2 . Over the last few weeks, I have been back and forth to the hospital and working with my doctors and medical technicians. I feel very _________ and appreciative of all the great minds and effort involved in _________ my illness. I found I have become _________ grateful to those human beings who invented the many medical _________ that have saved so many lives and _________ so much pain.

With everything I _________, I couldn’t help thinking about many life-changing _________ that we humans have come up with, from the fairly simple stethoscope (听诊器) to more _________ inventions like X-rays, and other great devices. Of course, one of the biggest, most basic inventions was the _________. It changed the world in all kinds of ways. Without wheels, we’d have no __________, such as bikes, cars, trains, or airplanes.

__________many inventions human beings have invented through the ages, I __________ some very popular inventions. It is __________ to imagine what if we live without them. These __________ things like tape, nails, Post-it notes, DNA testing, the Internet, vaccines, and medical imaging.

Some inventions were accidental __________ but many were matter of simply trying to solve a problem. If we pay attention to what we experience and really put our __________ to it, there is no reason why we couldn’t come up with some new inventions ourselves. Maybe make a list of __________ items, systems, and habits we all have, and then go up and down the list and see if we can put two or three items together in a way to come up with a new __________ or better way to handle life and the __________ in it. Give it a try and see what we can come up with, We could __________ ourselves, and others as well!

3 . My brother Joe liked driving cars. He was especially _________speed. It was enough to make mother _________.

As a little boy, Joe would often say to me. “Sister, when I am old enough to drive my own car, I will fly so fast that angels will run scared.” With a big grin (咧嘴笑), he would _________ the scene. I could have told him it would _________ happen. But I didn’t tell him that.

Joe was born blind. But he could _________ like anyone. I didn’t want to be the one to _________ Joe’s dreams._________ would do that for him, soon enough. Up to then, didn’t he _________ his happiness？

Growing up is a _________ between disappointment and surprise, between dreams and reality. When Joe was 12, I think he knew he would never get a license (驾照). As with the other hard facts of life, he seemed to accept it without question or sadness, as if it were __________ more than a card drawn at random (随机地).

One hot summer day when he was 16, Joe, with the help of stick, found his way to my stepfather’s car.

He felt the heat of the __________, opened the door and climbed in. Under the seat, he discovered 6 cans of beer. And he drank all. He found the keys, shouted, “Hooweeee!” and __________ it up.

I have heard various versions (版本) of this story. They all __________ this: the car’s engine __________. My mother fainted. My stepfather rushed outside.

__________, for everyone, the Ford didn’t move an inch. But to this day, Joe still swears (发誓) that when he found those keys and fired that old engine up, he heard the angels.

4 . The Healing Power of Sad Songs

Feeling down after a breakup or loss？Slide on your headphones and turn up some sad tunes. Experts say listening to sad songs can help to heal your broken heart. It's no surprise that some of the biggest songs of 2019 were about heartbreak. No post-breakup playlist seemed _________ without Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved." And we can't forget Selena Gomez's "Lose You to Love Me." Yes，almost everybody loves a good breakup song. But what is it exactly about these sad songs that makes us grab a box of _________ and hit repeat, especially when we're already feeling down？

While there's plenty of advice out there about how to move on from a difficult breakup or any other kind of loss, playing sad songs may seem like an unlikely _________. But there's something about listening to blue music that eases heartache. In fact, it s been scientifically proven that music itself can have _________ effects.

In one study, participants submerged their hands in ice-cold water. One group listened to their favorite music during the experiment, while another group listened to music chosen for them, and another group sat _________ . The results？Those who listened to their preferred music were able to cope with the pain for a longer amount of time. In another study, functional MRI(磁共振成像)scans of people listening to songs they enjoyed _________ increases in dopamine, one of the chemical messengers in our brains responsible for pleasure.

Researchers say there are four cognitive benefits to what they call "music-evoked sadness." The first is the _________ . Music allows people to daydream and remember happier times in their lives or relationships. The second advantage is emotional regulation. That is，it’s much healthier to express anger and frustration by shouting along with Lizzo or crying along with Sam Smith than it is to _________ your feelings up inside or take them out on someone else. The third benefit is empathy or the emotion that allows people to _________ to one another. While breakups inevitably result in feelings of loneliness，sad songs are a reminder that they can happen to anyone--yes，even Taylor Swift！Heartache is __________ , and music helps to reassure us that we're all going through it together. Lastly, sad music benefits listeners __________ there are no real-life consequences of letting your thoughts and imagination run away with a song. While the song plays, listeners can grieve and process their feelings.

Experts note, however, that it's essential to keep in mind that listening to only sad music for an extended time period can actually begin to __________ these benefits. A person might be lost in grief when it's time to move on. __________ , there are plenty of breakup songs that act as uplifting songs of independence, too. And listening to happy tunes can help people feel more cheerful over time. So when the pain starts to ease up a little --and it will-- try __________ that sad song playlist and turning up the tempo(乐曲速度)instead.

Researchers know that ultimately, breakups and other kinds of heartbreak only make us stronger. Sad songs serve as a __________ for feeling our emotions instead of avoiding them, allowing us to process the memories (both painful and joyful)and move forward to the next chapter of our lives, whatever that may hold.

6 . All eyes were on me as the other moms quieted down. Someone had just asked, “Are you going to _________ us?”

“Yeah, you should dance with us,“ another_________ .I was waiting for my daughter's dance class to finish while the other moms got_________ for their adult dance class.

"No," I said. I'd_________ these moms from the sidelines through the years. However, I didn't have a dancer's body.

But my husband said to me, "You’ll never know if you don^’t try." So I_________ for ballet. At my first class, I was the_________ woman in the room. What did the others think of me?

The instructor started us with basic, simple steps. _________ nobody made comments about my size and till the end of the class, I realized I had_________ the night. So I kept going each week.

The instructor moved on to more_________ steps. My muscles were painful, but I__________ it. The steps continued to be harder, but I__________ at home with my daughter. Later, I realized something __________ My legs weren^’t painful anymore.

I saw a(n) __________ in the way I carried myself too. I was stronger. My muscles weren't the only part of me that had been__________. " I don't care what others think when I'm dancing," I told my husband with my new__________. "Anyway, I've learned ballet!"

7 . When I woke up last week, I looked out of the window and saw nothing but white snow. It wasn't a _________ ； for days the weathermen had been _________ the winter storm. In the past years I had shoveled（铲）snow without too much _________ , but this year the task seemed challenging as I had just had back surgery（外科手术）.

But when I looked out of the _________ again, I was surprised to see my young neighbor Gray clearing my walkways. I couldn't _________ it. I knew my neighbors well, but we didn't often socialize. I fixed a cup of coffee and took it to the back door. When I opened the door, Gray _________ his work and accepted the hot cup gratefully. Clearing snow actually wasn't a（n） _________ job because on the top of the snow was a solid sheet of ice, making the walkways and streets not _________ to walk on. However, that didn't stop Gray； he worked hard until the job was finished. I _________ to thank him, but he said it was nothing and drove to his office. His wife Cathy also left for her job.

What could I do to repay his __________ ? I decided to make a big pot of soup. Cathy would not have to prepare the meal when she came home from __________ on such a cold day.

But the street was still __________ ， and I couldn't deliver the soup to them safely. So when I saw Cathy come home, I __________ and told her I had some soup for them. When she came over to __________ the soup, she seemed as grateful as I felt when I saw her husband shoveling snow off my walkways.

Now I am constantly looking for ways of __________ others. Gray had started a chain reaction in my soul. By helping me out without being asked, he sparked（激发）a similar feeling within me.

9 . I was driving into my little town in Newlands when I blew a tyre. Fortunately almost outside our local garage, unfortunately after 5pm it was _______.

There was a young couple sitting in the open door of their _______ in the garage’s car park, with the hood (折叠式车篷) up, looking a bit _______. I knew I had a spare tyre in the _______ of my car but no tools, and I’m pretty unconfident with the old tyre _______ anyway. So I was sort of _______ wondering what to do next when the guy _______ next to me and asked if I _______ a hand with the tyre.

I was so grateful, and he _______ out some basic tools quickly and got things started. It turned out that they were on a tour around the country and their truck had just ________ from something expensive and slow to fix. Thus, they were forced to ________ in the car park of the garage that night.

Well, he fixed my wheel up lovely and I took them both home to my cottage, to a homemade ________ and apple cakes and a cosy little spare room, and ________ them back into town the next day.

What was a pain in the trouble for all of us ________ into a fun night of laughter and good food and nice company because they generously offered a ________ hand to a lady meeting with difficulties.