1 . "Everything happens for the best, "my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you carry on, one day something good will happen. And you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for that _________ disappointment.

Mother was _________. As I discovered after graduating from college in 1932, I had decided to hunt for a job in _________, then work my way up to sports announcer. I went to Chicago and _________ on the door of every station--but got _________ every time. In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't _________ hiring a(n) _________ person. "Go out in the suburbs and find a _________ station that'll give you a chance, "she said. I turned to Dixon. Illinois.

While there were no radios announcing jobs in Dixon, they had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to _________ its sports department. The job __________ just right for me. But I wasn't hired. My __________ must have shown. "Everything happens for the best, " my mother reminded me. Dad offered me the car to __________ job. As I left his office, my frustration __________. I asked aloud, "How can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?" I was __________ the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling, " What do you say about sports? Do you know anything about __________ ?"Then he let me stand before a __________ and asked me to broadcast a(n) __________ game. I did a 15-minute football occasional commentary（实况报道）, and Peter told me I would be __________ Saturday's game! On my way home, as I have many times, I __________ my mother's words: If you carry on, one day something good will happen.

I often wonder what __________ my life might have taken if I'd not gotten the job at Montgomery Ward.

2 . When Deborah hiked cycling to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York last November, she _________ a female mute swan near the water’s edge. Deborah, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehab (康复) center, knew that mute swans can be aggressive. But as she _________ this one, it didn’t move.

She was certain that the bird needed _________ attention. Deborah covered her jacket over the bird’s head, _________ picked it up, and cradled it in her arms. And then a thought _________ her: What should I do now?

Her best choice was the rehab center, _________ that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to _________ a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some confused strangers driving by offered them a(n) _________ to a nearby subway station.

On the subway, no one seemed particularly disturbed by the _________ passenger. “One guy,” says Deborah, “was sitting right in front of me on his __________. I don’t know if he noticed the swan before him when talking with the person on the other end.”

Deborah called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higginbotham, an animal-care manager, __________ her up at the subway station and drove the bird, the bike, and the __________ to the center. There, staff members determined the swan might have lead (铅) poisoning, caused by __________ weights on fishing lines.

The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet (蹼足). The swan even made a __________ at the center—another injured swan. __________, even with all that TLC (tender loving care), the swan had a bacterial infection. Two months __________ Deborah came to her rescue, she passed away early this January.

It’s a(n) __________ ending, but the real story is just __________ some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city—literally. In all, Deborah traveled two hours by foot, __________, and subway (while hauling her bike). Higginbotham says, “That’s the perfect __________ of who she is.”

4 . “What’s the story of your piano?” a friend asked over dinner. My piano just _________ in the corner of my living room. “It has a story?” I doubted.

“All pianos have stories,” she replied. Suddenly my piano’s story came _________ out of me as if I’d always had this tale to tell.

I’ve loved _________ since childhood. I started with the recorder and moved on to the violin and guitar. Playing the piano had always been my _________ which my family couldn’t afford. I grew up in a poor immigrant family in Toronto. My father _________ tables in a restaurant and my mother worked in a laundry. Though our childhood was _________, my brothers and I were always fed with     _________. I can’t remember which birthday it was when my mother _________ some money to buy me a doll. By then I’d outgrown wanting dolls but she worked too hard to know that and I never told her. I _________ accepted it.

So it was finally with my ____________. It was in my last year of high school. I took piano lessons for about a year before university forced me to ____________. I had to make a decision: to pursue（追求） a more ____________ goal of medical school or my love for music. The realist in me ____________ and I had to give up piano lessons ____________ as with my doll it was too late to learn to play the way I wanted. I ____________ the piano around with me over the next decade until my son was born. He showed an early ____________ in music so I put him in piano lessons. I played that piano through my son although guitar ____________ became his choice.

I gradually realized that I’d let all my pleasures ____________ for my job. I figured I’d get back to playing the piano when I retire. Maybe it’s time to get that piano tuned again before it’s too late to     ____________. Maybe that’s something we should do right now.

Sometimes a ____________ question can open a path of thinking and discovery. So what’s the story of your piano?

5 . It was a cool October evening. Excitement and family members _______the hall. I was only a 7-year-old girl, but I was the center of _______. Finally, after weeks of preparation, I would _______all my hard work in a dance of performance. “Everything would be_______”, I thought. I waited backstage all _______ in my black tights with a golden belt. In a loud and clear voice, the master of ceremonies _______that my class was next.

My dance class was doing a routine on wooden boxes two feet by two feet, facing the _______. All I had to do in the next move was put one foot on the box next to mine and keep my other foot on my box. It really was an _______ move. I was concentrating so much _______the huge smile on my face and holding my head up that I did not look________I was going. I missed my partner’s box altogether and ________. There I was standing on the stage floor when my classmates were on top of their boxes. I could hear giggles coming from the audience, and I felt the ________rush to my face. I remembered my dance teacher had told us, “If you make a mistake, keep smiling so the audience will not ________.” I did my best to follow her ________ as I continued with the routine.

When the curtain dropped, so did my ________for the evening. I ________bitterly, tasting the salt from the tears that streamed down my face. I ran backstage, but no one could ________me down.

Recently I realized I had been a ________that night. I was ________, but I fought the urge to run off the stage. ________, I finished the routine with a smile on my face. Now when friends and family laugh about the time I slipped during a dance performance, I can laugh too.

6 . On Christmas morning, Abby, a teenager, went happily downstairs. She didn’t _______ what was under the Christmas tree. Nothing can _______ the gift she has already been given this year-that of life.

The teenager has been looking forward to her first healthy Christmas in six years. She was told she wouldn’t _______ 18 without the operation, and she is enjoying her new life. This year there will be no 12 hours of dialysis（透析）on Christmas Eve and no sitting in her bedroom watching films while _______ to a machine. Additionally, she can go out and _______ with her friends.

But as _______ mounts（逐步增加）, Abby realizes her future has come at a price for that of her donor’s family. She said, “This Christmas is going to be a really big _______ for our family, but I will take some time to silently _______ the family of my donor, who will be _______ for the person they lost. After everything, I’ve realized that I have a（n） ________ to look after my body. I know how precious my kidney（肾脏）is. I will live healthily to ________ the society in the future. I want to ________ that if I was able to get the drug, then everyone in my position should also get it.”

Abby said, “Now I’m well. I met ________ doctors and nurses and discovered there’s a lot of kindness and support there. I hope to become a child psychologist to help those children ________ .”Mum Jo agreed. She said, “We’re astonished by the love we’ve had. Abby’s ________ shows she has reached a new level of humanity.”

7 . Once upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his family. A few days before Christmas, he _________ his five year-old daughter after _________ that she had used up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

As money was tight, he became even angrier when on Christmas Eve he saw that she had used all of the gold paper to _________ one shoebox. He was also concerned about where she had gotten _________ to buy what was in the shoebox.

The next morning the little girl, _________ excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, “This is for you, Daddy!” Holding the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier behavior, _________ what he had done to her.

But when he _________ the shoebox, he found there was nothing. “Don’t you know, young lady,” he said _________, “when you give someone a _________, there’s supposed to be something inside the package!”

The little girl __________ him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered, “Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was __________.” He fell on his knees and put his arms around the girl and begged her to __________ him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the girl’s life only a short time later. It is said that the father __________ this little gold box by his bed for all his life. Whenever he was __________ or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and __________ his daughter’s love.

8 . There is an older homeless woman who sometimes is sitting near where I am living, begging for money. _________, the better city places are often being _________ by younger men and women, she has to _________ such a place.

Whenever I see her, I will give her something. If I don’t take some money with me, I will _________ to her for a few seconds at least.

Today I was passing her again, giving her some _________, and asked how she was. She _________ me by saying she wanted to thank me, because I used to _________ my time talking to her,

She _________ how hard it is for her to have so little money that she has to beg. She often feels _________. She has prepared for several days to say __________ to me for my attitude towards her. People walk by, sometimes drop some money, but __________ make eye contact with her. This makes her feel even more __________. She said she was __________ me to pass by because she knew I would see her as a __________ person and probably stop to talk to her. On hearing all this, I had __________ in my eyes. I decide to treat her better, making sure to talk to her as often as possible!

10 . When Mina was just nine months old, she was deserted by her parents. But she was _________ by a family after a year of living in an orphanage (孤儿院).

From an early age, Mina began to play with animals and _________ she had great love to them. In fact, what she loved to do most was _________ the local animal shelters, and when she was 8 years old, the family also adopted a dog named Lily. Mina liked the dog and _________ it many tricks, including how to give a hug.

One day while _________ Lily, Mina met Dr. Stecco, who was walking her dog as well. Stecco has adopted many _________ dogs for Senior Dog Rescue, a nonprofit organization that rescues and re-homes senior dogs. _________ by what the organization does, Mina visited the Senior Dog Rescue, where she made a _________ to assist senior dogs.

“I love the Senior Dog Rescue,” she said. “The dogs may be old, but they’re so friendly and not _________, which is why I want to help them.” Later she started a pet-sitting (宠物看护) __________ called Pet Fairy Services and donates her __________ to the Senior Dog Rescue.

Up to now, she has already __________ seven thousand dollars of her own money. “I feel very proud to know that. I have saved many dogs’ lives and given them another chance to enjoy life for the __________ years of their living,” she said. “I feel like all dogs should get a forever __________ just like I did.”

She said “I took care of my grandpa very __________ and want to look after these dogs in some way because they’re senior and just like my grandpa.”