1 . In April 2003, the war reached Basra, a port city in Iraq. Alia Baker, the librarian of Basra’s Central Library was ________ that the books would be destroyed. When she requested ________ to move the books to a safe place, the governor_________ her request. Concerned, Alia did what she could to save the_________.

Every night Alia ________ took home the library’s books, as many as she could ________ in her car. As the war ________, buildings were damaged and fires started. When other librarians ________ the library, Alia asked help from friends and_________ of the library to save the books.

With the help of Anis who owned the restaurant next to the library, and other friends, thousands of books were carried to the seven-foot wall that separated the library and the restaurant, ________ over the wall and hidden in the restaurant._________, the library was destroyed by fire, 30,000 of the library’s books have been saved by the_________ efforts of Basra and her helpers.

This true story shows the_________ a group of people can have when working together for a common cause. It also calls attention to how_________ libraries and their books can be to individuals and_________.

2 . The other day, I watched the documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, which followed Nirmal Purja as he climbed all 14 mountains with a height of more than 8,000 meters. Having no _________ of mountaineering apart from occasional recreational hikes, I _________ Purja’s courage and perseverance (毅力).

Not long into the programme, however, such feelings began to _________. On a journey Purja called “the mission possible”, he _________ extreme weather conditions and almost lost his life in a 100-metre fall. Whatever the _________ , he pursued the completion of his task.

The documentary _________ Purja’s perseverance, suggesting you can achieve anything as long as you persevere. _________ , the more dead mountaineers Purja passed on the way, the more I began to _________ this message.

Why did an able mountaineer insist upon exposing himself to a(n) _________ situation? Human culture values the completion of tasks. This phenomenon is called “completion bias (偏见)”. While it can be a __________ for people to overcome difficulties, it is important to be aware of its __________. For example, with people trying hard to get things done, many have a natural __________ for focusing on particular tasks. Ultimately, it may prevent us from __________ bigger tasks that really matter.

Therefore, it is always __________ to remember that giving up a task does not necessarily mean failure. The choice to __________ a mission can be a wiser one than pushing through a misguided quest.

3 . Our ancient nomadic(游牧的)ancestor would often sing or dance to show others where to find food. In my family, we’ve always had music around us too and this influence is starting to _______. Our seven-year-old son has _______ to perform his own raps which are quite excellent even without considering how _______ he is. Our four-year-old daughter is showing her musical _______ too — she started to make up little ditties(小调).

What is most joyous about our shared _______ of music are those moments when we all come together as a _______. My favorite time happened in April when I was feeling quite _______. I was cooking breakfast when the kids _______ that I was playing dance music. My seven-year-old son then started to join in dancing. This _______ his four-year-old sister, soon the three of us were jumping up and down. It was a moment of real ________ and it turned around how I was feeling.

At that point, I felt like music would be the way to ________ to the kids. I’ve sat down with my son and together we’ve remixed his voice and I’ve sat with my daughter and we’ve played the guitar. We might not be ________ anything about the whereabouts of food as our ancestor did. But we are giving them an ________ through song. We’ re teaching them “Flower of Scotland” so that they might know something about their heritage.

Through ________, we have all become a ________ family.

4 . I have been afraid of heights since young. In my middle school there was a training program called “The Leap of Faith”. Students had to climb a ladder to a platform (平台) 11 meters above the ground and then ______ the platform and grab a swing.

I was ______ like a leaf before I took the first step. I climbed up and, when I got to the top, I was so ______that I felt faint. I literally couldn’t_______ My teacher, who was standing below, suggested that ______ jumping off the platform, I just sit on the edge and then slide down. I sat there for 10 minutes and finally, with the ______of my classmates, I slid down crying the whole way. I heard two boys ______me behind my back. I was so hurt.

Over the next two weeks, I jumped off steps and swung on the rope. I wanted so badly to ______ that I could do it, and I wanted to ______ the guys who had laughed at me. Two weeks later in a PE class I ______ jumped off the platform. I have never felt so ______ of myself.

Sometimes situations are ______, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to deal with them. People will doubt you, but ______ is the best revenge (报复) for them. When you attain your goals, you’ll feel a great sense of ______. So, keep dreaming and don’t let your ______ get in the way.

5 . There is a school where children use pumpkins to learn about colors and counting. They learn about _________ by planting seeds 30 centimeters apart. Interesting? Yes, that’s the _________ school. For students at this school in Hamilton, Virginia, the classroom is _________ every day. Jaclyn Jenkins is a founder of the school. The _________ for a school like this started after Jenkins and her husband Kenny bought a farm shortly after their marriage. The Farm School is a _________ –a place for three and four-year-olds to learn and play.

Teacher Alison Huff says The Farm School gives its students more of a hands-on learning _________. Children can use everything a _________ preschool uses, but out in the garden. In addition to planting vegetables and fruits, youngsters help prepare food and _________ afterward. The school teaches children to cook using the food they have grown. They can _________ what they have in the garden __________ going to the grocery store and buying it. Besides, the preschoolers also learn words in languages other than English. Huff speaks __________ in both English and Spanish. Her assistant speaks French and Arabic.__________, a 3-year-old in her class speaks four different languages.

What’s more, Farm animals are also playing an important part in the education program. The youngsters learn about a __________ animal every month. Two months ago, the animal they learnt was a cow. They get to see what the cow is like, and we learn what cows eat. We use little gloves and try to __________ a cow. Using the milk from their work, we make yogurt.

More and more families __________ The Farm School. Their children come home with new experiences, new knowledge and sometimes a few vegetables they plant by themselves. So this kind of school is getting more and more popular!

6 . A single tremble shook beneath my feet. The trees above me began to sway(摇摆) hard. Then came the deadly_________that could only mean one thing, destruction. Every house and object was now_________. My vision blurred (模糊) even more when I saw the remains of my house. The house that used to_________all the happiness in the world was now_________a pile of ruined pieces. I_________all the times I played with my little brother and sister. Images of them were_________in my mind, so I let the darkness sweep over me completely so I could see them vividly one last time. I regained a bit of my_________after lying on the ground for some time. My eyes viewed different things, but I walked on mindlessly, with no_________to anything around me at all.

Years have passed since the disaster that_________me years ago. I never thought I would be okay again after this__________event.

Today I am going on a trip to California to help__________of a recent earthquake. Then, I see her. A young girl is weeping into her arm. I walk toward her. Losing family was__________, but because of my life changing experience, I am strong, and I can__________the lives of those who are suffering as I was. When I reach the girl, she stares at me with sad eyes, and I gently stick out my hand for her to hold to. One day, she may__________others the way I did for her. She holds my hand tightly, and together, we look for a brighter future where we can help those around us and__________the world starting with one disaster at a time.

7 . While some creatives discover their passion later in life, others find their calling at an early age. One elementary school student in Colorado named Kaia Aragon has been _________ the Internet with her closet of handmade designs. She was even _________ a sewing machine by Vera Wang! This _________ 9-year-old has been making her own clothes by hand since November 2021 and has dreams of one day being a _________ fashion designer.

Aragon _________ her growing collection of clothes on the Internet, where she poses in each one. These custom creations range from attractive dresses made from shining fabrics to casual tops to sports outfits she can wear while _________ “My inspiration comes from a _________ place for every design,” Aragon tells My Modern Met. “The one thing that stays the same is that I only use super _________ and comfortable fabrics.”

As it turns out, comfort is a huge _________ for Aragon, who was urged to make her own clothes due to a sense of __________ with the pre-existing selection for girls of her age. “I like making clothes because the fancy dresses in the little girls’ sections are so stiff (僵硬的) and __________,”she explains. “With my own clothes, I can be super __________ but also comfortable at the same time. So I can go to a tea party and then go ride my skateboard at the park and not have to __________ first.”

Although Aragon has made numerous outfits, her __________ favorite is a pale pink dress with a special design at the hem (裙边). “My next outfit will be a white dress with hand-painted fabric,” Aragon __________.

8 . On Sunday, Schoonbroodt, a 71-year-old from Maastricht, ran a marathon. In a _________ 2hr 54 mins and 19 secs, he became the fastest person of his age in history. At an age when many of his contemporaries (同龄人) are_________ down, Jo Schoonbroodt is_________ speeding up.

It turned out that Schoonbroodt’s new 70+ world record, was _________ by an unlikely source: the Belgian singer Eddy Wally. With a few miles_________, his legs were starting to get_________.

“However, my friend had a special _________ to keep me on track,” said Schoonbroodt. “He put Eddy Wally’s song Chérie on his phone on repeat. I’ve always loved it. It gave me a_________. I overtook one runner after another and, _________ getting cramp (抽筋) in the final 500 metres, I was able to__________ the record by four seconds.”

While Schoonbrodt’s achievements are exceptional, he is not __________. Several men over 70 have run a sub-three-hour marathon. John Brewer, a sports scientist at the University of the West of Scotland, __________ that while we suffer a 10% decline in muscle mass every decade __________ we age, the decline isn’t as sharp for endurance. “Compared to 40 years ago, the__________ in nutrition, recovery and technology all mean that it is more __________ for people in their 60s and 70s to produce good performance if they follow the right training,” he said.

9 . The other day,Jenny and I went to a cookbook launch party at our friend Odette’s apartment. We stood in her_________and drank Prosecco. While eating pasta salad, we chatted about work and fantasy vacations to Italy. After a couple of hours, it was time for me to head_________for the boys’ bedtime,so I turned to Jenny.“Okay, let’s_________behind the kitchen is-land,”I said, noting Odette’s position on the other side of the room.

Jenny looked at me in_________.“But we have to say goodbye.”

Oh, right! I_________that not everyone ghosts after parties. Meanwhile, I’ve been happily ghosting for the past_________.It started 10 years ago,when my husband Alex and I_________a big holiday party. Fifty friends squeezed into our tiny apartment, and everyone was having a_________ time until something started happening.

For the entire second half of the party,friends kept coming up to say goodbye and_________ us a happy rest-of-the-weekend. It just felt like a mass leave because we were consumed with saying goodbye to every__________person who was heading home. It felt like the__________was already over. The next morning, Alex and I made a decision: We would never say goodbye to the   __________of parties. We would__________slip out the door.

Goodbyes are, by their very nature, at least a mild disappointment. So I__________people to leave parties without saying goodbye. What if your friends wonder where you’ve gone?They probably won’t even__________that you’ve left.

10 . A relative invited me to come and live in his house. With complete _________ in his promises, I loaded all my worldly possessions onto a ship _________ India in November 2001. Everything had gone _________ in the run-up (准备阶段) to the trip. I was confident that this _________ was the next big step I had to take.

When I arrived, he said, “Things have _________. There is no place here for you.”

I was stunned. I was so _________ that I couldn’t speak. Like a frozen statue, I stood perched on the edge of the vast _________, not sure of what to do. The anger _________. I could not go back to England as all my worldly possessions were on their way to India.

In order to live, I submitted articles to magazines in India and, occasionally, they _________ me for them.

Those years of __________ left a permanent impression. I was searching for an appropriate place to __________, but only later did I realize that the movement itself was meant for my __________ development. If I had only stayed in his house, I would never have learned many valuable lessons. One such lesson was that through __________ and commitment to one’s ideals in life, any adverse situation can be __________. I am writing this story from my __________ in India.