1 . Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class fun homework—to draw a picture of something for which they were_______.

Most of the class might be_______economically disadvantaged; but still many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other traditional goodies of the season. The teacher thought these would be the subjects of most of her students’_______. And they were.

But Douglas made a_______kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of misery (不幸), weak and unhappy. As other children played in the playground, _______, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those_______eyes.

Yes, his_______was different. When_______to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an ordinary hand.

His strange image captured the_______of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a________because farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer’s because the police protect and________people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God for God feeds us. And so the________went on—until the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.

When the children had gone on to other pictures, she walked up to Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was.

The little boy looked away and muttered (低声说出),“ It’s yours.”

She________the times she had taken his hand and________with him here and there, although she had the other students. How often had she said, “Take my hand, Douglas. We’ll go outside.” Or “Let me show you how to________your pencil.” Or “ Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most thankful for his teacher’s hand.

3 . Our family enjoyed a beautiful house plant for over thirty years. It had stayed with us through _________ years and good times, pain and joy. I had never thought of _________ it.

However, two weeks ago, we _________ some changes in its leaves, which began to lose color. We watered and looked after it _________, but it just showed no sign of _________. We finally picked a few almost dead leaves and _________ replanting them in another small pot.

What _________ us was that these leaves planted in the new pot grew strong. In order to know the reason why the house plant died, we dug the dead plant out of the pot. Then, it became _________ to us—its roots（根）were in disorder, completely tangling up. Our once-beautiful plant died because it grew out of its environment—it became root-bound（根满盆的）.

People can become root-bound, too. Those who _________ personal growth or development often want to make __________ that can lead to greater achievements or much more happiness. However, they more often find they outgrow their environment and want to __________. Their view becomes larger and they need __________ environment to live in. They need people who will make __________ for their growth. If they cannot be __________, some problems are sure to appear.

So if your new-found growth causes you to abandon the old ways, you may need to __________ you are bigger now.

4 . On a Monday morning, back in 2015,I remember parking my car under a tree in the car park outside my doctor’s clinic (诊所). Heartbreak, grief and the loss of the idea of a complete family_________me not managing well.

I_________uncontrollably. My doctor had decided that I had severe depression (重度抑郁). I wanted to be_________as my son, Kai, was depending on me.

Still sobbing (哭泣), I was_________to hear a knock on my car door. A lady with short fair hair, probably in her 40s,_________opened it and began to speak calmly and kindly to me. “I don’t know what you’re_________right now. But I know this: What you are going through will_________,”she said. “Can I give you a_________?”

There I was, with tears in my eyes,_________accepting this kind stranger’s reassuring hug. All I managed to reply in a choked-up (哽咽) voice was “thank you”. This was the most significant act of__________that I’ve ever experienced from a__________. My hope in the world, in people and for me__________.

When my__________has been cured about a year later, I came across the same kind stranger at the opening of an art exhibition. She__________me and smiled. She said that she could tell I was doing well. We hugged again, and once more I was able to express my__________for her gesture—this time a little more clearly.

5 . As a young boy my family was very poor. I would often help do something for the neighbors to ________ a little pocket money.

One day I ________ on the door of an elderly woman and asked ________ she needed me to clean the yard. She asked why I was not in ________ and I showed her my worn ________, which no longer kept me warm. She ________ me to work in the yard. When I finished, she looked at me and said, “I suppose you want to be ________ now.” She then ________ a jar filled with dollar bills and said, “I’m glad you’ve done a ________ job today but that is not something you should be doing again. I want you to ________ new clothes and get back to school. I also want you to come back to ________ me with your report card and I will ________ you when I see you have worked hard and have some good ________. Now reach our your little hands and take out as much ________ as you can.”

I put my hands in the jar and ________ so much money that it was ________ for me to buy what I badly needed. Later, I returned several times to see the woman and she did just as she ________. She looked at my report card and gave me a handful of dollars and some delicious food every time I ________ her that I had an “A”.

I was twelve years old when I moved from that neighbourhood. I will never forget the huge ________ this wonderful lady made over my life with her ________. This is something I hope to do myself in this lifetime over and over again.

6 . Natalie Browning married the love of her life on June 27. Two weeks before the _________ day, her grandfather, Nelson May, had a stroke (中风) and couldn’t be at the _________. He dreamed of being able to _________ with her in her wedding dress. And since he was unable to travel to the _________, the bride came to him!

After the wedding, Natalie took a _________ from Virginia to Florida, where her grandpa lives. She _________ her wedding dress and did her makeup at the airport. Then she arrived at her grandpa’s _________ ready to dance with him in his living room. “For months he’d been so_________to dance with me on my wedding and I’m just so happy that I was able to _________ him that experience,” Natalie shared.

The video of their dance was __________ on Facebook, and it soon spread quickly. Natalie, the owner of a jewelry business in Virginia Beach, was so happy to have shared that __________ moment with her grandpa.

“I __________ a small business called Great Value that is centered on reminding people that they are deeply valuable,” she said. “I’ve been __________ to share that belief more in my own life and wanted my grandpa to know that he is very __________ to me. And even though he was unable to come to my wedding, the dance he so __________ to have with me was valuable too. So, we made it happen.”

8 . A dog in Virginia jumped into action on Thursday morning to warn a family of danger. Charity Golloway and her two children were able to make it out of their house without ________ and call the local fire department, thanks to Butter, a homeless dog that had ________ a few months before.

Charity had made an outdoor ________ with an electric lamp for the dog, ________ the dog was homeless. The lamp Charity was using to keep Butter warm obviously caught fire, and the doghouse was close to Charity’s home. ________, Butter ran to Charity’s bedroom window and started barking ________.

“He knew something wasn’t right and that someone needed to know it. He is a(n) ________ dog.” Charity said. His barking ________, waking up Charity in time for her to hear the sound of the window breaking because of the ________. “The fire just got big really fast.” Charity said. “It’s actually hard to believe how fast it happened.”

The family ran out of the house and were able to ________ the fire before the arrival of the firefighters. Owing to Butter’s quick ________, no one was hurt.

When the firefighters arrived, Butter was there to ________ them. “It was a really nice dog.” said firefighter Justin Stidham. “It came up and played with all of us. I was sitting there petting it. It was just as nice as it could be.”

A ________ of Justin with Butter went viral (走红). That’s when Charity learned Butter was not actually Butter. The dog’s original owners ________. Butter as Cooper, who had run away from home. Charity said she would give Cooper a steak for his good deed and take him back to his owners. She now believes that animals return the love people show them, especially so during a(n) ________.

9 . The Cajun Navy is a group of volunteer small boat owners who help people during bad storms and floods. The group ________ volunteering during Hurricane Katrina. During that storm alone, they ________ more than 10,000 people from flooded homes and rooftops! Since then, they have saved more ________ around the US! The Cajun Navy has gone to save during many of the worst ________ that hit the US, such as Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Florence.

Using their ________, they always go into places where people and animals are trapped by floodwaters. They bring their small boats and great skills to find those who are ________ and then they ________ them to safety. How strong and ________ they are in struggling with floodwaters!

Many of the volunteers are fishermen and ________ boat pilots. They, who come from the southeast United States, are expert in ________ through a series of swamps (沼泽) and narrow waterways. The skills they have help them find the way around ________ floodwaters.

A reporter ________ his feelings and meanwhile ________ them after the Cajun Navy stepped in to help during bad flooding in Louisiana. “The ________ were volunteers from the Cajun Navy, who had no ranks, no uniforms, no ________ medals awarded to them for acts of bravery. It was a(n) ________ heart, not a commanding officer, that called them into risky ________ to carry endangered citizens to higher and safer ground,” he said.

The Cajun Navy is a great example of character in action. They do also ________ others. And more and more volunteers join the group. They often put themselves in danger to ________ others. And they do not do it for money or attention, but ________ because they can help and they want to help.

10 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts.

I learned this lesson from a(n) _______ many years ago. I took the head coaching (教练) job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to _______ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _______ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _______ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were _______ me. I had to change my _______ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little pride. Most important, I began to treat them like winners. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their _______, we met every day and _______ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our _______ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to ________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a ________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest ________ of my life!

From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can ________ the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and ________ them. I helped them to see themselves ________, and they built themselves into winners. Winners are made, but not born.