1 . When other teenagers hang out with friends in the summer vacations. Erica doesn’t join. Instead, the 16-year-old senior high student is _______ in filling cake orders and updating her website. She _______ Kayke Bakery, a home-based business.

Erica started baking out of _______ in the year 2021. Her first _______ was a failure. Yet she made more cakes the next day and ________ her techniques through teaching videos on a daily basis. “I saw other people’s decorated cakes and was _______ to be a cake artist instead of just a baker,” Erica said. After due _______, she asked her parents about setting up her own business. “Seeing how _______ she was,” Erica’s mother recalled, “we _______ and began to help her cope with all the legalities for its opening.” Soon, she had _______ customers always coming to her for custom cakes. “_______, I came across tough occasions when dealing with both school and a business, but I managed to _______.” she said. “I’m glad to be able to do what I love.”

Always considered as a _______, Erica finished her senior year with almost full marks. She plans to _______ cake decorating after senior high. “I’m thinking about starting non-profit organizations.” In these years, besides learning various techniques, Erica has become more _______. “I realize I possess great potential and power.”

3 . Life is often marked by unexpected twists and tums. As Alice and Mike watched their son Allan ______ Cambridge University Law School last month, they thought back to the moment he was born. “I’m so sorry your baby is blind,” a nurse had said.

Even though Allan’s family were middle class and they lived a ______ life, as a blind child, Allan Hennessy’s future was poor. The local hospitals could not offer Allan hope of giving him ______ because there weren’t enough eye specialists. But when Allan was 6 months old, an opportunity came and Allan’s father ______ it. “My dad sold his car, belongings and some of his land to pay for my ______. We left our home country with very little.”

The opportunity was an operation in London which ______ the sight in Allan’s left eye. “My mom remembers the first time I looked at her; the first time we made eye ______. She burst into tears. But for the operation, I wouldn’t have ______ anything in life,” he. explained.

For Allan, life as an immigrant (移民) was ______. When he was ___into Cambridge University, Allan realized there were so many differences between him and his peers (同龄人) at Cambridge. “I felt ______ different,” he said. “When you’re a half-blind guy climbing the greasy pole, everyone can see that and they judge you, even though they are ______ it too.”

But spending three years in Cambridge was ______. Allan said, “I met the most amazing people from all over the world.” What would his life be like if he had stayed in his home country? “I wouldn’t have a Cambridge law ______; I wouldn’t even be sighted. My family there have faced terrible events. Perhaps I wouldn’t be alive.”

After graduating this summer, Allan is taking up a scholarship and ready for being a graduate school student. “If you’ve got a first-class law degree from Cambridge University, that should set you up for life,” he said. “But when you’re a half-blind immigrant living in Britain today, there is so much more you have to do. The ______ has only just begun.”

4 . The prevalence (普遍) of sweatshop (血汗工厂) labor depends largely on the definition being used. At its most _______ definition, the term refers to work in a confined space (small, surrounded by walls) that is extremely difficult or dangerous. Sweatshops are considered to be fairly common. If the definition being used is closely related to the commonly-held _________ of a factory with overworked, under-paid workers, sweatshop labor becomes less common than expected. _________, they are still prevalent in third-world countries. According to the United States Government Accountability Office, a sweatshop is any workplace that breaks one or more state and federal _________ laws. Experts believe that roughly 50 percent of manufacturers—_________ in the clothing industry — employ sweatshop labor.

It can be _________ to figure out the exact number of sweatshops in a particular area. These workplaces usually, if not always, violate labor laws. Violations can include workers being paid less than minimum wage, child labor, and the severe lack of safety regulations. _________, many of these locations tend to hide their identities as sweatshops through a number of different means. For example, they might bribe government officials.

Another factor that _________ the prevalence of sweatshop labor is the economic situation in the country or region. Many individuals choose to work in sweatshops simply because there are no better alternatives _________ livelihood (生计), even if the income they’re being given still cannot support their basic standards of living. This has led to a sharper increase in sweatshops in third-world economies. In these countries, there is a __________ advantage to working in a sweatshop rather than not working at all. __________, the large number of people willing to work under such conditions causes employers to run more sweatshops.

Certain economists argue against the popular opinion that sweatshop labor should be considered __________. Sweatshop supporters argue that the workplaces are a necessity for poor countries. Sweatshop workers actually earn more than average in those countries. Following this train of thought, sweatshops are looked upon as an economic stimulus (刺激物). Employers following this belief are __________ to increase the number of sweatshops in poorer countries.

However, other experts think that __________ labor standards in third-world countries creates a downward spiral (螺旋线). That is to say, people will be forced to accept working in increasingly worsening circumstances. The demand for work is significantly larger than the number of jobs that are available. It’s quite __________ for wages and employee rights to continue going downwards in response to such desperation. As a result of the economic circumstances in a given region, employers who follow this philosophy are quick to point out that their businesses do not fall under the definition of a sweatshop.

6 . My car slid easily into the school lane. I turned around and glanced at the backseat as my ten-year-old daughter _______. My daughter’s words started to spill. “Momma, Jenny _______ all the girls in the class to attend her birthday party except Heather and me. I _______ I was her friend too.” The air was filled with her _______

As tears ran down my little girl’s face, I felt _______. As an introvert (内向的人), I often breathe a sigh of _______ when I am not invited to a large social gathering. I prefer _______ with a few friends who get me. _______, I don’t extend my preferences to my daughter’s social life. Since the age of four, rather than _______ just a few, I’ve invited all of her classmates to her birthday parties, because I am ________ to the need for young girls and boys to feel ________ .

I understand that at some point all of us are excluded from something and that this is a ________ children will eventually learn. But why does it have to happen when they are so ________?

As soon as we got home, I hugged my still upset daughter and wiped away her tears. As I ________ her, I thought of her own approaching birthday party. The invitation would go out to ________ of her classmates.

7 . Whenever photographer Casey Ryan heads into the wilderness, he brings along his drone (无人机) to capture photographs from a bird’s eye view. Having the ________ device with him on a recent trip to the Cascades Mountain Range in Oregon saved his and another person’s ________.

Casey was ________ through the Willamette National Forest when he ________ a stranger whose vehicle was stuck. Casey ________ to help get it out without hesitation. ________, he got his own vehicle stuck in a ditch while trying to help, leaving both people in ________ with no cell phone service for miles around.

Casey immediately assessed the ________ and recalled a movie he’d seen recently in which a character used a drone to lift his phone high enough to capture a ________ in a similar situation, so he ________ his device and got to work.

First, he attached his cell phone ________ to his drone. Then, he typed a series of messages to his wife. He told her where he was located in the park, and then launched the drone into the air. Somewhere up there over the tall trees, it ________ a signal and whoosh! All of Casey’s texts were ________.

Rescuers arrived and saved both Casey and the other driver. Who knows, maybe future drones will have built-in ________ features added to it ________ this photographer’s practice. We’d buy a phone drone!

9 . Auri Katariina used to be a service manager at a cleaning company in Finland. To her family and friends’ _________, she quit her high-paid job and decided to follow her unique passion.

Auri has always _________ cleaning things, and she began posting cleaning videos online after leaving her job. Then one day, a single mother asked her for help because she was _________ so much with three children always making a mess at home. Auri, who is “in heaven” whenever she is doing cleaning, was _________ to help. So she went on a weekend and _________ her home. Auri didn’t ask for any _______ for her service; it was the _______ in the house, which her work resulted in, that made her really happy.

Since then, Auri has gone as far as France and the UK to help people. She gets _______ online but chooses only the   _______ homes belonging to people most in need. For the first six months she __________ all travel and product expenses herself, about several hundred euros per visit._________ her popular videos of cleaning tips, a sponsor (赞助者) has reached out to her. But she still never __________ a penny.

Now, Auri goes to clean homes of _________ once a week and creates _________ for her social media channels, including lists of some of her top tips. Her dream is to clean all over the world, helping people while doing something she absolutely __________.

10 . On a Saturday morning, I drove my son Andrew to a shoe store. We ________ the trip to arrive right when the store opens, for Andrew is a nonspeaking autistic (自闭患者) and prefers to go shopping when it’s not ________.

After the purchase, I thanked the two clerks and headed toward the door. What came next only ________ when the inner voice told you to do things differently.

________ having Andrew point to the “thank you” symbol on the picture chart he carries with him, I held up his letterboard and asked how he’d like to ________.

The picture chart only contains images that ________ his most frequently used words. The letterboard, however, ________ an effective tool. He can ________ more through the use of a letterboard—by pointing to individual letters on an alphabet grid (网格). Using it requires ________ time and effort for him. He would not ________ the use of the letterboard on his own. I need to present it to him and ________ his wishes if he pushes it away.

“Thank you,” Andrew pointed to each letter. The two clerks’ ________ almost dropped as they watched. One spoke up: “My brother Jason doesn’t talk. Can I ask you?” “Andrew, what do you think?” I asked, ________ that his patience might be running out.

Surprisingly, Andrew ________ started pointing to letters: “Tell Jason he will change everyone’s opinion of him in 26 letters.” I immediately ________. Sometimes I forget just how powerful the 26 letters are. Just how powerful Andrew is.