1 . Alex Honnold is a poster child (榜样人物) for the sport of free soloing. For more than 20 years, the _______ adventurer has taken on risks that would be hard for many of us to imagine. The man has established fame in the _______ ever since his ascent (攀登) of Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Captain (酋长岩) in 2017.

But for Alex, there is nothing deep and meaningful about what he does by his own standards. It’s _______ one man on a rock doing what gives him the greatest joy in life. What continues to motivate him to _______ on a ledge (岩架) in the face of grave danger? We try to find this out in our interview with the brave _______.

Q: Regarding your early career, you defined yourself _______ being homeless at one point and were living out of your van. What was your motivation early on for climbing?

Alex: I had been climbing for years in the gym, _______ I was already heavily into rock climbing. Living in my van was the easiest way to travel and climb outdoors full time. I didn’t look at it as a hardship for me.

Q: Did you feel like you had become so _______ to climbing that you just wanted to explore it further at a certain point?

Alex: I think it’s just the activity that gives me the most joy in life. It’s just like how some people love to go running or swimming. There’s a certain _______ to the activity.

Q: People might ________ you for quick advice about how they should prepare for life. But sometimes there is no secret-you have to prepare, right? Alex: Yes, that’s actually pretty funny. People often ask me about fear and fear ________. And I say to them, if you were to spend 20 years preparing for something, ________ you’d become comfortable doing the things you used to believe would be ________ for you to do. There is no real secret.

Q: Since ________ is a big part of the way people interpret what you do, what scares you about life?

Alex: Intimacy, connection, relationships. Or whether I am wasting my time. I mean in some ways about living with regrets that you didn’t do the right thing or that you haven’t done something ________ with your life.

2 . A giant origami (折纸艺术) “snail” gets a Guinness World Record. Filled with ________ and craftsmanship, origamist Pei Haozheng and his team have created the world’s ________ origami “snail”, according to Guinness World Records.

This ________ “snail” is a single but complete structure made from a 9.21-meter-long square sheet of gold foil (箔) paper without any ________ or pasting (粘贴). It stands proud at 4.1 meters in ________ , 1.47 meters in width and 1.3 meters in height.

Making a giant paper “snail” isn’t ________ . Since the ________ used was so large, during the folding (折叠) process, it soon became a lopsided (向一侧倾斜的) 3D object. “This added much ________ in practice. Even the ________ part could easily become deformed (变形的),” Pei said to China Daily.

Another ________ was the deviation (偏差) the final version took from the prototype (原始模型), which can ________ many unexpected difficulties. For example, when the paper becomes ________ after folding, it may suddenly spring (弹开) open and create gaps. Pei added that the stylistic difficulty of this artwork lies in the need to ________ spinal (螺旅形的) shell layer (层) by layer. Pei did many ________ , finally overcoming these difficulties in the end.

“Gold foil paper symbolizes the beauty deep within people’s hearts. Therefore, I hope that everyone who sees this artwork can feel the ________ within their own hearts, pursue their passions, and cherish (珍惜) every moment in their lives,” Pei said.

3 . Last year in early summer, I was walking to my house when I saw two large birds standing in my yard. They didn’t seem to _______ me until I was right in front of them and then they _______ disappeared into the nearby bushes. I was quite excited by the _______ of two special birds making a nest (巢) in my yard．

A few weeks later, the birds _______. I found them crouching (蹲伏) beside a tree. As I approached them, they _______ their heads and made a croaking (嘶哑地叫) sound. I didn’t know why they were croaking at me until a short time later I made an amazing _______: there were two small birds _______ around happily.

As I inched towards the birds, _______ not to make sudden movements, they started their croaking again, putting their necks forward so they seemed _______ and more threatening.

The mother put the baby birds under her wings and carefully crouched down over them so her babies were well ________.

I was watching them with respect when I suddenly ________ and fell to the ground. The mother took this as a/an ________ and the father raced towards me, ________ his wings to protect the mother and the baby birds.

I felt sorry to have disturbed them and left quickly. I am amazed by their ________ actions. Their parental love made them so courageous. It is hard not to show ________ for nature.

4 . Robert was a librarian. The instant Robert met Elizabeth, he was _______ to her at first sight. Afterwards, he never _______ to keep in touch with her. Besides, he wrote many letters to her, emphasizing his love. _______, Elizabeth was moved and married him.

One year later, Robert found his body was abnormal with no _______. In the hospital, the doctor said he had been _______ a critical illness and this cancer could be cured if detected early on. In this _______, Robert predicted he would not live much longer. Nevertheless, Elizabeth constantly persuaded him to accept rather than _______ it. She _______they live a peaceful rural life, which Robert didn’t oppose.

Elizabeth had to make her new home smart because she had to _______ her career. In her absence, this home made things ________ to Robert.

By artificial intelligence, Robert could use ________ innovative controls to switch off the lights and air conditioners. It can even forecast potential electrical wiring ________ and automatically stop it from catching fire.

With nothing to do, Robert ________ himself writing a novel. It combined his life with his fantasies. Hence, this daily routine mode made Robert confident of his ________. It took him one year to finish his novel. With the novel published and his condition ________, Elizabeth was finally relieved.

5 . Silence is important for learning. I got it from my fourteen-month-old daughter Arielle.

One day, she sat on the floor with an old baby doll. Without buttons, it could neither _________ nor play music. The whole room was silent. Then Arielle began to explore the baby doll. When her hand touched a tiny _________, she used one finger to trace (勾画) its shape. Then she _________ one of her own ears and then both ears. She kept tracing the doll’s ear and her own a few more times until, _________, she turned her attention elsewhere.

At that moment I discovered how human _________ took place. Something stimulated (刺激) Arielle’s _________: Is her body like her doll’s? With no outside stimulation, she satisfied her curiosity by comparing the doll’s body and herself. _________, for many kids, experiences like Arielle’s are less and less frequent _________ children are surrounded by those so-called _________ toys which can talk and move at the push of a button. This __________ them to push buttons repeatedly without thinking and may rob (剥夺) children of opportunities to problem-solve.

Like adults, children need times that are __________ to experience the difference between just reacting to outside stimulation and __________ their own ideas by exploring the world.

Indeed, the toys most likely to encourage creative play are not those that make __________ or have lots of unnecessary’ functions. __________, they are simple, quiet and can be used in lots of different ways. So next time, when __________ what to buy your child, make a wise choice.

6 . It’s that time again when we’re busy buying and giving them. Sometimes we call them ________, sometimes presents. Is there a ________?

The words come from different ________. Gift has its origin in the Germanic root for “to give”. It referred to an act of ________, and then, to the thing being given. Present comes from the French for “to present”. A present is the thing presented. They were both used to express the ________ of something going through a change of ________ without expectation of payment from the 13th century onward.

The words gift and present are well-matched synonyms that mean almost the same thing. ________, even well-matched synonyms have their own unique patterns of ________. Gift applies to a wide range of situations. Presents are more ________. If your whole family gave ________ to your college fund for your birthday, would you say “I got a lot of presents”? It doesn’t exactly sound ________, but since you never hold these donations in your hand, gifts seem to fit better.

Gift can also act like an adjective to describe another noun. What do you call the type of shop where you can buy presents for people? A gift shop. Present doesn’t work well in this role of ________ other nouns. We have gift boxes and gift cards, not present boxes and present cards.

Still, ________ my personal sense of the ________, present—though it may not be as common—is more casual sounding than gift. But whether it’s gifts or presents you ________, I wish you many and lots this year.

7 . Compean was no stranger to Los Angeles National Forest. He’d hiked the park several times. But after hiking along a _________ path last April, the 45-year-old man was lost.

As dusk _________, with several hours of aimless walking, his concern _________ fear. With only a bottle of water and less than ten percent battery _________ on his cell phone, Compean was unprepared for anything more than the two-hour journey he’d planned.

Compean climbed to a higher _________, some 7, 000 feet above sea level, where he found at least one bar of _________. “Help. My phone is going to die. I’m lost, ” he texted a friend, with a photo _________, showing where he was. All Compean could do then was wait. The temperature was dropping _________. Dressed so little, he soon felt cold to the bone.

Sixty miles away in Ventura County, Ben Kuo was reading a tweet _________ the Los Angeles County Police Department, showing an image of a man’s legs. Kuo has an unusual hobby. “I have always loved __________ where photos were taken,” he says. He frequently tries to __________ where movie scenes or television shows were filmed. When he saw the image of Compean’s legs surrounded by an endless landscape of __________, he immediately pulled up a satellite map on his laptop. The police department said Compean’s car was parked near Buckhorn Campground and Compean had been lost for a whole day, so he narrowed his search to the __________ area.

“There’s an amazing amount of information you can get from satellites, ”says Kuo. The first thing he __________ in Compean’s photo was the special grass. After comparing it to the satellite map, Kuo realized something, “He’s got to be on the south side __________ there’s not really any green valley on the north side.” That finding __________ his search, leading him to an area that was similar to a part in the image. The final step was comparing the __________ photo with 3D images of the area from Google Earth. The locations __________!

Thanks to Kuo’s __________ information, Compean was finally rescued and he was grateful to Kuo, “I __________ you my life”.

8 . My little brother and sister, Tex and Indi, are five-year-old twins. When it comes to being lovable, they’re the _______. But when it comes to keeping _______, they’re the worst!

My parents _______ to celebrate their wedding anniversary by taking a _______. But at the last minute, my dad came home from work with bad news that their getaway would have to _______. That’s when I came up with the _______ to surprise my parents with a cake. I could get help from Abuela, the grandmother of my friend Ollie.

Once I had my mom’s _______ to go to Ollie’s, I hurried toward the door. Indi and Tex ran up. I whispered to them I was going to _______ a cake for Mom and Dad’s anniversary. They wanted to _______.

“You can stay here and make cards. But remember, we don't say a single thing about the ________ until after dinner,” I said. They nodded.

Abuela was extremely ________, we made a beautiful cake. I brought it home and ________ it on a shelf in the garage. ________ was going as I’d hoped until I walked into the house. Tex and Indi waved their cards and ________ “Surprise!”

“No,” I said. “Not yet!” Right then, my mom rushed in and asked what was ________!”

“We won’t ________ you about the cake!” said the twins.

“I was trying to give you and dad the perfect anniversary surprise,” I ________, “but two members of this family just ________ everything.”

“We don’t care if it’s a ________,” said my mom. “It’s the thought that counts, and you just ________!”

9 . I had not hugged a friend or a family member for more than two years.

I hadn’t had that ______ until recently when my sister-in-law came for a brief visit. For everyone’s safety, we met outside. Despite the ______ weather in January, her hug warmed me from the inside out. I realized how much I ______ embracing loved ones — the warmth that ______ long after our arms untwined (松开).

There was war in my home town in Bosnia, so I found every moment was full of ______. On one peaceful morning, I begged my mom to let me go outside after weeks wilting (蔫) indoors. She ______ agreed. I was outside for only 10 minutes ______ I was caught in an explosion. I ______ to my neighbor’s house for safety and threw my arms around her neck while my legs were ______ underneath me. She hugged me with both arms and ______ me into her house. I was still in her arms when the ambulance arrived.

______, I made a full physical recovery, but the emotional ______ never left me. Years later there was another explosion near my house, when my father was away to buy a loaf of bread. When he came back inside, I gave him the biggest hug ______, choked in tears as I held him tight.

That same night my parents managed to arrange my escape from our war-torn city. They desperately wanted at least some of my childhood to be ______. I was 16 and came to America on my own. A generous host family took me ______. Over next several months, I suffered ______.   The only way I shared my feelings was by giving Oscar, their dog, a big ______.

Now, due to our pandemic lives, hugging a stranger is the ______ thing on our minds. For many of us, ______ hugging a relative or a friend comes with stress and anxiety because of risks and precautions (防范). I ______ that in the not-so-distant future we can safely hold one another again, a friend, relative, or a stranger.

10 . A sailor (船员) in one of Christopher Columbus’s three ships is eagerly (渴望地) looking for land. In the sailor’s eagerness to _________ land, he makes his _________. He thinks that a cloud on the horizon (地平线) is land. The sailor, with great excitement, calls out, “_________!”

Greatly excited, the rest of the ship’s sailors run to the side quickly. They, too, _________ eagerly out at the horizon. They are _________ at the thought of land. They have _________ nothing but a very large area of water for weeks.

As the ship moves forward, the sailor’s mistake is made _________. The “land” is nothing but a cloud. What do the others say to the sailor who made the _________ call? What do they say when it turns out that the “land” was only a moving cloud? The sailors make a _________. They say, “You just saw the dirt under the cooking ____________!” The response (答复) may not seem ____________ at all today, but it was a humorous response to the living conditions on ____________ long ago.

When Columbus____________ from Spain in August 1492 across the Atlantic Ocean, he traveled in three small, wooden ships. The living conditions were ____________. Most of the sailors slept fully-clothed under the stars on the hard decks (甲板). There were no bathrooms, ____________ there was not a ____________. Food had to be ____________ on the open deck at risk of ____________ the wooden ship. To prevent the ship from catching fire, the cook would always spread ____________ under the place where the cooking was done. The others would joke with a sailor who had wrongly ____________ he had discovered land. And they usually told him that what he had really seen was the dirt spread out by the cook for preventing fires!