1 . I was driving to a business appointment when I came to a very busy crossroad. The traffic light had just turned red. Suddenly, an unforgettable _________ caught my eye. A young couple, both blind, were _________ arm-in-arm across this busy crossroad with cars racing by in every direction. Each of them had a walking stick extended, searching for clues to _________ them.

At first I was moved. They were trying to _________ what I felt was one of the most scary disability—blindness. My thought was quickly interrupted by _________ when I saw that the couple were directly walking toward the middle of the crossroad. Without _________ the danger they were in, they were walking right into the path of oncoming cars. I was _________ because I didn’t know if other drivers understood what was happening.

To my astonishment, I saw a _________ scene unfold before my eyes. Every car in every direction came to a(n) _________. No sharp sounds of brakes or noisy horn were heard, nor did anyone __________, “Get out of the way!” Everything __________. At that moment, time seemed to stand still for this couple.

Amazed, I __________ the cars around me. I noticed that everyone’s attention was fixed on the couple. __________, the driver to my right yelled, “To your right! To your right!” Other people __________ in union, shouting, “To your right!” The couple adjusted their own __________ and they made it to the other side of the road.

2 . When I was eight years old, Mother told me to put my coat on because we were going to go someplace special. Usually, that meant we were going to see someone ________ or that I would at least get a new ________ . I asked which one it would be that day, and she told me that I would be getting something ________ than toy. She said I would get “access (通道) to a world of toys”.

But we did not ________ at any toy store. Nor did we finally see anyone we knew. ________, Mother pulled her car at Marcy Public Library. Mother ________ me directly to the reception desk (接待处).“I’d like to get my daughter a library card,” she told the man ________ the desk. He asked her to fill out a form and smiled at me. “What kind of books do you like?” he asked. I was too shy to ________then. I simply smiled back and shrugged (耸肩) my shoulders. “Well, you’ll know it ________,” he said.

I do not ________ what I picked out that day, but I know that in the years that followed I read ________I could find interesting at that old library. I read through all the Nancy Drew books before advancing ________Judy Blume (注：美国儿童文学作家), then the classics: Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Shakespeare. Then I read ________ on history, books of poetry, and books about art. The library opened up a world that I ________ knew before.

So Mother was ________ . Getting a library card was like getting access to a world of toys.

3 . When I was walking back home at around 12: 15 p. m. during my lunch break one day, an apple core (果核) came flying towards me. It landed just before my feet. Surprised, I thought myself _______ not to get hit by it.

The apple was _______ over the wall by a school student. I live opposite a school. A wall _______ my apartment building from the school.

Thinking it was a one-off _______, I told my friend Lucy, and we laughed about it.

Then, the week after, I was walking along exactly the same place at the same time and bam! Another apple _______ the wall. This time it _______ on the roof of a shed (棚屋). I thought to myself: ”Is it my destiny (命运) to get hit by an apple?”

Last week I was walking back home. I _______ my phone. It was 12:15 p.m.. My _______ wandered to those two times before when I’d seen an apple thrown over the wall. But _______, my thoughts were interrupted (打断) by another flying apple! This one was a big one. Only one bite had been taken out of it, and it was thrown with speed.

Enough was enough. Someone could be really ________ by these apples. Did the ________ not realize that people live across the wall? Or do they not care?

I told my friend about it. “You should just throw the apple ________ over the wall. That will teach them,” my friend Sam ________. But I don’t want to play that “game”. As they say, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” ________, I might end up hurting someone when I throw it back.

Maybe I’ll call the school and let them know. The students responsible need to know that they might end up hurting someone if they keep throwing their waste. What’s more, waste ________ to the bin, not anywhere else.

4 . The sun was shining brightly over our heads and sweat (汗水) was pouring down our backs and faces. We stood still without ________ any noise, all hot and tired. But everyone kept standing as straight (直) as trees.

It was something most high schools give to new Senior One students — military training (军训). We ________ seven days in a closed environment (环境). ________ we couldn’t go home and the training was strict and difficult, our ________ young drillmaster (教官) with a funny accent was a real ________ of our days. We laughed at his jokes, sat in rows singing different songs and ________ him telling true stories about his life. He gave us the feeling that ________ and sweat (汗) were not the only things that military training ________.

After this journey, we were more determined (坚定) than we had imagined (想象) and we were much ________ than expected. Girls who looked pale rested for a little while, then came back to the ________ immediately (立刻). Boys who were being punished (罚) ________ to the playground at once and began to run. Sweat flowed down our faces when we thought about how to ________ louder than other classes.

Military training taught us perseverance (坚持不懈) and determination. On the last day of our training, the ________ could be seen on our faces. We shouted so loud that our ________ could be heard across the playground. With eyes like burning torches (火炬), we walked into the future. Now the sun is ________ at all of us.

5 . “The silence is killing me,” I thought as I locked my phone, hoping a new message would light up the screen. After 27 messages, two phone calls and a voicemail, I’d just sent my final text to the person who ________ to be my best friend at college.

We met in our freshman year and, since we ________ almost all the same core classes, rapidly became inseparable throughout college. We ________ stayed up together for studying, and were each other’s partner for late-night pizza runs. Then one day after graduation, she suddenly ________ responding, apart from claiming she “didn’t have enough time for herself”. That breakup was the most ________ I’d experienced. After four years of building such a ________ relationship, I thought I’d at least receive a(an) ________ for why she wanted to end things. ________ I received only a brief, indirect message about self-care and what hurt me most was a (an) ________.

Over the past few years, the concept of “drawing boundaries” has ________ in the pop psychology. Discussions of cutting people off and protecting your energy ________ dominate social media. And after nearly three years in ________ the ways the Covid-19 pandemic has ________ many of us to reevaluate our relationships with others show up everywhere in pop culture.

The ________ of self-care are fairly obvious: by prioritizing our own well-being, we’re able to engage in emotional healing, build confidence, ________ anxiety and simply rest. However, an extreme focus on self-care can lead to a(an) ________ perspective of the world in which we always put ourselves first, even when we’ re in the wrong. This doesn’t just. ________ us -it can have real, painful consequences for the people around us.

Sometimes it can feel ________ for us to remove ourselves from conflict or discomfort under the mask of ________. However, walking away from these relationships without a real conversation actually ________ us and our loved ones of an opportunity for growth.

9 . Alina’s life as an angel of love began in middle school, when, in the planting club of her school, she learned how to grow eggplants.

From then on, she was _________ in growing the eggplants. Later she found a big piece of land in the home backyard to plant seeds, hoping to _________ her crop in fall.

This was _________ than it sounds. She spent all her spare time caring for the plants and she became thinner. However, her great work _________. Much more than the family can consume, she suddenly had an idea that she sold some eggplants to _________ fund for local Rescue Center for Blind Children. Her father Barret strongly supported her _________, and did some _________ on social media but he didn’t expect his daughter’s crop to become a big _________.

Alina’s eggplants _________ well, though eggplants aren’t the only choice when people buy vegetables. __________, they knew the earnings were for a good cause. Within a week, those eggplants helped her raise $1,000! Her father and she __________ every penny to the center.

What she did was very __________ to the center. The head said fund—raising __________ much to providing treatment for blind children and her donation can make a difference,

Alina felt very happy, planning to do it with her family all over again next year: In her words, “I get a lot from this __________, I’ll try my best to use my own hands to help the blind children in the poor __________.”