2 . “Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.

The package consisted of a long, narrow box ____ wrapped in brown paper. ____ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved wooden handle. ____ he had not seen it in more than 20 years, he recognised it immediately.

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the____ umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its beauty, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its ____.

Oscar ____ the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat ____ Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien’s house on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I ____ you?” she asked.

“I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said, ____ the umbrella as if presenting a gift that had long been wished for.

“Why, yes! It’s mine,” replied Mrs. O’Brien with a ____ smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your ____?”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “My grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.”

“Well, that’s ____ what my father used to say. What is your name, young man?”

Years later Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how ____ it was. Why had it arrived here today?

As if ____, a note fell from the paper. It read: Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to accept this umbrella as a present for a kind, ____ gesture long ago.

3 . Hansen and his 10-year-old son Chase search the streets of Salt Lake City every weekend for the homeless to take to lunch. They started Project Empathy(共情)four years ago to ________a meal, listen to their stories and figured out how they could ________ help.

“Just start with a smile, a hello. It really just starts with that. If you do it, you can make a connection. A small gesture can have a ________ impact on others less fortunate,” Hansen ________ in an interview.

Some of these shared meals have turned into stronger ________ .Ward, a homeless, was ________ in a flat. He credited the Hansens with helping him ________the difficult process of moving off the streets. “It is great to have friends who make us feel ________ and I’m impressed with the pair,” Ward said.

Father and son’s ________have developed into a passion project that ________ faith and community, which emphasizes the ________ community members can have in uplifting the homeless. They know they can’t settle the homeless ________ alone. They’re hoping empathy will ________.

“My hope for the future is to ________ more connection across our country. We could and we will succeed ________ we have other people join in and help the homeless,” Chase said.

4 . I used to be the shyest person in the world. I hid behind my older sister, whenever I had to speak to (an) ________ person—including the McDonald’s cashier, or even a distant relative.

________ asked to speak in class, I could hardly ________, much less speak. Even among the few friends I had, my high, timid (羞怯的) voice earned me jokes—about being a girl. Then in the seventh grade, my sister suggested I ________voice lessons. After a little bit of ________, I did—as long as it stayed a secret. I began a series of vocal (发声的) exercising. After exercising a lot, I finally gained ________ in my voice.

A few months later, I was asked to sing for some retired people. I thought I would do better than before ________ the voice lessons. I opened my mouth and nothing. I couldn’t remember the words of the song! My face turned hot. The ________ pianist whispered a prompt (提示), and I remembered just enough to keep singing. Then the thought ________ me: I’ve embarrassed myself enough in front of this ________. There’s really nothing else to lose. So in my second song, I just ________ and felt the energy of the song lift me. And I did much better.

After that, I started singing to myself as ________ as I could in my own room. That’s something I would never have done before. On a recent school trip, I was asked to sing again. It was ________ how much people liked my singing. One classmate: ________ said that I should be in the school’s talent show.

I am not a shy person any more. ________ has made me more outgoing. Today, I’m almost a loudmouth. I can meet people without being afraid. I can also stand in front of the whole class and give a big speech. I am proud of myself.

5 . When 12, I knew my teen years would be the _______ years of my life. I was a total outsider, bullied (欺凌) at school. I felt _______ alone in my small town. _______ , by doing volunteer work when 14, I turned my _______ into a chance to help others. The opportunity to practice kindness made me feel my life had a greater _______. The more _______ energy shared, the more kindness and appreciation I _______. I realized my purpose in life would be to help people, especially teenagers, feel less alone.

Books were my true friends back then. I was so _______ that the authors wrote those books. The _______ they offered with their books saved my life. My biggest dream was to become an author to write books that would ________ other teenagers as those books helped me.

After ________ terrible experiences at school and at home, I chose to take the positive road in later steps of my journey. I have been a full-time ________ of teen novels since 2007 and am grateful for this amazing opportunity to reach ________ to readers every day.

Kindness saved me ________ I needed help the most. Small acts of kindness can change someone’s life. You never know what someone else is ________. But by practicing daily kindness, you become an architect of positive change.

7 . It is a blue, cotton shirt. The shirt belonged to my _________ David. On his birthday before he left college, his mother bought him the shirt. _________ I gave him free use of my bike, he let me wear the shirt, occasionally.

We shared the shirt, and as days _________ , we shared more of our _________ . David was in school by scholarships and grants (助学金). He _________ to keep his scholarships, because without even one of them, he would have to   _________ and back on the farm. And in David's home, there was always only enough money to cover the expense. His father died when he was twelve.

At times David also talked about his father. Usually it was late at night, in the dormitory just before bed, and the   _________ always ended with tears that flowed from a river of memories and longings: memories of a father suffering from _________ when his son was just a teenager; longings for opportunities to cure his father's disease missed, because disease does not understand about the _________ between father and son. Nor does it care.

Time passed and we had to say goodbye to each other. After lots of hugging, and words of thanks, we eventually departed. It was on my ____________ trip upstairs to our dorm that I saw a package on my bed. I ____________ the wrapping paper. It was the blue cotton shirt in a box with a card ____________ to it, reading “Thomas, I can't thank you enough for your ____________ . This has been tough years and you have been ____________ a friend. Thank you for listening. Thanks for everything. — David”.

I put aside the note, with ____________ tears dropping on the shirt. I still have the shirt today, though it has faded and wrinkled with age.

8 . Just a few months earlier, I would never have pictured myself acting in a play in front of two hundred people. If not for my _________, Mrs. Sather, I might never have found that opportunity.

In the first and second grade, I was extremely _________ . It just wasn't in my personality to be very outgoing. I would escape in my writing. Mrs. Sather, always _________ me to write more. I think she was one of the first people to see my inner _________.

One day, she announced our class was going to _________ a play, a take off on The Wizard of Oz. “I need someone to play the lead part of Dorothy.” A few excited hands _________ . Mine, of course, was not one of them.

After school, Mrs. Sather said to me, “Dallas, I was _________ you didn't raise your hand. You're great at memorizing things, and you have such a sweet personality. Perfect for Dorothy! I had you in _________ for Dorothy while writing the play! If you _________ don't want to, though, I won't make you. It's your __________.”

I realized it was time to show the world who I really was. I __________ the role. Fast-forward through five months of __________ , line memorizing, and costume creating, we were ready.

At the end of the play, when the audience stood and applauded, I knew they were not just __________ for my performance that night, but for the __________ that they knew would come in later years because of my newfound __________

9 . I became a gardener when I was twelve. My early________of gardening may not have originated from my love for nature. It was to ________my parents.

At that time, we had a big yard in which a beautiful maple tree stood. But my mother often looked with ________at this work of natural art. Those golden leaves seemed like tons of rubbish to her, “something else to ________!”Seeing the neighbors busy with gardening, my father ever thought it a waste of time.

At that age, I always did something________to whatever my parents did! If gardening were something they found________, I would plant a garden!

I planted some lily (百合花)seeds in the yard. But they failed to ________. I continued to sunflower seeds and roses. Wild ________joy, I found the first rose bloom (开花). One by one, the flowers bloomed their heads off.________, I was touched by this land of wonder.

________, my parents showed no interest in my garden. My father even________at me because he found it was ________to move around my garden to the driveway. To my mother’s ________, I put her vase my real roses which, in her eyes, were simply weeds________flowers.

Regardless of their ________, I kept on planting my garden and ________to enjoy the pleasure gardening. Plants make such good companions: they breathe, they bloom, they________to care and love.

It has been many years since I made my first garden out of my desire to ________my parent. Today I become known as Mrs. Greenthumbs, teaching gardening and hosting a gardening show which makes my parents feel very________. And now I could say it is my affection for________that makes me a real gardener.

10 . I was out in my fields, spade in hand, planting trees this morning. I feel good when I do it, knowing that long after I am gone, these trees will _______ high above the land, providing oxygen for humans not yet born and _______ the carbon dioxide from the air.

Each spring, as I am _______, my mind goes back to a _______ I have of my grandfather, walking with him on the land, listening to his _______ and learning about nature. He often told a story which has _______ in my imagination all these years.

It was in the early 1900s, a man lost his wife and daughter to a terrible disease. Filled with _______, he decided to take up the _______ occupation of shepherd in the hills. He was about 55 years of age at that time, and as he _______ his sheep, he looked around and saw the land was ________. Then the old man felt he needed to do something to help the land________, for it had once been a splendid green forest.

He collected some ________ of oak trees from other places, ________ watered them and cared for the young trees that sprouted the next year. For the rest of his life, he planted every day. No one knew his story until he was 90 years old. Yet he ________ to plant, perhaps only five trees a day. At that time, the hill had become a green forest, ________ as far as people could see.