2 . You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his dogs.

For many years, I enjoyed living with my dogs, Tilly and Chance. Their _______ was nearly enough to keep my loneliness at bay. Nearly. Last year, I started dating, but with _______. When I first dated Steve, I _______ he had a dog, Molly, and a cat, Flora. While I was _______ that he was an animal lover, I _______ that three dogs were perhaps too many, and my dogs might attack _______, the cat.

The next week we _______ our dogs together. It was a hot day. When we paused to catch our _______, Steve got down on one knee. Was he proposing (求婚)? I liked him too, but so _______? He poured water from a bottle into his hand and offered it to my dogs. ____________, I began to fall for him.

We ____________ to date, though neither of us brought up the future. And then in late November, Tilly had an operation on her ____________. I took the dogs out four times a day, and I worried that Tilly ____________ climbing the stairs could reopen the wound. Then Steve ____________ his house. All worked ____________. The three dogs formed a pack that, with coaching, ____________ Flora’s space; Steve and I formed a good team ____________ for Tilly. We made good housemates.

A year later, much to my ____________, this man produced a little box with a ring and proposed to me. He did not kneel (跪) down, nor did I ____________ him to. That’s only for giving ____________ to the dogs that brought us together.

3 . I looked out of the door of my 100-year-old house and saw my newly built garden. I realized nothing is rubbish. I was full of joy and ___________.

I ___________ to look at the things in a different perspective that we usually think of as _________ —plastic bags, polluted water, rubber bands, and newspapers, clothes and furniture we ___________. I also began to think, act and live according to the belief that all things have the _________ of being reused as long as we try to _________ it. And I explored the worth of ___________. I mean recycling isn’t just about _________ rubbish like putting glass and paper in _________ bins. It also requires creativity, commitment and even love.

My neighbors would put the autumn __________ by the roadside to be picked up by the garbage truck. This didn’t __________ with my newfound concept of recycling trash, so I made a new ____________ with branches for moving boxes and put up a __________, saying, “Dump (倾倒) leaves here”. I watched carefully through the autumn as my neighbors __________ the leaves in my new garden and I also watered the grass __________ with rainwater and collected dogs’ waste as fertilizer. Then I __________ flower seeds. Finally, I had a new ____________ garden, full of colorful flowers.

Nothing has to be really __________. I even used my bath water to water my flowers, though it might be a little   __________ for my friends. But I think if we all can turn waste, sometimes a little dirty, into __________, the world will be a much better place.

4 . The disease had slowed me down. Then my granddaughter sent a cat to me. Honestly speaking, I fell in love with the cute little thing ________when I first saw her. “I’ll ________you Rainbow,” I said with a smile.

The next day I ________some cat food and two toy mice in a pet shop. Rainbow went crazy over those ________ : she got them stuck under the desk or the sofa. Then she wouldn’t stop meowing________ I got them back for her. She’d bring the mice to me and demand that I throw them for her over and over again--- she never felt ________ . She couldn’t feel the pain in my ________.

Rainbow always got into troubles. She kept knocking over my plants or   ________ my cups. I had to deal with the “________”. My back________with all the cups and downs of trying to keep up with Rainbow. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t bear the ________ of sending her away.

One day, I felt there was something________on my cheek. Rainbow, licking (舔) me, wanted breakfast. “OK, I get the________,” I said. I tried to lower my body to put her________on the floor,________pain to spread from my back through my body. But it didn’t. I felt ________ .

After she finished eating, I bent down and ________ her bowl without having to hold on to the desk. She looked up at me and meowed, as if to say, “See? I’m________what the doctor ordered!”

Three years later, Rainbow still kept me moving and I began to________her play. I didn’t want a cat, but someone knew I ________ one.

5 . It is 5 am and it’s too dark to see the fields of volcanic rock and trees on either side of the highway. But over the lights of my car, I get a taste of the _________ I’m really here for, as a few stars Pierce (渗透) the inky _________ sky.

Today our relationship to the universe is largely connected byes _________, such as telescopes and NASA assignments. But for thousands of years, humans could _________ look up on a clear night to be _________ at the bright spots that stretched (延伸) directly over them.

But over time, we’ve _________ ourselves from our sky, building a covering of artificial light between ourselves and the dark depth of space. Our _________ , neon signs (霓虹灯), and other electric lights are increasingly flooding the night sky and _________ the stars. _________ , about one third of the world’s population cannot see the Milky Way from where they live. And some can’t even recognize it. The sense of wonder for the night sky __________, and that means something vital to humanity is lost as well.

That’s why I’ve dragged myself out of bed hours before __________. Like 99 percent of Americans, I live with __________ pollution and I’ve never seen a truly night sky. So I’m here to __________ my first glance.

As I __________ out of the car, I __________ raise my face up towards the sky, worrying whether I can make it. There it is, __________ across the sky as far as I can see. The Milky Way is so vivid that my eyes don’t even have to __________ the dark to see it.

I expect to feel the __________ of the sky, perhaps as though I’m falling into a bottomless hole. Instead, the blanket of stars above me is so thick that it is hard to __________. In black and white, the whole scene feels surreal.

As I get back in the car, I pass a __________ that says “Never Stop Looking Up.”

6 . That was when my son was 6 years old. My son is now 22 but whenever I look at him even as a grown man, I remember the small child with _______ .

Our cat was ______to give birth. And like all young children, my son was very interested in the birth of the babies. During the following week, he never stopped ________me for a chance to witness it. At last, I agreed. I answered all his questions and prepared him the best _____he might not be shocked or frightened.

That _____when my son arrived home, one baby cat had been born. He was so_______at what he saw that he would put his hand on the mother cat’s stomach and feel the other babies ______ . When the mother cat began to ______   very loudly, it was clear that the second baby was on its way. My son ______ but never said a word. Then he asked me, “Mum, why does she cry so loudly when the baby comes?” I _________that it was not a hurtful pain but a pain of great pleasure_______the mother.

When the______of the third baby was coming by the crying of the mother cat, my son ______ hugged (拥抱) me with tears ____ his face, saying, “Mum, I’m sorry for the _____I brought you to have me.” My heart almost stopped. With a(n) _________choice of words, I told him that his birth had brought me______but smiles, and that I would like to ______ it 100 times.

Now my son is a grown man, but he always _________that night, for it was on that night that he finally   _______ what the word “love” meant.