1 . As I grew up, I always had my mom by my side. We lived a very ________ life. I never looked at the other kids and ________ why I didn’t have a dad, or why I lived in an apartment instead of a big house. Most of what I ________ was our little Christmas tree in the living room and going to the park very often.

________, when I hit my teenage years, things started to change. I didn’t want to ________ with her as much. I ________ on friends and school. I ________ her out because I didn’t want her to tell me what to do.

At about 16, I ________ an eating disorder. And I felt sad and lost. Soon, I found the reason why I was ________ — I needed my mother. And she was there ________ my mean words, my silence, and my anger. She told me she was ________ there for me, reminding me to relax for a moment and think. I did. And I ________ when the world is sometimes cruel, she will be there for me all the time.

After that day, everything changed. I looked at how she ________ me on her own as a single mom. I looked at the sacrifices and ________ of sleep she endured for me. She got herself through college without ________ by making money by herself, and is now ________ with her own apartment and ________. I honestly could not be more grateful for such a(n) ________ mom. Now, as a 17-year-old ready to leave for college, it’s my turn to ________ her. I thought the least I could do was to get her to go on some dates. I ________ her in every way, and she does the same.

3 . I was born without arms. My parents bought me a full-length _______ when I was a baby so I’d get comfortable with the way I looked. They never let my _______ hold me back, and it never did. Before I started school, they helped me _______ with holding a pencil in my mouth, but I _______ to use my left foot. At school, I used a desk my grandpa had _______ for me. It was _______ so I could write with my feet. The other kids quickly _______ to me and I made lots of friends.

In Year 2011 I swam in the inter-house carnival and a coach encouraged me to join his squad. It _______ a passion in me for swimming, _______ I kept up when I went to the university to study business and law. By then, I ________ lived with my parents, but I did most things on my own. I drove a car with my right foot on the steering wheel and cooked meals using my feet. Meanwhile, I started doing ocean swims and I got the ________, doing bigger swims. This peaked in me ________ a 10km swim around Old Woman Island, Qld, in April 2022. I swam freestyle with fins and rolled to breathe. I had an amazing support crew but it was seriously ________ going. When my feet ________ the sand again five hours and 11 minutes later, my family ran to hug me and we both ________. The swim ________ $13,000 for special schools on the Sunshine Coast, Qld. If it goes some way to enable ________ with a disability to feel how I felt after that swim, then every metre, every kick was ________.

I’m ________ do it again this year! My disability has never ________ me. I have a wonderful life, a job I enjoy and a goal to reach. I just happen to have been born without arms.

5 . My son Dan was going to fly out to France in a couple of hours. When we had to say _________, I looked closely at his face. I would have liked to have provided him with some _________, but not a sound came from my lips.

I knew that this wasn’t the first time I had let such a(n) _________ pass me by. When Dan was a little boy, I followed him to the bus on his _________ day in preschool. He looked at me when the bus stopped. What’s it like, Dad? Can I do it? And then he _________ the bus and disappeared. The bus drove away. And I hadn’t said a word. Some ten years later, something _________ took place. His mother and I drove him to university. When it was time to say goodbye, I _________ to come up with something to say. _________, the words let me down.

There was one chance I didn’t _________, however. One day I advised Dan to take a year’s sabbatical (休假) after he graduated from university. I said he should travel around the world, __________ I believed that was the best way for him to get a deeper understanding of life. Dan thought it probably was not a bad __________.

The night before his __________, I lay twisting and turning in bed, __________ about what to tell him. I couldn’t __________ anything. Maybe, I thought, it wasn’t really __________. But when I stood in front of Dan, I knew saying something really did __________ something.

“Dan,” I finally said, “if I had the __________, I would have chosen you every time.”

That was all I could say. I was not sure whether he __________ what I meant. But then he stepped towards me and put his arms around me. For a short while the world and everything in it__________, only Dan and me were there.

What I told Dan was simple and __________. It was nothing. And yet it was everything.

6 . A few years back, my boyfriend Andy invited me to meet his parents for Christmas. We booked an early morning _______ on the morning of Christmas Eve and _______ the airport before the sun was up. As we were waiting in line to _______ , we noticed a kid with a military haircut in a _______ and shorts. He couldn’t have been much older than 18. The kid _______ on a bench with his T-shirt stretched (拉长) as far as it would cover his knees, hugging himself in the _______ weather. As we _______, people kept walking past him without seeing him, and my heart went out to this _______ kid.

Without a _______, my boyfriend walked right up to the kid on the bench and they started ________. As I watched from the line, Andy ________ the sweatshirt that he was wearing ________ handed it to the trembling kid. The kid broke into a huge smile of ________ and wonderment.

With tears in his eyes, Andy walked back to the line. And in a gruff (粗哑的) tone, he told me ________ that the kid was a soldier just trying to get home to see his ________. And he said it was the least he could do considering the ________ the little guy had made.

That was 7 years ago and I was ________ enough to marry Andy. I sometimes ________ what happened to that kid in the airport. And I am grateful to be reminded of the impact that ________ the smallest bits of human ________ can have on others.

8 . Alice is standing in front of me and crying. She looks so________. After a few seconds, she says, “Sorry, doctor, I shouldn’t be taking up your time like this.” Many of my patients are in desperate need, not just because of ill________ but because of their financial problems. Each week, after her rent and electricity bill are paid, she has just￡20________ to live on. From this she has to   buy food, clothes and pay all other________.

Sometimes Alice has to________ meals in order to pay for necessities. Her eight-year-old daughter excels at school. Alice believes her daughter will have every opportunity in life and________ charity shops for books for her daughter. Six months ago, however, Alice was________ in a road traffic accident. She________ depression. Although she continued to work, she________ that life was not worth living any more. She went to my ________ to see what help I could give. But it was sad that there was no pill that could make Alice’s ________ better.

But today Alice is sitting crying not because of her situation, but because she is moved by a stranger’s ________ . A girl won a￡20 Marks and Spencer voucher and________ it to Alice. This simple gesture has ________ Alice’s income for the week. She’s never even ________ in Marks and Spencer. I think of all the ￡20s that I have ________ on bottles of wine. I suddenly feel very ________. That sudden act of kindness and generosity from a stranger has made all the ________ to Alice.

It showed her that in a world that often seems ________ to her, there is still kindness. And there’s no ________ in the world that would give someone that feeling.

9 . When I headed into the classroom for my first official day as a teacher, I thought I was prepared. I had written the most________lesson plan and listed all the activities that may be needed. Actually, I could________wait to meet the students.

One of the________on the first day was to assign lockers. I had set aside fifteen minutes to ________ it, and I prepared cute little________with students’ names and locker numbers on them. But my well-prepared plans________nothing. I had students who couldn’t reach the top lockers and   needed to ________ theirs with other students’. But some tall students didn’t want to________the   bottom lockers. The fifteen-minute locker plan developed into an hour. I realized that sometimes you can be too prepared to adapt to new________quickly. And to survive as a teacher, being adaptable is everything.

During the first day of teaching, you will have students who are as nervous as you, ________what the day will be like. You will also have students who________your nervousness and take advantage of it. In my first class, I________ the students at the door, but it wasn’t the________and soft voice I usually have. I was quite nervous, which actually________my students. Then a few of them began to cause trouble in class. So classroom________ is one of the hardest skills to learn as a new teacher. Although I had made________to make everything go well, the result wasn’t what I had________.

Looking back, I don’t know how I survived that first day of teaching, ________ I was not   alone. Many new teachers had the first day very________to mine. I learned that we should always have a Plan B. and sometimes C and even D. In addition, keep________and always wear a smile, and then everything will be fine.

10 . Srikanth Bolla is a farmer’s son and he can’t see the world. But today, compared with him, even a large number of normal people have_________.

Srikanth was a born blind boy, whose family was very poor. His father used to do farm work to support his family. When he was born, the neighbors even_________ Srikanth’s parents to abandon him_________they thought that he would grow up to become a burden to them. Luckily his parents accepted him and_________ to take good care of him. As Srikanth grew older, his father began to worry about his son’s_________. There was no school in their village, so his father tried his best to let his son attend a(n)_________ school for the blind in the nearby city. After years of hard work, Srikanth graduated with_________ grades, which surprised everyone. His parents were also very happy with his _________. The boy was then___________to work harder at his studies.

__________, Srikanth was again faced with__________when he applied for entrance exams of colleges. He was not allowed to take the exams because of his physical__________. Almost all of the Indian colleges__________his request. Even then, Srikanth didn’t give up. He applied for some American universities online and__________became the first international blind student in Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT).

After graduation, Srikanth received many job offers from American companies, but he__________ to return to his motherland to start his__________. He set up Bollant Industries in Hyderabad, which __________ and trained disabled people to produce eco-friendly products. He really brought__________ changes to both the disabled and the environment.

Srikanth is a great__________ for all of us. He has inspired many__________people to overcome difficulties and follow their dreams bravely.