1 . 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.”

2 . 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.”

3 . Dreams are like stars. You may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to success.

My daughter had talent for acting. When Alex was accepted into New York University’s musical theater program, I_________the dress I’d wear to her Broadway debut(首秀). But now she decided to be an exercise instructor. It was_________for me.

“I thought_________at gyms was just to pay the bills until you got your big break?” I asked when Alex_________her full–time job at a gym called Equinox in New York City.

“Acting was my childhood dream.” she explained. “I loved_________,but my adult self wants to help people be _________.

Even after Alex earned her personal training certification, I still couldn’t accept her_________.

When the COVID-19 crisis shut New York’s gyms, and Alex returned jobless to Richmond, my_________of working on her acting website was rejected. Instead, she launched online kettlebell classes and rounded up clients using social media. Her_________took off, and our house became her virtual studio until she returned to Manhattan in August 2020.

One day I signed up for her private sessions. In between dead lift(拼全力一举) sets, I asked, “What are you doing to find a real job?”

Alex pointed to her waist,__________my form. “Mom, this is my__________. I’m growing a business.” And she was. Soon she was making more than what she ever did in gyms and had total__________of her schedule. I was one of many who__________from her patient encouragement. Over time, my lower-back pain disappeared and I could lift a heavy box__________. Through my training, I learned she knew the right__________for her.

4 . When my mother told me stories about Emily, her grandmother, who she admired, I was all ears. My mother drew a _______ between Emily and Jacqueline Kennedy, former US president’s wife. Mom described her _______ features: a long graceful neck and a tiny waist. “Emily was just like Jacqueline,” Mom said. “But their origins wouldn’t _______: Emily was graceful, soft-spoken, but possibly born a slave.”

Emily attracted me. Not until 2005 did my research on ancestry really start to _______ , for the reason that I was no longer _______. “When does your new job start?” asked my mother. “I refuse to take a job for at least a year,” I replied. My mother had no _______ with such words. “Anyway, you should have a job.” I remained _______ and didn’t explain it. But I felt I must _______ my job to collect more stories about my _______.

I ________ my mother’s line to a place called Cane River. I found the bill of shameful slave sale for my great-great-great grandmother, who was ________ in 1850 for $ 800. I had to write the stories. This time the novel Cane River was sold in a（n） ________ way.

One day, the phone rang, “Hello, this is Oprah Winfrey, the talk show hostess.” I couldn’t believe my ears. I responded in ________, “Hello, Ms Winfrey. What can I do for you today?” She told me she selected my novel for her book club, which ________ led to Cane River on The New York Times bestseller list and a ________ readership than I expected.