1 . There once was a very wealthy and curious king. This king had a huge rock _________in the middle of a road. Then he _________nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road.

The first group of people to pass by were some of the _________merchants and the king's officials. Rather than moving it, they simply walked _________ it. Though they had made a tidy fortune, these _________merchants and officials never thought of making any contribution. A few even loudly_________the king for the inconvenience caused by not _________the roads. Not one of them tried to move the rock.

Finally, a peasant _________. His arms were full of vegetables and farm tools. When he got near the rock, rather than simply going around it, the peasant put down his _________and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. It took a lot of effort but he __________succeeded.

The peasant gathered up his load and was ready to go on his way when he saw a purse lying on the __________where the rock had been. The peasant __________the purse. The purse was stuffed full of gold coins and a note from the king. The king's note __________the gold was a __________for him, because he moved the rock from the road. Then, the king walked out from where he had hidden to meet the peasant.

The king__________the peasant what many of us never understand: every obstacle gives an opportunity to improve our condition.

2 . A scary new virus swept over the globe and the virus knocked on my door a few weeks ago when I was _______at the clinic where I work. Five days later, I got the first call from Public Health _______me know I was thought “low risk,” luckily, I could self-monitor and carry on as usual. What a _______!

But then I got the second call.…It came from Public Health revising my category to “exclusion”— a _______technical way of saying self-isolation, I felt that my _______ had been turned upside down. Everything took a _______- my family, the clinic and its patients, my income. Did Public Health _______make the right decision? After _______ the news to my family, I was greeted with love and encouragement. It was then that I lifted the weight _______my soul.

So I picked out __________ clothes from my closet, grabbed essential items and moved to the basement. I pieced together a desk to work on and I would only see my family when I went __________ to eat meals. __________meals, I sat at the far end of the dining table, at least two meters away. And my own family was __________at home as much as possible. In the basement, I used the isolation as a rare opportunity to __________many projects that I hadn’t had time for.

I had no doubt that this crisis will end, as all the crises happened before. And it was our choice on __________ it brought out good or bad results.

3 . Long ago, an old teacher’s last time came near. He called his son and said, “Son, I have spent my whole life educating ______. At the moment I want to tell you something important.”

Listening to this, the son was looking at his father ______. Just then his father said, “But before that, go and bring a piece of coal and a piece of sandalwood (檀香木) to me.” ______ the son found this very strange, he did as his father asked.

He found a big piece of coal and held it in one hand. And then he broke off a piece of sandalwood from the tree with the other hand. After getting both things, he ______ to his father.

His father asked him to drop both things ______ his hands right there. He did as his father asked and then wanted to______ his hands. However, his father stopped him and said, “Wait, son. Show your hands. See, this hand turned______as you held coal in it. Even after you threw it away, soot (煤灰) still remains in your hand. Such is like the company of ______ people. It hurts to be with them and even if they are not there, you still face bad ______.” Then looking at the other hand, the father said,“But being with good people is like holding this sandalwood piece. You get lots of knowledge from them and even _______ they leave, fragrance (芳香) of their good thoughts will always remain with you.”

4 . I think this was my most memorable experience so far. I volunteered for two weeks in a guesthouse (家庭旅馆) by the sea________by a Mexican mother and son. I’ll always remember when I got to the bus stop and the son came to________me up. He was my age and I just knew this would be something different and fun. We________on the way to the house and I was welcomed to a Mexican lunch by the mother and another________, K, who was younger than me. We quickly________a little group and even with the mother.

The most________part of this experience was the room I was________K: Our beds were________by a curtain; we had no________to our room and we had holes in our ceilings. There was a table in our room where we all had lunch, and crabs (螃蟹) crawled in at night. The water from the tap came from the sea and there was one stove and the WiFi________worked. We played card games at night, occasionally had beers, and best above all,________and talked for hours and hours. I loved every minute of this________and simple country life.

I was sad to leave but have kept in________with all of them since then and definitely plan on seeing them again. This________made me understand why you should volunteer, whether it’s in your home country or anywhere else in the________.

5 . My Hero in Life

Adam H. is very tall for his age, with brown hair, green-brown eyes, and a bright smile painted on his face. He always says “I'm not into fashion!” whenever I scold his ________ choices. Most days you will see him wearing a worn tee-shirt of a vacation spot my ________ has traveled to, and athletic sweat pants or ________ jeans. His voice is warm and sweet, some quality making it almost impossible to ________ I can not tell you how much I love that kid.

Everyone can remember the person in their grade that was ________ daily. Normally it in Adam who in ________ or indirectly being hurt without his even knowing it, or knowing all too well that there is something wrong. He does have something ________ with him, but I would never say that is wrong or his ________ When you live with someone who ________ from autism (自闭症), it is a very different concept.

Adam has autism, but most days I don't ________ think about that. I only know how lucky and how much I have ________ by having Adam as a brother.

I have experienced a lot in my life through Adam. Some days when I wonder how I am able to continue, a little ________ warms my soul to ________ through the dark. Adam is that light for me. He is ________ in many more ways than one. He gives me ideas to grow off of and to build onto. Adam is my brother, my ________ in life, and I love him very much.

6 . A young woman was sitting next to her mother on the train; she was about 20 years old. Both of them looked tired but _________. The young woman was looking_________from the train’s window. Suddenly, she shouted, “Mom, look! The trees are behind us!” Her voice was so_________ that everybody on the train heard.

Mom smiled. But a young couple_________ nearby looked at the young woman’s behavior (行为) with pity. “Poor young woman. There must be something wrong with her_________ ,” they thought. About a quarter later, the young woman_________again, “Mom, look! The clouds are running with us!” Mom_________again. And she seemed very happy with the young woman’s words. _________ , the couple couldn’t help asking the old woman,   “Sorry if We offend (冒犯) you. But why don’t you _________your daughter to a good doctor?” The old woman smiled and said, “We have just come from a ____________.” “Then you should go to a(n)____________one. Because it seems that your daughter’s situation hasn’t____________,” said one of them. They felt so sorry for the old woman.“No, ____________ , I’m very happy with the treatment (治疗),” said the mother, “My daughter was blind from birth. Today, she is seeing the world for the____________ time.”

Every person has a story. Don’t judge people before you really know them, ____________you’ll be surprised at the truth.

7 . The Messenger of Peace!!

A serious question was raised by a little girl. We met this little girl on our ________. She is very cute and ________. Her mother runs a tea shop and she also used to ________ her. We stopped at her shop for tea ________; she was very excited to see us and looked ________ So one of our journey mates called her and ________ tea with us. She smiled and sat with us and started asking questions. We were very surprised at ________ smart she was!

She ________ some good questions on peace & war. She said we all are human and we all have the ________ blood in our body so why do we fight? For a ________ we were silent. Because we didn’t have the right answer. But we had to give some answers. To know the answer, we are doing this journey. One of our journey mates said let’s come with us to know the answer ________ your questions. She said yes and started ________ on our cycle. We were very happy to see her enthusiasm and excitement. But we couldn’t take her with us. So we ________ her with a garland (花环) and peace doves. We also gave her some toffees (太妃糖) and peace pamphlets (小册子). She and her mother ________ were very happy and inspired. We were also very inspired by that girl. She gave us new ________ and thoughtfulness.

8 . I stopped at a local store the other day after a fitness class to buy some food. After I got the food, I got in ________ behind a lady who looked about twenty years old. She had quite a lot of things in her shopping basket. She ________ her credit card to the shop assistant but the shop assistant told her it had been refused. The young lady ________ she had paid it off the day before. The shop assistant replied, “Maybe it hasn’t got through the system yet. Do you want to ________ someone?” The young lady took out her cellphone and was looking through it. ________, they opened another counter (柜台) to let me ________ out.

I was walking out to my ________ when I thought, “Okay! You’re always wishing you could help someone. Now it is time for you to do it!” Immediately, I made a ________ to help her. I got out of my car and ________ with my bank card in my hand. The young lady was still looking through her phone. She looked a little ________. I returned to the counter, handed my card to the shop assistant and said, “I will pay her bill.” She ________ her head and took the card.

As the shop assistant gave the card to me, the lady was still ________ her phone. And I didn’t think she had even ________ what had happened! And I told her that I had paid her bill and then I left before she expressed ________   to me.

The bill was about $52. However, the feeling inside me was ________! I realized that helping others did make me happy.

9 . It was sunny last Sunday. Freddy’s_______，Mr. Lance, took him and his classmates to Jurong Bird Park. They didn’t feel _______ on the way to the park because they sang a lot on the school bus. The ride _______ about 40 minutes.

At the park, Freddy and his classmates saw many different kinds of _______. They were very beautiful. Then they went to _______ a bird show. The birds performed(表演)so_______. Freddy loved the show a lot. Before they_______，Mr. Lance took the students to see flamingos (火烈鸟). Freddy and his classmates _______the flamingos very much. They wanted to stay there for a long time, _______Mr. Lance said that they had to leave.

Back on the bus, they all said it was a(n) ________ trip. Mr. Lance was happy that Freddy and his classmates enjoyed________the bird park.

“We will have a competition (比赛). Write a composition (作文) on your________ to the bird park. The student who writes the best________ will get a free ticket (票) to the bird park!" Mr. Lance told his class, It was really ________. Freddy wanted to go to the bird park ________, so he would try to write a good composition.

10 . If you could save someone’s life, would you? That question was ______ in the hearts of Julia Harlin’s children. Their mother was at risk of dying without a liver transplant. Julia did not want her children to become living ______ , but the kids had other ideas. Eileen Harlin and two of her siblings (兄弟姐妹) made the ______ to have testing as possible ______ without telling their mom.

After securing a good test result, Eileen phoned her mother, “Hey, don’t get ______ , but I’ve been tested to see if I’m a match. And I am, and I want to do it. How can you be mad when your daughter is going to save her mom’s life?” The news went around and was ______ tears all around.

The transplant surgery went ______ on August 16, 2022, at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. Unfortunately, Julia received bad news shortly after getting her new ______ of life. She was experiencing kidney ______ due to her liver disease, so even though the liver was mending, the kidneys had too much damage to ______ .

Without a second thought, Eileen ______ and another transplant was ______ on December 19, 2023, at the same facility.

Daniel G. Maluf, M. D. , the surgeon for both of Julia’s procedures, said, “The mom’s kidney function recovered ______. And both of them were home two or three days after the transplant. Julia is a wonderful patient, very ______ of her kids’ efforts. And obviously, the hero of the story is Eileen, who ______ twice to save her mother.”