1 . Mother Hen

From the moment my husband brought home a box of six chicks, our nine-year-old, Sophie, hasn't let them _________ her sight. She named them Trixie, Bearty, Sweet Pea, Speedie, Captain Flint, and Adrian and was very _________ when we wouldn't let them sleep in her bed.

Sophie takes at least one chicken everywhere we let her and has done_________ things with her chickens. One hot day, she wanted to take Captain Flint to the creek(小溪). I wasn't so _________ about it: Could chickens swim? Sophie balanced a stick on her river tube (游泳圈)for Captain Flint to stay on, and the two_________ down the creek.

_________, Sophie dressed as a chicken for Halloween and _________ us that Trixic had to come. The reactions from neighbors were _________＂Wait,is that a real chicken you're holding?" Trixie cooed (咕咕地叫)the whole time.

The chickens are teaching us about love as well as _________ and grief.Sadly,Captain Flint faced an untimely death after an eagle attack. We had a chicken funeral, said a few words about what a good chicken she was, and thanked her for the __________ she brought to our lives before we __________ her. Sophie painted a lovely picture __________ it and has worn a pendant（坠饰） with Captain's picture ever since.

The chickens weren't__________ in the house until one morning when Sophie told me,＂There's nothing to feel happy about." Since then, we've allowed one chick inside at a time if Sophic promised to__________ immediately. The chickens brought a glimmer of joy back to our lives. In a few short months, they have taught us to__________ situations we can't change and find joy where we can. I am so grateful.

2 . In such a lesser-known wildlife reserve, there were no other guests except me. Somehow that night, festivities with the staff reached a point where it seemed a good idea to go for a ________. So we ran down to the river and dived into it. What ________ me the next day, as I had a much-needed coffee overlooking the river, was seeing a large croc (鳄鱼) moving past the very ________ spot. Some people need a bit of ________ to get themselves going, while others willingly throw themselves into potentially ________ situations, and come out the other side transformed.

Walking in the wild can do that. Riding wild rivers, too. Once you take that first step onto ground ________ with the tracks of wild beasts, or put your paddle (浆) into a fast-flowing river for the first time, you cross a divide into a world of ________. Your senses are heightened, your vision sharpens and your ears tune in. It’s what our wild ancestors ________ on a daily basis. So we return to seek out that thrill (刺激), to ________ our domestic lives and remind ourselves what it is to live.

There are ________ for everyone. Some dip their toe in, and some fully commit. Either way, people take that step to immerse (融入) themselves in the world. Recently, three unrelated groups of ________ did just that: walking hundreds of kilometres among dangerous beasts, through wildlife reserves over as many as 21 days. Can it get any ________? There are also kayakers (划皮艇的人) who flew down ________ rivers, showing us that, for all the thrills, it’s the ________ aspects that they enjoy most, those trips where they sleep riverside, beneath the stars.

Their goal was to draw attention to the effect of the pandemic on local communities and conservation and they ________ caught our attention.

3 . All eyes were on me as the other moms quieted down. Someone had just asked, “Are you going to _________ us?”

“Yeah, you should dance with us,“ another_________ .I was waiting for my daughter's dance class to finish while the other moms got_________ for their adult dance class.

"No," I said. I'd_________ these moms from the sidelines through the years. However, I didn't have a dancer's body.

But my husband said to me, "You’ll never know if you don^’t try." So I_________ for ballet. At my first class, I was the_________ woman in the room. What did the others think of me?

The instructor started us with basic, simple steps. _________ nobody made comments about my size and till the end of the class, I realized I had_________ the night. So I kept going each week.

The instructor moved on to more_________ steps. My muscles were painful, but I__________ it. The steps continued to be harder, but I__________ at home with my daughter. Later, I realized something __________ My legs weren^’t painful anymore.

I saw a(n) __________ in the way I carried myself too. I was stronger. My muscles weren't the only part of me that had been__________. " I don't care what others think when I'm dancing," I told my husband with my new__________. "Anyway, I've learned ballet!"

4 . Around 50 Mars missions have been launched globally so far since 1960. Yet more than half of them have _______ to reach the planet some 55 million kilometers away from the Earth. So after China’s Mars probe, Tianwen-1, was _______ on July 23 last year, there was an _______ wait to learn its progress.

The craft landed _______ on the surface of the planet on Saturday. The news has been met with both _______ and celebration in the country. The landing was _______ exactly as planned, which has made China the latest member of the club of the world’s pioneering _______, and shows that China has _______ the technologies on its own.

It is the can-do spirit that has played a key role in China’s scientific and technological development in recent decades _______ some failures to explore outer space.

China made its early ________ in rocket and space technologies starting from the 1960s ________ the country remained largely a backward agricultural country. ________, the country has made the most of what it had over the past more than six decades, making efforts to move ahead in the aerospace cause.

Late last month, China sent Tianhe into space, ________ a series of launches that will complete the building of the station around 2022.

All these achievements have ________ greatly to the peaceful use of outer space. ________ its Mars mission, China has worked with European partners and others and will help push humankind to travel faster and farther in the future.

5 . I gave dancing lessons to preschoolers. Every week for the past eighteen years, I’ve________my Tuesday with a couple dozen children________in feathers and butterfly wings. The children are normally very active and eager to learn.

However, for some unknown reason, Nicole, a four-year-old girl, saw the class time as the kiss of________. In her mind, she was going to be left all alone with a________woman with wild hair and several other children shaking like crazy. One day on class, her usual fear started. Uncontrollable tears started to flow and she________the loudest cries in the world.

I gently called to her father. “John, you may want to come in here.” Following my________, this tall young man________his tiny daughter. Grabbing his right leg, Nicole cried, “Dad, don’t leave me.” ________down on his knees until they were nose to nose, John________whispered in her ear, “I’ll do it with you.” After he wrapped her entire young hand around his middle two fingers, the ________began to skip and dance around the floor together. The most________and amusing moment was watching him stand in the middle of twenty four-year-olds swaying side to side, hands on his hips, and________like a fairy princess.

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “You________a prize, I’ve never seen a dad do that before.”

For a brief second John________, and then with a smile, he replied, “Isn’t this part of the job?”

That precious moment was two years ago and I’ve thought of it often. It is what a father is supposed to do—________a child the courage to stand on the center stage of life.

6 . Allen was sleeping at home one evening when shocked awake by a TV news item. There had been a _________ among a group of children in New Orleans, and a nine-year-old boy named Bryant had been killed. Allen was _________ and heartbroken.

Born in the poor area, Allen is one of the most _________ jazz trumpeters (号手) in a city, who appears frequently on local television. It didn’t take long for Allen to think of a possible _________ after he saw the tragic news. He had a few _________ trumpets lying around. Maybe he could offer them to kids _________ their guns.

“What saved me was a trumpet, the music and culture of the city that it _________ me with,” Allen says. “It showed me that success and connections can be _________ through self-expression.”

Allen met with the mayor (市长) to figure out _________ to make children feel safe coming forward with their guns.

“They __________ want to give up their guns,” says Allen, who has collected seven guns so far, a small __________ important start.

Besides, after the exchanges, Allen connects the children with local __________ who give them free virtual (虚拟的) trumpet lessons. He also started a Go Fund Me page to purchase more instruments to __________. He has brought __________ for his city.

“I just say, ‘Look, I come from where you come from, and I can show you the way that got me out,’” says Allen. “‘And music may not be the way for you, but it will at least __________ your mind to see what’s out there.’”

7 . Martin Strel knows a thing or two about rivers. He has been swimming in them ______ he was a young boy. Although he holds five world records in marathon swimming, he is best known for using his sport to raise ______ of water pollution. After years of swimming in dirty water, he decided he had to do ______. He began to swim to ______   “peace, friendship and clean water”. He hopes to see ______ laws strengthened.

So far, he has swum in many of the world's most famous rivers. In 2000,he ______ to swim in Europe's second longest river, the Danube. He swam 1,866 miles in 58 days and ______ a world record for long-distance swimming. In 2002, Strel swam in the Mississippi River and ______ a distance of 2,360 miles in 68 days. In 2007, he swam 3,274 miles of the Amazon River in 66 days. Most of the ______ in the Amazon comes from harmful chemicals used in gold mining and oil leaks from ______ maintained boats. He became very weak and ______ 42 pounds. In order to continue swimming, he had to be carried in and out of the _______.

Still, Strel plans to ______ swimming for peace, friendship and clean water, but he would prefer to do it in the ocean. ______, the world's rivers are simply too dirty. He ______ a day when everyone can go swimming in clean water.

8 . Despite growing up so close to Jersey Shore, I _________went to the beach:I know,very un -Jersian of me. However, when I do _________to go to the beach, it is to fulfill my mission on Earth.

On most days that I choose to go to the beach, there is a__________beach clean-up. My friends and I are placed in a group together and then we start to work. Even the smallest bit of trash can end up _________an innocent creature, so we are always extra careful when assigned a specific area. I remember _________all sorts of trash. For example, once I found an old dog leash; well, I guess that dog is long gone, but the leash _________With a trash bag in my left hand and a glove on my right, my _________days were filled with doing semi-squats and talking with my friends as we went along.Step by step,we _________anything that did not _________the beautiful beach scenes we kept in our minds. Sometimes, we turned back and__________the complete clean sweep that we had left behind us. What was once filled with trash, was now gleaming flawlessly under the sun.

Even if I only get to spend 10 hours on the beach per year, I want to make the most out of that time. Yes,I do _________the shore with my family and friends. However, just seeing _________rows of trash lined up near the boardwalk ________ the fun.The beach has given me so many memories since early childhood, and now it is my time to return the__________and do what I can to reverse the environmental_________.

9 . My life as a tax-paying employed person began in middle school, when, for three whole days, I worked in a baking factory.

My best friend Betsy’s father was a manager at Hough Bakeries, which, at Easter time, _________ little bunny (兔子) cakes for all its _________throughout Cleveland. It happened that the plant downtown needed eight kids for _________ help during our spring break, for which I had no_________ beyond listening to my favorite records. I’d _________ minimum wage. I’d see how a factory_________. My parents thought all of this was a grand idea and called Betsy’s dad with their _________.

Our_________in the factory were simple: Place cakes on a moving belt. Attach icing (糖霜) ears. Apply icing eyes and nose._________ bunny from the belt. This was ____________ than it sounds.____________ a bit and the cakes pile up. As I told my parents at dinner that first night, it was all a little more high-pressure than I’d   ____________ .

Dad __________. The son of a grocer, he’d spent the summers of his childhood____________ food in Benardsville, New Jersey. This was the sort of work that made you____________ the dollars you earned and respect those who did the work, he told me.

10 . Today marks World Autism (自闭症) Awareness Day, It's an occasion to help people _______ the difficulties faced by those with autism, and those who love and care for them. A video shows, some of the _______ a mom with a young autistic child faced on a _______ trip to the park.

Kristin Bruynell was at the deserted park with her 5-year-old son, Carter, as part of his birthday _______. When she noticed a group of middle-schoolers _______ the park, she was ready to go home, knowing how _______ her son gets around groups of older kids._______, the mom and son had to face it.

Gavin Mabes, 13, went up to the birthday boy and started chatting to him, _______ him to play together. Soon, Gavin's friends were joining in and _______ their support, as well as a performance of “Happy Birthday”.

For little Carter this would have been a __________ come true: all these big kids being kind, gentle, and supportive. Yet they wouldn't have known the great __________ this brought to Carter's mom, Kristin, who was __________ moved by the teenagers' generosity. This was her son's best birthday __________, and it was undoubtedly a wonderful moment for her, too.

Hopefully as more people become __________ of how a little act of kindness can have such a significant impact on autistic people and their __________, they'll take the time to offer a hand of friendship to those who need it the most.