2 . It happened on a rainy Saturday morning last month. My wife Catherine and I were driving along what some people called moose (麋鹿) alley. It was so ______ that there were few cars on the road. ______, something happened. A moose jumped out across our path. I had been driving for years and was good at driving. In order to ______ knocking into the moose, I made a quick turn to the other lane. If I had not done that, the moose might have been killed, and my wife and I might have got ______, too. A few seconds later, when I ______ and looked back in my rear view mirror, the moose was getting up and then ran into the bush. Shaken but ______, we both looked at each other with a surprised expression.

From then on, I often thought about the relationship between humans and ______ . We know that animal species have appeared and disappeared ______ since life began on the Earth. This is a(n) ______ phenomenon. However, animal species have been ______ at a much faster rate for about a century now ______ human factors such as pollution.

Certain philosophers and scientists keep repeating that if we don’t save animals, how we will be able to save ourselves. A better ______ of animals gives us a better understanding of our own species. The ______ to protect animals and nature in general ______ the value of a society. And all animals play roles in nature and have a right to ______. Therefore, I think we should try our best to save endangered animals, because humans cannot live on the Earth alone.

4 . Several months ago, a tornado fiercely hit our city without any signs before. We hadn’t ___________for it in advance, so we were just forced to go into our___________actions. I happened not to be in the classroom when it attacked. Hearing the alarm screaming, I rushed___________as fast as I could back to the classroom.

Never did I imagine that we would put our regular_________to use. Never did I imagine that my students had ___________against the wall and crouched(蹲) down on their knees. Their eyes were obviously filled with___________as they asked if their parents, pets, and friends would be okay. I, along with other teachers, tried our best to___________them, though we actually didn’t know what the___________would be.

I couldn’t ___________the tornado anymore. However, I’m very proud of my students who performed so well. In such a(an)____________and dangerous situation, they behaved beyond their ages. Never in my life had I seen them ____________instructions(指示) so quickly, without any hesitation. Though some tears were dropping and some hearts were beating fast, the kids were incredibly____________. I’m extremely proud that they struggled to calm down because of their____________in me.

Because of the tornado, I realized that my job as a teacher meant a lot. Behind every well-behaved students are a long line of teachers who have made it their life’s ____________to educate them with safety, courage, calmness and trust. Though the tornado has presented ____________, I’m sure we can handle them one by one.

6 . I have been afraid of heights for as long as I can remember. When I was 11, my school built a leadership training center that had various challenges. The most ________ of them all was called “The Leap of Faith”, where you had to climb a ________ to a platform 11 meters high. Once there, you had to ________ the platform and reach out to grab a rope. I had seen students do it and had sworn there was no way I would ever ________ it.

One day my teacher asked me, “Are you going to try?” I ________ it off and told him that he couldn’t pay me to do it. ________, he encouraged me until finally I agreed to do it.

I climbed up and when I got to the top, I was in shock and couldn’t move. Seeing this, my teacher ________ that instead of jumping off the platform and grabbing the rope, I just sit on the edge and then slide down. I sat down, but still couldn’t bring myself to slide off the ________. I sat there for 20 minutes. Finally, with the encouragement of my class, I slid down.

When I finally reached the ground, I heard two boys ________ me about it behind my back. So, I decided I wanted to ________ again.

Over the next two weeks, I did all sorts of things to ________ myself. I jumped off tables and did some high ropes stuff. One morning before school I went down to the center, climbed to the top of the ladder, encouraged myself and then...I DID IT! I had never before felt so ________ of myself.

I learned so much during that time. The most important thing was that sometimes situations are ________ but that doesn’t make them impossible. People will doubt you in life, but I have learned that ________ is the best way to reply to people like that.

So, always keep dreaming and don’t let your ________ get in the way.

7 . Seba Stephens is only 10 years old, but he’s a very talented musician. Seba and his family live in Memphis, Tennessee — a place famous for _________. He grew up with music all around, but he _________ loved the drumming of Stewart Copeland from the band The Police.

Before he turned three, he wanted drums for his birthday. His parents weren’t _________, but after seeing him play the drums at a local music store, they _________ he was serious. They bought him a(n) _________ drum kit. “He didn’t stop playing — ever,” says his dad, Everett.

But soon Seba grew _________. He couldn’t get his drum kit to make the sounds he heard Mr. Copeland making. It was a _________ for the family: Good instruments were worth _________. His parents bought him a professional drum kit and _________ him up for lessons. He faced __________ — some related to his size. “I couldn’t see over my drum set.” he says. __________ , Seba learned extremely quickly and needed a higher level of training.

In 2020, Everett got special __________ for Seba to join a summer music program at Berklee as an 8-year-old. After the intense summer, Seba asked his parents to home-school him so that he could __________ going to Berklee during the school year. Through Seba’s __________, last May, Seba became the youngest person ever to receive a professional __________ from Berklee. The certificate is equal to about four college-level classes.

8 . A professor entered the classroom and told the students about a surprise test. All students were_________ and waited for the test to begin. The professor gave the test papers to all students with text facing down at the desk. Once he was done with _________ the test to all students, he asked them to_________ the test paper and begin.

Students were ___________ to see that there was just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor told them, “I want you to ___________ about what you see there.” The students were___________ confused but got started with the test. At the end of the class, the professor collected all answer sheets and started reading each answer from each sheet in front of all students. All of them___________ about the black dot and tried to explain its position.

Now, professor began to explain, “Here everyone_________ the black dot and wrote about it_________ no one wrote about the white paper. The same is with our lives. The white paper stands for our whole life and the black dot __________problems in our life.

Our life is a __________ given to us by God, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate—our friends around us, the job that provides us with everything we need. However, we just focus on day to day ____________ like health issues, lack of money, poor relationships, but we seldom see that these problems are very small __________to everything we have in our lives.”

We should try to take eyes __________ our problems and enjoy each moment that life gives us. Be happy and live your life ____________.

10 . A man was visiting a zoo. As he was passing the _______, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that each of these _______ creatures was being held by only a small _______ tied to their front leg. It was _______ that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their _______ but, for some reason, they did not.

He saw a _______ nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to _______. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they were very _______, we would use the same size rope to _______ them. At that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe the rope can still hold them ________ they never try to break free.”

The man was ________. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds, but because they believed they couldn’t, they never ________ to escape. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging on to a ________ that we cannot do something, simply because we failed in it once before? ________ is part of learning. We should never give up the ________ in life.