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 look after. But one Sunday, everything changed. A hurricane _______ our neighborhood while we were visiting my grandparents in Raleigh. Our kitchen was ________, and our clean and comfortable home was in ruins.

But something ________ happened. Our neighbors, the Flores family, came to our ________. They helped clear broken pieces and offered us a place to stay. Their ________ was most impressive. We had never ________ 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 the wake of a disaster.

I ________ 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 laughter.

Looking back, I realize that the hurricane ________ unexpected benefit. 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 . “Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman (送货员) said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.

The package consisted of (装有) a long, narrow box ______ wrapped in brown paper. ______ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved handle. ______ he had not seen it for more than 20 years, he recognized it immediately.

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the ______ umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its ______, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its owner.

Oscar ______ the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat ______ Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien’s house on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I ______ you?” she asked. “I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said, ______ the umbrella as if presenting a gift that had long been wished for. “Why, yes! it’s mine, “ replied Mrs. O’Brien with a ______ smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your ______?” “No, ma’am.” he said, “my grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.” “Well, that’s ______ what my father used to say. What is your name, Young man?”

Years later, Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how ______ it was. Why had it arrived here today? As if ______ , a note fell from the paper. It read: Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to accept this umbrella as a present for a kind, ______ gesture long ago.

3 . Adventure is in my blood. And I had been considering how I was going to celebrate my high school graduation. I didn’t just want a small ________ in the backyard, I started thinking about doing a solo (独自的)________ somewhere out of the ordinary. I took out the ________ and drew a 1, 500-mile route along which I would be ________ from the northernmost point in Norway to the southernmost section of Sweden. When I ________ my plan with my dad, he ________ as I thought he would. Because I got my adventurous ________ from him, he was all for it.

I had only been away from my home for three days, but there was an inner ________ going on. Part of me was homesick and doubting whether I really could ________. The other part of me was ready to ________ to myself and my family that I could do it by myself.

On the road, I met another bicyclist who was quite a bit older than I was. He started his journey alone by bike at the southern part of Norway and just finished. I could tell he had a great sense of ________. It encouraged me not to ________.

As I listened to my favourite artists on my MP4 player, I pedaled with my feet. There was nobody around me for miles. ________, that wasn’t entirely true. There were millions of mosquitoes (蚊子). My arms were so dotted (布满) with ________ that they looked like a topographical (地形的) map. But however ________ it would be, nothing could stop my advance on the destination. As you know, adventure is in my blood.

4 . After graduation, I decided to take the gym seriously. Accompanied by a friend, I________a routine of walking on the treadmill (跑步机). I was ________with our routine in the gym. My friend, however, became bored.

One day, he suggested that we ________an outdoor sport. I was an uncoordinated (动作不协调的) person, so I_______his idea.

But several weeks later, he managed to ________me to step on to an outdoor racquetball (美式壁球) court. When I hit the ball, I sent it flying in every direction except the direction that I had __________Still, somehow, I tried hard to learn it and became ________after constantly practicing.

“We’re not getting enough________on the treadmill. Why not play tennis to build up our body?” suggested my friend.

“Tennis? I can’t play tennis! That ________real skills!” I firmly resisted (抵制) his new ________.

However, weeks later, I started playing tennis. After several months of________practice, one day, as the ball came flying towards me, my racket and the ball met in what tennis players viewed as the “sweet spot”. I had ________learned how to play tennis properly!

I learned a valuable ________from these experiences：I can do whatever I set my mind on. I just need to put in efforts, and the results will ________. And I become quite________about trying new things and I’m always filled with a sense of excitement.

6 . “Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.

The package consisted of a long, narrow box ____ wrapped in brown paper. ____ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved wooden handle. ____ he had not seen it in more than 20 years, he recognised it immediately.

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the____ umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its beauty, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its ____.

Oscar ____ the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat ____ Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien’s house on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I ____ you?” she asked.

“I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said, ____ the umbrella as if presenting a gift that had long been wished for.

“Why, yes! It’s mine,” replied Mrs. O’Brien with a ____ smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your ____?”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “My grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.”

“Well, that’s ____ what my father used to say. What is your name, young man?”

Years later Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how ____ it was. Why had it arrived here today?

As if ____, a note fell from the paper. It read: Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to accept this umbrella as a present for a kind, ____ gesture long ago.

7 . Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience: the iPad.

Instead of looking at nature, I _________ my e-mail. Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading _________ newspapers each morning. And that was the problem: I was acting as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my _________ wasn’t.

So this year I made up my mind to try something _________: getting away from the Internet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, _________ I’m not good at self-control. But I was _________. I started by handing the iPad to my wife. Then, a stroke of luck: The mobile phone _________ at our cabin was worse than in the past. I was trapped, forced to carry out my plan. Largely _________ from e-mail and my favourite newspaper websites, I had little way to _________ the world. I had no ____________ but to do what I had planned to do all along: read books.

With determination and the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet. I finally ____________ that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the ____________.

I knew I had ____________ when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said. ____________, as we return to work, a test begins: Can I survive when I’m back at work? I don’t plan to ____________ my iPad completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (抵抗诱惑) to use it every five minutes.

9 . British brothers James and Thomas Lindesay have spent months traveling across the Great Wall of China on foot. They ______ 3,263 kilometres, a remarkable achievement at any time.

Their ______ to complete this adventure came from their father, William Lindesay, who______ along the Wall decades ago and attracted a great deal of media attention. Born in 1956 in Liverpool, William became ______ about the Wall later in his life. In 1987, he made the ______ in China by hiking the Wall. He has committed over 30 years to the protection of the structure, and has ______ 10 books on the Wall based on his knowledge and experiences.

His action and books influenced his two sons, who now share his ______ in the Wall. In 2016, the Lindesay brothers flew drones (无人机) at many ______ along the Wall and edited video works on the ______ of the Wall, hoping to keep it safe from damage. Not ______ with merely documenting parts of the Wall, the young brothers ______ wanted to find a new way to experience the structure and finally they ______ hiking its length, following in their father’s footsteps.

The brothers’ trip was ______ than they had imagined. They met many difficulties. But______ the great wonder was life-changing, which gave them a better ______ of the structure and the history behind it.

10 . A little girl created a perfect gift for her mother’s birthday. It was a drawing of a _______on white paper with the words “For mom: love, love, love” decorated with hearts. She folded (折叠) her letter, but then she _______it.

For most people, that would be the _______ of this story, but this story had a different result. James Carrell found the letter. He had just_______ his mother, wishing her a happy birthday. After he hung up, Carrell saw the _______ on the ground outside of a hardware store in Manvel. “I _______ it was a gift,” said Carrell. “I opened it up and saw the flower and hearts. It really _______ me.” Carrell thought the letter would _______ someone’s day and that maybe he could find the owner, so he posted it on the Internet. The message moved a lot of people, _______ one man.

“I was sitting at my friend’s house and saw a man’s ________,” said Carrell.

The comments included one from Robert Alvarado. He wrote, “I can’t ________ you found my baby’s letter.” Carrell reached Alvarado to ________ the letter. It took a few days, but the men finally met on Thursday night.

“Eventually the letter made it home,” said Alvarado. “We are ________ for what James Carrell did.” We often forget the power of ________ things, but for this family from Alvin, Carrell’s small act left a ________impression.