1 . During my second year at the city college，I was told that the education department was offering a "free"course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I _________the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to _________ a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t _________enough about free credits, news about our _________was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster, which _________ I would be learning from one of the game's _________. I could hardly wait to _________him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this _________was no game for him: he meant business. In his introduction, he made it _________that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to __________the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to __________what we would learn in class to our future professions and, __________, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that __________and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the __________.

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he __________me: “The absolute most important __________that you learn when you play chess is how to make good __________. On every single move you have to __________a situation, process what your opponent(对手）is doing and __________the best move from among all your options.”These words still ring true today in my __________as a journalist.

2 . I was ready to pay for my bananas at the grocery one night, when fear seized me. My wallet was gone. I could only have left it on the G9 bus, which was now speeding in the dark to some _____________ station.

The _________ moment was quickly followed by mental math. How much time and money would it cost to replace the ___________ of that little wallet? The credit cards, the driver’s license, the cash, all lost to the bus.

Two hours later, back at my house, I heard a knock on the door. My husband _____________ it while I was on the phone in the dining room. “Does Jennifer live here?” I heard a lady say. In my husband’s hand was my wallet, with not a penny ___________. She left before I could _________ make it to the door to offer my thanks.

After sharing the story online, I heard from someone, who _________ the lady as Erin Smith. Without _______, I called to thank her. She said she _________ my wallet on a bus seat. She ______________ that going to a stranger’s house was a ____________ move, but she decided to take the chance. “If I were in that ____________, I would want someone to try to find me,” she said.

This one stranger responded beautifully to my small ____________, but she actually wasn’t the only one. Right after Erin ____________ my wallet on the bus, she posted a picture of my driver’s license to an online forum(论坛), trying to see ____________ anyone knew me. No sooner did she leave my doorstep than I had emails from two women whose kids go to my son’s nursery and who recognized my face. I’ve never ____________ words with those moms beyond small talk, but they wanted to help. I read that people are more divided than ever, but that’s not how the people I ______________ tend to act.

__________, I feel blessed someone had wanted to help a stranger. Erin had gone ____________ what almost anyone would have done, finding my house on a bitterly cold night, and for that I was extremely ____________.

5 . In1973,I was teaching elementary school. Each day,27kids_______“The Thinking Laboratory.” That was the __________ students voted for after deciding that “Room 104” was too________.

Freddy was an average_________,but not an average person .He had the rare balance of fun and compassion（同情）.He would________ the loudest over fun and be the saddest over anyone’s_________.

Before the school year________,I gave the kids a special ________, T-shirts with the words “Verbs Are Your________” on them. I had advised the kids that while verbs（动词）may seem dull ,most of the_______ things they do throughout their lives will be verbs.

Through the years, I’d run into former students who would provide _______ on old classmates. I learned that Freddy did several jobs after his _______ from high school and remained the same ______ person I met forty years before .Once, while working overnight at a store, he let a homeless man _______in his truck. Another time ,he _______a friend money to buy a house .

Just last year, I was________ a workshop when someone knocked at the classroom door. A woman________ the interruption and handed me an envelope. I stopped teaching and ________ it up. Inside were the “Verbs” shirt and a _______ from Freddy’s mother. “Freddy passed away on Thanksgiving. He wanted you to have this.”

I told the story   to the class. As sad as it was, I couldn’t help smiling. Although Freddy was taken from us, we all________something from Freddy.

6 . William Thomson

William Thomson was born on 26 June, 1824 in Belfast. He was taught by his father, a professor of mathematics. In 1832, the family moved to Glasgow where Thomson attended university at the age of 10, then studied at Cambridge and Paris Universities. In 1846 he became professor of natural philosophy in Glasgow, a post he _____for more than 50 years.

In Glasgow, Thomson _____the first physics laboratory in Britain. He was a pioneer in many different _____, particularly electromagnetism (电磁学) and thermodynamics (热力学). _____Faraday(法拉第), he was responsible for the introduction of the _____of an electromagnetic field where Thomson developed the work of the _____of the subject, Nicolas Carnot and James Joule. One of the most _____results of his work was his idea of an absolute zero of temperature — the scale based on this is named _____him.

Throughout his work Thomson’s main goal was the practical use of science. He achieved _____through his work on submarine telegraphy, a major practical problem of the day. He was _____as a scientific adviser in the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cables in 1857-1858 and 1865-1866,for which he was knighted in 1866. His _____in marine issues also inspired him to develop a mariners’ compass and _____a tide machine and depth-measuring equipment. He invented many electrical instruments and his house in Glasgow was the first to be _____by electric light.

Thomson was raised to the noblemen with the _____of Baron Kelvin of Largs in 1892. The Kelvin was a small river that flowed near Glasgow University and he was president of the royal Society from 1890 to 1895. He died on 17 December, 1907, in Ayrshire, Scotland and was _____in Westminster Abbey.

9 . My mum was a consultant psychiatrist at Lancaster Moor hospital. At five, I went with her to the _____________ on a Christmas afternoon. I didn't really want to be: there, knowing I had not yet opened all my _____________ at home. Mum gave me a big box of chocolates and told me to _____________ around the psychogeriatric ward.

Our household was the sort where treats were strictly _____________: only one packet of crisps a week. So being entrusted with a huge box of chocolates was _____________ indeed. I marched proudly around the ward, operating a “one for you, one for me” policy _____________ I went from bed to bed, wondering why no one I talked to _____________.

When you are _____________, so much of life is new and strange that you quickly accept even the strangest things as being _____________ normal. But I remember thinking it was ______________ that so many of these very old women were holding dollies and teddy bears tight.

On the way home, feeling slightly ______________ after all the chocolates, I asked Mum why the old ladies had dolls and why they had talked such nonsense. I can't remember her exact ______________, but I learned that most of them had no family, and received no ______________.

That Christmas taught me not to be afraid of people with ______________ illness. I wasn't even ______________ when my mother put me on the trolley in the corridor outside her office if she was busy in the ward.