1 . Five years ago, I got an email from a well-known professor in my field in March. He invited me to _________ for a position in his lab. Things went well and all I needed to do was finish up my thesis (毕业论文) and I decided to _________ it in the following months.

One night, my mother came up to my room, asking softly, “Have you _________ your thesis yet?” “Not yet, Mom,” I _________, even too busy to look up at her. Then she mentioned that she had some _________ symptoms (症状) in her body that had never been seen before. She wanted to say something more, but my academic (学业的) _________ made me hardly take her words to heart.

However, two months later, the doctor announced my mother might _________ for less than a year _________ cancer (癌症). It was then that I _________ that things became more serious than I had imagined. Before it was too late, I was __________ to stop my thesis and be there with my mother for her rest life. __________, my mother failed in the battle and passed away at the end of the year. The next July, I finished my scientific thesis and got the __________ from the lab.

When looking back today, I feel __________ for losing precious time with my mother. The __________ of my mother gave me a new way to think about life: If your loved ones need you, be there for them. Science will be waiting when you __________.

2 . I was only eleven years old but I’d been the best runner, high jumper and long jumper in my school since kindergarten! But the one hundred meter race was the most _________competition for me. Nothing boosted my ego more than my schoolmates_________ me as I sprinted across the finish line.

But the_________news crushed my spirit -- a knee injury meant I might never compete again. It hit me like a knockout punch that left my ears ringing in_________.

The next day I was_________inside, while the other kids were outside running. Mr. Lewis encouraged me to_________my energy into the town poetry contest. Determined to find comfort in this new endeavor, I diligently crafted poems each day,_________ their rhyme and rhythm. But the sadness of being_________from track and field was overwhelming.

One day writing in the classroom, I caught Mr. Lewis_________scolding the boys in the next classroom who were exhausted and desiring to quit. “I’m__________of you boys! At this moment there’s a girl in the next classroom dreaming about competing in track and field! She’d do anything to take your__________, but because of a bad knee, she can’t! You should be embarrassed! You should be happy you can run every day without__________!”

For the first time, I felt__________and appreciated. Mr. Lewis understood how much I’d lost because of the injury. From that day forward, I created my__________with a strong belief that I would win the contest, for me and for Mr. Lewis!

That year, my small town__________my triumph as I claimed first prize. I owed my success to Mr. Lewis, his support fueling my inner fire.

3 . 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.”

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 . Mae Beale, an 82-year-old retiree, just earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC).

Beale decided to _______ to school in her late 70s, and she _______ her diploma on May 18, the day after her 82nd birthday.

In her younger years, Beale worked as a _______at different health care agencies in Washington, DC. While working at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, she helped plan several large events and everybody was _______with it, which inspired a _______change.

In 1994, at the age of 54, Beale started her._______ event-planning business and meanwhile started working toward her associate degree in Business Management at Howard Community College.

After _______ the associate degree program, she decided to_______a bachelor’s degree, one class at a time.

“I wanted to make certain I had the time to _______ to whichever class I was taking, ” she said. “I was like the tortoise (乌龟). Slow and   __________ wins the race. ”

Despite being   __________ than most of her classmates, Beale was a star student. She graduated with __________   and made the dean’s list several times during her time at UMGC.

And   she     __________others to pursue higher education with an __________     mind. “Expose yourself to as many   __________as you can because you never know what life will present. ”

6 . Tom and I found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We each got six thousand dollars. It was an awful _________ of money when it was piled up. Judge Thatcher kept it in his house, and _________ us a dollar a day. The widow (寡妇), Douglas, took me for her son, and _________ she would civilize me but it was _________ living in the house all the time. Considering how miserably regular and decent the widow was in all her ways and so when I could stand it no longer, I _________ .

I got into my old rags again, and felt _________. But Tom Sawyer came up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be _________. So I went back. The widow cried over me, called me a poor lost lamb, and _________ me a lot of other names, too, but she _________ no harm by it. She put me in the new clothes again, and I felt so nervous that I __________ all over.

With night approaching, I went up to my room with a candle. After a long time, I heard the clock __________ twelve and all was quiet again. Pretty soon I heard a branch break in the dark. I sat still and listened attentively. I could __________ hear a faint “me-yow! me-yow!” down there. That was good! I said “me-yow! me-yow!” as __________ as I could, and then I put out the__________, climbed out of the window and __________ down to the ground. Sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.

7 . As a writer, my pregnancy(怀孕)became marked by worry as many people predicted I’d never read a book again once the baby was born. I felt_________ by the apparent ________ people who cared about me displayed as to it, because I saw it as my upcoming misfortune. I could forgive them only by telling myself they couldn’t possibly ________ how important reading is to my well-being. I knew if I had to ________ reading, I wouldn’t be the best me.

Of course, my newborn required constant_________. She wouldn’t sleep unless she was held, and she wanted to nurse all the time. But there’s a great benefit in ________ a baby who’s nursing or napping in your arms; it gives you lots of time to read. I had ________ using my e-reader until then, but it became my best friend as I discovered that I could ________ it with one hand and ________ library books when stuck in the house. In my daughter’s first year, I credited reading with getting me through those difficult early ________.

Reading is ________ to my mental health. I have discovered this is also true for my daughter. Every time she lost her_________, I would_________ her up, carry her to the reading chair, and open a book. As we ________ the chair, she often said, “Mama, please read me a story. It’s the only way I can calm down.”_________ makes a better me and a better mother for my daughter.

8 . Life skills or social skills are seldom prioritized (优先考虑) in most schools. However, a _________ school teacher in Canada, Jennifer Thiessen, thinks _________ and ensures her students are well-equipped for life. According to her, _________ these skills was as important as students knowing how to multiply and divide.

Thiessen discussed her _________ with a fellow teacher, Kyla Stradling, and they came up with a plan. They gave their students a project _________ to spreading goodwill. They called it the “Kindness Project”.

Thiessen told her third-grade students in 2018, “If we could be that spark of kindness, we could _________ others to do acts of kindness.” And the students did _________. They made cupcakes at home and sold them for $1. They made about $400 and then used it to buy small _________ like flowers and dog treats. They then gave it out to _________ near the school.

After this experience, Thiessen made it an annual activity for third-graders at the school. “This project isn’t about who can __________ well academically,” she said. “This is an everybody project. It doesn’t have any __________ when it comes to ability.”

The school has carried out the Kindness Project for the last five years. Due to the project’s success, the school __________ five classes, three third-graders and second fourth-graders. This year, the 100 students were divided into many groups and __________ different tasks. On March 15, some were at coffee shops helping people buy beverages, while others waited at a local park to __________ dog treats and flowers.

Besides beginning a chain of kindness, the teacher wants to show students what they’re __________ of.

9 . 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.”

10 . Their five-year-old daughter, Elissa, is about to be brought out of the operating room (OR) after receiving a new heart. Outside the OR, Patrick and Marie are _______ with joy. “Thank you to the donor’s family,” _______ Patrick. “We don’t know you, but you saved our child’s life.”

The year she was born, Elissa _______ two heart surgeries. She’d led a _______ life until four, when she was _______ by a virus that damaged her heart. Confined to (被困于) the ICU, she spent seven nightmarish months waiting for a _______.

In the five weeks leading up to the transplant, she was kept _______ by a mechanical heart. “She couldn’t leave her hospital bed, _______ the blood clots(血栓) that formed in the tubes of the machines could have killed her at any moment,” says Marie. _______ only a miracle could save their daughter, Elissa’s parents spent their days by her side.

Then on May 28th, just as it seemed all ________ was gone, a doctor summoned them to a small lounge next to their daughter’s room. Their ________ had been answered: A donor heart had ________ been found. Elissa would be getting it the very next morning. Following cheers of ________, Marie and Patrick spent the hours before Elissa was taken into the OR ________ by anxiety. “It was her last chance,” says Patrick.

Eight hours later, the transplant was considered ________. The little girl is going to live again.