1 . In 1967, my husband and I graduated from college with financial challenges. We ______ to make both ends meet because of our low-paying jobs as well as college loans. The birth of our son that summer ______ our financial pressure.

Later we got involved socially with a community of couples. They ______ made us feel welcome although our finances often restricted our ______. One summer, the group organized a picnic and requested we bring potato chips. I was ______ that I didn’t have to spend much on the event. So I ______ two large bags of the least expensive brand of potato chips. However, we got to the state park, only to find a real feast ______ out — chicken, watermelon, home-made salads, and desserts. ______, I was leaving when a friend reassured (使……安心) me that our time to make a ______ for the feast would come sooner or later.

Decades have passed. Now, my husband and I approach ______ with our grown son, but that picnic remains fresh in my memory. Our friends’ kindness has influenced how we ______ and assist others. We may never ______ those who once provided for us, but we continue the tradition of generosity, ______ our struggling younger friends.

That day, the feast symbolized a(n) ______ of gratitude, not to be repaid, but to be paid forward. It serves as a ______ of the lasting power of community and kindness.

3 . It has been another winter in the mountains of my home. High winds, heavy snows, and pouring rains have all ______ us, damaging power lines and the trees around. As I looked at the broken branches ______ my daughter’s yard it brought back memories from another ______ winter several years ago.

A foot of snow had fallen and was rapidly ______. The runoff from the hills had swollen the river and ______ puddles (水坑) in the road. In addition to this, broken and fallen tree branches were ______. I was driving home and suddenly saw one of these branches had ______ off a tree overhanging the road and fallen across it. I knew that it would only be a matter of ______ before one crashed into that branch maybe causing a/an ______ or even a death.

I quickly got out of my car and tried to pull the branch to the side of the road. It was a lot ______ than I thought it would be. But with a little prayer I started to ______ it. When it was finally ______ to the side I stood up and smiled. Just as I did, though, a red car raced around the curve, hit a pool of water in the road and ______ my pants. I shook my head and laughed.

Sometimes we all do good things in this life only to get ______. When this happens just remember that the real ______ you do good is because of the love inside of you.

5 . Ron and Sharon Ross, an old couple living in the town of Otis, woke up in the middle of the night. A neighbor was pounding on their door,_ __________ for them to get out. A mountain fire was quickly heading its way from nearby Echo Mountain.

With 30 minutes to __________ what they could take and go, they rushed to gather their valuables. But their   __________ was for their little puppy, Piper, which was getting __________ with all the sudden movements and started to hide.

Just as they were looking for Piper, the power was __________. They had to find flashlights and locate the puppy in a __________ room. With a recent surgery on her arm, Sharon could only use one arm to hold the flashlight searching for it. Another problem in their __________ plan: their truck was parked behind their garage, which __________ with electric doors, now useless in the power failure. With all their strength, they finally opened it by hand, which ensured them a __________ escape.

Time was ticking. However, they wouldn't go before helping a friend __________, who was living alone in the same community, only to find nobody in. While going down the mountain toward safety, they saw a __________ walking toward the fire. Despite the thick smoke, they could __________ him. It was their friend walking to his house. Immediately, they turned around, picked him up, accompanied him __________ to his house to fetch something valuable and then drove away together. Fortunately, both the couple and their friend survived.

The fire ended up destroying most homes in Otis, __________ eleven lives and leaving the town hit heavily. Still, it strengthened their sense of community. Soon after, together with many others, Ron and Sharon Ross, who _________ the disaster, instantly started their rebuilding efforts from ashes.

6 . Chloe Smith is a girl aged 6 from Atlanta, Georgia. One day, while taking a walk with her father near their home, she________something shiny under a pile of rubbish. She picked up the ________ to take home, as she often did on her treasure-hunting walks. Chloe was later ________ to discover she had found a stolen Olympic gold medal.

The medal belongs to former canoeist (划艇运动员) Joe Jacobi, who won gold while ________ for Team USA in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games. The medal, along with other personal belongings, was ________ in May of 2016 when someone broke into Jacobi’s can. Though police managed to ________ some of his stolen items, they hadn’t been able to find his ________ Olympic medal. It may have been lost forever, if not for a 6-year-old girl’s treasure-hunting ________ .

Chloe’s dad had seen Jacobi’s story on the news, and ________ realized it was his stolen property. He found Jacobi’s email and sent him pictures of the treasure. After________ the medal, Jacobi was astonished, just speechless.

Chloe was ________ to give it back after speaking with Jacobi on the phone. ________, Jacobi promised to speak to her class when school begins again this fall. The ________ of this little girl reuniting an Olympian with his beloved possession is ________ . When we talk about character and doing the ________ thing, Chloe represents the Olympic values in every sense of the word.

7 . Several years ago, I was diving down a busy freeway in Porland, Oregon, when my tire blew out. I pulled over and made a(n) ______ that said I needed help.

Three bours later, a car finally ______. Out came a family of three. They were Latino, and their young daughter acted as the ______ between her parents’ Spanish and my English, so that we could work together to ______ the car. The father found a log on the side of the road to lift the car and get the tire ______. An hour later, we finished.

I thanked them and tried to give them money for their act of ______, yet they just wouldn’t take it. But I was ______ to pay them back, thinking it was the least I could do. ______ I put the money into the mom’s hand, and walked away.

Then I heard their small daughter cull out, asking if I was hungry. ______, I was, and she came over with a sealed (密封的) paper bag. We ______ thank-yous. As they were trying to get into traffic, I ______ the bag and found a hamburger, with my money under it.

The father ______ down his window and said, “Today you, tomorrow me. ” Then he drove off. The last thing I saw was the young girl waving goodbye through the window.

I know that the phrase, “Today you, tomorrow me,” wasn’t ______ by that stranger — it’s a common expression in Mexico, where I believe the family was from. But its value is ______. It just shows that everyone may need ______ in a given situation.

8 . As a child, I’d spent entire afternoons ________ new worlds in my mind and giving life to ________ in my stories I wished could be my friends. I’d written myself into my favorite stories so I could be part of them. Writing was a part of me; it was who I was.

However, in high school I ________ with writer’s block (阻碍). By the time I was in college, I’d stopped writing entirely, ________ the dream remained. I wanted to ________ a novel one day. It was then that I read an interview with the Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. She said she’d go crazy if she didn’t write; she needed to do it to stay ________. Her words made me feel ________. She was telling me that I wasn’t really a writer.

Or so I thought. I tried again, and it was like feeling the sun on my skin, or hearing snow lightly fall. I hadn’t realized it, but I hadn’t really been happy until I ________ my pen again. Writing was in my blood after all. Finally, half-hours ________ to writing stretched into hours. Before, I had been upset all the time because I didn’t advance my writing projects. Now, every day was a step forward, and I was ________ with it.

One day, I was reading a story in a library. ________, an idea hit me that I wanted to submit a few stories. I didn’t do it in the hopes they would get published. And then, something ________ happened. The first story I submitted was chosen for publication! When I got the e-mail, I was wild with joy and ________ around my kitchen table.

That moment________me that I must keep writing — not because I’ll go ________，but because I want to keep being crazily happy like that.

9 . It’s been nearly seven years since a group of volunteers from a nonprofit organization What Cheer Flower Farm broke ground at a flower farm in Providence, Rhode Island. They only have one simple _________: to get flowers into the hands of anyone _________ a pick-me-up. Best of all, each one of the tens of thousands of flowers that What Cheer Flower Farm grows and _________ are completely free of charge. “We want to _________ the state with flowers and create happiness and joy,” says Erin Achenbach, What Cheer Flower Farm’s head florist.

What Cheer Flower Farm _________ brings blooming joy to people at local hospitals, food banks, senior centers, recovery centers and more—including AIDS Care Ocean State. “Seeing the _________ on people’s faces who weren’t _________ it—they just came in to inquire about the programs—is pleasant,” says Stephen Hogan Jr. from AIDS Care Ocean State.

Located in Providence’s rusted (锈迹斑斑的)_________ Olneyville neighborhood, What Cheer Flower Farm’s flower beds lie on 2.7 acres that once _________ a knife factory. In May, the organization was __________ a record-high $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for its continued revitalization (振兴) of a brownfield site, a __________ land because of industrial pollution.

“Not only do we revive this space, which was quite literally __________,” says Achenbach, “but also this is an eco-landing spot with the ability to __________ local insects and birds. That’ll have a win-win outcome:__________ people’s lives and supporting the local ecosystem.” What cheer, indeed! “What’s good about flowers is that they don’t need anything else. People’s only job is to __________ them when someone gives them flowers.”