1 . When I was eighteen, I couldn’t wait to get my first job, which meant I made the first step toward adulthood.

But it was difficult to get a work permit. One day I was dropped off by my parents at the______, where applicants took their physical tests for work permits. Although I had night blindness, my vision was clearer during the day, which helped me walk easily by myself. Then the doctor began the______. He looked into my eyes with a bright light. “I suggest your parents take you to an eye specialist,” he said, “I______you have arefinal(视网膜) disease. If you do, you'll never work a day in your life...”

My parents did take me to specialists. After much time and money spent seeking an______result, it was determined that I had an eye disease that slowly______a person of sight. But still, during daylight, I could walk without______. I could read, but not for hours. My eyes began to______and words slipped off the page when I read more than a few pages. However, no matter how tired my eyes became, I never gave up reading. I knew the names of great writers as well as the most popular music stars. Their words were powerful, which______me to try writing. Soon writing brought me a lot of______each time I completed a paper.

Then an important phone call from an editor changed my life. An article I______appeared in a local newspaper. The newspaper, to my delight, continued to print my work. Next, a book series published several of my essays. I got interested in writing and______up with each acceptance. On the pages, readers never knew of ray blindness______I chose to present it. For me, finding my voice through writing gave me the pride and satisfaction I______so many years ago. Now, I have numerous essays and articles in print.

Should I be thanking that misguided doctor? By falsely predicting that I could never work a day, he fueled my______into success. He set the bar too______and focused on what I wouldn't be able to do. Yet I proved what I could do.

2 . Every year about 40, 000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro (乞力马扎罗山), the highest mountain in Africa. They ________ with them lots of waste. The ________ might damage the beauty of the place. The glaciers (冰川) are disappearing, changing the face of Kilimanjaro.

Hearing these stories, I'm ________ about the place - other destinations are described as “purer” natural experiences.

However, I soon ________ that much has changed since the days of disturbing reports of ________ among tons of rubbish. I find a ________ mountain, with toilets at camps and along the paths. The environmental challenges are ________ but the efforts made by the Tanzania National Park Authority seem to be ________ .

The best of a Kilimanjaro ________, in my opinion, isn't reaching the top. Mountains are ________ as spiritual places by many cultures. This view is especially evident on Kilimanjaro as ________ go through five ecosystems (生态系统) in the space of a few kilometers. At the base is a rainforest. It ends suddenly at 3,000 meters, ________ lands of low growing plants. Further up, the weather ________ - low clouds envelop the mountainsides, which are covered with thick grass. I counted twelve shades of green from where I stand. Above 4, 000 meters is the highland desert :gravel (砾石), stones and rocks. ________ you climb into an arctic-like zone with permanent (永久的) snow and the glaciers that may soon disappear.

Does Kilimanjaro deserve (值得) its reputation as a crowded mountain with lines of tourists ________ the atmosphere of peace? I found the opposite to be true.

3 . Cecilia Chiang, the chef and restaurant owner, was greatly known for introducing regional Chinese dishes to the United States. She helped change the way Americans think about Chinese cooking.

Chiang was born into a wealthy Shanghai family with two full-time chefs—one from the north and one from the south. In 1949 her family settled in Tokyo, opening a restaurant called the Forbidden City. But it was a 1960 trip in San Francisco that set Chiang on her dramatic journey to cooking fame. She was both shocked and amused by the food most Americans considered to be Chinese. “They think chop suey(杂烩) is the only thing we have in China,” she said with a laugh. “ What a shame.”

So Chiang was determined to open a high-end Chinese restaurant that served authentic Chinese food. “Everybody said, ‘You cannot make it. You cannot speak English. You don’t know anything.’” she recalled. In 1961 then, Chiang opened the Mandarin.

The restaurant wasn’t immediately successful. About a year after opening, the Mandarin received a mention from the San Francisco Chronicle (旧金山纪事报). The effect of the powerful writer’s positive comment was immediate. Tourists, dignitaries and celebrities(达官显贵)—from Mae West to John Lennon—flooded into the Mandarin for then -unfamiliar food like tea smoked duck twice cooked pork.

Though the Mandarin was closed years later, Cecilia Chiang’s DNA can be found all over American Chinese food. Her son founded the chain P.F. Chang’s and the son of one of her chefs founded Panda Express.

In early 2017, Chiang shared how she lived to be so old: “I always think about the better side, the good side of everything. I never think about, Oh, I’m going to fail. Oh, I cannot do this. Oh, I feel sorry for myself.” Instead, Chiang wrote books, starred in a PBS documentary series and won the most famous award in American cooking when she was 93 years old.

5 . After I graduated from the university, I got so pressured in finding a job. I did a lot of _________ both online and handing in person to a particular company. It occurred, one day I went to _________ my CV (履历) to a certain company and I wanted to meet the human resource manager in person because I believed it was a better _________ than leaving my CV at the reception.

Unfortunately, in this company the _________ did not allow me to see the human resource manager and _________ asked me to just leave the CV with her and that she would _________ it. I was really _________ since I knew she wouldn't do that and my CV will just be thrown in the trash can, I thought so because it usually _________ a lot in some other companies. So I just left with my head _________ and never thought about it again since I knew I would never get any __________ from the company.

Weeks passed and one day I received a call from a(an) __________ number and guess what...it was the human resource manager of that same company. I was really shocked since I did not __________ it at all. So he said he received my CV and that he would __________ it.

I was so happy and felt bad at the same time for __________ the receptionist the other day. This humbled me and it was a __________ to believe in people and not assume things just because of the norm.

6 . People think children should play sports. Sports are fun, and children keep healthy while playing with others. However，playing sports can have_________effects on children. It may produce feelings of poor self-respect or aggressive behavior in some children. According to research on kids and sports，40,000,000 kids play sports in the US. Of these,18,000,000 say they have been_________at or called names while playing sports. This leaves many children with a bad_________of sports. They think sports are just too aggressive.

Many researchers believe adults, especially parents and coaches, are the main_________of too much aggression in children’s sports. They believe children_________aggressive adult behavior. This behavior is then further strengthened through both positive and negative feedback (反馈). Parents and coaches are powerful teachers because children usually look up to them. Often these adults behave aggressively themselves, sending children the message that_________is everything. Many parents go to children’s sporting events and shout_________at other players or cheer when their child behaves_________. As well, children are even taught that hurting other players is _________or are pushed to continue playing even when they are injured.____________, the media makes violence seem exciting. Children watch adult sports games and see violent behavior replayed over and over on television.

We really need to____________this problem and do something about it. Parents and coaches____________should act as better examples for children. They also need to teach children better____________. They should not just cheer when children win or act aggressively. They should teach children to____________themselves whether they win or not. Besides, children should not be allowed to continue to play when they are injured. If adults allow children to play when injured, this gives the message that____________is not as important as winning.

7 . Washington is home to lots of trees, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. But what if you couldn’t chop_________or couldn’t afford to pay someone to do it? _________, Shane McDaniel and his twin sons are happy to chop truckloads of wood — then donate it to those in need.

The idea started as a father-son bonding project. “I had to cut wood with my dad. He just_________doing it,” says Shane. He wanted to_________that feeling, so he and the twins spent the summer of 2018 chopping wood. The _________was a great wall of wood piled up.

It was too_________for the McDaniels to use themselves, and when the weather turned cold that November, Shane started thinking of others. He took a photo of them and “Please help us help someone who ARE IN NEED OF FIREWOOD AND CANNOT AFFORD IT.” on Facebook. The_________was immediate. One man_________to donate a wood-burning stove. One woman, noticing the photo of the McDaniel men in the Facebook post, felt warm: “Please post more pictures. I don’t need the wood._________truly I appreciate the eye candy!”

Single mom Katelyn Ticer and her four-year-old daughter__________a wood-burning stove as their sole source of heat so it was a relief to receive a truckload of firewood from the McDaniels. She told msn.com. “So much stress and anxiety is__________my shoulders. I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Not every receiver is as__________. “Some aren’t even friendly. It’s just not in them,” Shane says. “They are angry with the world and__________that they had to ask for help. They just have no other option than freezing.” But Shane is OK with that. “Giving is the__________,” he says. “It has nothing to do with how well it’s received; it’s about how much it’s __________.

8 . It always seemed like having traditions was a good thing. They create _________ that will last a lifetime. So when our children David and Darla were preschoolers, we _________ a family Christmas tradition. It was our tree-decorating party and it would be complete with eggnog and pfeffernűsse cookies.

The kids were excited as we pulled the freshly _________ tree into the house. It smelled so good. We would turn on the Christmas songs _________ the tree decoration began.

Our hearts seemed to _________ to the merriment of the Christmas songs. The kids’ eyes twinkled with _________. It was a heartwarming evening. When finished, we would sit drinking the eggnog and snacking on pfeffernűsse cookies as we _________ the beauty of the Christmas tree.

Years later when my daughter Darla was home from college she _________ to help decorate the tree. I was so _________. Before we knew it, the tree decoration was finished. It was a beautiful tree and its ____________ smell filled the room. As we had every year before, I brought out the eggnog and the pfeffernűsse cookies for our traditional ____________.

Then during the laughter Darla suddenly got very ____________ and said she had something to tell me. From her hesitation and body ____________ I learned that she was fearing it. She sat down next to me. Then very ____________ and caringly Darla looked me in the eye and said “Mom I’ve ____________ liked pfeffernűsse cookies.”

Then I ____________ the importance of what she had just said. Why didn’t she ever tell me? All those childhood years rather than ____________ Mom’s feelings and spoil Mom’s tradition, she had stood the cookies ____________. From a child’s heart year after year she had given me the gift of ____________!

My daughter taught me life’s very important ____________: The best gifts aren’t always found under the Christmas tree.

9 . Old Problem, New Approaches

While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life, global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions peak. So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today, we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.

When it comes to adaptation, it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard, but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least, the US National Climate Assessment says that, “There is no ‘one-size fits all’ adaptation.” Nevertheless, there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.

Around the world, people are adapting in surprising ways, especially in some poor countries. Floods have become more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His not-for-profit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries, schools, and health clinics, and are equipped with solar panels and other communicating facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity（连体） to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level: his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds prevent starvation during the wet season.

Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel’s inspiration came from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation(灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Norphel calculates that he has stored about 200, 000m³of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norphel’s ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.

Increasing Earth’s reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.

In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice. The outcome is still far from clear. But the World Bank has included the project on its list of "100 ideas to save the planet”.

More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense. But some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we’ve lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it’s a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.

Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.

10 . Itzhak Perlman, the world famous violinist, got polio (小儿麻痹症) as a child. _______, you know that getting on stage is not easy for him.

On November 18, 1995, he came on stage to give a _______ at Lincoln Centre in New York City. That night Perlman walked _______ to his chair. Then he sat down and began to play. But suddenly, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it break with a loud _______.

People thought to themselves, “He would have to get up to either _______ another violin or another string for this one. But he didn’t. _______ he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra (管弦乐队) began, and he played from where he had _______. He such passion and such power. Of course, everyone knew that it was _______ to play a symphonic work with just three strings. But that night Itzhak Perlman _______ to know that. You could see him changing and recomposing the piece in his head.

When he finished, there was a ________ in the room. Then people rose and cheered. We were ________, doing everything we could to show how much we ________ what he had done. He smiled and then he said in a quiet tone, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to ________ how much music you can make with what you have left.”

His words have ________ in my mind ever since I heard them. That is also the way of life. Perhaps our ________ in this quickly changing world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.