1 . It all began on a cold, rainy day．

Sarah, a poor single mother, was ________ to make ends meet. While waiting for the bus with her two children, Sarah ________ an old man sitting on a nearby bench. He was shivering (颤抖), his ________ jacket providing little protection against the freezing weather.

Sarah ________ the man and offered him her coat. She knew it would make her cold, but the thought of this stranger ________ while she had something to give was too much to bear. ________ by her selflessness, the man thankfully accepted the coat and gave back a smile. Little did Sarah know that her simple act of ________ would make a huge difference.

A man, who saw the heartwarming ________, took a photo and shared it on social media. The post quickly became a ________, with thousands of people sharing and commenting on Sarah’s ________. Encouraged by her, people began organizing events to ________ those less lucky. Schools added lessons on the ________ of helping others, and businesses started a “pay it forward” project, where people could buy more and leave the ________ meal for those in need.

Reflecting on this unbelievable journey, we can ________ our individual power, which may create an effect that would ________ reach every corner of the globe.

2 . Kate Chandulal-Dee’s unique and infectious smile can brighten anyone’s day. It’s a(n)_______ she’s always had, which has helped Kate bravely face many challenges in life.

Kate was born with the rare genetic disorder (遗传性疾病), which has resulted in her having 138 _______ to date.

Kate’s many operations have _______ serious and life-threatening procedures. One important procedure when she was 14 was the _______ of a tube from her throat that helped her to breathe. After it was gone, Kate could _______ eat food. “It was like my mouth was waking up for the very first time,” she recalls.

Kate’s story was known to the public in 2010, when she was just seven years old and _______ school. Now 20, Kate is all grown up and has just finished the last of her _______ at Edgewater College in Auckland. She plans to _______ with a degree in the creative arts and media.

As a child, the thought of attending school _______ her will to live. “School has been ________ to keep me going and to help me with my self-confidence,” she tells. “Through school, I found my abilities and talents, like writing and drama (戏剧). I’ve also learned how to be ________ and interested.”

Last year, she challenged herself and ________ drama. She was cast as a nurse in a school production of Romeo and Juliet. Kate has also written four books and recently ________, and edited a documentary called Still Smiling, about the challenges that she has ________ in life.

She said, “I’m going to miss the teachers and the school community. They have taught me that I can ________ anything with enthusiasm (热情).”

3 . Instead of being a pacing-up time, winter is a locking-down time. Winter frees us in all sorts of ways.

I once had a neighbor named Earl. An old-timer and a self-made man, he _________ told me stories about Maine winters in the past. He suggested he had _________ the ice age. He backed up his old stories with _________ of old black-and-white photographs of heavy snowstorms that piled up to second-floor windows and completely _________ cars.

And I’ll never _________ what he said as an end to one of his stories, “A man couldn’t get much done once the snow came.” So what did he do once the snow came? He spent a great deal of time _________ to home and hearth, where he _________ the wood stove, sat with his wife, made pots of coffee, and read by the fire.

As I write these words I occasionally raise my head to _________ the window at the woodpile stacked (堆), the garden harvested, the apple tree _________, the lawn mowed, and the bicycle shed newly roofed.

As I tended to all those things, when did I have time to __________?

Some years ago a friend sent me a quote by Socrates that I try to be mindful of: Beware the fruitlessness of a __________ life.

The advice __________ me to look forward to the coming of winter, because I’ve finally learned that it is a slowing-down time, a gift of rest, a (n) __________ to acknowledge that most of the outdoor work that could be done has been done.

A friend of mine who lives in the Southeast recently called. In the course of our __________ he celebrated the climate where he lives, which __________ him to work outside year-round. “I’m always on the go.” he told me.

But I think I need a good time of winter.

4 . My dad is easy-going and has a gift for chatting. He ________ a fast food restaurant called Queenie’s Weenies, which is specialized in hot dogs. I work with my dad at the ________ on weekends.

One Saturday, we went ________. As we got into the checkout line, I ________ something: our cashier (收银员) was very ________! She ________ no smiles, no greetings and no small talk. Her “anger aura (光环)” was obvious and kind of ________ to me. When we ________ to check out, I was thinking that we should just pay for our things and leave quickly. My dad had a different ________. When it was our turn, he started ________ her.

Dad said, “Hi, how are you today? This is my son. I have a restaurant, and we ________ together. It’s called Queenie’s Weenies. Drop by my restaurant sometime and I will ________ you to my hot dogs. I’m good at cooking them.” By the time we ________ checking out, the cashier was smiling. She said, “Thanks, umm… I hope you and your son have a very nice day.”

Back in the car, Dad said to me, “The cashier was obviously ________ today. It happens to everyone. Smile ________ or give a few kind words, which is all it takes to make one a little more delighted.”

5 . A 15-year-old student has been praised a hero after it was found out that he had saved the life of a man who had suffered a heart attack. Sheng Xiaohan hadn’t told students and teachers the story until the man _________ at the school to thank him.

Sheng recalled he was _________ home at around 9 p.m. after working late at school when he saw a group of people surrounding a man on the ground _________, with a man patting on his back and others calling his name.

When he saw the man was unresponsive, he _________ his pulse and found it was weak and his body _________ “I had learned first aid several times since primary school and the _________ time was during military training,” he said.

He first tried the Heimlich maneuver, but then thought the old man might have _________ a heart attack. He asked people around to give him some _________ and tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). He _________ down on the man’s chest regularly, while asking another man to help with artificial respiration. Someone else called the emergency __________. Sheng kept doing CPR for about six minutes until the ambulance arrived and __________ the man to the hospital.

“I didn’t dare stop or ask others to replace me in case of any __________,” he added. “During the process, he started to breathe again, which gave me the confidence and __________ to go on.”

Sheng said he didn’t feel tired during the process, but afterwards his arms were __________. After the experience, he didn’t treat it as anything out of the __________ as he was a warm-hearted young man always ready to help others.

6 . Julie and I wanted to get together with Kirk. We arranged at a _________ in the village to meet for dinner, which was _________ for everyone by subway.

It was a _________ enough place, and we had to wait 15 minutes for everybody to _________. Then we ended up at a table in the back near the kitchen. The food was excellent and the waitress, a young woman, was _________ and knew just what to _________ on the menu. We talked and ate and talked more. Nobody made _________ to hurry us out, although it was a Sunday night and _________ somebody would be waiting out for a table.

The bill came. I gave the waitress my credit card. The bill came back. I _________ it and left it at the table. We chatted some more. Then we got up and headed out the __________. Outside we said goodbye to Kirk and __________ to the subway.

We had gone almost two blocks __________ I heard someone running after us, calling, “Excuse me, sir.” I turned __________. It was the __________ from the restaurant. “You left your credit card,” she said and __________ it to me.

“Thanks so much,” I said, putting it in my wallet. I didn’t even have time to say anything before she was already hurrying back to the busy restaurant. I was left to consider her amazing kindness and enthusiasm.

9 . On Oct. 11, hundreds of runners competed in a cross-country race in Minnesota. Melanie Bailey should have _________ the course earlier than she did. Her _________ came because she was carrying a _________ across the finish line.

As reported by a local newspaper, Bailey was more than two-thirds of the way through her _________ when a runner in front of her began crying in pain. She _________ to help her fellow runner, Danielle Lenoue. Bailey took her arm to see if she could walk forward with _________. She couldn’t. Bailey then _________ to let Lenoue climb onto her back and carried her all the way to the finish line, then another 300 feet to where Lenoue could get _________ attention.

Once there, Lenoue was _________ and later taken to a hospital, where she learned that she had serious injuries in one of her knees. She would have struggled with extreme __________ to make it to that aid checkpoint without Bailey’s help.

As for Bailey, she is more __________ about why her act is considered a big __________. “She was just crying. I couldn’t __________ her,” Bailey told the reporter. “I feel like I was just doing the right thing.”

Although the two young women were strangers before the __________, they’ve since become friends. Neither won the race, but the __________ of human kindness won the day.

10 . The other day, I was looking at my schedule for the summer. I had a moment of ________, realizing I’d be without my laptop for two weeks during our family camping trip.

You might be thinking my response sounds ________ and that two weeks with no pressure to work, just relaxing in nature is the time to ________ and restore one’s brain and body. I used to be a workaholic (工作狂). So taking two weeks off from my business made me________.

I know I’m not________ here in our busy world. To work hard is especially significant for high-achieving people to ________ in their careers. We live in a culture that ________ the state of being busy. There might have been many times when you ________some relatives or friends on the street and heard they said they were very busy when asking about their recent situations. Being busy is the new________. Therefore, when we’re not busy, we feel like we’re doing something wrong.

I’m not saying working all the time makes us feel OK. Taking a break bring us ________. We’ll be more________ after relaxing, thus having more novel ideas. Iceland has ________a 4-day work week for 2,500 people. A study by Stanford University found that their________ didn’t decline; they reported a better work-life balance.

Our brains aren’t ________ to work all the time. Working hard enough to pass our limits will unavoidably lead to burnout.________, we should give ourselves a break once in a while.