1 . My photographs are the items I would definitely take or guard in case of an emergency. But what else? This was the question I asked myself as a ________ came toward us.

Unlike some friends and________, we decided to stay in our home. We didn’t have to choose what we would save by ________ it into the car, but we still had to decide what required protection by storing it in our walk-in closet. Surprisingly, few items made the cut - an obvious ________ that we had surrounded ourselves with beautiful yet unessential items. We needed ________ for the truly important things: ourselves.

Because when you hear the roar of the winds, or when something ________ hard against your windows, you don’t think of photos.You don’t worry about your big screen TV, or those paintings you’ve covered with towels to protect them, or that ________ car that you still haven’t finished paying for.

As ________ goes on outside, this is what you think: My children, are they OK? Are their impact-resistant(耐冲击的) windows working ________? Are their roofs keeping out the damage? My grandchildren, are they crying out in fear? Are they ________ as their own grandparents are? My relatives — yes, even those I try to avoid — have they ________ the worst of it? My friends, will they be forced to move somewhere else permanently? You don’t think about what you own but about what you love; what money can’t buy back.

Months and years after the hurricane, I often told people that there are two parts to ________ this kind of catastrophe: the horror of the hurricane itself and then the rebuilding that follows. The ________ together of a life, however, will take months, perhaps years.

But we will do it, ________ and as a community. Of that I have no doubt. In fact, I’ll make one more prediction. Piece by piece, item by item, we will once again collect the material possessions that decorate a home. I hate to admit this, but lessons learned ________ fear aren’t always long-lasting.

2 . I grew up in a multicultural family; my father was Italian, and my mother was Greek. A gift of fate (命运). ________ me to learn to speak both languages ________ as a child. Besides speaking their own languages, my parents often communicated in French at our dinner table. ________ I spoke Italian to my father and Greek to my mother, I ________ French at university.

Being a multicultural individual helps me to understand and connect more deeply with people from ________ parts of the world. Best of all, it’s helped me to develop cultural ________ and patience. Here’s a(n) ________:

One day, a Middle Eastern man ________ me when I visited a shop. He was able to respond to my questions and ________ my problem. But when I walked away from the shop, I felt uncomfortable and slightly ________ because he avoided eye contact for 20 minutes. He looked sideways at the desk behind me. Never ________ did he look at me while talking to me. Later, I told the incident to my friend, who ________ me of an vital cultural truth of some Middle Eastern counties that I had ________. I spent most of my early years in the Middle East, where males and females are taught to ________ their eyes or avoid eye contact with each other. This practice is a sign of propriety (得体的举止), which can be ________ for being rude by anyone unfamiliar with the culture.

3 . Several years ago, Katie Doble was diagnosed with a cancer called ocular melanoma. Doctors gave her 16 months to ________ . But her father who was a physician himself, felt ________ when he found a clinical trial that could save her life.

So after Christrias, Katie flew to New York to see if she would ________ the trial. As she went through a series of tests, she found herself ________ her mom. ________, she passed away when Katie was a teenager. “On tough days, my mom offered what she called an ‘energy hug’. Those were hugs that she’d ________ extra tight and extra long, ”Katie remembered.

As she sat in waiting room, Katie had a ________ for one special hug. “I see a girl who looked to be about my age and she has her head ________ in her mother’s lap. And her mom was moving her ________ gently and pushing it behind her ears. And I was very envious(羡慕的)and missing my mom and her energy hugs, ” she said.

Soon, a ________ came out and called the daughter in. The girl ________ and I watched her get her echocardiogram(超声心动图). And when I turned my head back around, the mom was ________ right in front of me and said to me, “You seem to need a mom’s hug. ”

With tears in her eyes, Katie ________ and said yes. “It was just one of those moments in life when somebody ________ and gave you something that you needed. ” she recalled.

In this summer, Katie and her family ________ her anniversary(周年纪念日) of being cancer free.

4 . Ida Keeling was 67, weak and sick, when her daughter Cheryl suggested a run to her. Cheryl thought that maybe what would pull her mother out from dark cloud was something that would get her _______ again.

Keeling lived a hard life when young, growing up _______ in Harlem, and doing hard work in factories during the Great Depression. She had _______ her husband early, and two of her four children died in drug-related incidents in 1978 and 1981.

Keeling had sunk into a deep _______, her health had begun to _______, and her daughters began to _______ that they soon might be losing their mother as well.

It had been decades since Keeling had done any _______, and she would later recall that first “mini-run” feeling as if it would never end. But when it did, “I just threw off all my bad _______.”

She hasn’t stopped running since, and it’s no longer as _______ as it was during that first meet. “I was just exercising then,” she says ________ regarding that first run, “and now I’m all over the world.”

When she’s not running, she must be ________. She’s in the gym three to four days a week on a ________ basis. Part of her healthy diet is occasional consumption of alcohol mixed with her coffee or water to ________ blood circulation.

She’s written a book about her ________, titled Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down: Chasing Myself in the Race Against Time. Her ________ is also suitable for everyone: “Every day is another day forward.”

5 . When other teenagers hang out with friends in the summer vacations. Erica doesn’t join. Instead, the 16-year-old senior high student is ______in filling cake orders and updating her website. She ______Kayke Bakery, a home-based business.

Erica started baking out of ______in the year 2021. Her first attempt was a(n) ______.Yet she made more cakes the next day and ______her techniques through teaching videos on a daily basis. “I saw other people’s decorated cakes and was ______to be a cake artist instead of just a baker,” Erica said. After due ______, she asked her parents about setting up her own business. “Seeing how ______she was,” Erica’s mother recalled, “we ______beginning to help her cope with all the legalities for its opening.” Soon, she had ______customers always coming to her for custom cakes. “______dealing with both school and a business is tough on occasions, but I managed to get______.” she said. “I’m glad to be able to do what I love.”

Always considered a ______, Erica finished her senior year with almost full marks. She plans to ______cake decorating after senior high. “I’m thinking about starting non-profit organizations.” In these years, besides learning various techniques, Erica has become more ______ . “I realize I possess great potential and power.”

6 . Martin Henfield talks about some of his experience as a twin: when we were small my mother dressed us _______ the same clothes. That was bad enough and we didn’t like it. But when we went on our first camping trip, it was even _______. We were only ten years old, and while _______ went into their sleeping bags for the _______, we were not happy to snuggle inside a double sleeping bag my mother made for us.

At school our classmates _______ us Henfield One and Henfield Two, so people _______ even see our difference according to our initials because _______ of us were M. O. It was only when I went to _______ and began to have my own friends that I started to feel my own freedom of identity (身份).

Before I went to college, during my secondary school _______, I ________ a job on a building site. My twin brother, Mike Henfield, didn’t work. One day I asked my boss, “Can I have a week ________?” “Certainly,” he said. “But you won’t have the job when you ________ back.” I didn’t want to ________ the job. So on Monday morning, Mike went there in my ________, jacket and hat and he worked for me for one week. ________ of them knew the difference.

7 . Back in the days when I was just a young student, I was always absent from school ______, too shy to step into the public attention. My grades, though not absolutely good, was above the ______. However, an unexpected incident allowed me to______life lessons and gradually accept the challenges thrown at me.

One rainy afternoon, while walking home from school, an accident happened. A speeding car ______me, leaving me with a broken leg. Lying on my hospital bed,pain aching through my body, the reality of my situation ______. This unforeseen incident had set me back academically, and I needed to figure out how to achieve my previous______.

With the help of my parents and teachers, who ______accompanied me through the healing process, I managed to transform my ______ into a stepping stone. I began to acquire the will to push myself beyond my limits. After several months, I returned to school. My teachers had made accommodations for me, which included access to ______classes to catch up on the lessons I missed. Fueled by a newfound ______, I made every effort to engage in all activities and strived to stay active in both the academic and extracurricular fields.

In the end, my actions______fruit. Not only did my academic performance improve, but I also developed an ability to adapt to unexpected situations. I realized the importance of being able to______my fears and overcome them. The incident that I______viewed as a major discouragement was, in fact, a turning point in my life. It was an opportunity to adjust my perspective and learn to admire the strength within myself.

The______did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process, just like adding a new piece to a puzzle every day. But with each piece, I moved one step closer to the bigger ______ .

8 . Considering Grandma Joy was 85, Brad knew it was impractical. To get to the park, they would have to drive 500 miles through the night and it would be the first time in her life she’d _______ and slept outdoors.

Though Brad knew he was crazy, he still called his grandmother and asked her for _______. In the long _______ that followed, Brad expected, for all the right reasons, that it just wasn’t _______. But the old lady _______ him by asking, “When do we leave?”

They arrived at the campground at around 1:30 am in the middle of a rainstorm. Brad tried to _______   the tent. Finally they climbed inside successfully. It reminded him that when he was _______ , his grandmother did everything   _______ with him together.

The skies cleared the next day, and they set off. When they crossed a ravine(溪谷), he would held her hand to avoid _______ on the wet path. She moved ________ with the pace of an 85-year-old woman. They walked slowly. When some people passed her, Brad asked if she wanted to ________.

“I won’t give up even if it is ________ for me,” she told Brad. When they finally got to the top, the hikers gave her a big round of ________. That night Brad made a campfire. He and his grandmother sat next to each other, feeling the warmth and looking at stars. Brad and Grandma Joy opened the box of their ________. They talked about families, about loss, pain and regret and about what had happened.

“Here I had the opportunity to ________ with my grandson,” she said. “I thanked him. I had tears in my eyes. But they were good tears.”

9 . Many animals use some kinds of “language”. They use signals and the signals have meanings. For example, ______ a bee has found some food, it goes ______ its home.   ______ is difficult for a bee to tell   ______   bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it can do a little dancing. This tells the bees where the food is and ______   it is.

Some animals show ______ they feel by making sounds. It is not difficult to tell if a dog is angry because it barks. Birds make several different sounds and ______ has its meaning. Sometimes we humans make songs in the same way we make sounds like “Oh” to ______   how we feel about ______or we ______something on our feet.

We humans have languages. We have words. These words have meanings of things, actions, feelings, or ideas. We are able to ______each other information , to tell other people ______ we think about or how we feel. By writing down words, we can remember what has happened or______messages to people far away.

Languages, like people, live and die. If a language is not used by people, it is called a dead language. This language cannot live and grow because ______ speaks it.

A living language, of course, is often spoken by people today. It grows and changes with time. New words are created, and some old words have______ meanings.

10 . Never had a lovely sunflower been absent to my house on my birthday, since I turned 13. No cars or notes in it. Calls to the flower shop were always ________ -it was a cash purchase.

I never stopped ________ who the mysterious giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about someone wonderful but too shy to disclose his or her ________.

My mother even ________ my imaginations. She’d ask me if there was someone who I had done a special favor and then might be showing ________. As a teenager, ________, I had more fun assuming that it might be a boy I had a crush on.

When I was 17, I failed ________ in a significant test. That night when the result came, I just ________ myself to sleep. When I awoke in the morning, my mother comforted, “Don’t indulge! It’s not a big deal!” Yet, I remember ________ out of the house at that time, yelling…“You just don’t understand”.

One month before my graduation from high school, my father died of a heart attack. My feelings ranged from pain to ________ so that I became completely uninterested in the upcoming ceremony. But my mother, in the midst of her own grief, would deny my ________ any of those things. Before my father died, we had shopped a party dress which made me feel like a(an) ________ Cinderella. But it was the wrong size. Later I totally forgot about the dress.

My mother didn’t. the day before the dance, I found that dress, in the right size, ________ still in the box to me — gracefully, and lovingly. She just wanted her child to feel loved and showed that there still existed magic and beauty even ________ hardships.

Actually, my mother passed away one week after I got married. That year the adorable sunflower stopped ________.