2 . Three years after getting lost in an unexpected snowstorm in Sheffield, a cat named Oscar has been reunited with his family.

After Oscar’s _______ in January 2020, his owner Katie Salt checked CCTV (监控) put posters up around the area and _______ the word on social media. They also reported him _______ to Petlog with whom he is microchipped, and contacted various shelters and vets in vain. In a press _______ from the Kennel Club, Katie said, “We _______ concluded he must have died during the snowstorm, but we still scanned our _______ everywhere, whenever we were out driving, and to be honest this never _______ .”

Three years later, Katie received a _______ from a vet to say that they had Oscar—he had been living in a garden just six miles away! The garden’s _______ had been looking after Oscar and when Oscar was ill, this kind man, who possessed the garden, took him to a vet for ________ , where they found a microchip and were able to finally ________ Katie. Now ________ , he has been enjoying warm cuddles with his long lost family.

Bill Lambert, a spokesperson for Petlog, said, “We’re so ________ that Oscar and Katie have been reunited. Their story shows just how important it is for owners to ________ their pets, keep their contact details up-to-date with their microchip database, and to ________ hope no matter how much time has passed.”

4 . Becky Turney lost her 19-year-old son two years ago. Turney _______ her son terribly and wanted to make him part of her big day. She _______ photos of her late son in her wedding party and left a chair _______ where he would have sat had he been alive.

Turney didn’t _______ that her husband had flown in a special _______, Jacob Kilby, for their big day, and had not told her until moments before she walked down the aisle (过道) to start her new life with him.

When Turney’s son, Triston, _______ at 19, he donated his _______ to save the lives of other people in need. One of the people he _______ was a young man named Jacob Kilby, who _______ his heart.

After Triston’s heart was donated to Kilby, Turney and Kilby exchanged __________ online but had never met __________ until Turney’s big day. Turney’s husband had __________ flown Kilby out to Alaska to stand in as a groomsman (伴郎), but Turney had already reserved a __________ for her son.

However, when Turney arrived at the aisle, her husband stopped the __________ to introduce Kilby to her and tell her why he was there. Turney was __________ that her husband had done something so __________ and said she responded like a little girl __________ up and down.

Turney’s husband __________ that hiding Kilby from his wife took some effort until he introduced him as a groomsman. He joked there was no __________ eye in the room and that he got __________ for ruining people’s make-up.

5 . Even with the heated water splashing on my shoulders, a chill (寒意) still ran through me. My son was swimming _______ along the bottom of the pool. He surfaced and said, “I’ll show you how to swim underwater.”Usually I was a(n) _______ student, but not this time.

I just couldn’t trust my body to _______.My anxious mind would not let go. Over the years, I had learned not to sink, but I had never found the _______ of swimming that came easily to my friends. Self-doubt hardened into a _______:I couldn’t swim underwater.

But my son George wouldn’t _______ this. “Can you try?” His waiting face was open with possibility. I thought of the_______ things we had asked of him. The days I left him at preschool, he wept bitterly as I _______.The times he bared his arm for shots from the doctor. Earlier times in pools when he, too, _______ deep water.

I couldn’t say no. “Try to swim to me. It’s not very far.” he said, ________ above the water.His voice,calm and encouraging,   ________ me. “When I count to three, you start, OK?” I didn’t move. “Let’s try again,” he said in his teacher voice. “One, two, three!”

After more false starts, I knew I must ________.I sucked in air, squeezed my eyes shut, and aimed like a torpedo (鱼雷) into the dark. I traveled ________ in this liquid world, just pushing forward. I ________ my breath until I couldn’t anymore. I burst up into cool air. “I did it!” I said, tears of ________ streaming down my smiling face.George smiled too. “Now,” he continued, “try to go a little farther.”

I swam farther.I swam.

6 . Nicole Graham from Melbourne, Australia owns 10 horses. One afternoon, she and her _________ Paris went for a horse ride when the animals suddenly got _________ in mud. Nicole somehow managed to _________ her daughter’s horse, while the other one, Astro, who weighs around 900 pounds, couldn’t get out of the mud.

_________, as she was struggling to help the poor animal, he got stuck even further. All Nicole could do at that point was to stay by Astro’s side to comfort him and made sure that she kept him _________ until help arrived. She stuck to staying by the 17-year-old horse’s side for over three hours. _________, fire fighters arrived and she felt much _________. In order to bring the big animal to _________, they gave him some sedatives (镇静剂) so that they could attach a harness (马具) to him for a car to _________ the horse from the mud. Luckily, the rescue was __________.

Speaking of the __________, Nicole said to a reporter, “It was terrifying. It was also __________ to see my horse struggling. I’ve been riding here for 20 years and never seen any __________ on the road showing the dangers and didn’t realize it was so muddy.

Stacey Sullivan, the vet who __________ Astro, praised Nicole and said, “A lot of horses don’t make it and I think without the __________ the chance of the horse’s survival would have been a lot lower.”

7 . In the late 19th century, there was a poor farmer in Scotland named Fleming. He was ________ and always ready to help others. One day when he was ________ in the field, he suddenly heard a cry for help in the wetland nearby. It ________ that a boy was trapped in the wetland. Seeing the mud up to his ________, Fleming immediately jumped into the wetland and ________ to save the boy. The next day, a brand-new ________ from a distant place stopped at the farmer’s door. An elegant gentleman got off the carriage and ________himself as the boy’s father. The gentleman brought the farmer many precious gifts ________saving his son, but the farmer refused. He ________ that saving others was what he should do. It ________ that the gentleman saw the farmer’s son playing in a dirty suit. He thought about it and said to the ________, “In this case, I have a ________. You saved my son’s life and I want him to ________ the best education in Britain.”The farmer agreed ________. Later, the farmer’s son graduated from St. Mary’s Medical School in England and became the ________ Sir Fleming Alexander. He is the inventor of penicillin (青霉素), which has saved ________ lives. Years later, the gentleman’s son caught pneumonia. What saved his life? Penicillin. Who was the gentleman’s son? Churchill, the prime minister of Britain during World War II.

This story tells us that the simple and kind Scottish farmer’s ________ in saving others without ________ any return, brought his own child a good opportunity. And because of his child’s achievement, he ________ the gentleman’s child, who became British prime minister of World War II. The kindness of an ordinary farmer ________ changed the whole world.

8 . Believe it or not, I hate birthdays. First of all you keep getting ________, and second you always get presents you can’t ________. If I could just have a nice chocolate cake all to myself, I’d be very happy. But no! I have received more ties, pajamas, umbrellas, and gloves than you can imagine. I keep all my unwanted gifts piled neatly in a corner of my closet. If I need one of the items, I draw from my stock, but that is a ________ occurrence. The result is that my pile is quite large.

One day, my Aunt Gloria called me.

“Hello, Shelley,” she said. “We’re having a surprise birthday party for Cousin Stove. Will you be able to come on Thursday the 29th at 2p.m.?”

“One minute, while I look at my ________,” I said.

“Too ________,” I thought to myself. “I’m free. I guess I’ll have to go.”

To Aunt Gloria, I said, “Yes, that day looks O.K. to me. I’ll be there. Should I bring anything for the party?”

“No,” answered Aunt Gloria, “just bring yourself.”

The morning for the party arrived. After some thought, I ________ that it would be proper to bring my ________ a little gift. I thought it would please her. I had a good stock of gifts in my ________, so I could simply rewrap one and offer it to her. It was getting late by the time I got around to wrapping it. So I ________ the first box I saw and wrapped it in a hurry.

My ________ were all-there when I arrived. They were glad to see me, and if the occasion hadn’t been a birthday party, I guess I would have been glad to see them. Uncle Joe told me I had ________. “You look wonderful,” he said.

I plowed my way through the crowd to Aunt Gloria. “Here,” I said cheerfully, ________ my gift. “A little something for you.”

“Oh, that’s very kind of you,” said my aunt. She began to ________ the gift. “I wonder what it could be,” she murmured. Then she began to read a ________ that was enclosed, which I didn’t remember having put in.

“Dear Shelley,” she read, “hope you enjoy these ________. They’ll keep your fingers warm in the winter. Love, Aunt Gloria.”

9 . Experts worry that teen texting is out of control. Instead of _________, Kenny, 16, often _________ with his friends through the night. “You get a(n) _________,” explains the teen, who lives in Texas. “When I get a text, I’m itching (渴望) to _________ it even if I want to sleep.”

Garcia, a high school senior from Grand Kennedy, has also felt the need to stay constantly _________. We asked how many texts she sent and received each day. “I don’t know… maybe 1,000?” she answered. “It’s too many to _________.”

Dr. Dowdell, at Villanova University, says that many people expect to be able to _________ anyone at any time. “It’s very _________, especially to a high school student. But it reduces the time that could be spent studying, exercising, or just relaxing. Another _________ is, there’s no downtime.” And people need to __________—especially when we have so much to do.

So we decided to have Kenny and Garcia do an experiment. These were the __________: No phone for 48 hours. No computer or Internet either.

“Wow, it was completely __________,” Kenny joked. Though he was sad and missed his friends at times, he __________ “it had benefits.” __________ texting, he went to the gym and caught up on schoolwork. Garcia had an even more __________ result. “I loved it!” she said, “I was hanging out with friends and slept better too.”

10 . Back in high school, I loved nothing more than going bowling. From freshman to junior year, starting and leading my school’s bowling club helped me come out of my ________. As time went on, our team began winning local and even ________ tournaments. These victories not only ________ my popularity but also allowed me to form meaningful connections. Man, life was great back then.

Still the bowling memory that really stuck out to me was ________ I met Leroy. I was already a junior by then, and he was still a young freshman. The strange thing about it, ________, was how he would always ________ in the back, watching others play. ________ his regular presence, he seemed too nervous and shy to play or even talk with others.

Then one evening something remarkable happened. During a game, I ________ Leroy actually picking up a bowling ball for the first time. He ________ to lift the lightest ball up, and with each throw, the ball ________ in the gutter lane (边沟), resulting in straight zeroes across the board.

That’s, when I finally went over to say hi to Leroy. ________ to see me, Leroy nervously cracked a smile and murmured with ________, “I just can’t manage the ball...” Reassuringly, I responded, “It’s no big ________. Everyone was a green hand once.” My words seemed to ________ his tension, and in the following hours, he ________ as I taught him how to bowl step by step. From his words, I realized how ________ he had desired to join the bowling club and how lonely he felt without friends.

That was the beginning of our friendship. Since that night, playing together and sharing our life stories has become our weekly ________. I was delighted to see Leroy’s significant progress through ________ efforts. He was a fast learner and soon ________ a spot on the team. What’s more, Leroy gained confidence to try new things. It was through practising bowling that his brand new life journey ________. As bowling enthusiasts, we’ll always cherish the sincere friendship and get the ball rolling forever.