2 . My father was my hero and my inspiration. People in our town called him a _________ man — martial artist, worker in wood and skilled fly fisherman. The big laughing man was _________ in everything he put his mind to. There was nothing he couldn’t _________ or win. And he taught me to do the same.

But his _________ to life was severely tested when, in his late fifties, Dad’s fishing-buddy doctor sadly shook his head and turned away. The news of sudden _________ scared Dad. It scared me, too. He closed himself at home, _________ the pleasure of his hobbies. To _________ his growing frustration, Dad took up painting. But as his hands became weak, his fingers _________ and twisted, his images on the paper were like wild weeds. There were no dreams on his canvas (画布), no miracles, no hope. However, determined and _________, Dad painted hour after hour.

As the days and years passed, he could __________ paint his images in exact composition. His modesty and perseverance kept him concentrated, enabling him to __________ the beauty of life. He’d found his way to a place __________ pain, where he found himself back. He’d learned to embrace life the way it was, __________ it was not the way he wished it to be. I looked at his smile and realised that he was a real magician of life.

One day, he paused during his work. “I have so little to leave you with, Janet,” he said __________ shaking his head. “Dad, that’s not true. You’ve taught me the right attitude toward life — the art of living. And it’s the most valuable __________.” He looked surprised with the biggest smile I’d ever seen.

3 . Once there was a boy named Jack who lived with his family on a farm. They had a beautiful dog Buddy who would go down to the _________ for hours every day in the spring and summer with the boy to practice retrieving (衔回) various items. The boy wanted to prepare his dog for any possibilities that may come up during duck season because he wanted his dog to be the best _________ dog in the whole county.

Jack held a deep _________ for hunting, particularly during the eagerly expected duck season. Determined to _________ Buddy into the finest hunting companion in the region, Jack devoted himself to strict training sessions.

As autumn blanketed the landscape, signaling the _________ of duck season, Jack and Buddy eagerly went to their favorite spot by the pond. With expectation in the air, Jack _________ awaited the first flock of ducks. With _________ aim, Jack successfully brought down a duck with his trusty rifle (步枪). To his much _________, Buddy showed an extraordinary skill — gliding (滑翔) effortlessly across the water’s surface to fetch the fallen duck.

Keen to _________ this remarkable sight, Jack invited his neighbor, Mr. Thompson, to __________ Buddy’s incredible talent the following morning. However, Mr. Thompson’s response was __________. Instead of wondering at Buddy’s astonishing __________, he focused on Buddy’s lack of swimming skills.

Even though Mr. Thompson __________, Jack stayed determined. This experience taught him a valuable lesson about determination. It __________ him to keep a positive attitude during __________ times. This showed that true success comes from self-belief and pushing through challenges.

4 . A few days ago I landed at the Bombay Airport and took a taxi to my scheduled destination in South Bombay. I was enjoying the busy traffic with people _______ in every direction, and we got stuck at a busy crossing.

As we _______ the signal to turn green, my eyes met up with a poor young boy, about 12 years old. He removed a piece of bread from his pocket and took a _______.

As he was about to take his next bite, a _______ dog wagged his tail (摇尾巴) looking at him. Without hesitation, he put the bread on the _______ for the dog to eat.

The dog smelled the bread and walked away. Then, he _______ the bread and ate it!

My heart cried and wanted to walk up to the boy, but before I could open the door the _______ turned green and our car drove away. At dinner, I _______ I was thinking of approaching the boy but _______ did. I could have walked up to him as long as l had stopped the ________.

All I did was thinking and this poor little boy who had only one piece of bread shared it with the dog, though he himself seemed to be very ________.

I learnt one of the biggest lessons the boy taught me without a(n) ________. He taught me to share love and happiness. I am so ________ to have learnt this lesson from my “little unknown master”. It is my moral duty to share this ________ with all my friends, since I believe they are as ________ as the boy.

5 . I, Amy, am always proud of my frankness and honesty. However, I found myself tangled in a web of _______ emotions recently. My friend, Lucy, eager to establish herself as a (n) _______ was preparing to present her work of art to the public. I knew her passion, but in my eyes, she was still _______ her artistic skills. As the day of exhibition drew near, Lucy, obviously _______ asked me, “Amy…what do you truly…think of my painting?” I looked into her _______ eyes, _______ between honesty and not upsetting my friend, managed a smile and said, “Lucy, this is definitely your _______ work yet. The color combinations are the most creative!”

During the following days, I was uneasy, but I _______ myself with the idea that it was a “white lie”, with the _______ to protect and encourage her. Unexpectedly, I also saw a great ________ . Lucy indeed threw herself into her craft! Her paintings progressed obviously and her skills ________ like a tree branching out. I realized that my little white lie had unlocked ________ within her. Lucy’s artwork ________ shone like a star at the exhibition.

Lucy put her arms around me. The most beautiful words reached my ears, “Your warm words ________ me.” I freed myself from the guilt at that moment. While honesty is important, it is the warmth behind the words that ________ more.

7 . When former librarian Jean Armour Polly first introduced the idea of having computers in libraries in the early 1980s, she was met with pushback. People ______ her and said, “Why would you go to a library to use a ______?” “But I just knew it would be a ______ thing. Students could use computers in schools, but what about the lifelong learners? And adults and seniors?” Polly said.

She got ______ in the potentials of ______ early on. In the mid-1970s, Polly had ______ free computer classes when she was a graduate student in library sciences. In 1981, Polly ______ to secure an Apple II Plus into the small library where she was working in N. Y. At the time, there was only one other library in the nation that ______ public computing.

“We had to hold training courses because nobody ______ how to use a disk drive (磁盘驱动器),” Polly said. Since the Internet was ______ to use back then, the ______ was subject to local librarians, who would help library-goers take their baby steps online.

In 2019, Polly was ______ as the people who brought the Internet to life by the Internet Hall of Fame. When asked what she hoped for the ______ of libraries, Polly expressed ______ because a growing number of people lost interest in books. However, she remained positive. “Libraries have always been like a bastion (堡垒) and they’re coming under a lot of fire,” she said. “But they will ______. I think they will.”

8 . When I was fifteen, I planned to start my business. But every time I wanted to try something new, I felt there was a _______ between two different versions of me: One wanted to _______ the world, while the other was _______ rejection.

Then I learned about “Rejection Therapy (治疗)”. Basically, the _______ is that you look for rejection and get rejected at something every day — finally, you no longer feel _______.

Once, I thought, “What if I just _______ to teach a college class?” I went to University of Texas at Austin and knocked on a professor’s door and asked, “Can I teach your class?” I was rejected. Because I didn’t run, on the ninth try, the professor was very _______. He carefully _______ my well-prepared materials for the _______ and said, “Cool! I’ll fit you in my curriculum (课程).”

Three months later, when I finished teaching that class, I walked out crying with ________. I was rejected many times, but I ________ got used to it. Then I faced it calmly and ultimately got myself ________.

Honestly speaking, rejection ________ me a lot, so at first I ran away from it. However, when I began ________it, I could turn it into the biggest ________ in my life.

9 . My father once told me some advice. “The advice,” he said, “was that if after the first 50 pages of a book you don’t get _________, you’re allowed to cease reading and _________ again later when you feel ready for it.”

A reader, he suggested, needs a little _________ to adapt to a book’s _________ tone, rhythm and voice. But at the same time, this advice gives a person permission to _________ reading. Nobody needs to _________ themselves to finish reading a book they’re not interested in. I _________ like the gentle suggestion to return to a book “when you feel ready for it”. It’s a(n) _________ that reading is a kind of relationship with yourself and that this relationship is not _________.

I like to think my father’s readerly advice can be __________ in life more generally. Give things a fair __________; don’t judge too hurriedly. It’s helped me when confronted with common landscapes, unanticipated __________ and awkward social situations. Resisting the __________ to escape or to complain, has meant I’ve come to __________ the particular charm of a wide variety of places and personalities. Besides, when something doesn’t feel right, don’t be afraid to quit it, __________ for the time being.

10 . It was the first Sunday in December and I was in the Sunday School to learn about a family that was in real need of clothes and food.

Our director began to _________ what he saw. The mother was working two jobs trying to _________ and clothe three children. She has been working hard all year to save money to buy Christmas gifts, but she just _________. All her money was _________ to buy food.

Hearing what he saw, I began to _________ all the Christmas’s that I had as a child. I can still smell the _________ of various delicacies wafting from my mother’s kitchen. The sight of a big Christmas tree with _________ piled all around and the looks on each of the faces of my family as we opened Christmas presents. I just couldn’t _________ what it would be like to have a Christmas that was being described to us. What—no food, no presents, no family gatherings and no Christmas tree?

The _________ said he would like to take up an offering and anything that was received would be used to help the __________. As the plate began to make its way around. I opened my wallet and only found one $100 bill. I thought for a(n) __________ and then realized that they needed it far worse than I did. So, I put the money in the __________. He looked __________ and said “Are you sure you don’t want any change?” I nodded with a smile.

When returning back, I told my son what I had done, and more __________, I didn’t have any extra money to prepare Christmas gifts for him anymore. I thought I would see my son’s __________expression, instead, he gave me a big hug and said, “No, I already have the best gift in the world —a kind Dad.”