1 . Jenny was a little girl who was not very confident. She always lowered her ________ because she didn’t think she was beautiful enough all the time. One day she went to a shop to ________ a green bow (蝴蝶结). The shopkeeper constantly praised she looked very beautiful with it. Though she didn’t ________ that, Jenny was so ________ that she couldn’t help raising her head.

Jenny happened to meet her teacher when she went into the classroom. “Jenny, it’s ________ beautiful when you ________ your head,” said the teacher.

That day Jenny got the ________ from many people. She ________ it must be because of the bow. When she looked in the mirror (镜子), there wasn’t any ________ on her head. She must have ________ it when she went out of the shop and bumped against(撞到)someone else.

Self-confidence is originally (本来) a kind of ________, but many people ________ so much about their appearance (外表) that they lose a lot of ________. Poor or ________, pretty or plain, as long as you, raise your head, it can make you ________.

2 . Pooja Rani entered the boxing area at age 18 all thanks to her coach Sanjay Kumar. However, even with much _________ , Pooja felt shy to wear the boxing gloves. She also knew that her father would not _________ her taking up this “violent” sport. But Pooja went after her interest _________ anyway until one day when _________ came to her father—he discovered the truth and stopped her playing the sport.

“My father wasn’t _________ of boxing because he thought it violent. He didn’t _________ me playing other sports but boxing was a _________ no-go zone,” Pooja said. It then took six months of continuous _________ from Pooja and her coach Sanjay to _________ her father to change his attitude.

She won the National Youth Boxing Championship (锦标赛) in 2009, which ____________ her career on an upward path. She bagged back-to-back medals and was qualified for the Rio Olympics later. Unstoppable as she was, her wins came to a____________ for some reason. It took her a whole year to get back on ____________. Pooja returned in an impressive way, winning gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championship in 2019 and 2021. This ____________ her to be the first woman boxer to ____________ the title. Given the road she took to get here, for us, Pooja is ____________ the “queen of boxing”.

3 . In my first year as a junior doctor, I worked in a stroke department. There were rooms of the department which were _________ for special patients. Their strokes had been so _________ that there was no _________ of recovery. Outside of the rooms, I sometimes heard the doctors cruelly called these patients “the cabbage patch”, because they were considered little more than vegetables.

One such patient was Mr. Roberts. He was in his fifties and had been _________ to the hospital after a terrible stroke which had left him entirely paralyzed. He could not communicate at all. And the doctors thought he was _________ dead. They discussed the very poor disease with his wife over his motionless body, _________ he wasn’t there.

Later that day I returned to take some blood from his _________ arm. His head was on one side. As I knelt down, I met his gaze. There seemed to be some sort of _________. It was as if he was _________ me to do something. I instinctively held his hand and smiled as __________ as I could, though he made no response. I couldn’t forget what happened there even after I left the room. The idea that he was __________ there, a living hell on earth, troubled me until he died two weeks later.

This event __________ great changes in my life. When I take care of those __________ patients, I always introduce myself and explain what I am doing to them, just in case there is part of them that is still aware.

And years later, when my grandmother was lying dying, I still spoke to her and __________ her. In matters __________ this, you just never know.

4 . I took my six-year-old son Robert to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday. We just left the shopping center and Robert _________ his new shoes with joy. We walked towards the counter (柜台), where Peter, the waiter, _________ us with noticeable warmth.

“Welcome,” he said. “Wow, you look happy, little boy.” “I got new shoes,” Robert said with _________. He then lifted (抬起) his right foot in the air. “Smell it,” Robert asked. “Robert,” I said, trying to stop his _________ request, while Peter brought his nose to the shoe. “It smells amazing,” Peter said gladly. “Thank you for sharing your _________ with me. Now what does the birthday boy want to drink? It’s _________ me.” Robert jumped in _________ since sweet drinks were not usually allowed in our home. He considered the many _________ and decided on soda at last. Then Peter followed us as my son spent a great amount of time _________ a perfect table. He __________ held our drink until we were seated. I was __________ that the man gave my son special care.

After that, I often visited the restaurant. I found that although Peter had a(n) __________ job, he served everyone he met with love. In life, we often __________ people by their jobs. However, personal __________ actually comes from how they __________ others.

5 . Sunlight shining from the windows, I_________my arms out with a big yawn. “Good morning, darling,” my husband Gary, 53, smiled. Although it was a dream come true to wake up next to my love each morning, I knew the day ahead would be a_________. Living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (强迫症), _________ thoughts drove me into repetitive_________. Day and night, I had a_________checklist with dozens of meaningless rituals. _________ my teeth up and down, then side to side, I’d do it in sets of four, over and over. That wasn’t right, I’ll do it again, I’d think, _________.

I_________that if I didn’t do everything exactly right, Gary or my lovely parents, John and Adrienne, would suffer illness or be_________. Certain outfits give off bad energy, so I’d have to change clothes. I knew it was absurd thinking, but the obsessive urges — and the terrible__________ I constantly imagined if I didn’t play them out — were so strong. I was only five years old when I began to__________ with obsessive thoughts. The doctor immediately diagnosed me with OCD, and prescribed me medicines to__________ my mental health.

At my six-month check-up in August, I reported my__________ . “I feel like a big load has been taken off my__________!” I told the doctors. I didn’t know life could be so good. Although my OCD is still here, it’s much easier to manage, and now I only feel the need to check the bathroom tap before I go to bed or leave the house. I’ve been given a second__________to enjoy life.

6 . Friday night meant a family dinner for me at home. There would be discussions and laughter. Even so, I______those moments.

Preparations for the dinner would begin______that day. As both my parents worked, sometimes I would be given instructions to______the chicken in the oven (烤箱) after school. I would repeat the______process like a cooking machine. The only______was my mother’s chicken soup. Once the dinner was cooking, the table would be_______ . A white lace cloth, the good china, napkins. Though I failed to see any______, I had to light the candles with my mom.

Years later, my father passed away, and then my mother insisted on going to live in a care home. I seemed to be totally______from the boring tradition, but I didn’t feel______ . I missed the chicken soup. Although I have her recipe, I’ve never actually______the soup myself. I missed the warm-lighted candles. Standing together, we’d make______with our hands around the lit candles, bringing the light into our hearts.

That’s why I accepted______when my husband advised to______the tradition “I can help with the soup.” If there’s one thing I’ve______, these family traditions are really worth cherishing before they______, from the chicken soup recipes to lighting candles.

7 . Last summer, my fiance Eugeniu and I decided to drive to Provence for a holiday. The weather was beautiful, but then, about 700km into the journey, it suddenly _______. I’d never seen the sky go so dark; the rain was heavy. We _______ a tunnel and when we came out onto a _______, the visibility was so bad that we could hardly see a meter in front of us.

_______, we had the odd sensation that the car was lifting at the front. The next second, we were _______ into nothing. On the way down, Icould hear rock pieces hitting the car and my heart pounding to my chest. After that, there was _______

Our car ended up landing on a road below the bridge. We were still _______, but I was in shock. I hadn’t _______ what was happening and was still thinking about my holiday. I had no idea the bridge had _______ — thought it might have been an earthquake.

At first we shouted, but then stopped because we didn’t want to lose ________ and pass out. We tried calling an ambulance, but there was no ________ under the rock pieces. My leg was bleeding and I was too tense — because of the ________ I didn’t feel pain. My fiancé had broken his neck. Rescue workers eventually found us while saving a man whose van was ________ from another section of the bridge above us. We’d been down there for four hours by the time we were pulled out.

It was only afterwards in the hospital that I realized the ________ of the tragedy — 43 people had died. Before, we had focused on earning money. When we went on this holiday, I had lovely clothes and shoes in my suitcase, and they were all buried under the ruin. Maybe that was a sign that these things don’t really ________.

8 . My sales career was almost cut short by my parents. I was 11, a member of the Girl Scouts, and preparing to sell our first Thin Mints. Our goal was to sell at least 50 boxes each, which would make us qualified for the _______. I considered knocking on strangers’ doors and hoping to win them over.

But when I_______ my parents the permission paper to do this, they_______handed it back unsigned. They thought it was _______ that their child would ask neighbors for _______. I defended my case: The _________want delicious cookies!

Finally, they _______, and I hit the streets. Door after door, I found that the _________ basically sold itself and all I had to do was adding some extra charm with my silk ribbon. The Girl Scouts_________ me with a cup that had a thumb printed yellow smiley face on it. I felt __________ .

I went on to have a long career in sales. Now when I__________ that first adventure, what I see is a young girl who instinctively__________the most important thing about selling. It’s about __________ a service—bringing them the things they want and need, so that, in the best of situations, any product__________ itself as well as the cookies did. That’s why I still have that cup, which I keep as a ____________

9 . I grew up in a community of South Indian immigrants. Every auntie I know has a kitchen drawer containing a carefully _______ collection of yogurt dabbas. Dabba is an Indian word for “box”, but it refers to all manner of _______ too.

The reused dabbas _______ storing leftovers, religious offerings and pot-luck contributions. When I went away to university, my mom used to _______ food and send it to me with strict _______ to wash the dabbas and bring them home.

But just _______ every auntie cherished her dabbas, every uncle hated them. Whenever my father _______ about them, my mom would shoot him a look that would surely have killed a _______ man.

Now, I found my way to Halifax, where I’m a physician and have a family of my own. Like my mother, I’m also a(n) _______ owner of an expensive dabba collection, which I ________ with great enthusiasm. No matter how many glass, microwave-and oven-safe containers I have, no matter how beautiful and ________ they may be, I cannot stop collecting yogurt containers.

When I married my husband, an American from Boston, handling cultural differences is surely a(n) ________. The other night, I heard him ________ in the kitchen, and the next morning, I found my dabbas in the recycling bin. I narrowed my eyes a little as I ________ them out, washed them up and replaced them in their drawer. I was practicing my mother’s death ________.

10 . I knew I was not supposed to be quite so excited about Christmas presents. At age eleven, my mom’s “grown up” girl, I had to keep my_________.But every chance I got. I_________each present under the Christmas tree.

The company of my family went broke, so it had been a_________year for my family. Whenever my mom looked over at these presents, she would_________and looked disappointed. In years past, the presents would_________under the tree. I had heard the phrase “giving is better than receiving,” but thought that whoever had said that must have been out of their_________.Getting presents was the whole point!

On Christmas morning, we rushed into the living room and opened our presents _________. “Here’s another one for you, honey,” said Mom. I looked at the package, confused. It had not been mine. It was my mom’s. A new label had been put on it, with my name_________in my mother’s handwriting. “Mom, I can’t…”I was stopped by my mother’s joyful look — a look I could not really_________.It was a hair dryer.Though this may seem a simple gift to me it was a huge act.Tears__________my eyes and I thought in__________ about how much my mom must love me to give__________her Christmas so I could have a few more presents.

Now, as an adult with children in my life, I can understand my mom’s actions. I see now she was not “giving up her Christmas” as I had__________, but was finding an even__________joy because giving truly is better than receiving. My mom’s simple act meant the__________to me.