1 . When I was 25, I moved to Shanghai because of my new work. China has changed a lot in the years since I moved to the city. One of the developments is cashless payment (无现金支付), and that has _______ the way we live and shop.

China is _______ the first country to have cashless payment. I used a debit card (借记卡) to _______ things without cash for years in the US. But now that I can use my phone instead, it’s super _______. One of the things I like most is that I can order dishes whenever I am hungry and the money can _______ to others directly.

It was a cold and rainy day. I finished too much work and went home. I _______ myself deep into the sofa. I was so _______ that I didn’t want to cook anything for myself. I ordered a pot of chicken soup on my phone.

Half an hour later, a delivery worker _______ me that he’d arrived. I went out to pick up the food. I walked _______ because I thought he would leave the food at the gate of my community and go back to work in a hurry.

As I went to the gate, I saw him ________ in the pouring rain without an umbrella. The rain kept falling down on his face, his feet, and his yellow uniform. He was so young, in his ________. He looked tired.

“Chicken soup?” he asked.

I nodded and he handed the food to me with shivering (颤抖的) and water y finger.

“Why didn’t you leave ________ to find some shelter from the rain? I’m sorry that I come so late.” I asked.

“I work to bring food safely to our customers. For us, one of the most important things is to ________ their needs.” he said with a smile on his face. Then he turned around and disappeared in the rain.

The cold rain kept falling, but a wisp (缕) of warmth rose in my heart. Around us there are many ________ people like him who do their jobs every day, even when their work is really tough. They never forget to bring us convenience (便利) and ________.

2 . I was always ________ and had too many things to do. Whenever my daughter caused me to change my plans, I thought to myself. “We don’t have time ________ this.” So the two words I always said to her were: ________.

The other day, the two of us rode to a ________ near our home. After shopping I bought her an ice cream, and she sat down ________ a table happily admiring the ice cream in her hand. Suddenly a ________ look appeared on her face. “Do I have to eat it up in a hurry, Mum?”

I nearly cried when hearing this—the pains of a hurried life influenced my poor girl so deeply! As she looked at me waiting to know if she could ________ her time. I knew I had to make a ________ . I thought of the times when I rushed my child through life. I began wondering what really matters in life…

“You don’t have to hurry, just enjoy it.” I said gently. Her whole face brightened and her shoulders relaxed. We sat side by side talking about things that interested us.

When she got to the last bite, she held it out to me. “I ________ the last bite for you, Mum.” she said happily. As the icy taste put out my thirst, I realized I just got the present of a lifetime. I gave my child a little time...and in return, she gave me her last bite and reminded (提醒) me that things taste sweeter and love is ________ to get when you stop rushing through life.

Friendship comes before competition. It’s easy to say ________ hard to do. However, 11-year-old Jerome, a boy from Australia, did it and set us a good ________.

Jerome was good at ________. In all the races he took ________ in, he was always the first. But last November, after giving up winning a school race, the boy ________ hearts of thousands of people. In the race, ________ Jerome ran back to help his good friend Seth to ________ again after he fell down. And then he walked with him and let him ________ the finish line first.

Seth, ten years old, was born ________ cerebral palsy (脑瘫). After he moved to the school last year, he got lots of ________. His teacher Mrs. Taylor asked Jerome to help him with ________ like going to the washroom and showing him around. The two boys soon became good friends. Because of his illness, Seth had a big head. Some students laughed at him. Jerome usually stopped ________.

Seth’s father thanked Jerome for ________ after his son, “He is such a good kid. The two boys’ story spread (传播) quickly after Jerome’s mother Susan ________ it on the internet. “These boys are champions ________ they didn’t win.” said the mother.

5 . In February 2007, about two hundred paragliders were in Australia to prepare for the World Championship. They included Ewa Wisnierska, a German paragliding champion (冠军). One morning, as the ________ were getting ready to take off, they noticed that a terrible storm was coming. However, they decided to ________. After all, these were the best paragliders in the world.

Unluckily, as the competitors took off, the weather quickly became ________. Ewa tried to get away from the storm, but two huge ________ came together and caught her.

The clouds pulled Ewa up inside the storm like a leaf in the ________. She flew higher and higher, with lightning (闪电) and hailstones (冰雹) all around her. “I was ________,” she told reporters afterwards. “The last thing I ________ is it was dark. I could hear lightning all around me. ” She rose to about 10,000 meters high and then lost all her senses. At that height, the temperature was about-40℃.

After forty minutes Ewa woke up. She was still inside the storm. It was dark and hailstones were ________ past. They were as big as tennis balls.

Finally, Ewa came out of the storm cloud and headed towards a small farm and landed ________. She fell to the ground, too weak to call for help. When her team ________ her, she was 60 km away from the place where she took off. She was covered in ice— but alive!

Ewa was sent to a hospital for treatment at once, but a few days later, she competed in the World Championship. “Flying is too fantastic to stop because of an accident,” she said.

“Today I will give you a special test,” said the English teacher with a smile on his face.

All the students sat up straight and waited for the test to begin.________ giving the test papers, he asked them to begin.

The students were very ________, because they saw no question but a black do (圆点) in the centre of the paper. The teacher ________ the students’ surprise and said, “I want you to write about what you see there.”

After the test, the teacher got the answers and began to read. ________ of the students wrote about the black dot. After reading all the answers, the teacher said, “Everyone only noticed the black dot, ________ no one wrote about the white paper.” The whole class listened carefully, because they worried about failing the test.

Then the teacher said, “Don’t worry about your results for this test. I just want you to think about our life. The white paper is like our whole life; the black dot ________ problems in our daily life.”

Our life is a ________ given to us with love. However, we just see the problems ________ illness and sadness, and never see that these problems are very ________ compared (和……相比) to other things in our life.

So we should try to take our eyes off our problems and ________ each moment life gives us.

8 . I saw Jimmy for the first time in late autumn. His face was pale and he was ________. He lost his father as a baby. Recently, his mother was killed in a car accident. Now he is in family care.

His teacher wrote to me. “This boy is very sad. He ________ to talk to others and I’m very worried about him. Can you help him?”

How could I help him? I thought I could ________ patiently and carefully.

The first two times we met, Jimmy didn’t say a word. He just sat in the chair, looking at children’s pictures on the wall. As he was about to leave after the second visit, I put my hand on his ________. He didn’t shrink back (退缩), but he didn’t look at me ________. “Come back next week, if you like,” I said. “I know it hurts.”

Jimmy came the next week, and I suggested we play chess. He ________. Then we played chess every Wednesday afternoon—in complete silence and without making any eye contact (交流).

It seemed he enjoyed staying with me. But why did he never look at me? “Perhaps he just needs someone to share his ________with,” I thought. “Perhaps he feels that I can understand his sadness.” One afternoon in late winter, I ________ his face looked more alive.

Some months later, while we were playing chess, Jimmy suddenly said, “It’s your turn.” After that day, he ________ talking. He got friends at school and joined a bicycle club. He told me about biking with his friends and about his ________ to go to college. Now he has really started to live his own life.

Maybe I give Jimmy something, but I learned how time makes it ________ to overcome (克服) great pain. And Jimmy showed me how one—without any words—can reach out to another person. All it takes is a friendly ________ and an ear that listens.

9 . One day, a poor farmer was taking a bag of wheat to town. Suddenly, the bag ________ off his cart onto the road. He didn’t know ________ he could do about it because it was too heavy for him to lift ________. He only hoped that someone would soon pass by and ________ him a hand. Just at this moment a man riding a ________ came up to him. But he farmer felt ________ when he saw who he was. It was the great man living nearby. The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him to come along and help him. He couldn’t ask such a great man to help him. But to his ________, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came nearer. He said to the farmer, “I see you ________ help, friend. How good it is that I’m here just at the right time.” Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took ________. They raised it together and put it on the horse. “Sir,” asked the farmer, “how much should I ________ you?” “Wherever you see anyone else in trouble, do the same for him.” the great man replied with a smile.

10 . Mr. Hope, the cleaner at our school, walks with a limp (跛脚). Watching him walk slowly around our school, I often want to know _________ he limped.

One day I saw two boys laughing at Mr. Hope. The headmaster was very angry. He took all of us to his office and showed us a picture of a young man standing by a long, thin boat, “This is Mr. Hope when he was _________ ,” said the headmaster.

In the 1968 Olympics, Mr. Hope had raced to the final round. His only real competitor (竞争者) was one other racer, Jack. The race started. Other boats were soon far _________ Mr. Hope and Jack. Mr. Hope and Jack were racing neck and neck towards the finish line.

The race was going well _________ suddenly Mr. Hope heard a huge sound. He looked around and saw that Jack’s boat was _________ into the water fast. Jack was unable to move. He was in _________.

The other boats were a long way _________. Mr. Hope was the only one who could help. Without stopping to _________, he jumped into the water and tried to save Jack.

The other boats _________ them on their way to the finish line, leaving the two men alone in the __________. Jack was finally saved but Mr. Hope’s __________ was badly cut by the broken wood.

Mr. Hope didn’t finish the race. He __________ got a gold medal (金牌) at the Olympics. His body was not the same after the race, __________ he was always limped since then.

As they stood there listening, both the boys felt sorry for __________. We all realized that Mr. Hope was a __________. He is an Olympic champion (冠军) forever.