1 . In a heart-warming display of kindness and sympathy, 10-year-old Catalina Campos, founder of the nonprofit Circul KC, set about a mission this Mother’s Day. Its _________ is to ensure every mother felt _________. Circul KC, a nonprofit _________ by Campos herself, is devoted to _________ senior citizens and other local nonprofits in need by providing _________ supplies and support. It wants to _________ youth to serve their community, do what’s right, and _________ love for the country.

On Mother’s Day, Campos and her team _________ with one goal: to make mothers feel special and loved. _________ with flowers, they visited senior living facilities and got into Kansas City’s Loose Park, where they delighted mothers of all ages with __________ gestures of kindness.

Reflecting on her __________, Campos expressed her joy at seeing the smiles on mothers’ faces, knowing that their simple __________ of giving could brighten someone’s day. “It was __________ to see them smile because sometimes mums don’t have... the kids don’t come and give them stuff.” Campos said.

As the flowers found their way into the hands of mothers throughout Kansas City, they carried with them not just petals and stems (花瓣和茎), but a __________ of love, appreciation, and the power of small acts of __________ to make a big difference to someone’s life.

2 . It's late—my wife and I are exhausted and covered in mud. There's an old woman shouting at us in Vietnamese, refusing to let us leave the house. Behind is her ______, who I'm desperately trying to stop from taking her shirt off. It's chaos.

Helpless and ______, I wonder: how did it come to this?

We were on a motorcycle tour of Laos and Vietnam. We just ______ the border into Vietnam smoothly. Then the trouble began: the highway. The road was under ______ and in its place ______ the slipperiest mud slide imaginable. We were reduced to such a speed that ____ the motorcycle and starting walking seemed a possible option. Exhausted and dirty, we were ready to ______. Cancel the trip? I doubted. It just wasn't worth it.

Seven hours later, at our lowest point, we finally reached tarmac (柏油路) . Too defeated to ______ the new-found road, we pulled into what appeared a restaurant, figuring we could ask for ______. There we were greeted by a teenage girl.

That brings us back to where we kicked off. The old woman is ______, not in a scary way ,but in an “I'm repeating myself louder and louder and you'll understand” kind of way. The teenage daughter keeps attempting to _______ in front of us. Desperately wanting to get to a hotel, we try to leave but the old woman pushes us back. We have no idea what we've gotten ourselves into, nor how the he’ll we are going to ______.

Then there's a knock at the door — a man is outside and we're told to follow him. It turns out that they've called him to lead us into town. The mother stopped us because of this and the daughter was just trying to ask us if we wanted to ______ our clothes.

The people were so unbelievably helpful. This ______ continued for our entire trip. It helped us find new strength — the confidence, no matter how ______ it gets, to just keep going.

3 . I was scared of public speaking. But when I _______ my first novel ten years ago, I was invited to speak at a writers' festival.

The festival was held on a lawn. I arrived at the large tent set-up, _______ find two hundred faces looking at me. Five teenagers sat close in the front row, stretching out their legs.

I was sweating _______ I even opened my mouth.

I only had one book to talk about, and it didn't seem like any of the students had read it, or _______to. The five in the front row started heckling (起哄) and making jokes about some random cartoon characters, causing me to lose my place. _______ out of my depth, I started feeling nervous and _______ my words. I could feel the tears starting, and I didn't know what to do.

Then a teenage boy in _______ of tech for the tent took the spare microphone and began telling his own ghost story. The story was thrilling, full of fear and _______ , and better than anything I'd said so far. I used the five minutes he spoke to _______ and prepare: When he finished, I thanked him, knowing he'd ________ me. And I managed to bumble through the rest of the speech.

I knew I had to somehow learn to________ my fear. After asking other writers for their tips and advice, I added slideshows, readings and question-and-answers to my________ , I was still terrified, but the more I did, the better I ________the unexpected. I had five more that week, none as ________ as the first.

I doubt I will ever look forward to fronting up to hundreds of students, but sometimes I ________ myself by enjoying it more than I ever would have thought was possible.

4 . John and his friends used to go mountain climbing once every year. This time they have _______ to climb mountains in the Swiss Alps.

They reached the famous mountain _______ in the Swiss Alps and were surprised to see many people climbing the mountains. John and his friends started _______ all the mountain climbing gear (装备) and started climbing. In no _______, they reached the top of the mountain.

After _______ there, John’s friends decided to camp there. Then John saw another mountain where only a _______ of people were trying to climb it. He told his friends, “Let us go and climb that mountain too. It will be fun and _______ instead of camping here.”A friend replied, “No way! The path is difficult to climb.” People nearby hearing this said, “If it’s easy to climb, why are we sitting here doing nothing?” _______ them, John took that as a challenge and went alone towards climbing the peak.

Two hours later, he reached the top. John was _______ to have climbed the peak. He could see the beautiful views of nature from the top. He started a(n) ________ with people there and asked them, “While climbing this peak, I felt it was not so difficult. Then why only a handful of people are here? If people could climb the below peak, they can climb here too if they ________ some effort.” A veteran (老兵) replied, “Most people in the crowd right there are happy with what they find ________. They never think that they have the ________ to achieve more. Many of them do not show any ________, and they remain part of the crowd the whole life, complaining about the handful of courageous people and call them lucky.”

Hearing this, John ________ the veteran for explaining the importance of courage in our life.

5 . When I was 18, my older brother bought me my first mountain bike. I_______my first ride at Sand Canyon. We_______a long and winding road beginning at the mountaintop, and I was_______because I’d never seen mountains that big.

The trail_______at 10,000 feet, dropping 4,000 feet over 12 miles. This ride seemed extremely_______, with sandy roads and high-speed sections that seemed to go on forever.

It took us three hours to get to the_______, but for those three hours, I_______nothing but the trail. On the trail, I forgot about all the awful memories and longed to experience that feeling again.

I loved the_______of rushing past trees and focusing on the next challenge. Biking helped me appreciate the little_______of overcoming a sandy road or________a jump. Biking on trails helped me connect with the natural world.

Mountain biking also gave me the courage to pursue further________and earn a master’s degree in sociology. I wanted to help others discover the sense of________I had found in the biking community and see themselves reflected in stories about the sport. So I________an online collective called @pedal2thepeople that highlights people who bike. I’ve also become a free photographer, and I love to include bikers in my________storytelling.

I am________to my brother for introducing me to this incredible activity that has given me life-changing insight.

6 . Rodney started mowing (割草) yards for free in 2015 to help neighbors in his community, including senior citizens, single parents and individuals with disabilities. The idea _________ him when he drove past an elderly neighbor _________ to mow his lawn. Rodney _________ and offered to finish the job for his neighbor. He soon set a goal of mowing 40 lawns by the end of that winter, but increased that goal to 100 lawns as he quickly surpassed his _________ target.

“I’m _________ of cutting grass because I’m young and strong,” explained Rodney. Once he reached his 100-lawn goal, he realized he could _________ more people by creating a program that included youths as _________. He founded the Raising Men Lawn Care Service and began recruiting (招募) local youths aged 7 to 17, as he said, “Show them the importance of _________ their community.”

Rodney started the nonprofit lawn program while still in college. He now holds a master’s degree in social work and _________ his nonprofit organization full time. Children can get __________ by sending in a photo of themselves holding a sign that reads, “I accept the 50-yard challenge.” __________ participation, the organization will send the child a shirt, safety glasses and ear protection. Once the child completes the __________, the organization delivers them a brand-new lawn mower.

The program provides a valuable service for community members who have difficulty __________ mowing their own yards. The lawn challenge also provides an opportunity for youths to build a __________ with neighbors. The service is a __________ for the youth volunteers and community members.

7 . The friends of Juliana Palm, a fashion designer, in Rio de Janeiro were opposed to her becoming a Games volunteer. By the time the Games ended, her friends had become supporters.

Juliana came to the Games to ______ creative inspiration for her design work. ______ her experiences after the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony, Juliana teared up as she recalled her interactions with volunteers and visitors. Working with other volunteers ______ her life. She met a girl from Mexico and ______ some inspiration from her culture.

Juliana was also inspired by Olympic ______, and enjoyed learning about fencing, rugby sevens and other sports less widely practised in Brazil. She was particularly ______ by Brazilian judoka Rafaela Silva who won the gold medal. “It was ______ — first, because she is a woman, and we don’t have as many sports for women as for men. She showed the world that it is ______ to do anything if you believe in something,” Juliana said.

Juliana was always ______ that Brazil would deliver successful Games, despite the country’s ______. “We have difficulties with education and public transportation. But it is not a problem for us because we can ______ them,” Juliana said.

Juliana also expressed confidence that Rio de Janeiro would continue to ______ from the Games in the years ahead, mentioning ______ the new bus rapid transit links and the new Metro Line 4. Without the Olympic Games, Line 4 would never have happened. It would ______ many people to travel to or from work. Besides, Porto Maravilha was transformed from just a dangerous place into a ______ and beautiful community.

8 . This morning, I went to the shop to buy some things for breakfast. On the way back home, I decided to _________ some money from my bank account. As soon as I arrived home, within 30 seconds, the doorbell rang. I _________ the door to find two strangers standing there. They asked if I had _________ any money. At that moment, I wasn’t _________, but upon checking, I realized I was _________ missing some money. I expressed my _________ to them and tried to offer them some money as a _________, but they refused to accept anything.

I decided to _________ the footage (片段) from my video doorbell to see where I might have dropped the money. In the video, I saw two young boys walking behind me on the road, and they _________ me to inform me about the lost money. I was touched. They could have easily __________ with the money, and I would never have known.

I posted about this incident on my social media, which gained a lot of __________. A woman named Helen Pye messaged me, expressing her __________ because the boys were only 17 years old. Helen Pye revealed that the boys were her son Jarrod and his friend, whom she considers to be __________ young men.

This __________ filled me with hope and gratitude. Their good deed reassured me that __________ things happen when we choose to look for them with an open heart. I hope they get a good deed payed back to them one day.

9 . Imagine suddenly waking up at midnight, ______ for air, heart pounding, feeling tense and experiencing this night after night. The ______ of the lack of sleep was the ______ need to lie down and fall asleep for 2-3 hours. This was my experience throughout the summer of 2021.

I guess it may have been in part the ______ the pandemic had on my mental health as well as other worries. During the daylight hours, I ______ myself in various ways but at night during sleep my fear and ______ would come to the surface. I ______ I needed to find ways to deal with my worries.

After much ______, I began to seek the assistance of medicine, which was a tough decision to make. But it ______ well. I made sure to walk in nature as much as possible and continued my yoga practice. Slowly, I found my way back to myself.

However, life ______ another curve ball into my life. In December 2023, those nighttime feelings that ______ me flowed into my days again. I turned to friends and family, who encouraged me to seek professional help. I ______ to a therapist specialized in this field, and together, we analyzed the problems and applied the related ______ to coping with them. While the process didn’t go ______, my symptoms gradually disappeared with my efforts at last.

In conclusion, this is what I would like to say —when in trouble, reach out for help, talk to family and friends, your doctor or a counsellor. Take time to take care of yourself, you are worth the ______.

10 . My father, Paul Andrew Figura, was a die-hard fisherman. In my _______, we went out fishing in all kinds of weather, catching and missing nearly every fish in countless waterways.

Whenever we _______, Mom would ask: “What time will you be back?” “When we can’t see the _______.” Dad would respond. He often _______ it. Sometimes Dad would ask me to _______ some food and water and we’d fish the entire day. I observed firsthand his insistent, rapid-ire casting technique, to which he credited as a _______ factor behind his success. It was one _______ after another after another.

The greatest life lesson that Dad taught me involved dealing with those times when the fish weren’t _______. Days when the weather was awful, when the mosquitoes were biting, when my hands were cold. Times when I just wanted to _______ and go home. Dad’s ________? “Son, you’re not going to catch any fish unless you ________ your line. Keep casting,” he’d say.

I learned early the importance of ________ and willingness to keep trying different fish food if you wanted to catch them. Sooner or later they’d ________. I took that same attitude into my school work. ________, I got many awards at college. I applied it ________ to whatever job I had as an adult and it made me the person that I am today.