1 . Have you ever been near an animal you were afraid of? How close have you been to a dangerous snake? Well, Tony Kepler raises killer snakes for a living and he loves his ________. He has been working with them since he was a little boy and he’s not ________ at all.

Tony’s father has been a snake handler (驯蛇师) for twenty years and he has taught his son a lot about them. In order to ________ the venom (毒液), Tony has to find rattlesnakes in the western part of the United States. He sends the venom to a ________, where they make it into something called anti-venin. Anti-venin is what they give people after they have been bitten (咬) by poisonous (有毒的) snake. This anti-venin is really helpful in saving the person who has been bitten. He has been making his living this ________ for five years and feels great.

Tony’s dad has handled nearly 1,000 snakes in his lifetime. And hundreds of people go to him to learn how to ________ snakes. Tony’s dad shares everything about how to hold, how to feed and how to get venom from snakes. But not everyone can get used to the idea of ________ a snake. Many people heard scary stories about snakes when they were children and have been afraid of them ever since. Tony has been trying to educate people about the positive (积极的) things snakes do. For one thing, they help ________ the rat and mouse population. Snakes are also very clean and quiet and they ________ trouble humans.

Tony’s job is very different from any other job I’ve heard of, but it is a really ________ one. Without venom collectors, many people would be in real danger and some would die.

2 . This pasta（意大利面食）is no ordinary pasta. When imprinted with grooves（沟、槽），it can _________into tubes, and other traditional shapes as it cooks. This new technique would _________ uncooked pastas to take up less space. That means it would need less _________

Pasta lovers “are very picky about the shapes of pasta and how they _________ with different sauces,” says Lining Yao. She studies the _________ of smart materials at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn. Flat pasta like spaghetti holds less sauce than twisty types like rotini. But those shapes come at a(n) _________ :bigger packages. For some _________ pasta, more than 60 percent of the package holds just air.

Yao and her colleagues _________ a series of grooves onto one side of each noodle. Then they cooked that pasta. The pasta _________ water as it cooked. But the liquid couldn’t go as fully into the grooved side. So that side became less expanded than the ____________ side．That asymmetric（不对称的）expansion bent the ____________ flat noodle into a curve（曲线）．By changing the arrangement of the grooves，the researchers ____________ the final shape.

Yao and her colleagues reported their ____________ in Science Advances.

The pasta ____________ good camping food, Yao says. A member of her team brought it along on a recent hiking trip. The pasta slips easily into a small pack. But it cooks into a(n) ____________ shape.

3 . As a teenager growing up in a small town in Oregon in the 1950s, I had no wish to finish high school. My biggest _______ in life was to be a cartoonist. My hero, Walt Disney, had never _______ high school, and I felt that if he could drop out and _______, so could I. But my mother would never hear of it, so I _______ to go on with my school life.

In my second year of high school I began to sell cartoons to a small magazine in California. In my letter to the editor, I mentioned my _______ to drop out of high school and go into _______ full-time. He wrote back urging (力劝) me to _______ school. To make him believe me, I told him about how Walt Disney had _______.

A few weeks later, I got a mail from the magazine. I was quite _______ to see one letter addressed to me from Walt Disney studios. They ________ me that the editor had contacted them and explained to them my ________ about finishing high school. They ________ me very strongly to stay in high school, pointing out that they ________ considered applicants without a high school education.

It discouraged me, ________ it taught me two things: I was no Walt Disney, and times had ________. I finished high school, and went on for two years of college. Years later I worked for Walt Disney studios.

4 . One warm spring day, a small creature followed my girls home after school. She was so _______that my girls begged me to keep her.

So we named her Molly and she_______everywhere my girls went. But one day, a particular ad caught my attention and my heart_______ at what I read. Someone was searching for a lost puppy near our grade school.

I wanted to ignore the ad. However, my conscience was _______me. With _______feelings, I picked up the phone. Secretly I was praying no one would_______, but a woman did. As I described the dog to her in detail, her voice shook with_______. and she wanted to come right over._______ minutes I heard a vehicle pull up at the driveway and some _______ stop at the door. A thousand thoughts_______ my mind: I could pretend I wasn't home or tell her,“I'm sorry, you have the wrong address." But it was too late: the bell rang and Molly was _______.

Opening the door, I saw a woman with a little girl sitting in a small wheelchair. When looking at Molly, the little girl's face_______.“Here,Lucy,”she yelled,“Come here!”Molly instantly obeyed,wagging her tail wildly. Seemingly sensing my feelings, the woman explained that Lucy(Molly) was more than just a puppy to her daughter. Suddenly I felt _______.God has blessed me with so much,I thought. As they pulled out of the______,I smiled, knowing I had done the right thing - that puppy was_______where she belonged.

5 . In eighth grade, I was fascinated by a legend from Japan. ________ you fold one thousand paper cranes, the gods will help realize one wish for you. I took it as a challenge and started folding paper cranes.

I folded cranes at home, between classes, and in the car. My fingers were ________sticky from the glue.

________with a pack of colorful pencils, I decorated each piece of paper individually. Slowly, my collection grew.

With more confidence, I started ________. How small was it possible for a crane to be? Smaller than a golf ball? Smaller than a coin? Soon I could finish a crane in fifty seconds with my ________ closed.

By six hundred cranes, the increasing demands of high school academics caused my ________ to slow. I despaired. I wouldn’t let this be another ________ project that I couldn’t finish. My cranes mattered to me. As an outlet for expression, they ________ as a way to overcome frustration and sadness.

So, I pushed myself to keep working and to keep folding one crane at a time. My determination ________ off. One month before the end of junior year, I folded my thousandth paper crane. As I ________ the open drawer filled with cranes in a huge number of sizes and colors, I felt a rush of ________. I proved to myself that I can finish what I start.

Looking at them, I realized the fact that there is a lot of beauty in tiny things. I have ________ away cranes to my friends as a pick-me-up on ________ days, and I have made cranes to ________ people, such as the dark green crane I made the day my grandmother died. They are a symbol of hope to remind me what I have accomplished. It turns out, I didn’t need the ________. I learned I have the power to make things happen for myself.

6 . I’ve always been fascinated by languages, but I’ve never been any good at learning them. I remember sitting in my French lessons, I never _________ what I was being taught. My teacher wasn’t _________.

But one of my A levels was English Language, and that was where my interest in _________ started. Over the last few years, I’ve started learning more languages than I can _________. They include Latin, Russian, Spanish, and probably several others. None of them stuck.

And then came lockdown. While I was _________ enough to still be able to work from home, on evenings and weekends, I found myself getting _________ and looking through video websites for something to watch. That’s how I _________ a Chinese fantasy drama filled with complex relationships.

But by the time I got about halfway through the show, I _________ that in some cases, the words being spoken in Chinese didn’t match the words being said in the English translations. _________, a character was being called shijie instead of by her name. I went online, did some __________ and met a difficulty.

Shijie, which I learned can be translated as “martial sister”, introduced me to the complexities of Chinese __________. So many different words for “aunt”, “uncle” and “grandfather”! Characters with more than one name!

I was __________ by the way the language is so connected with the culture, and how poetic and __________ it is. I wanted to be able to __________ the source material, even if it was going to take me a long while __________ I got to that point.

7 . Last semester, I worked in a restaurant in my spare time. In the beginning, it was very _________ for me to learn the rules and remember the recipes. I had to stand there and _________. At the end of the day, I was so tired that I almost could do nothing.

After a few days of working, the head waiter told me that I could take charge as a chief. I knew if I worked hard, I would take charge of a room. It meant I could get more _________. I was glad to do that.

As new, it was not an easy thing to _________ all customers well. Sometimes, I dished up wrongly. Or I forgot the customer’s requirements. What was _________, I overturned the plates twice. However, I could not be _________ because of these difficulties.

One day, I was about to be off duty when three foreigners came here. It was my first time to talk with a _________. Suddenly, my mind was blank even though I had memorized 3500 words. I began to speak slowly, but think _________.

“Excuse me, what can I do for you?” I said it word by word. At the same time, I showed them the _________. “No, we order ... with some rice.” They said so quickly that I could hardly understand what they wanted.

“Pardon?” I asked with embarrassment.

“Hum, there is no rice left. How about noodles? Like this and this.” I felt   __________ embarrassed. I could not __________ the dish name to them and just showed the picture in the menu to them.

On the way to school, I saw them again and we went the same way. They were students too. They talked to me. I stumbled to respond to questions. I __________ about why I couldn’t remember any words. However, I __________ to this atmosphere gradually and began to talk to them more fluently. I restarted to pick up my confidence again. They praised me for my self-confidence.

It is memorable, for it was the first time to make a dent in my heart. __________ self-confidence means half success. I believe in myself and won’t __________       confidence any more.

8 . “Bookshops are places to let your imagination fly high, with so many possible ________ to discover,” says Laura Iverson. She is one of the ________ at Darling Reads bookshop in West Yorkshire, England.

For Iverson, the best thing about working in a bookshop is ________ new books to readers. “ ________ beats that smile when they find the perfect book,” she says. ________ , when it comes to choosing the right one, she has some useful tips.

Don't feel you have to ________ a book because your friend likes it," Iverson says. "Stick to your own interests and choose what ________ you. "

She also ________ asking booksellers for suggestions because it could open your ________ to a new book or writer you would never have considered. "Bookshop staff are so ________ and absolutely love talking about books all day. "

Iverson says that one of her ________ books is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She remembers ________ reading it when she was around 12 years old, and not being able to put it ________ . This is one of the things Iverson loves about reading. "No matter where you are, or what you're doing, you can be ________ into another world, once you a pick up a book that fascinates you, in a matter of ________ . "

9 . What happens when the novel A Dream of Red Mansions meets architectural psychology? How does a coffee shop ________ your imagination? Seeming odd at first sight, these are the questions ________ in Critical Thinking & Innovation, a course taught by Professor Xiong Hao.

For Xiong, critical thinking is a(n) ________ part of life which he loves most. After ________ his Ph. D., he joined Fudan University and participated in TV debates and talk shows. He is well known for his quick ________ and composure (沉着) on ________. “People are often restrained (限制) by conventions. Innovation is about thinking differently,” Xiong highlighted the ________ of critical thinking.

Students are attracted to the course for the student-friendly learning ________ in class. Previously, the course was run on an e-platform with ________ seminars as a supplement (补充). Students who enrolled in the course all ________ it. “The expressions used by the professor are very ________.” “The speed of teaching is just right.” These are some of the comments.

As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, Xiong has to ________ several adjustments this semester. The course is divided into 60 sections and each lasts only 6 minutes to cope with ________ attention spans as students watch the videos online.

“As a teacher, I don’t know how well students are processing the information. For students, they may get bored or tired easily for the lack of ________.”   To make up for it, Xiong inserts questions and the students will have to choose the right answer before they ________. Offline seminars have been moved online as well.

10 . 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.