1 . The beauty of love is that it can happen with the most unexpected person in the most unlikely places. In the case of a one-year-old stray puppy in Duplin County, North Carolina, that “person” happened to be a bright _________ stuffed unicorn (独角兽) at a local Dollar General store.

It is unclear how the adorable Labrador mix, now called Sisu, first caught sight of the _______ of his life. However, once he did, there was no stopping the pooch from trying to _______ it from the shelf in the store. On his first attempt, he _______ through the doors and made a beeline for the _______ aisle (通道), only to be caught by the staff. Not discouraged, Sisu made four more _______, only to be gently driven away by the shop assistants.

After Sisu attempted for the fifth time, the store owner _______ the Duplin County Animal Services. When animal control officer named Samantha Lane arrived, Sisu was sitting in the store’s parking lot _______ awaiting his next chance to get his beloved unicorn. The officer, who has a “soft spot for sad stories,” couldn’t bear to see the _______ puppy. So, she bought the $10 unicorn and placed it in the front seat of her truck. Not ________, the stray pooch willingly followed.

On March 26, 2021, the shelter staff ________ a photo of Sisu and his friend on Facebook, ________ their story as well. The heartwarming post went viral, and within five days, Sisu had found a(n) ________ home. The animal shelter, which is currently training the dog, has also ________ numerous purple unicorns from fans who want to make sure Sisu is never ________ his favorite toy again!

2 . I received a phone call from a credit card company. With the craziness of the holidays, I had missed a _________. The agent I spoke with was _________ and we actually chatted about life and _________ and the craziness it can cause in one’s life. All in all, the _________ phone call was probably only about forty-five _________, including making a payment.

A few days later, as I’m walking to _________ the mail, I notice a box from an online _________ delivery company. My first thought is, “Oh, no, someone _________ a package.” I pick it up to see if the _________ is close so I can drop it off. To my surprise, it not only has my address but my __________!

I take it inside. And I’m not going to __________ here; I’m already teary-eyed. When I open the box, there are roses in a beautiful vase. I find the __________ and the surprises just keep coming. Not only have I got flowers, but they are from a complete __________ in a different state!

The agent has sent me flowers with a note of __________ from one mom to another. I cry like a baby. I’m so __________ that not only a stranger but someone I only talked to for less than an hour took the time to __________ me some encouragement and flowers!

To that __________, wherever you are, I hope you know you __________ my day. It is things like this that __________ me that while there is trouble and hate in the world, there is also generosity and __________ for our fellow man.

3 . Making a difference in someone’s life is a rewarding experience. During my time in college, I landed my first real _________ at a cafe. Out of all the _________ I served, an elderly gentleman named Jeff left a lasting impression on me. Every Saturday afternoon, he would drop in and _________ a medium coffee. Whenever I had a moment, I would _________ a conversation with him and over time, we got to know each other well.

After a year of working every weekend, I decided to leave and _________ my two-week notice. The most _________ part of quitting was not informing my boss, but _________ the news to Jeff. I felt quite _________, as if I was abandoning him. When I finally brought it up, he replied in a _________ voice, “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sure that the staff will miss you.” I began to think that our visits held no real __________ to him, and that he would be just as content enjoying his food alone. __________, on my last day, Jeff came in with a card that simply read, “Your __________ during our time together is heartwarming. Few things have brought me more __________ than our weekly visits. Thank you.”

The sincere __________ I received for my small gestures was truly astonishing. Giving up my weekends for a year was a small price to __________ the remarkable impact of kindness.

4 . If you attempt hard things again and again and eventually succeed, you will be certain about your capabilities. ________, if you fail repeatedly, you come to ________ that you can’t succeed. Even if you try a third time, you might also end up ________. My daughter Amanda had such a(n) ________.

When Amanda was in seventh grade, she attended an advanced math class. That fall, our little house shook with her weeping as she was ________ to keep up. I, like Amanda, began to ________ that this math class was just too difficult for her.

But my husband didn’t think so. He would sit next to Amanda and take out the piles of papers to ________ her. They would start with the easiest problems, then the more difficult ones, and finally — the most ________ math problems. They would work late into night to solve a problem. ________, Amanda caught up with her classmates. With each milestone, her ________ grew. By her second year of high school, she became interested in math and even started to do math problems with her friends for ________.

Do let your children ________ their confidence and let them understand that there is no shortcut to the journey of learning, and that they have to be ________. As the psychologist Albert Bandura puts it, “If people only experience successes without effort, they come to ________ quick results and are ________ discouraged by failure.”

5 . In 2008, my family decided to migrate to the United States. ______, I had to leave the life I was accustomed to ______. I left my friends and most importantly, I left the ______ of graduating from elementary school as a valedictorian (毕业生代表). When I came to Guam, I started attending Benavente Middle School as a sixth grader. However, because I came ______,I only ______ be a sixth grader for four months.

I’ve always done really ______ in school and I did not want to move to a different country to stop me from ______ my best. I made sure that my education was my first priority. I did all my work, turned things in on time, as well as studied for tests and quizzes. I was ______ that finally, I would be able to go on stage and be part of the top ten. However, ______ my hard work, I found out that I could not be on ______ because I did not attend some specific lessons for the whole three years. Hearing this, I felt like all my hard work went to waste.

When I started going to high school, I still kept that ______ inside. I still could not believe that I worked so hard on something but my hard work didn’t ______. Finally, in Junior year, I decided to let things go and not dwell on the past. I started ______ more time and effort into my studies and I saw improvement in my grades day by day. In the last year, I was so proud of my grades and was ______ to show them to my parents. I ______ the fact that I’m doing so well in school and I’m trying my best. As they always say, everyone makes mistakes. The only difference is that some people learn from them while others repeat them.

6 . Helen Keller herself never feared physical action. She said if it would _________ to attract the public attention and treat the blind fairly, she would be willing to _________ everything.

Keller’s first flight as a _________ took place on the set of Deliverance, a biographical (传记的) film about her own life in which she actually _________. In June 1946, Deliverance’s producers wanted to _________ in their film that Helen could do almost all things that able-bodied people do. Since the airplane, still a new technology at that time, was fashionable then, the producers decided that they should show Keller _________ a plane. Even if this time it sounded much more _________ than her just sitting on a plane previously, Keller was thrilled to have the _________ to fly.

The small _________ was traveling to Europe on behalf of the American Foundation for the Overseas Blind. When it crossed the Mediterranean (地中海), Keller __________ the pilot’s controls. Her companion Thomson __________ to Keller the pilot’s instructions by pressing symbols into her hand. The plane crew were __________ at her sensitive touch on the controls. She flew the plane calmly and __________. There was no shaking at all. News reports treated the flight as a(n) __________.

With Keller flying a plane, public __________ of fair treatment for the deaf-blind was raised.

7 . Several years ago, I lived with a curious orange cat named Max. Max’s ________ took him to many places—the bottom of my sewing basket, my laundry basket, my dresser drawers, and under the kitchen sink. But Max wasn’t the only one who ________ everything. I did, too. I was as ________ as Max.

I’ve changed lots of jobs. Even in college, I couldn’t ________ with one major. I ________ from Sociology to Business Management to Women’s Studies to Creative Writing. Wherever I went on vacation, I ________ moving to that area, and sometimes I ________ did.

Then, one day, when I left a cupboard door half closed, Max ________ it open and climbed inside. I was at my wits’ end with him that day and yelled, “Max! Just because a door is ________, you don’t have to walk through it.” And then I stood still and replayed those ________ in my mind: Just because a door is open, you don’t have to ________ through it.

Oh, that’s what I had been ________ my entire life—walking through every door, taking every opportunity and never thought whether or not I was making the right ________. Thanks to Max, I learned a very important ________ that day. Since then, whenever an opportunity comes along, it ________ me of those fateful words I said to Max.

8 . I am 49 now. Reader’s Digest has been a(n) _______ part of my family since even before I was born. My father, a planter who _______ a tea estate in Sri Lanka, has _______ Reader’s Digest since the late 1950s. And then he naturally changed from a tea merchant to a writer for it.

In an era with no television or the Internet, the evenings were spent _______ the magazine. By the time I became literate, there was a cupboard full of Reader’s Digest _______ by me, which my father bought for me. With its _______, my knowledge was gathered too. At first, it was the real stories that were most _______ for me, where I learned some life lessons.

I read through them all over my school holidays. One thing I learned from Reader’s Digest is how to reverse (倒车) a car, which still benefits me today. I _______ reading a small piece of news about the tips on _______ a car up to a space in a short time, and to date, I can make it with the ________ effort and the most relaxed mind than most people.

I’ve ________ had to spend much time getting trained how to reverse a car fast. Every time I need to do it in one ________ step, I thought of the textual ________ and the vivid diagram from the Reader’s Digest. Who would have thought Reader’s Digest could be a “________”? I hope that the next generations will continue to enjoy reading and gain something ________   like me.

9 . The joys of getting lost

Most of us like to know where we are and where we’re going. It can feel_________to be lost. The words “being lost” make us_________a dark wood, or a dark city street: threatening and scary. But that’s not always the case.

When I was twelve, my family were_________in Venice. My dad’s a crazy photographer and he said that he was going to take_________as the sun came up.Mum wasn’t interested, but I said I_________go with him.

So at 5 am the following morning we_________the hotel. There was almost no one in the streets. Dad started taking photographs and I just followed him,walking down_________streets and over little bridges.

After about an hour, I turned to him. “Dad,” I asked “where are we?” He said,“I have no_________.”I immediately felt a bit scared, but Dad just laughed. “We’re_________!” he said. I told him to get out his map or phone. He looked at me. “Map? Phone? I only brought the__________.   Let’s get more lost!” And he laughed again.

His__________ relaxed me and made me feel safe. To Dad’s pleasure, people were__________on the streets shops and cafes began to open, and as the sun__________the narrow streets started to fill with light. I began to forget we were lost, and just started observing everything happening__________me. We stopped and had a sandwich for breakfast—Dad’s__________Italian was just enough for us to get what we wanted, even in a place a-way from the tourist track.

Finally, after hours of__________ around aimlessly, Dad said: “Hey! This is our street!” And we were back. Mum was in the breakfast room of the hotel when we came in. “Where have you been for so long?” Mum asked__________.   “We got lost!” I said with a__________smile.

These days we have so many things to__________us from getting lost: maps, GPS, apps on our phones, and so on. But Dad showed me being lost can simply be something to__________.

10 . I acquired a lot by watching animals. They have tales to tell and lessons to teach for any who have the openness to watch, ________and learn.

We have three roosters (公鸡), each with a different personality and a different voice.

Stew is ________the leading rooster. He has the “perfect” voice and star looks, suitable for________in a movie. Typical of his kind, he is well aware of his talent and appearance. Stew often sings at 4:00 AM to________the dawn before this part of the globe has even thought of circling to it. He looks after the hens, knowing that he has important work to do. Another of our roosters is Smoker. He may not have “the sound” or “the look”, but he takes his place in the order of things without giving evidence of ________or ingratitude. He is the one who________looks for danger and makes a(n) unpleasant sound like coughing when he thinks there’s a(n)________nearby. The third rooster is Rocky. One morning I heard a sound that made me________out of the house. I thought one of the birds was in horrible pain. Fortunately, there were no________ . I realized that Rocky was learning to sing. Rocky didn’t seem ________ that his call was not perfect. None of the other chickens or roosters ________ him or told him to be quiet. None of them said, “Stew sounds so much better than you do.”

Even if Smoker forever sounds like he has problems with his lung and Rocky always sounds like he is in screaming agony (痛苦), it just wouldn’t be________without the calls of all three of the roosters. I enjoy hearing them all, even if Stew often wakes me up and the other two sound ill.

Perhaps no human choir would accept a member with such a voice as Smoker or Rocky, but everyone has ________gifts, and nobody is better than anybody else because of our talents. Some people have beautiful bodies. Some people have the talent to sing songs or ________ stories or create magnificent artwork. Some have the talent to help others feel secure. Others are just finding out what talents they have to offer.

So, we can ________a lot from nature if we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and brains enough to pay attention.