1 . Afroz Shah, a lawyer in Mumbai, hasn’t had a weekend off in four years. But he hasn’t spent this time preparing for _________.

His mission? Saving the world’s oceans from _________ pollution.

It’s a calling he found in 2015 after moving to a community in Mumbai called Versova Beach. He had played there as a child and was_________to see how much it had _________. The sand was no longer _________ because it was covered by a layer of garbage more than five feet thick — most of it plastic waste.

“The whole beach was like a_________of plastic,” he said. “It hurt me. The _________ mess.” What Shah had seen is part of a global environmental crisis. More than 8 million tons of plastic _________in the world’s oceans each year. It’s predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. “Plastic in the ocean is a _________. And the sea species have no choice at all, ” Shah said. “We are ______________ their habitats.”

In October 2015, Shah began ________________ up plastic waste from the beach every Sunday morning. At first, it was just him and a neighbor, and then he began calling on others to join in. Word ________________ and with the help from social media, more volunteers got ________________.

For Shah, the work has always been a ________________ journey, but it has earned global attention. After he was ________________ as a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations in 2016, Shah now devotes nearly all of his free time to this ________________.

He’s now spent 209 weekends on this mission, ________________ more than 200,000 volunteers, some of whom are young students, to join him in what’s been called the world’s biggest beach cleanup. By October 2018, Versova Beach was ________________ clean and Shah’s cleanups expanded to another beach as well as a stretch of the Mithi River and other regions of India.

“This world talks too much. I think we must talk ________________ and do action more, ” he said when interviewed by CNN in October 2019.“We are a smart species. Well adapt. We’ll learn. And with these youngsters rising up, I see ________________.”

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

The package consisted of (装有) a long, narrow box ______ wrapped in brown paper. ______ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved handle. ______ he had not seen it for more than 20 years, he recognized 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 ______, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its owner.

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.

4 . Different colors usually stand for different feelings. Red, for example, is the color of fire, heat, blood and life. People say red is an exciting and active color. They associate red with a strong feeling like _______. Red is used for signs of _______ such as STOP signs and fire engines. Orange is the bright, warm color of leaves in autumn. People say orange is a _______ color. They associate orange with happiness. Yellow is the color of sunlight. People say it is a cheerful color. They associate yellow with happiness too. Green is the cool color of grass in spring. People say it is a refreshing color.

In general, people _______ two groups of colors : warm colors and cool colors. The warm colors are red, orange and yellow. Where there is warm color and a lot of light, people usually want to be _______. Those who like to be with _______ like red. The cool colors are black and blue. _______ are these colors, people are usually worried. Some scientists say that time seems to _______ more slowly in a room with warm colors. They suggest that a warm color is a good way for a living room or a _________. People who are having a rest or are eating do not want time to pass quickly. ________ colors are better for some offices if the people working there want time to pass quickly.

5 . Just as we take care of our friends and families, our homes and Mother Earth take care of us. Our homes give us a place of shelter that ________ between us and the rest of the world. The earth is a(n) _________ giver of life and the keeper of our physical and spiritual needs. Her rich ________ bring us up, give us air, and offer us cooling shade. Her waters ________ our thirst. Yet it is easy to take both of these wonderful _________ for granted. ________ the thanks you feel toward your home and Mother Earth for the gifts each   ________   you. It can help you stay   ________ of where many of the gifts in your life come from. Each time you give thanks, you’ll be ________ of the importance of caring for your home and for Mother Earth. There is a simple and beautiful _________ you can find to show your thanks. Begin by finding a ________ place where you can be alone. Sit comfortably and breathe deeply ________ you feel relaxed and then read the following out loud:

“Thank you, home, for allowing me to live ________ your walls. Thank you for allowing me to stay strong and ________ me. Thank you, Mother Earth, for the land I ________ on and farm. Thank you, plants, minerals (矿物质), and animals on the land for allowing me to ________ your beauty and your amazement of life, and for the ________ of living with all of you on this earth. Thank you for the wisdom and       ________ you bring to us.”

You can do so as often as you like and anytime you feel particularly thankful for the many gifts that you have ________. Each time you do this, you’ll strengthen your connection with all that _________ and supports you.

6 . My previous home had a stand of woods behind it and many animals in the backyard. That first year, I ______ feeding peanuts to the blue jays, then the squirrels. The squirrels had no _______coming up right to me for them. As the months went by, the rabbits saw that I was no ______ and didn’t escape. When I threw carrot slices (薄片), they even came for a nibble (啃). Slowly they came to ______ me, and by the end of the year they were eating out of my hand.

That second year, the rabbits ______ me, and one would even sit up for slices! While I was feeding them. I ______ that a groundhog who used to run away was now taking an ______ interest in this food situation. I carefully extended a long ______, with a keen eye on those teeth, and ______, there were times I would have the groundhog sitting next to a rabbit, both munching (津津有味地咀嚼) on carrots. A few months later, while ______, she would even turn her back to me._______ when she was facing away, I reached out and ______ scratched (搔) her back with my finger. She didn’t move.

By year three, the rabbits and the groundhog were back. The groundhog ______ didn’t have a problem with me scratching her back, and I got an idea. I’d always ______, while slicing up carrots, that the end looked like a cap. ______ one day, just to see what she would do, I gently ______ one on top of the groundhog’s head. Again, not a ______. The next time, I had my camera ready to record what you see here, one of several dozen such pictures. ______ she had a slice to eat, she never ______ the one on her head. It was a fair______— I got a pleasure, and she had yet another tasty treat.

7 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

8 . I’m Grace, 13 years old and in seventh grade in Florida. I was in the six grade last year. That school year was _______. My family and I spent that year _______ all over Europe, seeing amazing places, meeting all kinds of people, understanding different cultures, and getting _______ in the process.

When my _______ decided to travel to Europe, we were excited. _______ we had a problem. We couldn’t rent a car that had enough _______ to work for our five-member family, so my dad bought a bigger one. It became our new _______ during the trip. I had to leave a lot of my things behind because so little of it would _______ into my tiny new room. We had to be careful to save our water. And we were doing homeschooling, _______ worked out great. We lived in a (n) ________ home, but my family ________ got along really well.

No matter what, I made sure to ________ my window every morning, because the view was ________ every day--- England, then France, Italy, Greece … each special in its own way. We toured around country after country, tried to pick up little bits of the local ________, but that didn’t help us much. Luckily, we kept ________ people who knew some English. Everywhere we went, we saw the most amazing things. I love reading about places, in my text-books and then getting ________ our car midway to look right at them. I can’t pick a favorite one, because every place we were at seemed to be the ________.

After our ________ ended, we moved back to Florida. But it makes me ________ that my family had this great year long ________ together. I’m thankful for that.

9 . I woke up by my dog barking in the early morning. I went outside to find a koala (考拉) at the yard gate wanting to enter. It was the first time that I had _______ a koala in my neighbourhood. What a welcome _______! 

I was wondering why he was here, as koalas _______ came down from the trees and didn’t like walking, either._______, there was no eucalyptus (桉树) around. Was he hungry or lost? Or maybe the bushfire across Kangaroo Island _______ him here? 

He just sat there, apparently _______, and sort of looked at me with a look, like helping me out of my suffering. At a(n) _______ look, I discovered a long cut at his back with bloods,_______ of attacks or cuts of something sharp in some other way. 

I rushed into my room and came out with some iodophor (碘伏药水). It was not a _______ problems as I was a nurse. This poor soul seemed to quite ________ my kindness when I ________ the cut with the liquid. It ________ me that he came to seek my ________! 

After the treatment, I watched the koala finally ________ in the wild, hoping he was able to ________ the hard time and live his life as he should.

10 . Tyrion was asked why he reads so much? He answered, “I have a realistic grasp of my own ______ and weaknesses. My mind is my________. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his war hammer (战锤)… and a mind needs ______ as a sword needs a whetstone (磨石), if it is to preserve its edge.” George R.R. martin once said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he   _____. The man who never reads lives one.”

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early ______ at the kitchen table reading his book. One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the book just like you but I don’t   _______ it, and what I do understand I forget ______ I close the book. What good does reading the book do?”

The grandfather ______ turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water ______ before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time.” and _____   him back to the river with the basket to try again. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket ______ . The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough, ” and he went out of the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was ______ , but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water _______ escape before he got back to the house. Tiredly, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“Look at the basket carefully,” the old man said. The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that he basket was _______. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean. That’s what happens when you read the book. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be _______, inside and out.