4 . Have you seen people who take pictures of food for more than 10 minutes before eating? My friend Stella is such an example. Every time we went to a restaurant she would not take a bite until all the dishes we ________ were on the table. Then she would spend five minutes in ________ the dishes in a seemingly random but in fact ________ order. Then the most important part: taking pictures. After that, she would choose one of the ________ and click in the filter app. The food eventually looked 10 times more delicious than it really was, but we had no ________ to really enjoy it—it all went cold, actually Stella’s real life is much less elegant. For example, she hates to wash the dishes, so she leaves them in the sink for days.

Many people care too much about others’ opinions and try too hard to ________ others. They find it hard to be ________ and to accept themselves, and thus they are afraid to show their ________ life on social media. What they are trying to prove is ________ what they lack in reality. But this will not bring any ________ to reality, as they still ________ the same old pattern of life.

If they really want an elegant life, they should put more ________ into achieving it ________ fabricating it. Being more confident, ________ themselves and trying their best to be better are much more meaningful than ________ their life on social media.

5 . In the year I was about twelve years old, my mother told us that we would not be __________ Christmas gifts for short of money. I felt sad and thought, “What would I say when the other kids asked what I’d ________?” Just when I started to accept that there would not be a Christmas gift that year, then three women ________ at our house with gifts for all of us. For me they brought a doll. I would no longer have to feel________ when I returned to school.

Years later, when I stood in the kitchen of my new house, thinking how I wanted to make my ________ Christmas there special and memorable, I ________ remembered the women’s visit. I decided that I wanted to create that same feeling of ________ for as many children as I could possibly ________.

So I ________ a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help. We gathered about 125 orphans (孤儿) at the Christmas party. For every child, we wrapped colorful packages filled with toys, clothes, and school supplies, each with a child’s name. We wanted all of them to know they were ________. Before I called out their names and handed them their gifts, I ________ them that they couldn’t open their presents until every child had come forward. Finally the ________ they had been waiting for came as I called out, “One, two, three. Open your presents!” As the children opened their packages, their faces beamed and their bright smiles ________ up the room. The ________ in the room was obvious, and it wasn’t just about toys. It was a feeling – the feeling I knew from the Christmas so long ago when the women came to visit. I wasn’t forgotten. Somebody thought of me. I ________.

6 . Over the years, I never thought of my father as being very emotional. He never was, ________ not in front of me. My father never told me he loved me when I was a child, and never held it against him. I thought that all I really wanted was for my dad to take________in me.

On November 9^th, 1990, I received________that my National Guard unit would be sent to the front. I went on to my father and gave him the news. I could feel he was ________about my going. We never________it much more, and eight days later I was gone.

A few days after Thanksgiving I was able to call my wife. She told me that my father said his usual Thanksgiving prayer (祷告). But this time he________ one last sentence. As he lowered his voice and a tear ran ________his cheek, he said, “ Dear Lord, please________over and guide my son, Rick, with your hand in his time of need as he ________ his country, and bring him to home________.” At that point he burst into tears. I had never seen my father cry, and when I heard this, I couldn’t help but cry myself.

Eight months later, when I returned home from________, I hugged my wife and children in tears. When I came to my father, I gave him a huge hug. He whispered in my ear, “ I’m very proud of you, Son, and I love you.” I looked at that man, my dad,________ in the eyes as I held his head between my hands and I said, “I love you too, Dad,” and we hugged again. And then together, both of us cried.

Ever since that day, my ________ with my father has never been the same. We have had many ________ conversations. I have learned that he’s always being proud of me, and he’s not afraid to say “I love you” any more.________ am I. I’m just sorry it has taken more than 30 years and a war to find it out.

7 . When I came to my new school three years ago, I was surprised at how lonely I felt.

Then one of my classmates invited me to her house for a dinner_________I was a little anxious, but finally I gladly _________ .

Not really knowing how_________ the bus ride should be, I _________ when I saw the landmarks (路标)_________on my classmate’s hand-drawn map. But when I got close enough to the _________ , I found none of the streets were shown on the map. I was_________ on a busy road with cars driving past without a person in sight. I had no _________ when the next bus would come,_________when a bus did come, I __________got on. I told the bus driver where I wanted to go and he said that I had caught the __________ bus, but he let me stay on. After he had finished his scheduled bus route, he __________to help me out. I gratefully showed him my little hand-drawn map but__________ did not help much.

He finally __________ me off at a main road to catch a different bus and was __________ that he could not help me more. After I walked for a few minutes, a bus stopped beside me. It was the __________ bus driver. He explained that he didn’t want to leave me there __________ He sent out a call and someone radioed back, saying that the bus I needed to catch was about ten minutes away. At last I made it to the dinner party __________ I was over an hour late.

I am forever thankful for the __________that this bus driver had for me. His act of kindness left a __________on my heart.

8 . A man was employed to paint a boat. He brought paint and _______ and began to paint the boat as the owner wanted. While painting, he _______ there was a hole in the body of the boat and decided to repair it. When he finished painting, he received his _______ and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat visited the painter and _______ him a cheque (支票), much higher than what he was paid for the painting work. The painter was _______.

“You've already paid me for painting the boat, sir!” he said.

“This is not for the paint job. It's for repairing the _______ in the boat.”

“Ah! But it was such a small service.” the man said. “Certainly it's not worth paying me such a high amount for something so _______ !”

“My dear friend,” the owner said, “You don't understand. Let me tell you what happened. When I asked you to paint the boat, I _______ to mention the hole. When the paint _______, my kids took it and went on a fishing trip. They did not know that there was a hole there. I was not at home at the time. So when I ________ and noticed they had taken the boat, I was ________. Imagine my ________ and joy when I saw them returning safely from fishing.”

“Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole! You now see what you did? You ________ the life of my children!”

Each of us has a moral duty to offer help, wipe tears, listen carefully and repair all the “hole” we ________ in our life journey, because a small act will make a big ________ in the future.

9 . Kindness is a key value that God desires us to have. When you give kindness to others, it will be returned to you. Finally, we _________ having the whole house painted today. It was hard to work in this situation. But I _________ good coffee and beautiful biscuits, which made our work easier. We didn't complain and moved the furniture each night, so the painting could be completed _________.

I became friends with this young _________ over the two weeks while he painted. We weren't going to paint the bathroom area _________ painting there possibly made it inconvenient to use the bathroom. Instead, we planned to paint it later. But he _________ a suggestion about getting it _________ quickly for me and also painted the front door in this shiny paint.

When we went to _________ him, he refused my money. He said the bathroom and the door were free of _________, which was a gift to me. Because I had never experienced such things before, I felt surprised. He explained that I had made him so __________ that he wanted to do this.

On the last day, I also bought him a __________ to go to the entertainment center in the city in order to __________ himself. We went there. A meal was part of it and the seats lay back, which were very safe and __________ to sit on. He was thankful and satisfied. I told him that I wanted to show my __________ on how well he had been working in my __________. I said I would really like to thank him. He loved my treat. We did have a good time there.

10 . My least favorite part was participating in sport meets, for I loved running by myself. When faced with running against fellow athletes, I was ________. I had butterflies in my stomach and the sudden urge to go to the nearest ________. This year, however, I was encouraged to join in a long distance running competition by my coach.

The 800-meter event was approaching, meaning that I would ________ soon. I breathed deeply and tried to ________ my worries. I walked over to some of the ________ who would run with me and started to ________ with them. We were all loosening up and getting ready to run as ________ as possible.

I stepped up to the line for the event. The starter raised his cap gun and ________. About twenty-five runners took off. With these runners around me, I ________ my coach’s words, “You may be small, but you have ________ power.” So, I kept up with athletes twice my size. I picked up the runner in seventh place and based my steps on him, making it a little bit faster. One by one, I ________ to make it to the top four, bursting around the lap.

It was the last lap before the final straightaway. I supposed I had the possibility to win. So I widened my steps, speeding up my________. I caught up with the runner in first place and we ran side-by-side down the last 100 meters --- I ________ him by a hair at the finishing line.

My coach gave me a ________ hug as I headed back to see him. He was ________ because I had shortened my original time by twelve seconds at least.