2 . Rishi Sharma, a young man, is living his life differently. When he was a kid, Sharma was __ by the men who __ World War II. They were lucky to __ bullets (子弹), finally returning home and living a simple life, which interested Sharma very much. Sharma watched many documentaries on WWII and became __ that some of these men were still alive and he could __ them.

One day, Sharma came across the information that Lyle Bouck, a WWII hero, was living quite near his home. __, Sharma looked up the __ and dialed. Soon after, he __ visiting military veterans (退伍军人) in nursing homes.

Since graduation from high school, Sharma has made it his __ to interview as many WWII veterans as he can. Because many of them are in their 80s and 90s, Sharma __ that he has just around 10 years before the veterans of the so-called greatest generation are gone. Therefore, he’s __ everything else in his life — college, dating and hunting a job — to __ himself to this cause.

For each veteran __, Sharma creates a DVD of their stories. These men are known for their stoicism (淡泊) and the __ to discuss what happened during the war. __, with frequent contact with the veterans, they’re finally __ to share their stories.

Sharma tried to meet at least one WWII veteran every day until the last of them __. In May 2016, Sharma founded Heroes of the Second World War, a non-profit organization aiming to __ the stories of WWII veterans. He also launched a GoFundMe page which has __ in more than $186,000 up to now. Sharma uses that money to pay for his travel and __ equipment. He hopes to collect as many stories as he can — for their sakes, and for ours.

3 . Ecology is a complicated thing. Given the facts that elephant damage often kills trees and bush fires often kill trees, it would be________to assume that a combination of the two would make things worse. Contrary to this assumption, ________, as the recently-published research by Benjamin Wigley shows, if a tree has already been damaged, fire can________help to make things better.

One common way in which elephants harm trees is by stripping(剥) them of their bark(树皮). Dr Wigley, who did indeed start from the obvious________, set off to find out how much worse bush fires would make the effects of this bark stripping. To serve this purpose, he set up a study in the Kruger National Park. Since 1954, the Kruger has been the site of experiments in which plots of land have been burned________, to understand the effects of fire on plain ecology. In these experiments, Dr Wigley looked at trees in three different zones, in one of which, the trees were burned every year; in the second, they were burned every other year, while the third zone, by contrast, was actively________fire. To keep things consistent, he looked at the fate of the same tree species, the marula(马鲁拉树), in all three zones. He picked marulas because they are particular________of elephant activity. Their fruit are delicious, and prized by elephants and people alike. But elephants also seem to enjoy eating their bark. In July 2016 he and his colleagues identified 20 marulas in every zone and used special tools to________from each of them a circular section of bark 5 cm in diameter. Having imposed this damage, they________the wounds over the course of the following two years, to see what would happen. To their________, they discovered that the wounds of trees in fire zones recovered far better than those of trees that had seen no fires at all. Wounded trees in the annual burn zone re-grew 98% of their lost________during the two years of the study. Those living in the biennial(两年一次的) burn zone re-grew 92% of it. But those in the zone where fires were________re-grew only 72%.

The researchers also found something else when they were measuring the trees’ wounds: ants. Ten of the 20 trees in the fire-prevention zone developed ant colonies in their wounds. The ants in question were a species that is known to damage trees and is supposed to________tissue healing. By contrast, only five trees in the biennial burn zone and three in the annual zone developed ants’ nests in their wounds. It looks, therefore, as if bush fires are treating trees’ wounds by killing ants that might________colonize and damage them. Though such fires are surely harmful to healthy trees, it seems, in an example of two negatives making a positive, as if they are actually________to sick ones.

4 . In the Fake News Era, Building Trust with Consumers Is Crucial

With consumers growing increasingly frustrated with online advertising and privacy concerns, how to you convince shoppers to buy your narrative（叙述）, let alone your product?

A recent report by Trust-Radius, a software review company that connects buyers and vendors（供应商）, may be able to shed some light. Among other interesting findings, it turns out that it may actually benefit brands to be painfully _____ about their products.

Consumer awareness of influencer marketing tactics（策略）is increasing. _____   according to the report, most consumers trust online peer _____ as much as recommendations from friends -- and well above company advertising message. Feedback from everyday folks, it seems, actually carries more _____ than a brand ambassador （大使）from an out-of-reach personality.

Transparency（透明度）is crucial. The report found that there is a large trust _____ between vendors and buyers. While vendors believe they are transparent, most buyers don’t appear to see it. During the sales process, for example, 85 percent of vendors -- _____ to be open about their product’s limitations during the sales process -- but   only 36 percent of buyers share that same view. The reality is, consumers don’t expect any products to be _____ -- they just want to enter relationships with their eyes wide open so that they can _____ the options that are best for   them. They also want brands to be more _____. 66 percent of consumers say they will leave a company if they feel they are being treated like a number and not an individual.

Along with the combination of take news, advertising fraud, and data leaks, there have been fake reviews as well. Review sites have been _____ giving preferential（优惠的）treatment to paid advertisers, and consumers are increasingly discerning（有辨别力的）, as a result. _____, review sites are not our only source of peer reviews, with social media providing customer experiences on a second - to - second basis. When brands treat every _____ with a customer as a potential review, they’ll start paying more attention to detail, and being alert to delivering a valued and memorable experience every time. Taking feedback seriously also lets current customers feel valued and respected and makes your business seem more approachable. This helps secure _____, and often, these customers   will become brand ambassadors to their friends, family and people they meet online.

The challenge for brands today is determining how to use the _____ of the consumer to their advantage. In an age of cutting - edge technology, artificial intelligence, and self-service customer care, it’s odd to acknowledge that the best way to build trust with your customers is by holding an open _____ with your customers. Being more human, transparent, and listening to what people are saying will see your company thrive in an era marked by consumer suspicion.

5 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n) ___ way as a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive, and can exist in both large and small groups.

People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly ___that some part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct explains why the approval of peers, and the fear of ____, is such a powerful force in many people's lives. This instinct drives people to dress one way at home and another way at work, or to answer a simple “fine" when a stranger asks "how are you?" even if it is not necessarily true. There is a(n) _____aspect to this: it helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that ___day-to-day interaction between people.

For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n) ___: in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to ___their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that ____criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel ___ to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can't afford in an effort to ___ the peers.

However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at ___may be urged to work harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of ___can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one.

Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so ___that a person may not even notice that it is affecting his or her behavior. For this reason, when making important decisions, simply going with a(n) ___is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action, and whether the real ____ is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing.

6 . I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes(糖尿病) in 2017. And then I was told that I couldn’t ___for a few weeks until my blood sugar levels had _______.

Driving was a _______very soon after diagnosis for me. I needed to get to the chemist’s shop for my diabetes _______and to hospital appointments, but initially couldn’t ---- having been told not to drive. I didn’t want to be a ______ -----having to ask for lifts all the time.

I found it really ______ to be unable to drive, but things settled down after that and seemed to be_______ -----for a while.______, to my surprise, I had a severe hypoglycemia(低血糖) last year and wasn’t able to _______it myself. I called an ambulance and was taken to ______, where I saw doctors and nurses I didn’t ______as none of them were connected to the diabetes team who usually cared for me. That’s where my _______began----- they advised me not to drive on the basis of this ______. They told me to call the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency(DVLA) and _______what they’d told me to them. This _______my license being withdrawn.

I couldn’t ______ all that had happened---- it seemed ______. I needed answers and ______, so I phoned the Diabetes UK Helpline number I got from their website. They ______ I was right in thinking that the DVLA shouldn’t have ______ my license based on this hypoglycemia, according to the law. With their help, the DVLA sent me a letter admitting making a mistake. I got it back in six weeks.

7 . It wasn’t that I was embarrassed my husband was out of work. It’s just that we were ________ people and didn’t share our ________ much with others. So when he lost his job, we just acted like nothing had changed and no one seemed to ________.

It didn’t take long before my friends found out that my husband ________ a lot more. When asked about it, I told my good friend and neighbour Tammy the ________ and I said we were still looking. She then told me that her husband had also been hunting for ________ all over town because his company was closing down. I was ________. We constantly did things together, yet I hadn’t found any sign of their ________.

After knowing what they were ________, I wanted to help them even though we didn’t have much ourselves. So, I became a ________ shopper. I looked for discount offers everywhere, and when I finished my ________, I would offer to buy things for Tammy at the ________ price. It seems like our money goes even further because we are willing to ________.

It goes the other way too. Tammy and her husband have given us enough wood to ________ our house this winter. It has been a huge ________, reducing our gas bill to almost nothing. There are other ________ of helping each other. I teach Tammy how to make bread; she ________ my kids when I go to job interviews... and the ________ goes on.

I don’t have much to give, but I can give of myself. I can have ________, love and hope, and the more I give these away, the more I ________.