1 . Avett Ray is a little boy with a disability. It may seem ______ for other kids. However, that’s not the case for Avett Ray. Actually , this six-year-old boy shows that he has a ______ far beyond kids of his age.

The young piano genius (天才) was born ______ . But he hasn’t been held back by the difficulty. Though he can’t see, he taught himself to play the piano by ear. He ______ this when he was less than two years old, which shocked his parents. Now he has a piano teacher to help him improve his ______ . His excellent performance _______people, so they invited him to perform. He _______. After all, he wants to influence others using his example , so he welcomes every _______.

Avett Ray is very ______ about spreading his music. In fact, he asked his mom to send his videos to Adele, a ______, so that he could ask her for some advice. It is her songs that ______ him, making him decide to do something good. He hopes to use his gift to make others accept and ______ people like him. Avett Ray’s mom even ______ a book called Cotton Candy Clouds to teach people how to show support for them. “Avett Ray is a character in the book, although he appears in a small part of the book,” his mom said. “ ______ , he couldn’t see clouds, so I wrote this book to let him see them. The book says everybody is made ______ and that we’re all born with our own gifts and can do something.”

2 . Earlier this summer, my Ph.D. graduation finally came. There I _________ a poster board saying “Develop your potential”, and a _________ on it arrested my attention: “Keep trying until you get it right.” It made me stop to _________ my experiences.

I grew up with the dream of becoming a scientist. When I finished my master’s degree, I wanted to try something more _________: a doctoral degree. My dream met with a(n) _________ when I failed the entrance exam. Nearly all my friends and professors advised me to put it aside and accept the _________ I had been offered. But I was _________ the routine work would hold back my _________ for exploring. So I decided to apply abroad for doctoral programs.

I worked as a research assistant to earn a _________ while studying for the programs. I never __________ despite the difficulties and was accepted into a doctoral program in China eventually. There, I met even more __________: language problems, cultural differences etc. Yet I held the same __________ as the note writer: Keep trying. Over time, everything was __________ gradually.

I realized that by trying again and again, I have __________ my potential. By focusing more on what I achieved and less on what I __________, I learned to enjoy the process of trying and the unexpected opportunities it brought.

3 . Jack was a student at Cambridge, but his hometown was in Albans. It was _______ and the family had gone to the seaside. Jack _______ money and came home a week _______ than he had expected to. His train didn't get into Albans until _______. The last bus had gone, so he had to _______ home. As he was feeling _________, he took off his shirt to have a _______.

Suddenly the _______ burst open, the police rushed in. They _______ him sit down and began asking him questions.

“I live here,” said Jack, but nobody trusted him. They just ________ questions. Then they ________one tall, very young policeman to guard him. The rest of them went to ________ the house. Soon the others came   ________with an older man, a police officer. He asked ________questions, but he listened to Jack’s answers. “We’ll soon ________this,” he said.

He went out and came back with a small man. It was Jack’s next-door neighbor. He looked at Jack ________ through his thick glasses.

“Oh, yes, Sir, ________ Mr. Hope.” Then he disappeared very quickly. The policemen all looked ________. They were sure they had caught a thief. “Did he ring you up?” asked Jack. The police officer ________.“He ________ a light and understood your family had all gone away to the seaside.”

4 . When I was little, my mom put her love into making traditional Chinese soups for me. I’m talking Ching bo leung (清凉补), with a lot of herbal(中草药的) ingredients that give the soup a _______ taste.

As a kid, I never _______ drinking them because the taste made me sick. But my mom would try her best to _______ me to drink her soup.

First, she would state all the health benefits that the soup has.

“How can this strange water improve my _______?” I’d roll my eyes.

Then, she’d tell me it tasted _______ this time because she added chicken to make it taste more restaurant-style.

Lastly, she’d bribe (贿赂) me with a piece of candy.

And somehow that would _______. I’d take a deep breath and drink it without stopping. After I finished, my mom would _______ eating the Chinese soup ingredients (Tang Zha in Chinese).

I _______ why she did this. I could just _______ the soup but how could she eat the soup ingredients?

She’d always say, “I ________ eating them.”

When I was young, I ________ believed her.

But as I got older, I ________ she was only saying this because she wanted the best for her daughter.

Recently, I recalled (回忆起) this ________ while feeding my daughter a mango (芒果). I cut the mango into two halves and then ________ the seed (果核).

My daughter was ________ and asked me why I ate the seed.

I told her, “Because I love eating them.”

5 . It was a warm March evening, and I’d just taken a seat on the bus. A woman took a seat opposite me. Not speaking to anyone________, she tearfully________her story.

A thief had________one of her bags. It had contained half of the money she’d brought. The other half was rolled in a hankie and hidden under her blouse, so she________still had some money.

After a few minutes, an old man in ragged clothes got on the bus. The bus conductor started to collected ________. When he came to the old man’s seat, he became _______ and asked whether he had any money. The old man ________ that he had spent all his money this morning when he’d accidentally got on the wrong bus.

Upon hearing this, the bus conductor and the driver ________ the old man to get off the bus. The old man ________ them to let him take that bus.

The woman was observing the ________. When the bus driver and conductor raised their voices at the old man, she ________.

”Can’t you see he’s only trying to get home?“

”He doesn’t have any money!“ the driver shouted.

”Well, that’s no reason to throw him off the bus, she ________.

She reached inside her blouse, took out her ________ money. “Here’s his fare and mine.”

On the road of life, the ________ and smiles of strangers can lighten our loads and ________ our spirits. How much sweeter the journey when we make it a little smoother and richer for others!

6 . In 2018, Julie Silverman developed a bad cough. She went to her primary care doctor, who _______ her to other doctors, but no one could diagnose (诊断) the _______ of the cough, or find a way to treat it.

Over the next few years, the cough got _______ . Silverman was going to weekly appointments (预约),which was where she_______ a nurse practitioner named Alison.

“She was really _______ about this cough and often asked me how I was doing,” Silverman remembered, “I, at this point, paid little attention to her _______, because I had been told by so many doctors as ‘Just relax. You’re not responding to our_______.’”

But Alison’s response was different, and she did care about Silverman. When Silverman came in for one of her weekly appointments, Alison _______ that her condition had worsened. Alison told one of the doctors that he should _______ it carefully. When the check-up was over, Silverman could ________ by their faces something was not ________. Her airway was 75% blocked by scar tissue (瘢痕组织), which made her hardly________. “This is a very rare condition. It only happens to about one in 400, 000 people,” the doctor said. “So it is very________ if not treated.”

The diagnosis gave Silverman the information she needed to find a specialist who could________ treat her. Now she spends her time volunteering at her local hospital, riding her bike and hiking. She often ________ Alison while doing the things that bring her joy.

7 . Gene Work and his brother-in-law, Mark Rouco, were putting sod (草皮) on Gene’s yard. In the burning heat of the sun, they were soon covered in sweat and feeling a strong sense of_________. Gene fell onto the ground with a(n) _________ expression on his face. His wife Melissa Work was worried sick and _________ to call 911.

Even though he was close to death, Gene still _________ he sod. If it wasn’t put down that day, it would die. “While he was_________pain, he kept _________ me to have it put down because he didn’t want it to be_________.” Melissa wrote in a Facebook post.

Rouco was left behind to deal with the yard. An hour passed and _________ he noticed those EMTs (急救人员) showed up again. Gene had told them how badly he’d wanted to get the sod down, so they_________. With their help, the work was finally __________in under two hours.

At the same time, Gene got the __________ in time thanks to those EMTs’ quick actions.

The Works are still __________that those EMTs went above and beyond their __________. “These men,” Melissa said, “saved Gene’s__________, and then came back to save his grass. That’s just so__________.”

8 . This is an unbelievably moving and beautiful film. It shows a father’s _________ at its very best. It is a tear-jerker and I must admit that I am moved to tears.

It is a story _________ in 1939 at the start of World War II. Guido, a cheerful Italian-Jewish waiter, gets _________ to Dora, who is not Jewish. They are in love and have a _________ named Giosuè. As they are preparing for Giosuè’s fifth birthday, Guido and Giosuè are arrested (逮捕) and _________ to a concentration camp. Dora begs to _________ with them even though she is not Jewish. She is sent to the _________ part on the other side of the camp.

To hide the awful _________ from his son, Guido pretends (假装) they are at a holiday camp and are playing a game. In the _________, they have to win points. He __________ his son that the goal is to get 1,000 points — and the prize is a real tank in which they can leave. Here he is talking about the tanks __________ the allies (同盟者) that he hopes will eventually come to save them from the concentration camp when they win the war. He pretends Giosuè can get points for things such as not crying, not saying he is hungry, not asking for his mother, and so on. __________, Guido hides Giosuè, all the while pretending it is a game and they are playing hide-and-seek.

I won’t tell you how the film ends. You will have to watch it for yourself. Many reviewers have __________ this film, and said that it is a must-see. I completely __________, as it is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen — one that I will __________ forget.

9 . Torbjorn Pedersen is a Danish traveler who recently finished a trip around the world. But this wasn’t just any trip. Mr. Pedersen spent nearly 10 years ________ every country in the world.

As he began to plan his trip, he made a few ________: no flying, no visiting home, and spend at least 24 hours in every ________ . He hoped that he could ________ about $20 a day, and finish his trip in about four years.

It took him far longer. The first part of his trip was pretty easy. He ________ across Europe and North America, where his biggest ________ was not spending too much money. But as he ________ on to other parts of the world, things began to get much ________ . Mr. Pedersen says he had many difficult experiences. He was once ________at gunpoint and thought he might be killed. He also became ________ ill with malaria（疟疾）.

But he also had many good ________. Mr. Pedersen says that one reason he didn’t ________ was the help he got from people all over the world. “You might have to try 1,000 closed doors,” he says, “But there is always a（an）________ door somewhere. Never, ever give up.”

On July 26, 2023 Mr. Pedersen arrived back in Denmark after a 33-day boat ride. He was ________by about 150 people, including friends and family members. Mr. Pedersen says he plans to write a book and ________ what he learned in his travels around the world.

10 . It was a hot, sticky Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of us set together, side by side, in rows of wooden folding chairs on the main _________ lawn. We wore blue nylon robes (礼袍). We listened _________ to long speeches and some students almost stood up. When the _________ was over, we threw our caps in the air, and we were _________ graduated from college. For many of us, the curtain had just come down on _________.

Afterward, I found Morrie Schwartz, my _________ professor, and introduced him to my parents. He was a small man who took small steps, _________ a strong wind could, at any time, blow him up into the clouds. In his graduation day robe, he looked like a Christmas elf (精灵).

He told my parents how I took every class he taught, “You have a special boy here.” _________, I looked at my feet. Before we left, I _________ my professor a present, a brown __________ with his initials (首字母) on the front. I bought this the day before at the shopping mall. I didn’t want to forget him. Maybe I didn’t want him to forget __________.

“Mlitch, you are one of the good ones,” he said, __________ the briefcase. Then he __________ me. I felt his thin arms around my back. I was taller, and when he held me, I felt awkward, older, as if he were the __________.

He asked if I would __________, and without hesitation I replied “Of course.”