【推荐2】British director Sam Mendes’s First World War film 1917 grossed (赚得) more than 10 million yuan ($1.43 million) when it opened on Friday, becoming the first such movie to boost the _______ of Chinese film _______ after the COVID-19 blow.

As of Monday, the movie, which won three Academy Awards— _______ , the best cinematography, visual effects and sound tracking—earlier this year, has _______ more than 38 million yuan, _______ to the box-office tracking service Beacon.

Inspired from a story that Mendes heard from his grandfather _______ his childhood, the film is about two British soldiers who are assigned to race against time and _______ a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking _______ a German trap.

The film was imported by China Film Group Corporation, released and translated by China Film Co., Ltd. and promoted by Alibaba Pictures.

On the popular review site Douban, the film has _______ a high score of 8.5 points out of 10.

Li Yan, a Beijing—based doctor, said the film ________ her of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic when she was assigned alongside some Beijing fellow medical staff members to ________ Wuhan earlier this year.

“For us, the experience in Wuhan was ________ a war. I can relate to the protagonist in the film, ________ re-prioritizes the meaning of life after ________ near-death moments and ________ the deaths,” said Li in a downtown theatre.

【推荐1】When my friends turned fifty, they did________things to celebrate, like a trip to the sunny south or a new hairdo. I decided to give the cello (大提琴) a ________ .

Never having played strings before, I rented a cello to see what I thought—and it was love at first ________ .I never dreamed I’d be learning a new instrument.

Playing the cello is ________ .I often ________ it to driving in heavy traffic in the middle of a big city, with three crying kids in the back, while ________ to locate an exact address. Why hadn’t I ________ something easier, like the ukulele (夏威夷四弦吉他) ?

However,practicing had a(n) ________ calming effect on me. My children were in different ________ of leaving home, going back and forth to college, and I was struggling with an almost ________ nest.As I played my cello, I couldn’t think about any of the things that were ________ me. Stresses at work, doctor visits, and money worries ________ as I played. I had to be so extremely ________ that I couldn’t think about anything else.

My friends’ new hairdos have all grown back, their trips nothing but ________ ， but I have developed a strategy for keeping ________ for the next thirty years.

【推荐2】For 35 years, Floyd Martin has delivered the mail to residents in Marietta, Georgia. On the day of his ______ , the entire community ______ to honor this ______ mailman.

Martin became a postal worker with the United States Postal Service shortly after he graduated from high school and made many friends over the years. A little girl named Mae ______ the story of how she dressed like Martin for Career Day at school. “I was so honored,” the mailman said. “It ______ my heart.” Mae is one of the many kids in the ______ that love to see the mailman. That’s because Martin often gives kids candies. And it’s not just the children who get ______ . He also gives snacks to cats and dogs he comes across, too.

______ the packages he delivers and the treats he gives, Martin provides the neighborhood with something more ______ : kindness. Some neighbor s ______ their mailboxes with flowers, balloons and signs, and the celebration continued when his final day of work ended.

More than 300 neighbors attended the neighborhood party honoring Martin. Several stood up and said kind words to honor him. Then, Martin rose to thank the neighborhood. “Thank you for ______ me. We’ve gone through good times and bad times together.” He said ______ he had lost his parents and many of his friends, he knows he still has friends in the Mariett a neighborhood. “You are all here,” he said. “You were there when I ______ you, although you didn’t know it.”

Martin doesn’t have any children of his own. ______ , he knows that even in retirement, he can return to this neighborhood and see the hundreds of kids and friends who love him. “I love you guys. I say that. I mean it,” he said. “And that’s what the world needs more of now love, caring and ______ and taking care of one another.”

【推荐1】A flat tire (爆胎) on the road. It’s certainly ______, especially if you have kids with you. For Courtney Potts, a mother of two kids in Tennessee, her flat tire experience was about to turn into something she had never ______.

Potts was driving home on Sunday when one of her tires blew out! ______, she realized she was in trouble. She had her ______ with her and leaving them in the car to change a tire wasn’t a ______ for her. Then a SUV stopped behind her car. A man got out and walked over to her, saying, “God, I almost ______ you! Can I help you?”

Potts was ______! Little did she know her luck was about to ______ even more than she imagined. Immediately she heard the man’s voice and saw his face, she knew this was no ______ man!

“The man offering to help wasn’t some ______. It was Luke Bryan!” said Potts.

If you aren’t a country ______, you might not know Luke, but he’s one of the most successful country music artists of the 2010s and 2020s.

According to Potts, Bryan finished ______ the tire with her extra in 30 minutes. Bryan also took a photo with Potts and her daughter, Ellie. Later, Potts shared a video online showing Bryan ______ on the ground, changing her flat tire, saying he deserved all the praise for ______ to help her. Her video received over 4 million ______ in two days.

【推荐2】When I was young, our school once took us to pick berries. Before I left, my father said to me, “When you find a good _______ , don’t leave it to try to find a better one. The other students may _______ , trying picking here and there. If you do as they do, you will come back with an almost _______ basket! If you want to get berries, stick to your bush!”

Just _______ my father had said, the moment one boy found a _______ bush, his companions(伙伴)would leave their places and run off to _______ what he had found.

But I _______ my father’s words. When I had done with one, I went to another, _______ it and then I took another. Finally, I returned with more _______ berries than all the others picked but not half as ________ as they were.

From then on, I always kept my father’s words in mind. When I had a good place and was getting on well, 1 didn’t spend time ________ to find a better company. When others said, “Come and we will find you something ________ to do,” I refused and stuck to my ________ .

My employers took me into partnership with them in their ________ after a while. Sticking to my business led to my success. I owed all my ________ to the lesson my father taught me when he said, “Stick to your bush!”

【推荐3】Wills was a gardener. He was always active and never lazy. _________ he was honest. He worked hard when he was young. He had two children and became old.

The gardener saw his own hands. He also saw the spade (铁锹) which was kept in the corner of his house. His hands were _________. He took his children’s hands which were too _________ as they had never been _________ to work. Wills said, “My children, you have not worked a _________ day in your lifetime. I have my _________ about whether you will work or not in the future. I have _________ some treasure between two trees in the garden. Both of you dig the earth and try to find the treasure. The treasure will be yours. But you have to make a great _________.” After he finished speaking, the gardener died.

The children went to the garden without _________. They were so happy that they would be __________ and they took the spade and started digging the earth between two trees. They worked hard for the whole week. They __________ weeds and stones. They cleaned the ground. But they didn’t find any treasure beneath the ground. They dug the earth between the other trees, too. They did not find any treasure there, __________.

Dozens of days later, they saw the trees were full of sweet __________. They sold them in the market, which made a huge sum of money. In this way, they learned the __________ of labor. Both of them decided to work hard from then on. They also understood what their father meant about the __________.