1 . Katherine would never forget the day when her daughter brought a plate from kindergarten, with a drawing of mouse-like creatures on it.

“Emma, what are these little characters? What do you _________ them?” Katherine said. “Mom, they’re my _________. They come to children who are lonely or who were meant to have a _________ life,” Emma said. It _________ the unemployed 36-year-old mom’s heart during a time when she wasn’t feeling too good about her job _________.

All this eventually _________ a new project for Katherine, unemployed for months—making a line of stuffed animals for sale based on her daughter’s _________. “Every day, I would work on it,” she said. “Over time, it felt like this is what I really _________.” In her basement, Katherine cut patterns, wrote storylines and _________ prototypes (原型样品) to turn “The Representatives” into dolls (玩偶).

Today she has four __________ doll prototypes and specific storylines to go with each main character. She hopes to__________ the dolls to parents going through hard times, or maybe those preparing to work overseas, leaving their __________ behind with relatives.

She said even if the dolls don’t __________, she’s taught her daughter __________ to keep moving even in down times. It’s really a __________ for those unemployed right now, she said.

2 . Returning to your home town to work could give you some ________, such as having more time to be with your family members and being back in familiar surroundings But Jiang Zhihui thinks that kind of convenience won’t necessarily ________ you success in your career.

The 28-year-old Jiang said that, “Eventually, it’s your own hard work that ________ most. Everyone, in fact, needs to develop _________ resources and a network, instead of just ________ the past.”

She returned to Suzhou after getting a master’s degree at a university in Macao. She ________ among competitors while applying for a ________ with Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee.

“I’m more realistic and want to be close to my parents and friends. And I want to enjoy a slower pace of life.”

She was also able to see the amazing economic growth potential in her home town, ________ since her job was to attract investment to the industrial ________.

At the same time, she found that her network of people and her knowledge of her home town didn’t mean much at work. “Every day, I get to meet business people from all over the world, and be in touch with the ________ technology,” she said. “So, I have to ________ from the very beginning just like anyone else. I spend most of my time learning to adapt better to my job.”

And now, her hard work has paid off. Many of the projects her team negotiated for are in the construction process or are actually up and running. She felt proud of this “Honestly, in my opinion, sometimes it’s more crucial to ________ a promising job or profession than to choose a ________” Jiang said.

She may not be in a major city, but she never felt that her personal ability would be ________ In fact, her job handling high-tech investment bids has given her plenty of _________ to visit those exciting places and ________ a different life on business trips. “If you keep your mind open, you’ll always be at the cutting edge, regardless of where you are.”

Jiang is quite satisfied with the ________ in Suzhou. “I often hear classmates living in bigger cities ________ about the pressure, the cost of housing, longer work hours and traffic jams,” she said.

“Life in a ________ city is relatively comfortable, even if I ________ less.”