1 . Fifteen-year-old Michael Platt is the owner of Michaels Desserts. Born with an incredible love for _________, he became interested in baking when he was nine years old._________, Michael was learning about income inequality and childhood hunger from his parents. He felt inspired to _______ those injustices. Since he was diagnosed _________ severe epilepsy(癫痫)at the age of 10, Michael has been homeschooled by his mother.

With his activities limited by his _________ condition, Michael threw himself into baking. His parents once bought him a pair of TOMS shoes, _________ business model gave him a(n) _________. For every pair sold, TOMS gives another pair to a _________ individual. Supported by his parents, he _________ Michaels Desserts. When a dessert is sold, he donates another to someone __________ homelessness or hunger.

Michael sells about 170 treats a month. There are various __________, and the most important item on the menu is the “Freedom Fighter” cupcakes created in honor of historical __________ like Martin Luther King. Stephanie Gerstenblith, one of his __________, says that Michael’s cupcakes are not only delicious, but also have inspired her to “__________everyone with sweetness”.

__________running his bakery, Michael hosts bake __________ for the non-profit No Kid Hungry. Jessical Bomberg, a leader of fund-raising for the campaign, says, “Young heroes like Michael prove that everyone can __________ in society.”

It is Michael’s __________ that everyone should undertake the responsibility to take care of others. “When I see people starving, I want to __________ them something,” he says. “It’s my way of telling them that they haven't been ________.”

3 . It wasn’t yet 8:00 am. However, instead of entering my office, I was leaving it. Carrying a plastic shopping bag of my personal items, I moved in a (n) ________ way to my car, and drove home sobbing (啜泣). I had just been ________.

For following weeks, I was troubled by the ________ of that sudden lay off. What about the people who would be ________ by my abandoned projects? Would I have a chance to get another job? ________ with anxiety, shame and sudden outbursts of tears, I felt thoroughly________ “What should I do next?” I asked myself.

One day, over dinner with my good friend Sophia in a restaurant, I told her about my feelings, “Being fired came as a ________. I am not a bad person. I don’t know why it happened to me. In fact, I was so hard working and________ to my company”. After listening to my words, she________ me, “Never be so depressed. Being fired isn’t the same thing as being bad. There are lots of ________ that we cannot escape in life, and we have to face them________ and seek solutions. I think you should make some changes to help you ________ this issue. Unemployment just means a new start”. Her words gave me a lot of confidence and strength, which drove me to take action to change the bad situation. I had a firm belief that everything would hopefully________ fine.

Then a long journey of applying for new jobs began. In addition, I made a decision starting to thank the people who helped me either with the emotional support of my unemployment or in my search for a new job. I would send each of them a thank-you card. Sophia had helped me a lot, and she got my first card.

Expressing gratitude is the best thing that I have done to________ my negative thoughts and move forward. Fortunately, I have got a(n) ________ job that fits my skill and interests. No matter what happens in the future, I will continue this wonderful decision and show more people my thanks.

4 . A Person Who Has Influenced My Life

There is always a time in one’s life when a hero comes along. Someone who has inspired you can really help you learn what life is about.

I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was fifteen years old that year. It was around eight o’clock one evening when my mother received a phone call from her brother-in-law, who told us my aunt was in hospital and that the doctor ________ them she would need an operation immediately. My family became very ________ about my aunt’s situation.

While my aunt was in the hospital with special ________, my cousin Mark, who is mentally disabled, spent time with my family. Mark was seventeen at the time, and had been born with severe mental disorders, which ________ a wide range of social and physical problems for him throughout everyday life. He never had any true friend because no one could relate to him. I must ________ that at the beginning I was filled with uncertainty as to how much of a ________ my cousin would bring on my family. Now looking back it saddens me to see the ________ I once showed.

Over the two weeks when Mark lived with my family, I probably understood more about life and its meanings. Thinking back, I took everything in daily life for granted, believing it would always be there. I never even thought about being able to do things like walking, brushing my teeth, or going to the bathroom on my own. Now I see how ________ I am to be able to do these things independently.

Mark was seventeen, but learned on a nine-year-old ________. Although his learning ability was slower than most, he could still learn. He explored ________ to do most of the things everyone else did. ________ he did pretty well and succeeded in almost everything he tried to do. He ________ his illness and showed an ambition to love life. To him, having a successful life means achieving goals on his own terms and at his own ________.

Mark is my hero, for his disability has forever ________ my viewpoint on life. It seems like a well-deserved life when you’re fifteen, and it is amazing how in a period of time your point of view can change so ________.

5 . It was a terrible day. Snow had been falling all day long, making the trip _________. I would rather have been in my warm home than drive along on such a cold day, but I didn’t have a _________. I had to have my paper work handed in and then _________ my son.

The snow continued to fall as we drove along for the 15-mile trip back home. I slowed the car and _________ at my son in his heavy coat as he looked _________ out of the window with a blank expression. In the eyes of the world he was looked upon as a mentally disabled child._________ , over the years what I saw was a beautiful, kind and _________ soul. He had shown me more about love than I could have ever _________on my own.

I slowed the car even more as we _________ a sharp curve(曲线). As we rounded it I saw a shivering(颤抖的)young woman in a light jacket walking in the snow storm. I pulled over and let her in. She was heading for her Mom’s house to visit her son whom she hadn’t seen for months. She had experienced a lot of disappointments and __________. Yet, she still held out hope for a new job and tried to __________ a new life for her son and herself.

I took her as far as I was able to and dropped her off. She thanked me for the __________ and I told her I wished I could have done more to help. Then as we were about to leave, my sweet son took off his coat,__________ down the window and gave it to her. She put it on, smiled and __________ to us as we pulled out on the road

In this world we will__________ many problems and challenges. Sometimes it seems that our entire lives are a trip down a curvy and dangerous road. Yet the power of love takes us straight back to a broad smooth highway.

6 . I would often watch the kids from my window as they played basketball. One day, among the children a girl ________ me. She seemed so small as she pushed her way through the crowd of boys. They always tried to stop her but no one could. She ________ to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the basket. Later I often saw her practise alone until dark.

One day I asked her ________ she practised so much. Without hesitation, she said, “I want to go to college on a scholarship (奖学金). The only way I can do that is to play basketball well enough. My dad always says to me that if the dream is ________ enough, nothing could stop me.”

I ________ her through junior high and into high school. One day in her senior year, I saw her ________ in the grass, head in her arms. ________ I asked her what was wrong. She said softly that she was too short. The coaches told her that she would probably ________ get to play for a top college team — much less be offered a scholarship.

Sensing her ________, I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were ________. They didn’t understand the ________ of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to ________ for a top college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, nothing could stop her ________ one thing — her own attitude.

The next year, the girl was ________ a full scholarship to a NCAA women’s basketball team. She was going to ________, which she had dreamed of and worked toward for all those years.

7 . I arrived to my new town and I loved every second of it. I had a great host family—they took me around the United States and made me feel at home. After using a dictionary for a(n)_________weeks, I quickly learned American expressions and the_________and some people couldn’t tell I wasn’t from Arkansas. I loved my classes and made a lot of friends in my new school. Every day I learned something new—a new phrase or word or the way people do things. I liked to_________life in the United States and Russia and learned that both of the ways _________.I also took_________in communications, media and cultures around the world. That year_________so fast and it was time to go home. When I _________,I still had one year of high school left and a lot of exams to prepare for. That year I studied like I never did before and was looking for all of the_________I had. I couldn’t be an English teacher in my hometown anymore —I had to_________what is out there for me.

While I was__________to a language program in one of the universities in Moscow, I also found a university in Missouri. I couldn’t believe my parents let me go again! This time it was for four more years, or maybe more.... I left again and started my college__________in the United States. College of the Ozarks offered free tuition(学费)to every student__________a campus work program. Plus, you could pay for your room and__________by working over the summer. It is a wonderful__________— you work on campus and keep it running, while__________work experience and getting education. I enjoyed my time there, but I was on a roll and had to keep my momentum(势头)going.

8 . It was summer and I had gotten one of the few jobs a 16—year—old can find— working at Burger King, a fast—food restaurant. It certainly wasn’t a good job, but it meant _________, which was something I needed badly to support my family.

One day, I was working behind the front counter, taking _________. The customers were coming and going, and the woman who _________ didn’t seem any different from most others.

She ordered her meal and I told her the total. As she searched _________ her purse to find some change, the woman soon _________ that she was about a dollar short. “I’m _________ to say this, but I guess I won’t be able to make my purchase _________,” she said sadly.

That’s when I had the idea of paying the difference for her. She _________ at first, but after I insisted, she agreed. She thanked me and moved to the end of the counter to _________ her order. I continued with my work and thought __________more of it.

About an hour later __________ had slowed down and I was waiting for my next customer. Then I glanced over towards the __________ and saw the same woman I’d helped with the money entering again. I __________ recognized her.

She walked straight up to me and said,“I want to thank you again for what you did. You see, I’m a diabetic (糖尿病患者), and __________ I need to eat something right away. That’s __________ I came in earlier. If you hadn’t helped me__________ you did, I might have been dizzy. Thank you.”

She handed me two dollars, twice __________ I’d given her.

__________the woman walk away, I realized that God had used me to help me.In the end, I was __________not only with money but also with the __________ of knowing that I’d helped someone out of a tight spot.

10 . My father was raised in a fatherless home at a time when the family of five struggled to survive, which caused my father to be extremely tightfisted (吝啬) with money. When we children became _______that other children got pocket money from their parents, we made a(an) _______to ask our father for some. Immediately his face turned stone cold, and he said, “If you’re old enough to ask, you’re old enough to earn.” And we had to seek odd jobs about the neighbourhood.

He didn’t _______ his attitude as we grew into adulthood. There was a time when _______of us had a car, so we had to ride a bus whenever we came home. Though the bus stopped about two miles from home, Dad never met us, _______ in bad weather. If someone _______ (and my brothers did a lot), he’d say in his _______ father-voice. “That’s what your legs are for!”

One spring morning I was on the bus home from _______ . Tests and long hours in labs had _______ me exhausted. As other students were met at their stops,

I looked silently out of the window. Finally, the bus came to a stop at my destination, and I ________ . carrying my suitcase to begin the long journey home.

The row of privet hedge (树篱)came into ________ which lined the driveway that climbed the hill to our house. I stopped to put a book in the suitcase. When I stood up, I saw something gray ________ a long the top of the hedge toward the house.

It was the top of my father’s head. I ________ then, each time I came home, he would stand behind the hedge, watching. ________ he knew I had arrived safely. I held back my tears. He did care. ________ .

Upon reaching home, I found my father innocently in his chair. ”So! It’s you!” he said, his face lengthening into surprise.