1 . Bobby and I had been friends right when we were five. I had a natural talent and _________ for painting, but Bobby’s life was marked by sorrow. While he had lost his parents, we _________ through our youth together, playing, chatting, loving and studying, until we graduated from college.

I was fortunate enough to find a job that allowed me to _________ my passion for painting. Bobby, on the other hand, seemed to wander _________ in his search for employment. Having heard his situation _________ when he fell ill, I decided to put my career on hold to look after him. When I stepped into his house, _________, a single room that he lived in, I saw it was covered with a layer of dust. Bobby’s only _________ during his days at home was a tree outside his window, holding desperately on to a single leaf.

Bobby would often pour out to me, “If that last leaf falls, I probably won’t _________ either.” Determined to lift his spirits, one early morning, I drew a leaf and tied it to one of the branches. It was so _________ that it appeared as if it belonged to the tree. This leaf never fell; it became Bobby’s symbol of hope.

As time passed, under the silent encouragement of the leaf, Bobby’s health began to __________. Eventually, he was hired as a clerk in a bank close to his home and __________ his enthusiasm for life. It turned out that the leaf I had drawn was more than just an artistic creation — it was an unbreakable __________ of our friendship.

Our experience taught us that sometimes, a simple __________ can have far-reaching effects. Friendship proves to be the most __________ power along our path, even when faced with all challenges. This is the very __________ of life.

2 . Age is truly just a number if our hearts are young. Lee Minor, an 85-year-old retired psychologist, has________this by finishing his 600th marathon race with 32 members of his family by his side. “Runners don’t have a________line. We just keep going,” he toldGood Morning America. “I felt________running with my family.” Minor has been running three days a week since 1969, and his heart is filled with enthusiasm for running.

“I like to run in all kinds of________. It is so childish as the rain touches your face. And I love to come here after snow and you watch your________as you go along.” he concluded.

Minor’s enthusiasm for running is________. “It is my joy. And I want to live as long as I can. And I mean live, not________.” His words ring true for Ron Robert, a man diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease who decided to ________ a three-year bachelor of artsprogram at King’s University College in London, Ontario. “I was always taught early in life that the brain is like the most ________instrument we have in our body,” said Robert.

Last fall, Robert graduated from the university, despite the challenges of his illness. “When I went across the stage, and as I’m getting my________, the kids all stood up andyelled and clapped,” he________. “I had to hold back the tears. It was something else, just wonderful.” He hopes that his story will give hope to others facing________difficulties. “There will come a time when I won’t be able to, and I fully________that. Butin the meantime, I’m living a full life.”

The stories of Minor and Robert are reminders that age and illness need not________us. We can choose to pursue our________and live life to the fullest, no matter whatchallenges we may face.

3 . Recently my wife and I were flying across the country and were about to board our plane when a woman sitting across from us at the gate had a medical _________. The woman was falling over and quickly lost _________ of her body. I jumped up and lowered my body in front of her. I _________ myself as Dr. Joe, and I was here to help in any way she   _________.

The woman, Jackie, _________ that she had had this condition for thirty years and would be “perfectly fine in just a bit”.

In one hand I held her and with my other hand I _________ her head. I asked if she needed a wheelchair to board the plane, to which she said _________. I asked my wife to _________ a wheelchair. After Jackie was in it, I stayed behind to make sure she made it _________ on board, but because of miscommunication, the manager at the airport thought Jackie was having a stroke (中风).

I stood up __________ Jackie, explaining that her condition would improve soon. Finally, the manager __________ to let her board with my help and she was completely __________ within about twenty minutes.

Fortunately, Jackie just needed someone to listen to her and __________ for her. Don’t be afraid to listen to __________and help them out. Everyone has their own __________, and we just need someone to care.

4 . I first heard of Alex Haley around 1967. My brother Paul, who was a student at West Virginia University, told me that this man had given a(n) _______ lecture on campus, which was part of a book the author would be _______.

“It’s Roots”! Paul said. My mind began _______. What a brilliant title. I had been interested in my own “roots” _______ I was nine years old, when I interviewed my parents and _______ my first family tree, on the very day after we buried my father’s father.

When I read Roots in 1974, I was _______. I had a serious period of _______ toward Alex Haley. I wanted to be like him. Alex Haley called finding out roots “a hunger to know our heritage” in his _______ successful book.

My Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series, Finding Your Roots, which I _______ showing respect for the title of Alex Haley’s book, can trace its own roots to that family tree I ________. And a letter I received from an African American geneticist explained that scientists can now do what Alex Haley ________ to do in Roots. After my DNA was tested, I got the idea for the ________, which from the beginning was a huge hit. So how would Alex Haley feel about this ________ technology?

Roots continues to be important because we are a nation of immigrants. That’s one of the ________ truths in Finding Your Roots. Today, all of us who stamp on the exciting path in search of our roots stand on the ________ of a brave author named Alex Haley.

7 . This is a real story about an old man in China. Sixty-three-year-old Zhuang Guorong is a _______ rural (乡村的) primary school art teacher, who has had a life of _______ for more than 40 years.

Every year, the strong, younger-than-his-actual-age pensioner (领养老金者) goes to “the farmers’ home” of Chenyang Community to paint or _______ other villagers how to _______.

“The farmers’ home”, a public building, _______ the venue (聚集地点) for a branch of the Sheyang Farmers Painting Institute.

The institute is a government _______ cultural organization in Sheyang County, in the north of Jiangsu Province, east China.

Zhuang works at the _______ part time, and each year he _______ up to ten paintings, which are then bought by the local government.

He makes around 5,000 yuan — that’s about 740 US dollars — a year by doing this _______.

As well as earning himself some money, Zhuang says the job gives him an opportunity to express his views of life to his fellow countrymen, ________ the elderly.

“This painting is about a nursing home. We now live in a(n) ________ society. We can no longer ________   the traditional way of taking care of our elderly just with our children doing it. ________, professional nursing homes are important for elderly people’s welfare.”

“In this painting, I described a ________ of young people celebrating the birthday of a senior citizen. The message I want to convey is that life in one’s later years can still be happy. And all of my paintings are like this one — based on our ________ lives.”

8 . The pandemic didn't allow Debra Ferrell, from Roanoke, Virginia, to gather with her whole family for her birthday. _______ , she celebrated the day by _______ —with 53 gifts from her heart.

“This period is one of the _______ times in my history, so I _______ why not make other people smile,” said Ferrell. She went on social media and asked people for _______ on acts of kindness that she could _______ for others during her birth month, one for every year that she’s been _______.

The requests for her Oct, 4 birthday arrived from across the U. S: Parents who hoped for words of _______ for their kids on their first year of virtual school. A woman who wished for a gift basket for her doctor. A friend of a family in Minnesota that _______ their 4-year-old to cancer, who wanted them to feel that they were not ________.

For them, Ferrell found a memorial wind chime (风铃) with a ________ that says, “When you ________ the wind, I am with you.”

“________ others is just one of my favorite things to do,” said Ferrell. “I just feel that if we live our life trying to make other people ________ , I’m the one who gets the ________ out of it.”