1 . I used to think my life was perfect. My mom had her dream job and a beautiful office, and I had my own room with a computer and a garden to _________. But one Sunday, everything changed. A hurricane _________ our neighborhood while we were visiting my grandparents in Raleigh. Our kitchen was damaged, and our clean and comfortable home was in ruins.

But something _________ happened. Our neighbors, the Flores family, came to our help. They helped clear broken pieces and _________ us a place to stay. Their _________ was most impressive. We had _________ spoken to them before, but they _________ their home to us and made us feel like family.

We started a new _________ of having weekend dinner together. We invited other families from the neighborhood to join us, and our _________ were filled with laughter and delicious food. It was a beautiful thing to see our __________ come together in a disaster.

I never knew Rosica, their daughter before the hurricane. But she quickly became my friend. She had a gift for __________, and our evenings together were filled with adventure and __________.

Looking back, I realize that the hurricane __________ unexpected advantages. It brought us closer to our neighbors and __________ our lives in ways we never could have imagined. Sometimes, it takes a(n) __________ to bring out the best in people.

2 . Auri Katariina used to be a service manager at a cleaning company in Finland. To her family and friends’ _________, she quit her high-paid job and decided to follow her unique passion.

Auri has always _________ cleaning things, and she began posting cleaning videos online after leaving her job. Then one day, a single mother asked her for help because she was _________ so much with three children always making a mess at home. Auri, who is “in heaven” whenever she is doing cleaning, was _________ to help. So she went on a weekend and _________ her home. Auri didn’t ask for any _______ for her service; it was the _______ in the house, which her work resulted in, that made her really happy.

Since then, Auri has gone as far as France and the UK to help people. She gets _______ online but chooses only the   _______ homes belonging to people most in need. For the first six months she __________ all travel and product expenses herself, about several hundred euros per visit._________ her popular videos of cleaning tips, a sponsor (赞助者) has reached out to her. But she still never __________ a penny.

Now, Auri goes to clean homes of _________ once a week and creates _________ for her social media channels, including lists of some of her top tips. Her dream is to clean all over the world, helping people while doing something she absolutely __________.

3 . Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical (经验的，实证的) basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people ________, and lead to relaxation.

Researches show that aspects of the ________ environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room’s ceiling ________ how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more ________, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed ________.

In addition to celling height, the view ________ by a building may influence an occupant’s ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who ________ the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.

Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to ________ academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design &Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with ________ views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily ________ roads and parking lots.

Recent study on room lighting design suggests that ________ light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase ________. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.

________, scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. “We have a very limited number of studies, so we’re almost looking at the problem through a straw,” architect David Allison says. “How do you take answers to very specific questions and make ________ use of them? That’s what we’re all ________ with.”

6 . Draper was the owner of a secondhand bookstore. One day, when he was sorting through a pile of old books, an envelope _______ from one. Inside was an undated letter and a faded photo of a woman holding a little girl on her lap. The letter said if Bethany was _______ it, it meant the author had died.

Tears were welling up in Draper’s eyes. These were a _______ woman’s last words to her child. He had to _______ Bethany. “Whoever it is will keep this.” he thought. “You wouldn’t throw away a letter like that.”

He supposed if the book ended up in his shop then Bethany was likely from around Bishop Auckland. And he thought he would _______ the little girl’s face. Even if she’d since left the area, there might be someone in the town who would recognize the picture.

He started with the local newspaper. The Northern Echo ran the story of the _______ letter.

Meanwhile, Bethany Gash, now 21 and a(n) _______ herself, was on Facebook about 10 miles away when a close friend messaged her to check out the _______. As she read her mother’s _______ which she thought had been lost forever, she said she thought she must be ________.

Bethany was only 4 when her mother ________. Five years later, her family moved to a new home and the letter, put away in the pages of a book for safe keeping, was unintentionally ________.

She remembered unpacking and looking for the letter, and then ________ searching through everything in the hope that it was there. “That’s when I realized it was gone and I’d never see it again,” she said.

Draper ________ the letter in person. He also brought her a children’s book for her son. Bethany was greatly moved to have the letter back, and also touched by the stranger’s ________.

7 . Residents of urban areas make use of public transportation on their way to school or the office. But when their final ________ isn’t near a bus stop or subway station, those folks have a problem. Transportation experts often ________ to this as the “last mile problem”——finding a way to close the gap between public transportation stops and one’s destination.

With the last mile problem in mind, the makers of the URB-E ________ a compact (紧凑的) electric vehicle that weigh around 13 kilograms. Unlike bikes, which often don’t fit on crowded buses or trains, the URB-E collapses into a form ________ to carry-on luggage. And since the URB-E can be carried ________ anywhere, it’s not as vulnerable to thieves as bikes are.

Depending on usage, the URB-E can travel for 32 kilometers on a single ________. reaching a top speed of 24 kilometers per hour. Although there are other vehicles attempting to ________ the last mile issue, the URB-E ________ for its ease of use, portability and affordablo price. For the price of a nice laptop, you could have an URB-E to drive to the office.

The URB-E is made from aircraft-grade aluminum (铝合金) and comes in two basic models: the URB-E Commuter and URB-E GP. The main ________ between the two is that the Commuter model has two rear wheels while the GP has only one. That means the Commuter offers greater stability, as ________ to the GP’s ability to make sharper turns like a bicycle.

Both models come with accessories (附件)________ LED front and rear lights and a shock-absorbing seat. They also ________ a smart-phone holder and USB charging port right on the steering column. In fact, smart-phones play a big role in the URB-E app to do things like monitor battery charge or control the lights. ________ accessories include a cup holder and a folding luggage shelf.

At this year’s international Consumer Electronic Show (CES)in Las Vegas, tech website The Verge awarded the URB-E with its “Best Personal Transportation” award. Singing the URB-E’s ________, Verge editor Ben Popper said, “The URB-E felt like the kind of vehicle an enlightened citizen of 2030 would own.” “So why wait that long, when the URB-E is ________ for order now?”

9 . It was early winter several years ago. I pulled out my old winter ______ for another year’s use. It remained in good ______ although it looked dirty. I didn’t really ______ a new one but I wanted one and casually mentioned it to my daughter. A few weeks later, she ______ me with a brand-new coat. I put the old one in my ______. Each day, though, when I opened my closet, something ______ me. It seemed a shame that my still good, old coat should just sit there keeping no one ______ during the cold days.

After a few weeks, I took the coat to a charity shop. I knew there someone who couldn’t afford a coat might get my old one. I ______ it off and walked out the door. As I did so, I saw a shivering (颤抖的) man in only a jacket walking in. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would be the new ______ of my old coat. With a smile, I went home.

My new coat is my old coat now. It is getting a little dirty and ______, too. I wonder if I should buy a new one soon but I think I will ______ a while. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “______ is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.” Perhaps the best way to deal with our wants is by ______ and giving something of ourselves. Love brings us ______. The more we ______, the more happiness we have. May all of your days be full of giving and love.

10 . Ever since I can remember, my mom has always been growing things or talking about growing things. ________, I don’t exactly share her green gardening skills. She tells me it’s because I don’t give the plants the love they ________. I won’t lie, but that ________ me a little bit.

After a few crazy years of working my way through college and then the COVID-19, I felt I had ________ with my mom and her gardening. As a kid, I spent much time with her in the garden. And those were some of the happiest moments of our lives. So for Mother’s Day this year, I decided to get back in the garden to spend some ________ time with her. ________ we weren’t able to plant everything due to the weather, we had a good time.

My mom always makes sure to fertilize (施肥) her garden with ________ fertilizers. She doesn’t like using chemicals. It’s not good for bees and butterflies. Each year she designs her garden ________ so that each section of the garden can have various vegetables and later on, nutrients are added to the soil. “Where did you learn all of this?” I asked her. Growing up I was always under the ________ that my mom just knew everything. It was not a wrong belief, but I was ________. “Wisconsin Public Radio!” she said. “Each Friday it has Garden Talk where Larry Meiller interviews gardening ________ about planting in Wisconsin.”

________ a garden, my mom also grew a prairie (牧场), filled with tons of native Wisconsin flowers. This year, she planted sunflowers, purple coneflowers, and many other flowers to help out the insects in the yard and give her garden the best ________ to thrive (繁荣).

After a day’s work, I was glad to have gotten my hands ________ with my mom. I learned a lot, and I felt that I had gotten ________ to her.