1 . On my first day of the sixth grade,I noticed one little girl called Amy on the school bus.”Don’t _______ her,” Lauren said, who sat beside me. “Or they will make fun of you.”

Amy had many _______ differences - lots of reasons for other kids to make fun of her. Her eyes weren’t straight. Her glasses were an inch thick. And she had really ugly teeth.

Every day _______we drove to and from school, kids would shout insults (侮辱) at Amy. “God, what a (n) _______ face! Stop looking at me!” “Mr. Rolland (the driver) ! Amy took off her_______,and now her eyes are _______ me! “Make her put them back on! “ For a while I shouted my share of insults,just so I would fit in (合群)._______,I didn’t want them to treat me the same way they treated Amy.

But while I was insulting her, my heart _______ for the girl. I could see that the insults were making her look _______ , because she was so ashamed (羞愧)and alone. Then I wanted to ________ her. I just didn’t know how to stop my schoolmates________ the night of our class roller - skating party.

Our whole class was there, including Amy. Amy didn’t know how to ________ , but I could see how much she wanted to ________ like the rest of us. So I skated over   to her and took her by the hand; we began the journey together around the skating rink (溜冰场).She just smiled, and sometimes she would laugh in ________ .

On the school bus the next morning there was much news about Amy and me________together, ________ nobody insulted her or me. And they didn’t do that for the rest of the year.

After graduation, I never ________ Amy again. However, I never forget her and I have always ________ if I changed her life for the better. But I know for sure she   changed my __________ After becoming her friend, I no longer tried to impress (给留下印象)people by trying to ________ like them. I became myself.

2 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n) ___ way as a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive, and can exist in both large and small groups.

People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly ___that some part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct explains why the approval of peers, and the fear of ____, is such a powerful force in many people's lives. This instinct drives people to dress one way at home and another way at work, or to answer a simple “fine" when a stranger asks "how are you?" even if it is not necessarily true. There is a(n) _____aspect to this: it helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that ___day-to-day interaction between people.

For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n) ___: in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to ___their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that ____criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel ___ to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can't afford in an effort to ___ the peers.

However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at ___may be urged to work harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of ___can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one.

Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so ___that a person may not even notice that it is affecting his or her behavior. For this reason, when making important decisions, simply going with a(n) ___is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action, and whether the real ____ is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing.

3 . Though people have discussed the relationship between science and nature for many years, there is no consensual(统一的) explanation. While some view science as a powerful tool in ______ nature’s source of power, others view it as a danger. One example is Barry Commoner’s article, Unraveling(解开) the DNA Myth, which explains the recent developments in DNA technology and expresses ______. Another example is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Birthmark. It is a tale about a famous scientist, Aylmer, who seems to be unraveling nature’s deepest secrets one by one. Despite all of his ______ and vast understanding of science, Aylmer is unable to direct that knowledge into ______ free from nature’s grasp. He was unable to rid his wife of her birthmark and, in the end, killed her.

Despite the different presentations of the concepts, though time separated the two men, both pieces express a similar view on the relationship between science and nature. Both pieces suggest that nature is ______ and holds wonders, secrets, and powers that many scientists constantly dream about discovering. Although there is a gap of one hundred and sixty years, Commoner still shares and gives evidence to Hawthorne’s beliefs that there is a unique ______ in nature that cannot be discovered or understood through science and that the ______ to uncover nature’s secrets are ______ and can lead to disaster. According to Commoner, nature’s universal power continues to prevent and control their discoveries. Commoner criticizes and ______ doubt on the true power of science.

As Commoner’s article suggests, nature only allows science to have limited power and success. Both men believe that complete trust in science is ______, however wonderful and groundbreaking some scientific discoveries are. Commoner believes that people only seem to focus on the few achievements, while avoiding and ignoring all of the laws. For example, “most clones exhibit developmental failure before or soon after birth”. By stressing all of the ______ and shortcomings of science, he conveys the notion that nature’s secrets are well kept and far from being understood and ______ by man. The government and private companies have invested billions of dollars in mapping the human genome, but we still have no ______ for it. Such a discovery is useless, however interesting it might be.

Commoner’s article clearly represents science as weak and useless, but more importantly, dangerous. It gives evidence to support the suggested dangers ______ with science’s attempts to discover nature’s power. If the result is not ______ dangerous, it can still have harmful side effects.

4 . We love letters. Just as John Donne, a poet, _________ it, “Letters, to me and my friends mean _________ greetings; they get souls together. Thanks to letters, friends who are _________ speak.” He wrote these words nearly 400 years ago. Today, in the age of instant text message, social media, and email, they _________ ring truer than ever, because writing or receiving a letter has become such a _________ event.

A UK-wide survey undertaken by Sunday Times suggests that one in four of us has not _________ a letter for at least 10 years. That’s ten years without the bitter-sweet _________ of pacing the floor waiting for the _________; ten years without recognizing the handwriting on the envelope and eagerly _________ the letter to read its content.

We ____________ not get them any more, but we still love handwritten letters. In the same survey, one third of ____________ people interviewed say that they ____________ the content of sentimental (充满情感的) letters. Shouldn’t we make ____________ to give our friends and families what they will treasure forever? Ann Bickley went online in 2013 and offered to handwrite a letter to anyone who ____________ her. Her website received 50,000 ____________ in its first three months. Five years later, she is still the main ____________ behind one-million-lovely-letter.com and has personally written 4,000 letters offering hope and ____________ to strangers.

The thought behind a letter ____________ as much as its contents. “I never tell anyone that ____________ is going to be OK,” Ann Bickley says, “I am letting someone know that there is someone in the world who ____________ them.”

Who wouldn’t love to receive a letter like that? Let’s get writing!

5 . Decan Andersen unexpectedly became a father of three and in the cutest way possible. One damp afternoon in 2014, a baby red squirrel _______ from his apartment building and landed in the middle of his garden, _______ and bleeding. Although concerned, Andersen _______ the squirrel alone and went inside, _______ that the mother would come and _______ him. But when that didn’t happen, he _______ what he had to do.

_______ picking up the four-week-old baby from the _______ grass, he took him inside, where he was _______ comforted by Andersen’s cat, Coco, who washed him with her ________ and warmed him up. Later, after a veterinarian(兽医) had dressed the squirrel’s wounds, Andersen made his ________ housemate some tiny sweaters and socks to prevent him from ________ his wounds.

Because his children, Nicole, now 11, and Markus, 6, had been watching the cartoon movie, The Adventures of Tintin, Andersen ________ the squirrel Tintin and decided to make him part of the family, since he couldn’t be released back into the wild without weeks of ________.

Using a little ________ to protect Tintin from other animals that weren’t as ________ of squirrels as Coco, Andersen began taking his lively little pet everywhere he went,________ their adventures on social media.

“With so much negativity in the world, I thought it could help ________ people up,” Andersen said. “Most people feel surprised and want to know more. He makes people forget about their ________ for a moment so they can laugh and smile. We have a special ________ and are pretty much together.”

6 . Several years ago I started riding a bike. At first, I thought it was only a ______ ride. But as I built up strength, my friends encouraged me to try some longer ______. The first one to come along was a 150-mile journey, an event held every year that ______ money to fight cancer.

When I signed my name, the ______ seemed great — to support a worthy cause while going for the ______ — and I trained with great excitement. But as the time for the ride approached, my ______ gained ground over my endurance(耐力). I didn't really want to ______ all those miles for two days straight.

The ride began on a Sunday morning in the Georgia countryside, ______ for the first few hours I felt wonderful. This was just the ______ I had imagined, and my spirits were ______. But by the end of the day, I felt tired. I was sure I'd have to ______.

As I topped the hill, the nice sunset ______ me going for a few minutes more. Then in the distance, I ______ a lone rider riding very slowly. I ______ that the person looked different in some way, but I couldn't tell why. I managed to ______. There she was, riding slowly but steadily, with a ______ smile on her face — and she had only one leg.

My focus ______ at that moment. I'd been doubting my body for a whole day. But now I knew — it wasn't the body, but the ______ that would help me reach my goal.

It rained all the second day. I ______ saw the one-legged biker again, but I pushed on without complaining. And at the end of the day, still feeling ______, I completed the 150th mile.

7 . Ferdinand de Lesseps, once a French diplomat(外交官)，became_____with the cultures of the Mediterranean(地中海)and Middle East and the growth of western European____. But in 1849 he retired after a disagreement with the French government.

In 1854,_____his expectation, he returned to Egypt, ____he was given a warm welcome and, soon afterwards, permission to begin work____the Suez Canal. De Lesseps had been ____by reading about Napoleon's abandoned plans for a______that would allow large ships wishing to sail to the east to go____ from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, therefore ____out the long sea journey around Africa.

De Lesseps’ plan was______by an International commission of engineers, but failed to win the support of the British government, _____de Lesseps making a number of trips to London. He persevered and_____attracted financial support from the French emperor Napoleon III and others.

De Lesseps was no____- his achievement lay_____ organizing the necessary political and financial backing, and providing the technical support______for such a huge project.______ began in April 1859, and the Suez Canal was____in November 1869. British attitudes changed when the canal was seen to be a______and de Lesseps was treated as a great celebrity (名人) on his later visit to Britain. In 1875, the Egyptian government sold its____. in the canal and the British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, ____effective control of the Canal Company.

8 . It was a Friday night and I was _______a restaurant, washing dishes. A plate _______through my wet fingers and fell onto the floor in _______. My face flushed(发红) and inside I was screaming, “Why me!?” as if my _______would make the plate whole again.

The broken plate was only one of the many _______fighting inside me. There were a dozen _______ smaller but urgent concerns.

For me, it was impossible to get some much _______rest or some study time before a coming exam. I had to _______with the family expenses(开销). So I got back to work.

It was 12 p.m. when I finally finished my work. I got on the _______home and took out my notes to study. I got the ________looks from people out of bars because I was studying on a bus in the middle of the night.

Their ________ didn’t bother me at all. I knew something had to change in my family and it ________to me to begin it. Fortunately, I also knew I had desire and ________in my blood. My grandfather was among the first Mexican immigrants who ________in L.A.. Both of my parents left Mexico in their early teenage years and began working long ________as a cook and a maid. The spirit was ________generations, which helped me both in school and at work.

As I walked through the front door at home, I saw my mother had fallen asleep ________me despite her own long day. In my bedroom watching my brothers breathe slowly made me feel my body’s tiredness. However, it would be a while before I could ________them in sleep. I had an essay ________early the next morning, and Ms. DePaolo doesn’t ________late work.

9 . It was raining. I went into a café and asked for a coffee. _______ I was waiting for my drink, I realized there were other people in the place, but I sensed _______. I saw their bodies, but I couldn't feel their souls _______ their souls belonged to the _______.

I stood up and walked between the tables. When I came to the biggest computer, I saw a thin, small man _______ in front of it. "I'm Steve," he finally answered after I asked him a couple of times what his name was. “I can't talk with you. I'm _______”, he said. He was chatting online and, _______, he was playing a computer game ---- a war game. I was _______ . Why didn't Steve want to talk with me? I tried _______ to speak to that computer geek (怪人), ________ not a word came out of his mouth. I touched his shoulder, but no reaction (反应). I was ________. I put my hand in front of the monitor, and he started to shout, "________!"

I took a few steps back, wondering if all those people in the café were looking at me. I ________, and saw nobody showed any interest.

________, I realized that the people there were having a nice conversation with their machines, not with people. They were more ________ having a relationship with the ________, particularly Steve. I wouldn't want to ________ the future of human beings if they preferred sharing their lives with machines ________ with people.

I was worried and lost in my thought. I didn't even ________ that the coffee was bad, ________ Steve didn't notice there was a person next to him.

10 . I was walking around in a store _______ I saw a Cashier talking to a boy less than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then the little boy _______ me and asked, “Uncle, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

I counted his cash and nodded. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Out of _______, I asked him who he presented the doll to. “It’s the doll that my sister loved most and longed for it so much. I wanted to _______ her for her Birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy _______she can give it to my sister when she goes there.” His eyes were so _______ while saying this.

“My Sister _______ to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could give it to my sister.” My heart _______ stopped. Then he showed me a very nice photo _______ him, where he was laughing. He looked up at me, ________: “I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won’t ________ me, I love my mommy and I wish she doesn’t have to leave me, but daddy says that she ________ my little sister.”

Then he looked again at the doll with grieved eyes, very quietly. I quickly ________ for my wallet and said to the boy. “ ________ we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?” He stared at me ________. I added some of my money to his without his ________ . There was enough for the doll and even some ________ money.

With eyes wide open, the little boy said excitedly, “Thank you God for giving me enough money! I prayed to God to ________ I had enough money to buy this doll. He heard me! I also wished to have some to buy a white rose for mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask ________ . But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”

Two days later, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. But the ________ that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine.