1 . On the morning of Jan. 21st, 2023, I was taking the subway to work as usual. A quiet subway ride felt like a mini ________ from my busy life. Yet I found myself spending that ________ time browsing my endless messages on the phone.

One day, I put down my phone and started writing ________ notes to people who had contributed to a donation activity I had ________. When I got off the train, I was in a noticeably ________ mood. Then an idea struck me that I could write one for every day of that year. As an organizer and consultant, I had no ________ of people I could write to, so I picked out a different ________ for each month to keep on task. January was “charity”, February was …, and I thought of ________ names right away.

In July, my “________” month, I had become good at getting my memories back and ________ people to send my notes to. On the top of the list was Jenny, a(n) ________ chef. She had cooked at my favorite restaurant (It is now closed down). I thanked her and specially mentioned her biscuits ________ into the Roman number Ⅵ for our sixth wedding anniversary.

________, I received a note back from her, ________ “I have never received such a touching letter before. It was ________ expectation and unbelievably thoughtful. And so needed at a time when I’m ________ professionally. Your letter was a fantastic reminder that ________ back is a good motivation for moving forward.”

Part of the ________ of what I did was ________ with people like Jenny — people, who weren’t ________visitors in my life but made a lasting impact. And I wouldn’t have known if I had not reached out.

2 . There’s nothing more frightening than feeling adrift (漂浮着) and out of control — now imagine if you were a six-year-old girl in the ocean!

When a little girl recently was swept out to sea on a raft (橡皮艇), her father frantically ( 拼命地) called for a(n) _________ — but there was none to be found. _________ , the four Butler brothers took action, running to the ocean and _________ toward the little girl as fast as they could. The _________ rescue, which took an hour, inspired everyone around them. “I knew the water was getting deep, but I didn’t _________ ,” Declan Butler, who, at age 18, is the youngest brother along with his twin Eoghan, told The Washington Post. “I just didn’t want to _________ her.”

At one point, the little girl appeared to _________ the raft, and the brothers were _________, but then they saw her rise above the water again. From that point, the brothers _________ to swim for another half-hour before getting close enough to call out to the girl to keep her __________.

“It was emotional,” Alex Thomson, brother-in-law to the Butlers, said. “If anything, it was extremely rewarding __________ we got to her.”

In the time it took them to __________ her, the young girl’s father was __________ to carry on swimming and was also in __________ of rescuing. Once the little girl was __________ on the beach, twins Declan and Eoghan swam out to __________ her father too.

“Seeing her jump around and kiss her mom was really __________,” Declan said. Two days after they saved the six-year-old, the brothers were reflecting on the strange __________ of it all. Their grandfather __________ on that same day, decades before their rescue. By saving a young girl, they felt they had __________ their grandfather.

3 . 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.

4 . It’s a rare thing, in this day and age, to move into a new neighborhood and find yourself warmly welcomed by the local inhabitants (居民).

Glenda and Raphael Savitz_________in 2011 and moved to Boston. Glenda was with child before the move and within three months, they gave_________ to Samantha. Unfortunately, something was wrong. A week or so of _________ showed that little Samantha had been born completely deaf. The Savitzs were completely _________.

Jill and the other _________wanted to do something to make things easier for the family. What they decided was that they were going to_________sign language as a group to help Samantha to communicate as she grew. As remarkable and _________ an undertaking (任务) as this sounds, the neighborhood_________to take on the burden of learning an entirely second language all for the_________of their youngest member. People were working hard and hoped to__________with the little girl, which was an inspirational thing for them to do.

Finally, the time had come to__________Raphael, Glenda, and Samantha what they had accomplished. As soon as the__________arrived, they found themselves touched by the welcoming signs of their friends and neighbors. Glenda recalled it as one of the most __________experiences she’d ever felt. A present for Samantha would have made her __________, but this means so much more. “People are putting in so much time and energy to learn a language for my little girl. I don’t have__________for that.” Glenda explained.

5 . Khanna, a chef and humanitarian (慈善家), but most popularly known as the judge of MasterChef India, has a huge fanbase.

Eleven years back in 2013, Khanna was on a flight to New York. On the _________, an air hostess came up _________ him to meet a woman for a few minutes, who was _________ to speak to him.

Khanna _________ agreed, and a woman in her 60s came to see him. He respectfully _________ and said, “pairi painna,” a practice to touch the feet of your _________ as a sign of respect.

The woman said she saw him _________ the plane and so wanted to see him. Khanna asked her where she came from, and she replied that he might not have _________ the place as it’s a tiny village in Kolhapur. But Khanna’s instant _________ was, “It’s one of my __________ cities.”

She smiled and asked him to __________, too, just like a mother making her child greet. Khanna smiled, and she looked at him with __________ eyes and then thanked him.

The woman then prepared to leave and told him that she __________ every episode of MasterChef India only to see him smile because it __________ her of her late son, and it feels like his smile brings her son to __________ again.

She gave him good wishes and then left. Khanna then __________ on social media that whenever he feels __________ or under pressure, he thinks of the woman’s words and smiles and feels better.

This is what __________ is all about. You don’t realize the __________ of doing something good for someone, but it __________ affects you too!

6 . A car store in my hometown sold six to eight new cars a day. And 72 percent of this store’s first-time visitors returned for a second ________ . I was curious about how it ________.

On one particular June morning, my wife Jane said to me, “Today’s my fifth anniversary of being ________.” She suffered from it five years ago and had undergone surgery. I was ________ because I had forgotten it. To mark this special occasion, I did the most impetuous thing in my life: I ________ a new car in the car store I mentioned. I didn’t pick the ________ or the model, but I paid cash and told the staff I’d bring Jane to make those two ________. I also told them that it was my ________and hoped they didn’t reveal anything to her. Then one morning, it occurred to me that Jane always wanted a white car. So I called our sales consultant and asked him if he had anything ________ in the store. He said he had one ________ but he couldn’t promise it’d still be ________because they were selling so fast.

After I told Jane the biggest ________ to get her out of the house, we finally made our way to the car store. Jane quickly ________ the little white car. But I told her we could buy the car after our son graduated from college. Hearing what I said, she ________ walked to the front of the car. Then she ________a scream. There was a large sign, which said, “Congratulations, Jane. This car is yours. Five years cancer-free. Let’s treasure life!” I looked around and ________that there was no one in the store. Customers that came to the store were not ________ to enter; instead, the staff took them aside and ________ what was happening. Actually, our sales consultant had arranged it; ________, we could share the special moment alone.

Over the years, I’ve told this story as an example of the legendary ________.

7 . I was halfway across Indiana headed home to Kentucky when my car broke down. My phone was ______, too. I managed to get to a gas station, but it was Sunday in the early fall, and there was no ______ on duty. I was working my way through university then and had little money for ______ the car.

I sat alongside my car for several hours trying to ______ the heat when an older gentleman ______ to fuel his car.   He asked about my car, and I ______ my predicament (困境). To my ______, the gentleman told me that he had a daughter my age, and then he opened his trunk and ______ a tool set.

Right then and there, this total ______ examined my engine, explaining as he worked that my spark plugs (火花塞) hadn’t been charged for so long that they were ______ to function.   After about an hour, he ______ that my car was safe to finish the trip.

______ came at the hands of a stranger. ______ his clothes, working on a hot September afternoon, this man ______ a college student from disaster, just because she could have been his ______ .

8 . People often feel upset because airline companies always lose their suitcases when they fly. It has never happened to me. But something even worse happened to my family recently.

About ten years ago my mum got a job _________ at a university in Thailand. At first she only went for six months. Later because she really liked it, she agreed to stay _________, so my father and I went to live with her in Thailand. We had a great time, but last year my _________ decided that they wanted to return to the UK. We had been there so long. So we wanted _________ a lot of things back with us-all the furniture from our house, in fact. So Mum and Dad went to a shipping company. Workers in the company took everything back in one of those big containers that you see on ships. The container looks like a big green metal box. The _________ put everything into it: the armchairs and sofas, the TV, wardrobes, desks, even all the rugs and curtains. Our whole house was inside that big green metal box.

We flew back to the UK and _________ for the container to arrive. About ten weeks later, we were having _________ one morning when a big lorry arrived outside our house. On the back was a big green metal box. We were so _________. The men _________ the box and started to take out our things. But they weren’t our things. The container was full of gym equipment. It was the __________ one. We were so sad. But the story has a happy ending. The men took the container and gym equipment away, and about two months ago our things finally arrived

9 . I’m not a climate scientist. I don’t know much about ________. I just really like them. Whenever I’m outside or near a window, my eyes are drawn to their ever-changing shapes. I love the ________ forms they take. There were times I sat on a beach and found myself unable to ________whether I was looking at the water, sand or clouds.

I’ve been ________ to clouds since I was a child. I loved to ________ them as animals in the sky. I loved getting lost in ________, starring at them out the windows during a(n) ________ class at school or on a long road trip.

There were moments when I realized how much clouds ________ my experience of the world. A sky of bright white clouds would make me feel joyful and ________ while a sky covered with ________ clouds can make the same things appear ________.

Watching clouds is a solitary (独处的) activity for me, even when I’m ________ by people. If you have a drink or a meal with me in an outdoor café, my eyes will ________ turn to the sky. I might frequently point out an interesting shape. Mostly, I just ________ enjoy them. Like a piece of art, a vase of flowers, or a passer-by in an amazing dress, clouds are one of those ________ things to be noticed and ________ when I’m alone.

Clouds can also ________ me away from the dull parts of life, and away from day-to-day stresses and ________. They get me out of my head and into a(n) ________ land where I can imagine the constraints (束缚) will not be ________ to everyday life.

10 . In 2008, I was tasked with looking after my 13-year-old cousin Megan while my parents were away. Megan had been living a _________ life, having lost her parents at a young age and currently living with my parents.

At first, I _________ that I could be a good role model for Megan and teach her the _________ way to do things, just like I had been taught to do the right A-levels and the right university. _________, things didn’t go as planned.

I _________ to get her to go to school and do her homework, but she just wanted to watch TV. I wanted to show her a movie about female empowerment, but she wasn’t _________.

One day, while driving Megan home from school, I stalled (使熄火) the car multiple times trying to do a hill-start. Megan found it _________ and started laughing uncontrollably. I couldn’t help but _________. We both laughed and something _________ between us.

I realized that I didn’t have to be the boss of Megan and that we could just __________together.

From that moment on, we started to enjoy each other’s ________, and Megan would share the day’s gossip with me. We have different personalities and interests, but we __________ spending time together.

Despite my initial __________, I learned that being a good __________ isn’t about being the perfect adult figure in her life but about building a strong __________ with the people you care about.