1 . Years ago, I was part of a pilot group (试点小组) for my employer tasked with figuring out how to hire and mentor (指导) people with disabilities and make them successful inside the organization. My boss decided to be the sponsor for the _______. Until then, we only had _______ people with a visual disability.

I _______ the interview process and hired a(n) _______ with an autism (自闭症) disability. The man named Roy had the _______ but our interview group felt that the disability would prevent him from learning the skills and being successful.

I convinced my peers to give him a _______. After all, it was a pilot program meant for our organization to learn to. Our HR department was not too supportive to take some _______ so we could only hire him as a _______ employee.

I gave him a lot of _______ and became one of his mentors. ________ but surely, Roy made progress in the workplace. I ________ to mentor him closely and helped him to ________ a number of challenges. Roy also won friendship and ________ at the workplace.

Last night, Roy ________ me to let me know that he got a formal offer from his manager as a regular employee with a job title. I told him his success was the ________ of his hard work and persistence. He was an inspiration to a lot of people.

3 . My work could be done at home, so I don’t need to go to ______ . Before I pick my children up from school in the evening, I’m ______ at home. For many years, my only companion (同伴) was our dog, Sno, who always ______ me wherever I go.

Sno and I didn’t agree on everything. However, we both agreed on ______ because we do not like to be bored. At least once a week, we took a long walk to the beach. For him, there were large areas of tall grass and exciting smells. For me, walking ______ the mind as well as the body.

Watching wildlife, exploring new paths, seeing other people with their ______ , and so on, are good for both you and your dog.

As a dog with short legs, Sno needed several ______ along the way. The one at the entrance to the beach was his ______ , possibly because there were beautiful sea view. I am the center of my dog’s world and he needs my attention. What better way to spend quality time with the dog than taking a walk?

When he was old and dying, our walks were ______ . In his final days, Sno still ______ walking. It took twice as long to take even the shortest walk, but we ______ every step. I don’t know if dogs can cry, but if they can, that will make two of us in ______ at the entrance to the beach.

After he died, I went for a long walk. I felt like part of me was ______ . I kept looking down as if he were there beside me and enjoyed the sun and fresh air. When I came to the place where we ______ for the beach, I chose the other way.

Later, I may be walking by myself, but I’m never alone. Personally, I’m ______ to earn the love of an old dog.

4 . Dean Moberg works at SeaWorld, which rescues more birds than any other type of animal. The hardest part of Dean’s _______ is when he finds birds that were hurt _______. Sometimes Dean finds sandhill cranes (沙丘鹤) that have been shot by arrows (箭) or hit by golf balls. Most of the time, the cranes that Dean _______ have been injured by chance. One way that they can get hurt is by looking inside rubbish for food.

When people see a crane that _______ help, they know to call SeaWorld. Dean and his team will drive hours to _______the bird.

Usually, sandhill crane adults are found in pairs. The mother crane and the father crane work _______ to raise their babies. Dean knows how _______ the cranes are when they are separated, but if one of them is hurt, it must go back to SeaWorld for _______.

Dean writes down exactly where he _______ each crane. When the cranes are ________, he takes them back to the same place. He lets them go and they are able to find their ________ again.

Saving sandhill cranes with serious injuries isn’t ________! Inventive, specially designed lift and support tools allow injured cranes to eat and rest while keeping weight off their ________ legs.

It takes a great deal of patience, determination, and love for these special birds to fully ________. Luckily, that’s something they find with Dean and the other ________ members of his team.

7 . A popular pub named Swan Dive in Toronto posted the information that it was struggling to pay the rent during the pandemic(疫情). Unexpectedly, customers_________all its stock(存货)to help out recently. Abra Shiner, the owner, was trying to make her pub_________the lockdown(封闭)by operating as a bottle shop, but it became very_________that the costs of trying to run that way were too high. She decided to be honest about her_________on social media.

“We were running out of our_________and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pay the rent at the end of the month.” Shiner said on the Internet. “_________, I wrote on the Internet asking people to come to buy the beer we had in our stockroom... and it_________.” It turned asking Shiner’s_________on social media soon had over 20,000 views, and that people from all over the Brockton Village neighborhood were showing up to_________their beloved bar. “To our surprise, it just seemed that people started coming out__________, including some people we hadn’t__________for years. ”Shiner said.

Within a few days, the beer went out of stock.__________with a government rent subsidy(补贴), the money the community added to the pub’s float(备用零钱)reached a new level. It will__________this much-loved pub for a period of time so that the pub can safely__________its door once again. “You guys are pretty__________.” Shiner posted to Swan Dive’s online fans.

9 . My Chinese speaking experience

It’s one thing to learn a language, but it’s quite another when you finally get to use it.

On the _________from Venice to Paris, a group of girls sat around me. I realized that they were speaking Chinese, but at first I didn’t feel _________starting a conversation with the strangers next to me. If it didn’t _________well, I’d be stuck next to them for the rest of the flight.

As the food cart began to make its way down the aisle (过道)towards us, I finally found my _________. I _________to the girl to my left and asked, “Will you be having lunch?” in Chinese. She _________ her head and asked me in English, “You speak Chinese?” I _________ again in Chinese, “A little bit.” She nodded again and then returned to her magazine, _________ my effort to communicate with her.

Another time, at a dinner I sat next to a man who I knew spoke Chinese. I told him that I was learning Chinese, but could only _________ a little. When __________ me use the language, he suddenly began to speak __________ in Chinese. I didn’t catch him at all. I felt somewhat __________. I never __________ the chance to continue because the conversation returned to __________ as other people speaking English joined the table.

All in all, my experience has __________ me that I still have a long way to go in using Chinese.

10 . As is customary in many cultures around the world, when a Japanese couple _________ a baby into the world, relatives come to visit the family and _________. However, because of the pandemic and social distancing rules, that hasn’t been _________ lately. Dakigokochi—rice babies _________ in Japan have been around since the early 2000s，but their popularity has _________ once again because of COVID-19. With relatives unable to _________ , baby-shaped rice bags have become a much-needed way of _________ the joy of having a baby with _________ ones. Rice babies are bags of rice that weigh _________ as much as the babies they are replacing, and that have photos of the __________ printed on them. They are __________ to relatives so they can hug the “new human” while looking at a picture of the baby’s face.

Naruo Ono, the owner of a rice shop, __________ the idea for rice babies 14 years ago when his own son was born and he was thinking about what he could do for relatives who lived far away and couldn’t come and see him. He decided to make rice bags that were the same shape and weight as the baby, and __________ a picture of him on it, so the relatives could see and feel him.

One day, someone saw Naruo’s rice baby in the window of his shop and commented on how interesting it was. That’s when he __________ that there might be a __________ for his cute rice bags. He started making them for customers and has since been shipping them all over Japan.