1 . If the plant could thrive (茁壮成长), maybe I could too, even with cancer.

After my cancer diagnosis (诊断), my friend gifted me a lucky bamboo plant in a deep-green pottery bowl. Despite my physical limitations, ______ the green plant became an achievement during a time when I felt ______.

As a family physician used to ______ care, now I was the one relying on others. The _________ change left me feeling unsettled. Watering the plant, as small an act as it was, ____me to my old identity and taught me I could still be a caregiver and be ______.

Through surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (化疗), I ______ looking after the plant, and it thrived, so did my ______.

But then, ______, its leaves kept browning and dropping to the floor. The ______of its struggles made me frustrated and uneasy. I seemingly related its struggle to my own health, fearing it ______ the return of my tumor (肿瘤).

As my anxiety eased, I ______ guidance online to figure out how to better take care of the poor little thing. Following the   ______ found, I transplanted it to a larger pot, allowing more room and nutrients it required. When it returned to the sunny window, we both began to thrive again!

Now, the lucky bamboo was not just a ______item in my home but a representation of life, and the ability to find ______ even in challenging circumstances.

2 . My name is Maggie and I am a big red maple tree in the center of Central Park in New York. Every part of me is_______shaped. I love seeing all the people_______, stare at me, and say “That tree is beautiful!” Those_______make me feel special.

One day, I see a big storm_______my way. I can hear all the frightening sounds nearing, but the most frightening one is the sound of almost half of my bark being torn off. I feel_______. What will people think when they walk up to a worn-down tree in the_______of Central Park? Will they cut me down? This thought makes my branches ache.

Hours later, when the storm_______, a nice opossum (负鼠) family comes to me and asks_______they can spend the night in one of my holes. The baby opossum is so cute that I can’t_______. Soon, round two of the storm comes. It________another part of my bark, but it doesn’t________me as much because I have a distraction (分散注意力的事物): the opossum family. Other animals see my________act and come to me, too. Even though I feel great for________all the animals, I still haven’t completely forgotten about what people might think about my________. Beyond all expectations, people love me even more for sheltering all those animals from the terrible storm. I will forever________that “beautiful” doesn’t always refer to looks.

3 . Country diary: a chainsaw massacre in the alder woods

On an overcast, drizzly afternoon at Durham Wildlife Trust’s low Barns nature _________ alder provided the brightest splash of color in the _________

A tree had been felled and sawn into _________. Chainsaw wounds on this species can look like a massacre, because soon after the timber is cut, it turns a lurid shade of red, almost like blood, in stark contrast to the battleship-grey bark, _________ those wounds, which briefly _________ raw meat, fade to orange and finally to chestnut brown.

When this reserve was established half a century ago, around old gravel pits (采沙场), some moisture-loving alders were planted to help _________ a bare, windswept site. Alder wood is one of the finest sources of charcoal, and the plantation trees are old enough now to be coppiced, to produce barbecue fuel.

There is also an important natural alder wood here, created by a cataclysm almost two and a half centuries ago, which led to the designation of the reserve as a site of special scientific interest.

The Great Flood of 1771 _________ Weardale, washing away bridges all the way to the coast. When the water subsided, the course of the River Wear had _________ half a mile south, and the old riverbed became what is now the reserve’s Long Alder Wood, the finest example of its kind in the region.

When it sometimes floods, this tangle of gnarled（苍劲嶙峋的） trees has a _________ of the Florida Everglades（佛罗里达大沼泽） about it, with mossy, fallen trunks sinking back into the ooze (淤泥). Year round, there are wonderful __________ to watch birds from an embankment level with the tree canopy. This afternoon an acrobatic flock of about 30 goldfinches（金翅雀）__________ and chattered through the twigs, feeding on tiny seeds that fall from the woody cones.

Sadly, since the mid-1990s, another__________ has befallen this locally __________ woodland: alder dieback disease has killed around half the mature trees. Coppicing is leading to some regeneration, though in this precious __________ dead timber is allowed to lay where it falls, reserved for the needs of a __________ community of fungi, invertebrates and woodpeckers, rather than back-garden burger-flippers on summer evenings.