1 . Every weekend my parents give me $100. I bet you think I’m really spoiled (宠坏的). Think again!

It all started when I wanted a really cool _________. I asked my parents to buy it for me but they said I would have to buy with my own money. “But it’s only $100!” I _________. An hour later, my parents _________ there would be a family meeting at dinner.

They _________ the meeting with the words, “We’ve been thinking about how to give you more _________ in our family.” They brought up several “new ways” I could “have more say.” One way was to allow me to _________ for the family. Each Saturday, I was to be given $100 — along with a shopping _________. It was up to me to buy everything on it. Whatever money was _________, whether two dollars or thirty, was mine and I could _________ however I wanted — whether to buy toys, books, jackets, or even a bicycle. My parents’ $100-a-week plan gives me real __________ to shop for the best bargains (特价商品). I __________ prices on every single item on my list before I __________ what to put in my basket.

My parents’ clever plan has turned me into a __________ shopper. Now, when I finally save enough money, that cool bicycle doesn’t just ________ a mere purchase; it stands as a symbol of my __________ success.

2 . I have always enjoyed cold climates and connecting to the environment.

In November 2023, I joined the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (英国南极遗产信托基金会), the charity that looks after British heritage in Antarctica, as their _________. I’m responsible for sorting the letters that are sent here, the southernmost post office in the world. _________,I observe the environment and _________ my neighbours, the penguins(企鹅).

Five of us now share the island with 1,000 penguins, who of course are given _________. They have their own paths to walk down to the shore(岸边)and we get used to slowing down, always keeping our _________, and waiting for them to pass. Every two days we _________ the nests and eggs, and send that information to British Antarctic Survey.

When we arrived here in November, the base had been shut for winter, _________ when we got off the ship, we dug _________ through snow for hours before we could open the front door. _________ our lives here takes a lot of work, as we’ve got no running water, no showers, and there is a lot of snow __________.

As postmaster, I’ve __________ 20,000 letters so far, including postcards from stamp __________. They request particular postmarks or stamps, and can be very __________ about where they want them placed.

On our days off, we enjoy going on long walks around the island, taking more time for all the __________ things, such as slight changes in the weather and tiny green plants. Sometimes I feel __________ simply by looking at the sun reflected in the water.

3 . Have you ever imagined how a doctor spends a day? A _________ day for doctor like me starts around 6 a.m. My husband and I make lunches, and get our three daughters dressed, fed and through the daily _________ of teeth and hair brushing. We give them goodbye kisses and _________ get them out the door for preschool and elementary school. I’ll start seeing patients at 7:30 and _________ until two or 2:30 p.m., sometimes making a quick run to the _________. I rarely have time to eat or to drink a little cold coffee. I see 30 to 40 _________ a day. There are nearly always “fit-ins”—maybe a wound that requires immediate _________, a feverish babies who really needs to be checked out, a patient with a mental health crisis who cannot _________ . These are people I can help now and keep out of the _________ room. After I finish seeing patients, I start being busy with __________ .

This part of the workload badly __________ female doctors. One research analyzing the time spent by doctors on electronic medical records __________ that, besides the patients during the day, female physicians receive about 25 per cent more messages from staff and patients, and have to spend at least 20 per cent more time __________ their inboxes and notes. After two or three hours of paperwork, I fit my family into my day. Then it’s back to the __________ at around 8 p.m. for another three to five hours. I know family doctors who are __________ until two or three in the morning or staying up to deal with paperwork.

Though a busy day ends up with another busy day’s coming, I love my work and the same with my family.

4 . As a student researcher at UC Irvine, I need to use various software to collect and analyze data.

When l first started doing research, I found the QuPath software very _________ to use. There were a lot of different tools and a _________ amount of new vocabulary to learn. Luckily, another student who also used the QuPath software walked me _________ a lot of it and although she had her own _________ to work on, she was always ready to _________ any questions.

However, I continued to _________ with the software when she was _________ from the lab and there was no one to ask for help. It took me quite some time and _________ to become all too familiar with the software.

The student who helped me was about to _________, leaving me as the person to whom new student researchers would __________. I would be more than ready for them!

I decided to write a detailed step-by-step guide about how to use QuPath and its different tools so that new students could __________ if they needed advice. A week later, I was asked to help a new student who was learning to use QuPath. He was __________ surprised when I showed him the written instructions. I shared the __________ and also helped him __________ when we were in the lab together.

Once I graduate, I hope that the guide I wrote will __________ to help students for years to come.

5 . Cats bring bad luck. Cats cannot be trusted. This is what I was taught when I was growing up. I ______ cats.

And then I married a woman who was brought up with cats. So it was unavoidable that she would want us to ______ one. My parents-in-law lived with Maggie, a big cat that made me quite ______. When we used to take our baby daughter to their home, I watched Maggie ______. Whenever she went near my daughter, I ran to ensure that Maggie did not ______ her. My wife always laughed and told me Maggie wouldn’t hurt our daughter.

______ from my wife to get a cat became greater after we had two more children. Under pressure, I finally gave in and ______. And then Masala came to our home. Our children loved the new “ ______”. They played with Masala and slept with her. At first, I was a bit ______. I was not sure what would happen next. But slowly I started liking that small animal.

We were happy with life. But then, something ______ happened, and my wife got lung cancer. This terrible time was also when I came to really ______ the cat. Masala provided my wife with good ______ . She stayed by my wife’s bedside around the clock. My wife fought the disease bravely but didn’t ______ at last. After my wife died, Masala also ______ me during my darkest days. Her warm welcome after I came home meant a lot to me. Masala helped me ______my prejudices (偏见) against cats. She really taught me a lesson.

6 . At 95, Brigid Kavanagh finally realized her longtime dream. Yet, her path to having her words put into ________ wasn’t easy, and required belief in the ability that her teachers had first ________ tens of years before.

Kavanagh’s sons ________ Kavanagh to publish her book. They were doing a clear-up and ________ to find many poems and stories written by their mother. They collected them in a book and had 500 copies of it printed.

Kavanagh ________ to get some work published in her 80s. However, the publication this time is a great success. “I’m ________. I just can’t believe it. After my failure in the 80s, I thought I was ________,” she said.

The senior shared with the media that she’s always found it ________ to express herself on paper — a gift that got ________ in her schooldays. “When I was in primary school, my teachers would speak highly of my ________…I think it would be great if they could see my ________.” While they may no longer be there to see what became of their former ________, the book, which is made up of Kavanagh’s rich memoirs (回忆录), will let the readers know what she ________.

While there are only a limited number of ________, the real success of the publication is seeing a family coming together to help their mother, and an elderly woman’s satisfaction in seeing her words ________ in print for all to enjoy.

7 . As a child, I’d spent entire afternoons _______ new worlds in my mind and giving life to _______ in my stories I wished could be my friends. I’d written myself into my favorite stories so I could be part of them. Writing was a part of me; it was who I was.

However, in high school I _______ with writer’s block. By the time I was in college, I’d stopped writing entirely, _______ the dream remained. I wanted to ___________ a novel one day. It was then that I read an interview with the Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. She said she’d go crazy if she didn’ t write; she needed to do it to stay _______. Her words made me feel _______. She was telling me that I wasn’t really a writer.

Or so I thought. I tried again, and it was like feeling the sun on my skin, or hearing snow lightly fall. I hadn’t realized it, but I hadn’t really been happy until I     _______ my pen again. Writing was in my blood after all.

Finally, half-hours _______ to writing stretched into hours. Before, I had been upset all the time because I didn’t advance my writing projects. Now, every day was a step forward, and I was ________ with it.

One day, I was reading a story in a library. ________, an idea hit me that I wanted to submit (提交) a few stories. I didn’t do it in the hopes they would get published.

And then, something ________ happened. The first story I submitted was chosen for publication! When I got the e-mail, I was wild with joy and ________ around my kitchen table.

That moment ________ me that I must keep writing — not because I’ll go ________，but because I want to keep being crazily happy like that.

8 . When I was fifteen, I wrote an essay about how excited all my friends were to be getting driver’s licenses. I was full of _______. I knew I’d always be walking everywhere I went or else relying on others to _______ me.

I have a condition called dry-eye syndrome (综合症). _______ I do have some sight, I never know when I _______ in the morning exactly how much vision I will have that day. The _______ for this is that my eyes do not produce enough tears.

There are many things I cannot do. I can’t drive or read a book. But there are far more things I can _______ do. In high school, I played basketball. My teammates gave me oral (口头的) _______ and I learned to judge where the ball was by their voices. I learned to focus extremely well and _______ the sportsmanship award.

Do I wish I could _______ like other people? Of course. But being blind hasn’t ________ me in any of the important ways. If I’ve had to depend on my friends, ________ I’ve learned who my friends really are. I don’t know why God chose to give me only a little ________. Maybe he did it so that I would ________ what I do have. Maybe he did it so that I would have to ________ my other talents to compensate (弥补). It ________.

There are many different ways to look at life. This is how I see it.

9 . I’ve never really understood why more Oscar winners don’t thank their teachers.

Yes, family and your “team” are a given. But what about the ________ who helped you get to where you are now?

I was ________ enough to have a lot of great teachers, but one in particular ________ the person I am today: Lin Robbins. She was always smiling and had endless ________. She was no taskmaster, and there was no ________ love, just excitement about what she could teach us.

Miss Robbins once gave me a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I don’t know ________ she did this — it wasn’t an assignment (作业). She just gave me a copy of the book and said, “I think you’ll really ________ this.”

This book inspired me to start ________, and I haven’t stopped since. After I moved on to high school, I would still ________ and share my work with Miss Robbins. She read it all, and told me two ________ words: Keep Writing.

I haven’t sold a screenplay. But, I know that I have to ________ writing. And I also ________ who I should thank on any winner’s podium (讲台) I get my hands on. Miss Robbins, I’m ________ that she saw whatever it is she saw in me, and that she gave me the ________ I needed to become a writer. So, don’t miss out on ________ your teacher-hero. They’re the ones who make us who we are.

10 . A winner of the highest honor in the field of translation, Xu Yuanchong was best known for his translations of ancient Chinese poems into English and French. Xu _________ himself to translation for more than 60 years. For him, translated literature is “a beautiful _________ for the whole world.”

His academic _________ began during his college years in Kunming. In the late 1940s, he spent a few years in France studying French literature. Then he _________ China after graduation and devoted himself to translation ever since. Xu was the first Chinese to _________ Chinese poetry into English and French in rhyme. He was _________ the “Lifetime achievements in translation” in 2010. He was also the first Asian translator to _________ the Aurora Borealis Prize (北极光奖) — one of the highest _________ among international translators — and gained _________ recognition.

Throughout his academic research, Xu __________ the beauty of language and was __________ in creating literary ties between Chinese, English and French speakers. His works have served __________ a cultural bridge linking the East to the West, which __________ English and French-speaking people to better understand the beauty of Chinese literature and the Chinese __________ within. Chinese readers, __________, can appreciate foreign works in the same way they would read novels and poems written in their mother tongue.