1 . 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.

2 . Life can change in the blink of an eye. While Bridgette was in the parking lot, together with her kids, a car hit them. This left them _________ beneath the car. Thankfully, the driver wasn’t going very fast when she hit them. In that moment, she was _________ by the sun, which is the _________ cause of the accident. However, as soon as she could, she _________ out of the car to help.

Soon, Chris Crowder, CEO of the school, joined her. Without delay, he _________ a group of students to help. “It was _________,” Chris recalls. “I immediately just _________ the building because I knew I had to get a lot of people to lift this car. We have about 220 domestic kids and over 300 international kids at the school. They just heard me _________. All these kids from different countries just come running out and lift it up.”

Still, this wasn’t an easy _________. “The car was heavy,” says student Junier. “We did our best, and the moment I heard the kids crying I was like, ‘Oh, thank God, the kids are good.’”

The mother and kids were __________ to the hospital. Although Bridgette suffered the most of the injuries, all three of them are expected to make complete __________. A GoFundMe has been made to help the family with __________. “Thank you for your support of this amazing mother and her beautiful children as they __________ from this tragic accident,” Keaton Speaks, creator of the GoFundMe page shares. “We also have the __________ husband and father, Andrew Ponson, in our prayers as he takes care of his family wholeheartedly day and night.”

In addition to being grateful for Bridgette and her kids’safe rescue, the heroic students who helped are also getting their __________ praise.

3 . The Grammy’s Music Educator Award recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to music education.

This year, the award ________ Annie Ray, the orchestra (管弦乐队) director at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. With the creation of the Crescendo Orchestra, she works to make ________ accessible to all students, particularly those with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Ray says the focus of the program is on teaching students how to play a(n) ________, through one-on-one instruction tailored to their special ________. She also works with a local charity to give damaged instruments a second ________ in her classroom.

Ray took home both a $10,000 ________ and a matching grant for her school’s music program. In an interview, Ray ________ her pupils for this recognition. “This is the students’ ________. I am just ________ enough to have been a part of their journey and to have been ________ by them,” she said. “They completely changed my educational philosophy and ________ of what it truly means to meet a student where they’re at and ________ that elsewhere.”

Now, Ray will use the prize money to buy instruments—something the school had ________ to do. “We’ve been trying to ________ money all year for new cellos. And now the problem is solved.” She also plans to create an ongoing scholarship for students who want to ________ music when they graduate, in any capacity.

4 . When I had the chance to enter a contest to meet Jane Fonda, I signed up. To my great surprise, I was one of the winners. I thought this was a ______ that my luck was changing. I had always enjoyed Fonda’s ______ and was thrilled to have the chance to ______ her.

Fonda was seventy-five then and looked wonderful ______. She really made me feel special as we discussed one of her films I had recently seen and we ______ for a picture together.

I was thrilled when I received an e-mail the next day. But my ______ turned to embarrassment when I looked at the photo. Fonda looked as extremely good as expected, but I was ______ twice her size. Fonda was thirty years older than me, but she looked better than me, and more youthful, too. Her dedication to ______ had really paid off.

My friend Jon comforted me, saying that anybody would ______ in comparison to a movie star. But that picture made me ______. I couldn’t be as beautiful as Fonda, of course, but at least I could ______ her from her fitness program and start ______.

The next month, I decided to lose weight and get in shape. The way I looked in that photo ______ me to keep on going. I ______ my fitness journey with mall walking and then worked 5 kilometers a day. I began running ______ as I lost weight. My fitness journey led me to lose eighty-five pounds.

5 . In early January 2024, Jimmy struggled through snow and ice to summit the Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest peak.

After decades of traveling and mountaineering, Jimmy could _________ another achievement, a great adventurer, which _________ reaching the highest peak on every continent, and visiting both the North Pole and the South Pole in addition to visiting every country.

Jimmy had _________ spent ten years of his life, between 2007 and 2017, visiting every country in the world. The _________ journey saw him meet with many difficulties and gain achievements as well. But once he’d managed to visit every country in the world, Jimmy went into a _________.

“It had been a huge life goal, over a _________ of my life. However, when I finished that, I was a bit _________,” he said. “I started eating badly, _________ weight and ignoring my own _________.”

Jimmy decided that the best way to ____________ this was to challenge himself again. He began running ultramarathons and climbing mountains, and soon found that with the ____________ and direction, he was back to loving life again. He’s hoping that he doesn’t ____________ bad habits again after completing the latest challenges. For now, Jimmy is putting all his ____________ into helping others to achieve their travel goals.

“From an adventure perspective, what I really want to ____________ to people is just how many benefits they can get from ____________ experiences. All good things come after suffering,” said Jimmy.

6 . I was born with facial differences. My first surgery was when I was 3. That same year, I started _______ lessons when my mom signed me up to learn ballet. My mom said, “When you’re on stage, no one _______ your face,” and what I think she _______ was, “When you’re on stage, people can look past your difference and _______ you for who you are.”

I’ve had nine surgeries. I am forever _______ to my family for trying to give me every chance at a “normal” life. _______, what I would have really wanted was for that ”normal“ life to be a result of a culture where typical _______ weren’t a requirement for full participation in society.

It’s a daily experience for people with facial differences to get _______ questions like, “What happened to your face?”— that’s very _______, which I think is so messed up. I see ________ a lot when strangers are asking these questions.

I want people to examine their deeply held beliefs about what they ________ is beautiful and worthy of adoration and ask why? Why do we devalue people based only on what they ________?

The next time you see someone with a(n) ________, take a moment before asking annoying questions. You can help reduce your bias (偏见) by just ________ a person’s humanity — not through a lens (镜头) of pity, but by recognizing them as someone who is probably more ________ than different from yourself.

7 . Dreaming of photographing the world’s beauty, I wrote a travel wish list and hung it on my wall, not expecting to actually go anywhere. However, a local photo contest gave me a _________. I chose the Grand Canyon, one of my bucket list places to visit, since I got my first camera.

The journey was _________, with unique touches like aspen trees towering and lizards (蜥蜴)rushing about. After a day’s _________, I decided to have a good rest and start fresh the next day for the mission to _________ the Canyon’s grandeur.

The next morning, I woke up early to capture (拍摄) the _________. Reaching the overlook, I found an elderly man alone on a bench. After exchanging _________, he noticed my camera and _________if I’d captured any favorites. I _________ shared a couple of photos, not anticipating any further conversation that followed. He _________, revealing that he and his late wife, Betty, visited the Grand Canyon annually for their anniversary. Her __________the previous year marked his first return without her and he spent each sunrise reflecting on their treasured __________. His heartfelt tales __________ me deeply, as I, too, had experienced a recent loss, making the moment __________.

Returning home with numerous photos, I __________the best from my adventures for the contest. This journey taught me the value of chasing dreams, embracing challenges, and __________with others through shared moments, making it a truly enriching experience.

8 . My wife and I parked by a rough path the same time as a young man covered in tattoos (纹身). I ______ he was unfriendly，so we tried to ______ ourselves from him. But he struggled hard to ______ and wanted to talk some. We slowed down. He said he was recovering from a bad time in his life. We ______ left him in the dust，heading up the river.

Hours later we turned back ______ a flash flood had taken out the bridge. There he was again, following to ______ us. He shared a little more of his ______. He lost his mother and sister in a car accident and he was permanently ______ too. We slowed down to the pace he could ______ for the whole way back.

He continued, “During much surgery and ______ I came to hate life...” Then he pulled up his shirt to show us a ______ life size tattoo from neck to waist. It was two ladies in a ______ light waving to him. “This is my mom and this is my sister,” he pointed, “They told me to stop hating everything. They loved me just as they always had and ______ me to live in love too!” He explained the brightly colored tattoo was the exact dream he had that day.

My ______ went away. It had painted a wrong picture of this wonderful person with a beautiful ______ . I learned more than he hoped to tell.

9 . William Gwyn Thomas, who used to be a dairy farmer in Lampeter, Ceredigion, has been cleaning trains at Carmarthen station for 25 years.

Gwyn is still working with a team as ________as ever to clean anywhere between 18 and 26 carriages at night and is proud of what he does. “I didn’t expect I’d still be ________ at 80,” said Gwyn. “But I really love it, and I’ll   _____when I feel I can’t do it.”

Gwyn joined the train cleaning team in the late 1990s. He _______ his long working life to “eating well, not drinking anything ________ than a beer and cutting down on smoking”.

Working from 7:30 pm to 2:30 am, Gwyn and his team clean each ________ from top to bottom, including the cabs (驾驶室), toilets, tables and floors.

The worst ________ tend to be Saturdays, when Transport for Wales (TW) said the toilets can be “________”, but Gwyn said he takes it all in his stride (泰然处之).

“It’s annoying but there’s no point ________ it because that’s the job and we just have to _______ it,” he said. “Someone has to get it looking nice for ________ again.”

TfW’s cleaning manager Wendy Jones described passionately Gwyn as “part of the ________ of Carmarthen station”.

Wishing him a happy 80th birthday, he _______, “The standard of work Gwyn puts in night after night is a(n) ______ example to us all on how to show _______ in your work.”

10 . A self-taught painter in Chongqing, who spent four years creating 100 illustrations of 100 cities in China, has attracted a lot of attention online.

Pu Zhen, who was born in Chongqing in 1993, ________ in animation design at college. He started teaching himself painting nine years ago. “The most difficult part is to ________ my own painting style through ________ practice,” he said.

In 2018, ________ by an old notebook he had filled with the names of Chinese cities, he ________ the idea of doing a unique illustration for each. “I just ________ my inspiration in creating the city series. Each illustration ________ a city’s typical features,” he said.

The creative ________ of the main elements of each city are ________. Some are mountains, rivers, and iconic (标志性的) buildings, and some are cultural legends. However, they all have the moon as a common image.

“The biggest ________ is myself,” said Pu, adding that during the time-consuming ________, he had to overcome loneliness and inner conflicts. “But I do feel ________ that my works are acknowledged by many fans online. Traditional Chinese city ________ are always worth passing on.”

Not only are Pu’s paintings well ________ online, but the netizens are eager to appreciate more. ________, everyone wants to see their hometowns painted by Pu Zhen. In the future, Pu plans to travel around the country and create illustrations for more cities.