1 . Once there was a little girl who had many misfortunes in life and was struggling with problems. One day she felt so upset that she couldn’t help ________ to her father why her life was so ________.

Sensing her ________, her father, a chef, took her to their ________. He asked her to just ________ till he finished everything. He filled three small pots with water and placed each on a burner. Once the water began to ________, he placed a potato, an egg, and some ground coffee beans in each pot. Curious, though, she kept ________ as her father instructed her to do so.

About twenty minutes later, he turned off the ________. The chef turned towards his daughter and said, “See, the potato went in strong and hard but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was ________, but now the egg became hard. ________, the ground coffee beans were unique. After being ________ the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.”

Seeing the little girl was still confused, he then ________, “The potato, the egg and coffee beans had each faced the same ________-the boiling water. However, each reacted ________. When hardships come your way, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?” Hearing these words, the girl made her choice inside-she would be the ________, which could not only change the whole situation but also change in its own way. After all, life is 10% what happens to you and 90%how you react to it.

2 . I survey the pile of dirty dishes jamming the sink after the party. With no working _______ except my two hands, the task is huge.

Hot water _______ the sink, I plunge (猛扎) my hands into the _______. Then it occurs to me that every dish and spoon brings back memories. I bring up a tiny spoon, still covered with applesauce. I smile as I _______   the eleven-month-old eating it with wild abandon. I pick up a _______ and I remember my oldest daughter’s trying to cut meat for the four-year-old sister while correcting the eight-year-old’s rude table _______. A bowl with bits of lettuce (生菜) stuck like glue reminds me of countless discussions among daughters about diet food and losing _______. Eating delicious food and keeping a perfect figure is an endless _________ for girls.

My three daughters, now, are _______ and have their own families. They get along as well as they did when they were ________. My grandsons seem to be ________ like their mothers. The two oldest wanted their bikes brought out to ________ together. The youngest delighted us when he, feeling the soft carpet, erupted with bursts of laughter. All memories ________. My three daughters did the same thing years ago — riding bikes, feeling the soft carpet...

The dishes are done, and the sink is ________. But my life is full. It is full of happy children and grandsons. I thank the dishes for ________ me.

3 . When I was a teenager, I was invited to a formal dance party. I was _________, but also nervous about what to wear. Mom suggested I wear high heels (高跟鞋).

“Mom, I don’t know if I can wear these,” I said, feeling _________. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Just take small _________ and keep your weight centered,” she suggested.

As I arrived at the party, I tried to be _________ and act like everything was fine. But _________ struck when I stepped onto the dance floor. I _________ my own feet, falling to the ground in front of everyone.

I quickly got up and laughed it off, pretending like it was _________. But deep down, I felt like a tomato, wanting to _________.

My friend Lilly helped me _________ that incident and managed me another high heels as a support so that nobody would understand my hesitation. But a little bit __________ continued in my mind.

When I returned home, I told Mom I felt like a complete __________ at the party. “It’s okay. You tried something new, and it didn’t go as __________. But that’s how we learn and grow. Don’t be too __________ on yourself and wear what you feel __________ in,” Mom said, giving me a hug.

From that day forward, I stuck to flat shoes. I learned to __________ my true self and not worry about what others thought.

4 . I pulled over and one of the boys standing by the road asked for some water.

My heart____when I heard this. In Wilcannia, where I now worked as a primary school teacher with a six- month contract, there was a drought. Quickly____my car,I gave a bottle to the children before saying goodbye. Moments like this reminded me just how____I’d come from my old life as a teacher hundreds of kilometers away in Sydney.

In my first lesson with Year Six I made a____for our class: Mistakes are expected,respected and corrected. We posted this on the wall in my classroom as a____to students.I hoped it would give students____to keep moving forward. We____so well that by the end of month- one,I____my contract to a full year in the rural or remote place!

A real____was helping with the town’s annual kids’ fashion parade(游行). But COVID pandemic____a move to online learning. So I____students to film videos of themselves singing From Little Things Big Things Grow. The children’s performance won wild applause. And ____I was awarded Music Teacher of the Year. This sort of____was such an honour!

Now, three years later,I’m____in Wilcannia. People always ask me how long I plan to stay here, and then comes my____reply: “Another year.”

5 . The idea of holidays to the moon was once a concept of science fiction. However, several companies are racing to make it a ________. To prepare for these holidays, Horizon Studios has ________ the world’s first luggage for space travel.

The suitcase was co-designed by Alyssa Carson, who wanted to be one of the ________ on board NASA’s first manned mission on Mars in 2033.

The suitcase, called Horizon ONE, is built from a special material, making it very strong and ________. It is estimated that the case weighs no more than 900 grams!

The base of the bag is electromagnetic (电磁的), ________ it to guide to the floor or walls even in zero ________ environments. Meanwhile, the suitcase is ________ with a lot of electronics, including Graphene supercapacitors (石墨烯超级电容器) and a charging field for wireless charging, an in-built smart screen, and fingerprint________. However, the suitcase has an eye-watering price that is likely to________many customers. It is currently priced at $40,000.

Stefan Holwe, founder of Horizon Studios, said, “As a ________ travel brand, it is our job to enable ________ minds to go further, so this project lies very close to our hearts. We are happy to work with Alyssa, who ________ represents space travel for the next generation.”

Space is seen as the final frontier, and Horizon ONE brings us one step closer. It shows how far smart travel technology has come, and how far it can ________.

Sadly, the suitcase is still a ________ and Horizon Studio expects the first space range to ________ in 2030.

6 . Alicia never thought her mother, Jiamin would operate a big business. Jiamin worked her whole life as a housewife and had never _______ a business before, but she wanted to do something _______. As the owner of the Oakland Fortune Factory, Jiamin delights in _______ how much people enjoy the unique flavors and designs of their cookies.

Jiamin moved with her family from Guangdong, China, to Oakland in 1999. She _______ Alicia in Chinatown, not far from the bakery, which they did not yet own. When the bakery was on the edge of shutting down in 2016, Jiamin decided to _______ it.

Running the bakery posed a number of _______. Much of the equipment had to be _______ and the facility needed improvement. Besides, Jiamin had no _______ of operating a business and couldn’t speak English _______. Working by herself, she kept calling her daughter day after day, asking her for help. With their intense efforts, the bakery ________. After Alicia graduated from college, she moved back to ________ her mom.

Today, the business is boosting and the fortune cookies are becoming culture carriers. For example, some cookies feature traditional Chinese culture, ________ how amazing the Chinese nation is. To ________ the Year of the Tiger—Jiamin’s birth-year animal—the bakery is making some of its cookies with the Chinese character for tiger.

“The tiger represents ________ and strength,” Alicia explained. “It really reminds me of my mom because she’s a ________ and fearless woman who is protective of her family.”