1 . For a long time, Sergio Peralta from the US dreamed about playing catch

When he was born, his right hand didn’t fully ________, with only tiny fingers at the end of his arm. ________, he had to learn to write, eat and carry books with only one hand. Over the years, the 15-year-old boy from Hendersonville High School lost ________ that anything would change.

Peralta would hide his hand in his sleeve (袖子), so ________ would ever find out. Luckily, the school’s engineering teacher, Jeff Wilkins, told him that his fellow students might be able to help, and his classmates supported him in a way he never ________.

Three students had ________ to online models of prostheses (假体) and a 3D printer, so they made a plan. They used polylactic acid (聚乳酸), a common material in 3D printing that is also ________ to make electronic devices, as the main fabric of the ________. They applied another elastic (有弹性的), plastic material to make the fingers ________ objects.

Bob Cotter, the school’s ________, told the BBC that his students are encouraged to “make concepts ________ reality”. He thought highly of what the students did, ________ that Peralta’s new prosthesis is a proof that the students care about each other.

Peralta, who ________ to do everything with his left hand, was even able to catch a baseball with the prosthetic hand created by his classmates.

“When I caught it for the first time, everyone started cheering up ________,” Peralta said with a smile. “It was the first time that I had caught a ball with my ________ hand in my 15 years.”

3 . It was Christmas Day. For Antony, this was another day spent in a white-walled _______. His wife and son were enjoying the festival feast at home. But for Antony, he couldn’t enjoy the Christmas _______ with them. Instead, he was surrounded by flashes of red from roaring ambulances. He was saving lives.

About fifty years ago, Antony was born in a little village in Northern Greece, where traditions ran deep and religious festivities were _______ with the highest honor. However, he was a boy who _________ Santa. When asked the reason, he laughed out and said, “He was always there, but he never brought me Christmas presents.” He laughed even louder, trying to _______ his sorrowful feelings as he described how all the other children in the village received gifts except for him.

Antony further revealed that his parents’ inability to afford gifts unintentionally _______ his belief that Santa was an _______ magical man who deliberately overlooked him. While his peers enjoyed new toys, Antony felt the pain of exclusion. Yet, with time and maturity, his hatred towards Santa _______.

Instead of toys, Antony found _______ in exploring his older brother’s medical textbooks. His appetite for reading and the example his older brother set ________ him to study hard and eventually he became a respected cardiologist in the hospital close to his village, where doctors were especially needed. He worked ________ at the hospital, like Santa, faithfully ________ the greatest gift of all.

Antony’s story serves as a ________ that one’s upbringing does not ________ their future, but determination and diligence can pave the way for remarkable achievements. We can rise from ________ beginnings but we should never give up striving for excellence.

4 . A Florida police officer is receiving praise for his swift response in rescuing two distressed swimmers caught in a rip current (离岸流) on a Tuesday afternoon.

Brooke Qualls, a witness to the incident, expressed her _________ at Officer Dylan Coffman’s actions, stating, “Seeing him go out there and how quick and _________ his actions were, it’s just amazing seeing that.”

Qualls had just _________ her shift in Flagler Beach when she observed Officer Coffman spring into action. “Literally I watched him _________ out of his police car, rip off his vest, and _________ into the water and save not one, but two people who were extremely, so far back in the water, _________ in horrible rip currents,” she said.

Sean McSweeney, another _________ of the incident, was equally moved by the officer’s heroic actions.

“I’d never seen anything like it. It was shocking, yet _________, to witness a rescuer _________ so swiftly, and it was truly remarkable,” he said.

The Flagler Beach Police Department shared Qualls’ photos of the ________ to their Facebook page and thanked Coffman for going the extra mile.

“Serving comes in many different ways, and thanks to Brooke Qualls for __________ this photo of Officer Dylan Coffman from the Police Department in action as he __________ yesterday to two swimmers caught in dangerous rip currents. Thanks to Officer Coffiman’s __________, they were successfully returned to __________ uninjured! Coffman contributed a lot to make our city __________!” the department wrote.

7 . A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it is of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the most patient and cheerful companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.

There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them. The best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them and grieve with them. The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, people’s spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens.

8 . Colorado’s grays peak rises 14,278 feet above sea level, high enough that trees can’t grow toward the top, though there are plenty of shrubs and rocks. It was in this unforgiving landform that Bev Wedelstedt was unlucky enough to get seriously injured in her left knee.

It was August 2018, and Wedelstedt, 56, was on her way back down the trail with three friends. A storm was brewing, and they were anxious to get off the mountain. When they approached a rocky drop of a couple of feet, Wedelstedt decided to leap. She landed on her left leg. Then she heard the snap. Every step after that was agony (剧痛). Before long, she had to stop. As one friend ran down to get help, a number of other hikers, all strangers, attempted to help Wedelstedt down the narrow trail by walking on either side of her to support her weight, but that proved slow and dangerous. “One man was so close to the edge that I could see rocks falling down from where he stepped on them.” Wedelstedt says.

Finally, one hiker, Matt, asked her, “How do you feel about a fireman’s carry?” Before she knew it, he had lifted her over his shoulder. “Now, I’m not tiny,” says Wedelstedt, a former college basketball star. Matt clearly couldn’t carry her all the way down by himself. So six hikers and one of her friends took turns carrying her while she tried to make light of a difficult situation: “I told them I wanted to meet a lot of guys, but this isn’t the way I wanted to do it.” Three hours and two rock-strewn miles later, this human conveyor belt finally met the medics, who took Wedelstedt to the hospital.

She stayed in hospital for a period time. Now she has mostly recovered from her ill-fated hike, but Wedelstedt knows she’ll never shake one thing from that day: the memory of the band of strangers who came to her rescue. “I’m still in awe.”

9 . On a steamy July day in Bayonet Point, Florida, Gene Work and his brother-in-law, Mark Rouco, were resodding (重新铺草皮) Gene’s yard.

The lawn had grown ______ in the heat, and the Works had been threatened to accept a huge fine if the situation wasn’t remedied. The new sod was sitting in the driveway, but the job was slow-going.

Gene, then 40, wasn’t feeling right. He went inside to take a break and ______ on the couch, clutching his chest. His wife, Melissa Work, called 911 quickly. Even though he was ______ down death, Gene had one thing on his mind: that ______.

If the sod wasn’t ______ that day, it would die. “While he was having his heart attack, literally in and out of consciousness, he kept ______ me to have it put down because he didn’t want it to go to waste,” Melissa wrote in a Facebook post.

Soon Pasco County Fire Rescue arrived and took Gene and Melissa to the hospital, leaving Rouco behind to ______ the yard. Within an hour, he had managed to remove the old grass. He was about to lay the new sod, which he ______ would take him well into the night, ______ two emergency vehicles appeared. Seven men — the same ones who had treated his brother — ______. Gene had told them how ______ he’d wanted to get the sod down, so they had returned to help. The job was done in under two hours. Meanwhile, Gene had surgery to insert stents (支架) in his heart, ______ a potentially deadly blockage.

He’s home now, fully recovered — and enjoying his beautiful lawn. The Works are still ______ that those EMTs went above and beyond their job ______. “These men,” Melissa told tampabay.com, “saved Gene’s life, and then came back to save his grass. That’s just so ______.”