2 . Usually, someone would come up and ask, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” As children, this kind of question is often raised when we have _______ with families.

Well, it started out being a cowboy or super hero. Later it was fireman, policeman, lawyer... As I grew older, my dreams of the future _______. Before I was in college, I was asked, “What will you _______ in?”

By then, I had my heart set on _______ a teacher as my father. So, I studied and prepared for that life. I _______ nearly full time on my career. Although my physical disability after an accident prevented me from working full-time, I still insisted (坚持) on _______. I am content that I could realize my dream and perhaps have a (n) _______ influence on someone’s life. My kids are now on the way to _______ their goals, which makes me delighted.

However, for many, there is a “thief”, which goes around _______ our dreams. Sometimes, the ________ will come as a parent, a relative, a friend or a co-worker, but the greatest thief is, so many times, just ________.

We find ourselves just about reaching our ________, and a “small voice” inside says, “You’ll never make it.” “You can’t ________ do this.” “Very few have ever done this successfully.” And on and on the “small voice” predicts (预测) some kind of ________. Failure, though, is exactly how dreams are realized. It is one of the most important tools we have, because it teaches us ________ lessons. And, when we learn these lessons well, we are ready for success.

3 . On March 18, 2018, I was alone at home in San José, Costa Rica, drinking a cup of tea, ________ that my life was about to change. I received an e-mail ________ with the subject “scholarship selection result”.

My heartbeat quickened as I read through it, and I was mad with joy: I had been chosen to receive a(n) ________ scholarship for a master’s degree in conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Finally, I would be able to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient tales of dragons and the old legends of China, which had always ________ me.

Five months later, I arrived in Shanghai, ________ an entirely new world. At the airport, two of my Costa Rican friends were waiting for me and accompanied me to the ________ at Lingling Road.

I remember clearly when I approached dorm building No 3, I was ________ by the sweet melody of a dizi(Chinese flute), which was totally different from all that I used to hear in my ________.

In Costa Rica, I learned the conducting technique well. ________, it was my professor, Cao Tongyi at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who ________ me in promoting my skills. His teachings ________ not only careful attention to detail but also the art of letting the music flow as gracefully as T’ai Chi.

In my opinion, that’s the ________ of life in China. You can see it on every ________ when you notice how the traffic flows or on the way people walk to the subway, and even on how the delivery system works throughout China. ________, music can surpass the boundary of notation (符号) and paper, ________ from the musician to the audience, enriching the world one note at a time.

6 . It’s been nearly seven years since a group of volunteers from a nonprofit organization What Cheer Flower Farm broke ground at a flower farm in Providence, Rhode Island. They only have one simple _________: to get flowers into the hands of anyone _________ a pick-me-up. Best of all, each one of the tens of thousands of flowers that What Cheer Flower Farm grows and _________ are completely free of charge. “We want to _________ the state with flowers and create happiness and joy,” says Erin Achenbach, What Cheer Flower Farm’s head florist.

What Cheer Flower Farm _________ brings blooming joy to people at local hospitals, food banks, senior centers, recovery centers and more—including AIDS Care Ocean State. “Seeing the _________ on people’s faces who weren’t _________ it—they just came in to inquire about the programs—is pleasant,” says Stephen Hogan Jr. from AIDS Care Ocean State.

Located in Providence’s rusted (锈迹斑斑的)_________ Olneyville neighborhood, What Cheer Flower Farm’s flower beds lie on 2.7 acres that once _________ a knife factory. In May, the organization was __________ a record-high $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for its continued revitalization (振兴) of a brownfield site, a __________ land because of industrial pollution.

“Not only do we revive this space, which was quite literally __________,” says Achenbach, “but also this is an eco-landing spot with the ability to __________ local insects and birds. That’ll have a win-win outcome:__________ people’s lives and supporting the local ecosystem.” What cheer, indeed! “What’s good about flowers is that they don’t need anything else. People’s only job is to __________ them when someone gives them flowers.”

9 . In the summer of 2015, Peterson and his wife, Vanessa, had just moved to Santa Ana, California. Outside their apartment, a man was often _________ on the street corner, sometimes keeping them _________at night.

One day, Peterson was relaxing in his living room, reading the book Love Does, about the power of love in _________, when his quiet was _________ by the man. _________ by the book’s moving message, Peterson decided to go outside and introduce himself.

In that first _________, Peterson learned that the man, named Faris, had moved to California to _________ a career in music, but he ended up living on the street for more than a decade.

Even though Peterson, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, hadn’t _________ a paintbrush in about eight years, he found himself asking if he could paint Faris’s picture. Faris said yes.

Peterson’s connection with Faris led him to _________ Faces of Santa Ana, a nonprofit organization focused on befriending and painting pictures of __________ community members. Peterson sold his paintings and put money into what he calls a “love account” for his __________. Faris used the __________ from his picture to __________ an album, realizing his musical dreams.

Peterson discovered that the buyers tended to connect to the person in the painting, finding __________with someone they might have otherwise __________.

10 . Borneo is home to some of the most extraordinary wildlife. Several years ago, I decided to go there for a visit. A local person offered to be my guide, which was a great bonus for me. One day, my guide turned off the smooth road and took me across a _________ hillside instead. We picked our way carefully when _________ a charming flower popped into my view among those stones. Oh, dear! More than _________, I bent down and put my nose practically inside the flower’s core.

_________, to my surprise, it was only one of the _________ during the trip. As I _________ the end of my trip, there was still something I had yet to see. We planned to _________ most feared creature there, the saltwater crocodile, which can grow to a _________ of 6 meters or more. When we shone a flashlight towards the muddy shore, little sounds _________ in the darkness as if something unseen underwater had broken the __________. Taking a second look, we spotted two greedy __________ just above the water line. As we drew near, it __________ and we saw clearly it was a crocodile. With great caution, we neared it and finally could __________ its true dimensions. It was a baby — no more than 0.6 meter long. Aha, whatever, I could now report to the __________ back home, who had never been to Borneo, that I had __________ a hungry crocodile in the wild and lived to tell the tale.