1 . Exercise and I have never had a good relationship because of my fear of sports.   From a young age, my dad __________ me into a dozen sports. I didn’t like any of them, __________.

When I entered University of Regina, my dad __________ telling me “You have to find a way to stay __________ ”or “You don’t want to get the Freshman 15, do you?” So I __________ to give swimming a shot, but I __________ managed to go to the pool twice during the fall semester (学期). Worse still, I was __________ to convince myself that “Yeah, that’s OK. ”

The spring semester came.   A friend of mine __________ me one day asking if I wanted to go to Zumba with her. All I knew about Zumba was that it was basically exercise dancing to Latin and pop songs. It didn’t sound too bad, but I couldn’t be __________ .

I went, and that was it. Zumba became my __________ of tea. The instructor would always say: “Don’t worry about the steps. Have fun. Do your own thing.” That removed my __________ about sports. I didn’t have to be __________. I didn’t even have to be good. I just needed to __________ the music and move. Zumba did __________ me from the Freshman 15, but it also did so much more. It let me make __________ with my unpleasant past with physical fitness, and enjoy staying healthy.

3 . Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus (马戏). ________there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. This family had eight children, all probably________the age of 12, who were________talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him with a big smile on her face.________, when the ticket lady quoted (报价) the price, she let go of his________, and her head dropped. The father’s lip began to shake. He moved a little________and asked, “How much did you say?” The ticket lady again quoted the price. Obviously, the man didn’t have enough money.

Seeing what was going on, my dad________a $20 bill on the ground. Then he picked it up and said to the man, “Excuse me, sir, this fell________your pocket.” The man________what was going on immediately. Looking________into my dad’s eyes, he took the money and said “Thank you, sir. This really________a lot to me and my family.”

That day we came home without any tickets. When I asked dad why he did so, dad said, “My child, it was heartbreaking and________for a father in that situation. Surely he wasn’t________a helpful hand, but he needed our help.” “We couldn’t enjoy the circus tonight, but they could because of our kind help,” added my father with________on his face.

That was a________lesson I learned from my dad.

4 . As a teenager in the 1960s, growing up in suburbs south of Boston, I fell under the control of the very pleasantly ________ mysteries (谜) of the Chinese language. Someday, I told myself, I would ________ the meanings of the mysteries.

So, entering college, I decided to ________ the study of Chinese. But my small college in Maine offered no courses in that language. Following graduation from college, I entered an evening course at a language center for adults, and thus ________ my personal journey in the study of Chinese. That journey ________ George Washington and Georgetown universities, the Department of State’s Foreign Language Institute’s early mornings classes… and after a 15-year ________, restarted in tutoring classes starting in 1999 and later in independent study at George Mason University without ________ From 1983 and through the following decades, a dozen business trips to China ________ my study of Chinese, I experienced the amazing change of China.

In 2012, I retired. I began to attend weekly presentations about Chinese affairs sponsored (主办) by George Mason’s Confucius Institute, where by late 2014 this casual (偶然的) contact had led to the ________ of a Chinese Reading Club. By mid-2016 six experienced Chinese learners could read and discuss difficult, ________ literary shorter works of such ________ Chinese authors as Mo Yan, Liu Zhenyun, and Su Tong.

Under the teachers’ guidance the ________ and joys of the group meetings to understand the secretes of the short stories I read, in Chinese, have brought me to a deeper understanding of China. I am personally ________ for the opportunity provided. I can only suggest George Mason Confucius Institute consider ________ the model of this reading group to others, as the world’s most spoken and read language is ________ popular among the Westerners who have started the wonderful voyage to it.

5 . A professor entered the classroom and told the students about a surprise test. All students were_________ and waited for the test to begin. The professor gave the test papers to all students with text facing down at the desk. Once he was done with _________ the test to all students, he asked them to_________ the test paper and begin.

Students were ___________ to see that there was just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor told them, “I want you to ___________ about what you see there.” The students were___________ confused but got started with the test. At the end of the class, the professor collected all answer sheets and started reading each answer from each sheet in front of all students. All of them___________ about the black dot and tried to explain its position.

Now, professor began to explain, “Here everyone_________ the black dot and wrote about it_________ no one wrote about the white paper. The same is with our lives. The white paper stands for our whole life and the black dot __________problems in our life.

Our life is a __________ given to us by God, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate—our friends around us, the job that provides us with everything we need. However, we just focus on day to day ____________ like health issues, lack of money, poor relationships, but we seldom see that these problems are very small __________to everything we have in our lives.”

We should try to take eyes __________ our problems and enjoy each moment that life gives us. Be happy and live your life ____________.

7 . Several months ago, a tornado fiercely hit our city without any signs before. We hadn’t ___________for it in advance, so we were just forced to go into our___________actions. I happened not to be in the classroom when it attacked. Hearing the alarm screaming, I rushed___________as fast as I could back to the classroom.

Never did I imagine that we would put our regular_________to use. Never did I imagine that my students had ___________against the wall and crouched(蹲) down on their knees. Their eyes were obviously filled with___________as they asked if their parents, pets, and friends would be okay. I, along with other teachers, tried our best to___________them, though we actually didn’t know what the___________would be.

I couldn’t ___________the tornado anymore. However, I’m very proud of my students who performed so well. In such a(an)____________and dangerous situation, they behaved beyond their ages. Never in my life had I seen them ____________instructions(指示) so quickly, without any hesitation. Though some tears were dropping and some hearts were beating fast, the kids were incredibly____________. I’m extremely proud that they struggled to calm down because of their____________in me.

Because of the tornado, I realized that my job as a teacher meant a lot. Behind every well-behaved students are a long line of teachers who have made it their life’s ____________to educate them with safety, courage, calmness and trust. Though the tornado has presented ____________, I’m sure we can handle them one by one.

8 . For most of my life I had lived in the black and Latino community. Neither of my parents had graduated from middle school and I was the first in my family to ever enter a college campus. By contrast, most of my _________ came from generations of well educated family and had grown up in_________ white suburbs. In the college, _________ sharing with others how I was feeling, I closed myself and thought I could get through it if I just _________ study. However, during the weeks before the winter break, I finally decided I would drop out. _________, that wasn’t the end of the story. I found _________ and guidance to continue to finish my college.

Consulting provided me with space to _________ my emotions. My consultant provided me with books and other _________ to understand what I was experiencing and she helped me feel powerful. Volunteering with a campus organization provided me with a constant _________ of why I was in college. My interactions with students, who reminded me so much of my own friends at home, inspired me to work for __________ to higher education for low income youth. I also __________ in a summer urban program, where I cooperated with a group of student leaders to start a conference to talk about __________ of race and class.

__________ is power. I read books and chose courses to learn more about topics __________ to immigration, race, social class and urban education. These courses and books helped me __________ a much deeper understanding of my own racial experiences of oppression. Most importantly, I was equipped with the knowledge I needed to work against injustice and inequality.