1 . I want to tell you three stories from my life. The first story is about connecting the _______ . When I was at Reed College, it offered perhaps the best calligraphy _______   in the country. I decided to take a calligraphy class. At that time none of what I learned about calligraphy seemed to have even a(n) _______ of any practical application. But later when we were _______ the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we put it all into the Mac. Of course, you can only connect the dots looking backwards. But you have to trust that the dots will _______ connect in your future.

My second story is about love. I _______ Apple at twenty. And then at thirty, I got fired. _______ something slowly began to strike me -- I still loved what I did. And so I decided to start over. In a wonderful turn of _______ , I returned to Apple. The only thing that kept me going was that I _______ what I did. So, if you haven’t found what your interest, keep looking. Don’t ________ .

My third story is about death. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs ________ , which is doctors’ code for “prepare to ________ . ” Later it turned out to be curable(可治愈的) with surgery. I had the surgery and, ________ , I am fine now. This was the closest I’ve been to facing death.

Having ________ it, I can now say this to you: Your time is limited, so don’t ________   it living someone else’s life.

3 . If you need courage when facing a challenge, learn from Jessica Cox. Born in February 1983 in Sierra Vista, Arizona, Jessica Cox _________ her parents. Why? She had no arms. As Cox grew up, her mother _________ that her daughter had the _________ to live a normal life by doing things differently.

_________ independent at a young age, Cox learned to tie her shoes, get dressed and take a _________. She also got prosthetic (假体的) arms then and used them for 11 years, all the time _________ why. Getting called names like “Robot Girl” made her _________ and quiet. But at age 14,everything changed.

Cox remembers boarding the bus on the first day of 8th grade with a _________ by Eleanor Roosevelt running through her mind. “No one can make you feel inferior (卑微的) without your _________.” She decided to embrace her __________ and removed her prosthetic arms for good. Cox says that it is not until we are __________ to ourselves that we are able to overcome our challenges. That year, she also __________ her black belt from the International Taekwondo Federation!

After college, Cox was __________ by Arizona Daily Star, which kick-started her career. She has spoken to audiences in over 26 countries since then. Cox often __________ people through humor.

Cox conquered her greatest fear-flying-and in 2011 became the world’s first armless pilot. She uses her feet to fly the plane! __________ learn from Jessica Cox - challenges are opportunities.

4 . It is strange how a small moment can change a person’s life. My son walked into the kitchen this morning and opened his ______ to me. I opened my arms too and gave him a big hug just like I do every morning. And this time a ______ memory (回忆) came back to me.

My Italian grandma had been a big hugger when I was a boy, but my mum and dad didn’t hug me much as I got ______ . By the time I was a teenager then, except for my grandma, I didn’t hug anyone.

When I was sixteen, I ______ on a trip with a group of boys to tour a college. And on our way there, we also ______ an old temple (寺庙) . As we entered we were ______ there by the largest monk I had ever seen. He was over six and a half feet tall with ______ arms. And as he welcomed us, he gave each one of us a huge hug. When my own ______ came, I felt scared but ______ in and hugged him back. I felt ______   in my heart as he shared his loving-kindness. I felt peace and pleasure in my ______   a as well. It was amazing. Later that day I began to ______ why I had ever stopped giving and ______ hugs when they brought so much ______   . When my own children were born then I ______   to never stop hugging them and telling them I loved them, no matter how big they grew or how old they got.

5 . In the August sun, it was unbearably hot in my car. I was in Vancouver, __________ the Knight Street Bridge as I tried to get home after work. __________ was already slowing down and then it came to a full stop. I was __________ even before getting on the bridge.

Ahead of me was a heavily jammed road. I stared at the endless rows of __________, depressed. But I stayed __________. When the cars did move, I moved carefully, making sure not to crash into other cars. Finally, I __________it onto the bridge. The traffic was still moving forward at a snail’s pace. Tired and hungry, I became very __________.

Just then, I heard a faint sound __________. The sound gradually became louder, until I could __________ it as an ambulance drawing near from behind. What did we do? The bridge was __________. There was no room for us to move.

But I was wrong. Every single car quickly, yet carefully, moved to the side. Without thinking, I __________. The lane remained open for a few seconds during which the ambulance __________ through.

Afterwards, every car moved back into formation (队形), and we continued our patient __________. I forgot my exhaustion and hunger. My anxiety was gone.

How did we do that? Despite our exhaustion, we collectively decided to help the stranger who needed the time more __________ than we did. We drew on our sympathy and intelligence, requiring no __________. Together we could make the impossible possible.

9 . A friend sent me an email, asking if I’d consider writing about educational apps for children to watch while on road trips. The email said, “Many are turning to road trips. And often with long car rides comes the use of on-screen entertainment. These educational apps should also develop their art, math and design skills.”

While I realize the intention is well-meaning, and doubtless would lead to a quieter car ride for the parents, the thought of sticking kids in front of screens on a road trip makes me queasy. You see, if they’re glued to a screen for hours on end, they will miss everything that’s going by outside the window. And that means they’ll miss out a major part of the trip and the opportunity to engage in conversation with family members, but to be alone with their own thoughts, or simply to be bored.

There is so much to see on a road trip! Cars, trees, faces, building, markets, airplanes landing — the entire world is out there, and staring at it from the backseat of a car familiarizes a child with what is going on.

I have a theory that paying attention to one’s surroundings while traveling by car helps children develop an internal compass. If they don’t pay attention during all those years when they’re being driven, they’ll struggle to know where to go and how to locate themselves once they’re independent. This doesn’t mean they have to be alert (警惕的) for the entire journey, but not being on a screen naturally allows for a higher level of engagement with one’s surroundings. When you listen to music, you’ll look up occasionally; you’ll pay attention to landmarks.

What can children do on the trip? Actually, there are plenty of off-screen activities.

10 . The best way I can think of to describe this situation: We finally have time to stop and smell the dandelions (蒲公英).

Technically dandelions are weeds, so they don’t often ____ in any kind of decorations. When I pass dandelions in my lawn, my reaction typically is not to ____ them at all, or think we really need to get rid of the weeds. But for the past couple of days, my kids have been ____ by these little yellow weeds. They have filled my pockets with them, and we have even smelled them. We can be bothered by the weed and ____ by the weeding. But we are still giving it our time and looking at it for a glimmer of (一丝) good.

While before we may have been too ____ to smell the dandelion, now, with the spread of COVID-19, we are forced to stay at home and slow down and appreciate it. In fact, I’ve ____ a great deal about dandelions in the past several days. Like that they’re one of the first food sources for bees in the spring, and are ______ to eat, even nutritious. These little weeds are surprisingly useful, but I had ____ stopped to think about it before.

I’m longing for the days when we can ____ our friends and family again, and honestly even a handshake with a stranger sounds nice. I can’t wait for a time when we can go outside without ____ and send our health-care workers out into the world safely. Yet, right now we have the time to smell the weed. It’s a forced ____ to consider all the things we could or should have been doing all along ____ rushing off to the next big important thing.

As I dig a dandelion out of my pocket and let out a sneeze (喷嚏)，I realise this isn’t fun, but there are pockets of ____ . Dandelions don’t smell like roses, but they are ____ when you really look at them and important when you really think about them.

When this is all over, I hope I will still ____ to stop and smell the weeds.