1 . For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries _______ to just visit as a tourist. It has become a big part of my identity as an adult and shaped _______ I see the world and myself.

My first _______ of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was _______ among a small group of   college classmates to spend a   year abroad. This was long before people could   travel the world _______ through     social media like Facebook, Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place, you   had to   go there and _______ it   firsthand.

Living abroad can be exciting. I thought it would be _______ because I spoke the language, but I enjoyed the little differences between the British and American culture and language. For   instance, instead of _______ the       British called it “rubbish”; instead of favor they spelled it “favour”.

But there were also _______ that year too. One of my classes was called “Europe Since 1870”. In the U.S., I   would have expected an introductory history class, but in England, I was _______ o have already known the       history; now was the time to analyze it. That _______ I not only had to learn the history as I went along, but also I had to try to write a paper explaining why certain events happened as they did. I know now that I was thrown into the deep _______, in a completely different and far more challenging environment, and it was natural that I wouldn’t understand everything easily. Despite this, I don’t _______ anything about my time in London. Even _______ painful experiences, we learn to grow.

_______ the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was not as important as the amazing experience I had getting to know people from all over the world. I met dozens of interesting people from places like France, Greece and Germany in Europe, to Rwanda. Palestine and Australia. Learning how to make friends with people from different cultures and backgrounds was really fun, and these new friends helped put a(n) _______ to     the countries they represented (代表).

As I finished the _______ year, I was torn inside about leaving London after such a life-changing experience.

I learned so much about myself as a young woman and a(n) _______. When I _______ to my college for my          final year, friends and professors saw a(n) _______ me. I had more maturity and self-awareness that I hadn’t had     before. It was just the beginning of a future of world travel and a love of different people and cultures.

2 . We love letters. Just as John Donne, a poet, _________ it, “Letters, to me and my friends mean _________ greetings; they get souls together. Thanks to letters, friends who are _________ speak.” He wrote these words nearly 400 years ago. Today, in the age of instant text message, social media, and email, they _________ ring truer than ever, because writing or receiving a letter has become such a _________ event.

A UK-wide survey undertaken by Sunday Times suggests that one in four of us has not _________ a letter for at least 10 years. That’s ten years without the bitter-sweet _________ of pacing the floor waiting for the _________; ten years without recognizing the handwriting on the envelope and eagerly _________ the letter to read its content.

We ____________ not get them any more, but we still love handwritten letters. In the same survey, one third of ____________ people interviewed say that they ____________ the content of sentimental (充满情感的) letters. Shouldn’t we make ____________ to give our friends and families what they will treasure forever? Ann Bickley went online in 2013 and offered to handwrite a letter to anyone who ____________ her. Her website received 50,000 ____________ in its first three months. Five years later, she is still the main ____________ behind one-million-lovely-letter.com and has personally written 4,000 letters offering hope and ____________ to strangers.

The thought behind a letter ____________ as much as its contents. “I never tell anyone that ____________ is going to be OK,” Ann Bickley says, “I am letting someone know that there is someone in the world who ____________ them.”

Who wouldn’t love to receive a letter like that? Let’s get writing!

3 . Jacquelina used to weigh over 500 pounds. And for years, she _______ to wear a bathing suit.

She realized her life needed a complete _______ after an unpleasant experience at Dollywood where she got _______ in a turnstile (旋转式栅门).Then Jacquelina decided to make a change. She was going to get control of her _______ !

Of course, it was no easy task. She devoted years to _______ with doctors, eating right, and exercising. And _______ her hard work, Jacquelina lost 350 pounds.

Years later, Jacquelina _______ to Mexico for a vacation. Having lost 350 pounds, she decided she was ready to wear a bathing suit without a _______

"I was _______ to take my cover-up off and walk into the pool. I still felt like that same 500 pound girl." Jacquelina explained.

But Jacquelina was ready to face her fears. ________ people around her cruelly pointed and ________ at Jacquelina.

"In the past I would ________ their comments to affect my vacation, and I probably would never go to that pool again." she said to herself.

________ now she's a changed woman!

Instead of letting their response bring her ________ . she took a deep breath, then chose to ________ and walk into the pool.

“That was a huge ________ for me," she said. "I had changed. I was not the ________girl any more."

While she'd lost 350 pounds, it wasn't just Jacquelina’s body that had changed. Her ________ changed, too. Cruel comments still ________ . but she realized her worth had ________ to do with what other people thought.

4 . Nowadays, I acknowledge that a revolution has occurred. That much has been ___ by having hand-held iPads or smart phones that allow us not only to communicate while on the _____ but also to reserve parking spaces, get weather reports, and _____ tell us where, at any given moment, we are standing on the planet Earth.

But I must acknowledge a _____. Conversation used to be surprisingly _____ to start. When I took a seat next to someone on a train, bus, or plane, the first thing I would do was _____ the person. Once the ice had been broken, the following chat _____ erupt naturally.

Time has changed, and the change has been _____. Recently, while I was _____ a long distance bus, I couldn't help but notice everyone was staring at their ______, clicking. I found an empty seat next to a middle-aged man and said "Morning" to him. He threw me a ______ and said "Morning". Then he returned to his ______. So I left him in his world.

I miss the ______ conversations with fellow travelers. One never knows what will be ______, and in fact, sometimes how ______ it will be. I was once on a ______ traveling from Iceland to Denmark. I noticed an old man looking out over the North Sea. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said. He turned to me,______, and we were soon chatting away. _____ I told him that I didn't know how I was going to get from the port in Denmark to my destination city. He ______,"Of course you know. I have a car and I'm going to ______ you there. "

5 . Back in the old days，I had a successful bakeshop in Albany. But_____ came to my shop when an old woman came. She entered and said，“I wish to have a dozen cookies.”So I_____ out twelve cookies.

“Only twelve？”she asked. I knew at once what she_____ .There were some bakers in town who sometimes gave a(n)_____ cookie to their customers，but I was shocked by the_____ .Would I give away one more cookie for____ ？

“I asked for a dozen cookies，and you only give me twelve，”the woman said.

“A dozen is twelve，”I replied.

“I_____ a dozen cookies，not twelve，”said the old woman.

I was_____ by this demand. I always gave my customers _____ what they paid for. I was a thrifty（节俭的）man，and it was against my______ to give away something for nothing.“______ I give away all my cookies，how can I feed my family？A dozen is twelve，not thirteen！Take them or ______ them！”I added. She left the shop without taking the cookies.

Since then，everything I baked was either too light or too heavy. My customers began to______ my shop. Finally，my family and I were the only ones eating my baking，and my money was running out. I was______ . I went to a wise man and begged the suggestions.

He said softly，“I spent my whole life giving money to those______ ，helping the sick and sufferers. We should be______ to those around us. Is an extra cookie such a terrible price to pay for the generosity？”

After I retuned，I heard the shop door open，and footsteps______ the counter. I knew before I looked up that the old woman had______ to ask me for a dozen cookies. I got up slowly，counted out thirteen cookies，and gave them to the old woman，free of ______ . And from that day on，I generously______ my baking and my money，and thirteen was always，for me，a baker’s dozen.

6 . I was a paperboy — well actually, the first papergirl in Seattle. When I was 12, I took my way into a job delivering (投递) The Seattle Times. I remember the boss looking this _______ girl over and telling me I had a week to _______ I could do it.

So after school, I would _______ over to the hut down the street, pick up my bundles, lift them onto the back of my _______ and ride my route. Sunday morning papers were too _______ for me to carry. I tried, and it took me three hours to _______ them as I had to keep coming back to reload. So, my mother volunteered to get up at 5:30 am and drive me around. She _______ herself to my employment.

What I learned as a _______ was to find out where each of my customers wanted their papers. I didn’t just throw them on their lawn (草评)._______ they wanted papers on their porch, or mailbox or inside the gate, that was where they got them. When a ________ went out of town, he would tell me and I would make sure that the papers didn’t ________ up to attract thieves. In return, I got big ________.

Somewhere the paperboys are ________ by modern services. We put our orders into online forms that then tell a service that ________ a guy in a truck to throw the papers onto the lawn.

The people that run and own newspapers have the ________ to deliver news to us in a large number of forms, and we should be able to get it any way we want. We should be able to ________ for the form we want it ________, including how it is distributed. I would ________ pay to have a papergirl or paperboy deliver the ________ on the right day in the right way, and I would tip for that privilege.

Let’s bring back the paperboy and with it ________ employment for our children.

7 . A couple of weeks back, my friend had a yard sale (庭院拍卖会). She _____ to sell some of our stuff for us. I thought it would be a good chance to _____ my 7-year-old son’s room and sell some toys that he no longer used. We agreed that whatever we sold in toys would be his _____.

The night before the sale, we filled the _____ with toys and a little bike that he was now too tall for. He had taken the bike for a final ride _____ we left home but _____ put it on the truck for the sale. This little bike had had at least two _____ owners that we knew of. It was not in the best _____ and it certainly was not shiny new but it was still a bike, and the tires were still good.

We put a price of $ 10 on it but it didn’t _____. So, after the sale was over, my friend put it on the sidewalk with a sign that ______ “FREE BIKE”. Within five minutes her doorbell ______. A little boy was ______ there. His English was not very good but he asked if the bike was really ______. She said yes and told him that he could have it for ______. He smiled, jumped on the bike and ______ away.

Later that evening when I told my son how much money he had ______ at the yard sale, he was very excited. The next day we were going to take the money to the bank. He asked about a few of his things, ______ if they had been sold. When he asked about the bike, I told him about the little boy and that he made a big ______ because he got the bike for free. The smiles on my son’s face were truly ______, much more than when I told him how much he had made. He was so excited to hear that someone else would make good ______ of that little bike.

8 . It was a few days before Christmas many years ago and it looked like it would be a hard one for my family. I lost my job so we didn't have much _______ . My wife and I had saved to buy our young children   some toys , _______ an unexpected car repair took most   of our cash. We decided then that we could only _______ to get one small gift for each of our children.

We arrived at the store and walked past people loading gifts into their cars. I _______ them a bit,because it sure didn't feel like Christmas to me. We hurried into the store past the Salvation Army bell ringer with our heads _______ . I had always enjoyed putting something in his _______ before but wasn't _______ if I could afford this time. We _______ all through the store hoping to find one thing each of our small children would like. _______ , we were able to get them each something sweet. We headed for the ________ ，bought the toys, and were amazed that we even had a few dollars ________ . As we walked out of the store, I stopped and ________ those dollars into the bell ringer's kettle. I didn't have a coin left but that didn't matter. ________ , it felt like Christmas.

I think the wonderful actress, Dale Evans ________ it best when she said,“Christmas is love ________ . Every time we love, every time we ________ ，it's Christmas. ” It doesn't ________ have to be a gift of money either. When we give our time, it's Christmas. When we share our ________ ,it's Christmas. When we give others our ________ and compassion , it's Christmas. When we do ________ at any time to help another, it's Christmas.

9 . When I saw Pamela tonight, she smiled and I smiled back to her. She was looking more _____ than before.

Pamela _____ at the express checkouts (快速结账台) in a busy supermarket. She helps when the selfserve checkout comes across a (n) _____ like no price on products. Usually she has hardly _____ one before another is created.

When I shopped there, _____ there weren’t any problems with the checkout, I called Pamela to the checkout I was _____. My concern was about Pamela. She looked _____ and was under great stress as she _____ moved from one checkout to the next.

I told Pamela that she needed to _____ I told her that it was ______ for her to put herself under such pressure and that we could wait. I ______ her that our expectations as ______ weren’t as severe as the ones she had set for herself. Pamela said she felt ______ because I not only ______ her stress but also talked to her about it. I gently told her things had to ______ I told her I’d be looking out for her in future to see if she’d take my ______.

Well, Pamela has taken it. Tonight, she was still doing her job but there was a ______ . She looked cool and calm. She told me that she shared what I said with her ______ As I walked away from Pamela, I was ______ of myself. Not only have I caused Pamela to think about her stress but also she has ______ her coworkers to do so.

10 . At 14，my life was filled with school，homework，boy scouts（男童子军），friends，and occasional work for local farmers. I was always_____ ，but I didn’t have much direction. Then，something_____ ：a new master was assigned to our scout. Jerry brought excitement and adventure into my life. Every week I _____ something new. He brought_____ into my life and taught me what was the most important.

A few years later，after_____ home from a two-year service mission，I found myself searching for a_____. I was twenty-one and I had no idea what I wanted to do.

On a spring afternoon，I drove to one of my favorite hiking trails and_____ up to a rock. It was there that I prayed for guidance on what _____ I should take in my life and I knew that everything would turn out _____ .

When I arrived home later that evening，there was a(n)______ by the phone with a message for me to call Jerry；it was______ .I immediately dialed the number and was very delighted to hear Jerry’s familiar______ . Wonderful memories of exciting scout camps______ into my mind.

“Do you know computers?”Jerry asked.

“Yes，I’ve______ one before,”I replied.

“Well，I need you to come to work for me in my new______ company,”he stated.“When can you start?”

I knew this was the answer to my prayer. “I can start tomorrow!”I exclaimed.

The next five years of my life passed so______ . Jerry again took me under his wing， but this time he______ me in business. He taught me how to sell，how to market，how to______ people，and how to grow a business from almost nothing to a nationwide______ .

Jerry’s patience and example ______ a foundation of learning and confidence that I needed in the career that I have now been in for twenty years. Jerry is that person in my life.