ And now I wear what I want, not just what ________. I’ve finally ________ in losing weight and am on the road to where I want to be.”

【推荐2】Growing up in one of the poorest communities in Atlanta, US and being raised by a single _________ mother, I was not expected much by many people, so I had to expect_________of myself.

On my 13th birthday, I bought a _________of Harvard and put it on the wall of my room. Being at Harvard became what I_________: I kept picturing myself studying in Harvard. Even when my electricity was_________, I knew that my poster of Harvard was still_________only two feet away from me. I’d_________my day by asking myself these two questions: “What do I want in my life?” and “Are the things I am doing today going to get me _________ to that life?”

Reminding myself of my _________each day made it __________ for me to say no to the choices my peers(同龄人)making, because those paths wouldn’t have __________ me to my goal. Nothing could__________ my power to decide what I chose to do with my__________.

Every day I could __________ myself moving towards my dream university__________my writing got better, SAT score __________, and my scholarship checks started coming in. On March 31st, 2011, an email arrived __________Harvard. The first word was “Congratulations!” A month later, Harvard flew me up to visit the campus where __________I got to see my dream university face to face.

Who you are today is the __________of the decisions you made yesterday, and who you will be tomorrow will be up to the choices you make __________. Who do you want to be tomorrow?

【推荐1】A hockey player Jordan Martinook may be known by most fans for his skills on the ice. And Emma, a 12-year-old girl with Down syndrome, _______ seeing her friend every _______ game.

Emma _______ Jordan in 2019 for the first time, and they quickly built a _______ through the glass during games. But when the COVID-19 began, Emma wasn’t able to see her friend for a long time. Their _______ at a game last week was so _______ that it quickly spread.

Izzo, Emma’s mom, tweeted (发推特) about their unexpected meeting, and it was seen by thousands. “A _______ THANK YOU for making this girl’s night, month and year!” she wrote. “She was just so happy that you saw her and _______ to say hi, but giving her your _______ made it even more special! The interaction (互动) with her ________ so much!”

Soon, their story was being ________ by local news. While Emma had just hoped for a smile and a wave, Jordan gave her a signed stick, which her mother said was so much more than either of them had ________.

Even one of Emma’s teachers was ________ by the kind gesture. “I wanted to ________ thank you. Emma is one of my students,” her teacher tweeted. “She talks about you several times a week. Your kind ________ warmed my heart.”

But for Jordan, it was Emma who ________ his day. He said, “Seeing her I got a little ________. It was definitely great to see her back at a game and you just can’t help but ________. Her energy is amazing.” The bond the two of them ________ is something that has made a big ________.

【推荐2】The more than 13 million tourists who visit Nara, an ancient capital of Japan, each year tend to follow a well-worn path. On their way into a park at the edge of the city they pass the towering, wooden pagoda of Kofuku-ji, a temple complex founded in 710. They continue to nearby Todai-ji, gazing in _________ at Japan's largest Buddha, a bronze behemoth weighing 400 tons and standing 150 meters tall. And finally they feed shika senbei, a special kind of rice cracker, to the sacred deer, some 1,300 of which live in the park.

The deer, though wild, have come to love the crackers. With tourism _________to a trickle because of the pandemic, they are hungry. Many have begun wandering far from home_________food. A recent study by the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation and Tatsuzawa Shirow of Hokkaido University shows that 20% fewer are spending their days in the park; incidents of damage caused by deer in town have _________. The less enterprising ones, apparently accustomed to eating only crackers, have become emaciated.

The deer are not the only ones going hungry. So are the business in places like Nara, which have come to rely ever more heavily on_________in recent years. Fewer than 7 million foreign tourists visited Japan in 2009; in 2019 some 32 million did_________ from tourism hit a record 4.8trm yen ($46bn). With the Olympic_________ for this past summer, Japan had hoped to welcome 40 million foreigners in 2020._________, after a near-total closure of its borders because of the pandemic, arrivals have dropped by 99.4%.

The government has tried to_________the blow by encouraging its own citizens to get out more. The Diet earmarked 1.35trn yen ($12.9bn) for “Go To Travel” subsidies, which provide discounts of up to 35% at____________hotels and inns; a concurrent program called “Go To Eat” applies to____________. The ministry of tourism says nearly 40 million nights have been booked under the program since it was launched in July. That is a pyrrhic victory (付出极大代价而获得的胜利): the campaign is thought to have____________to a recent uptick in covid-19. Daily cases reached a record of 2,680 on November 28th. Suga Yoshihide, Japan's prime minister, recently announced that the subsidies would be____________ in areas with high caseloads.

Japan is reluctant to give up on tourism, or to let the infrastructure that supports it wither. Officials see spending by foreign visitors as a means to____________for Japan's own shrinking population. Tourism may also help make Japan more open to foreign migrants in the future.

Meanwhile, the more resourceful deer in Nara have____________to a healthier diet of plants and nuts, which has been good for their insides. Their droppings, made pale and runny by the crackers, have become firmer and darker again. If only belt-tightening were as good for the economy.

【推荐3】Days after Argentina canceled all international flights to protect the country from COVID-19, Manuel Ballestero _________ his journey home the only way possible. He stepped aboard his small _________ for an 85-day journey back.

The 47-year-old sailor could have stayed on the tiny Portuguese island of Porto Santo, to _________ the time of lockdowns in a scenic place largely free of the _________. But the _________ of living away from his family, especially his father who was soon to turn 90, was _________ . So he loaded his 29-foot boat with canned food and _________ in mid-March.

A particularly _________ aspect of this awful period was the inability of an untold number of people to rush home to help loved ones. Friends tried to _________ Mr. Ballestero from starting the risky journey and the __________ in Portugal warned him he might not be allowed to re-enter if he ran into trouble and had to __________. But he was determined.

Sailing across the Atlantic is challenging in the best of circumstances. The added __________ of doing it during a pandemic became __________ three weeks into the trip. On April 12, the authorities(当局) in Cape Verde __________ him to dock at the island nation to get a new supply of food and fuel. He was experienced in spending long time at sea, but being __________ on the open ocean is frightening to even the most experienced sailor.

Learning about his __________, people bored at home were impressed. He __________ created an Instagram account to __________ the final leg of the trip. “Entering my port where I learned how to sail gave me the taste of a(n)__________ accomplished,” Juan said.

__________ Mr. Ballestero didn’t get to celebrate his father’s 90th birthday in May, he did make it home in time for Father’s Day.

【推荐3】Wilber stole Staci Greene’s heart years ago. The donkey (驴) was an unusual gift that left quite an impression.

Years later, after _________ back to her parents’ farm in Ramona, California, Staci started making plans for a donkey rescue (救援) project. She began _________ unwanted donkeys and mules (骡子), naming her project Hee Haw Place Donkey Rescue.

Hee Haw Place has had as many as thirteen _________ at one time, but because of Staci’s success in finding people who are fit to adopt (收养) the donkeys, she now _________ just six — two donkeys, two mules and two horses.

She makes sure the new _________ are suitable for the animals and that new owners are _________ about wanting to add a donkey to their families. If an adoption doesn’t _________, Staci always welcomes the animal back to her farm.

Donkeys require little _________, she says. Their hooves (the hard lower parts of their feet) should be trimmed (修剪) once or twice a year, and they need a large farm where they can walk and _________ grass.

But they need more than __________. Staci says, “These are working animals, and they need __________.”

Donkeys are relatively easy to train for riding and for pulling things. Staci __________ them and helps them find work and __________ in their new forever homes.

Staci’s animals always walk in the parade held during Mule Days every May in Bishop, California. They also __________ their training. Last year, Poppy the mule won a championship title, while the donkeys brought home several __________. Love and patience for the win!