1 . When I was a teenager, I was invited to a formal dance party. I was _________, but also nervous about what to wear. Mom suggested I wear high heels (高跟鞋).

“Mom, I don’t know if I can wear these,” I said, feeling _________ . Don’t worry, sweetie, Just take small _________ and keep your weight centered,” she suggested.

As I arrived at the party, I tried to be _________ and act like everything was fine. But _________ struck when I stepped onto the dance floor. I _________ my own feet, falling to the ground in front of everyone.

I quickly got up and laughed it off, pretending like it was _________ . But deep down, I felt like a tomato, wanting to _________ .

My friend Lilly helped me _________ that incident and managed me another high heels as a support so that nobody would understand my hesitation. But a little bit __________ continued in my mind.

When I returned home, I told Mom I felt like a complete __________ at the party. “It’s okay. You tried something new, and it didn’t go as __________ . But that’s how we learn and grow. don’t be too __________ on yourself and wear what you feel __________ in,” Mom said, giving me a hug.

From that day forward, I stuck to flat shoes. I learned to __________ my true self and not worry about what others thought.

2 . One day, a girl came upon a cocoon, and she could tell that a butterfly was trying to ______. She waited and watched the butterfly struggle for hours to ______ itself from the tiny hole. ______, the butterfly stopped moving, it seemed to be ______. The girl then decided to help get the butterfly out and with a pair of scissors cut open the cocoon. The butterfly was then ______ able to escape. However, its body was swollen and its wings were ______.

The girl still thought she had done the butterfly a ______ as she sat there waiting for its wings to grow in order to protect its body. That wasn’t happening. The butterfly was unable to fly, and for the rest of its life, it could only move by crawling around with little wings and a ______ body. Despite the girl’s good intentions, she didn’t understand that the ______ of the butterfly’s cocoon and the struggle the butterfly had to ______ in order to escape served an important purpose. As butterflies ______ from tight cocoons and stretch wings out, it forces liquid from their body into their wings to prepare them to be able to fly.

The ______ that we face in life help us grow and get stronger. There is often a reason behind the requirement of being ______ and persistent. When bearing difficult times, we will develop the necessary ______ that we’ll need in the future. Without having any struggles, we won’t grow, which means it’s very important to ______ personal challenges ourselves rather than relying on other people to always help us.

3 . Many people are too scared to do anything when things go wrong, but others know how to take action. For a _______ group of students in Topsham, Maine, brothers Connor and Seamus Collins fall into the second type. Sixteen-year-old Connor and 12-year-old Seamus were _______ the bus to school one morning when suddenly Connor saw their bus driver Arthur McDougall _______ a heart attack and hit the floor heavily. The bus was _______ the river on the right. Connor who learnt how to drive _______ immediately what he had to do.

“I _______ and pressed on the brake (刹车) and told my little brother to call 911,” he said, thinking back the process at the moment. “I held the steering wheel (方向盘) while putting my_______ onto the brake, stopping this bus before it went into the river.”

Meanwhile, Seamus made sure someone called instead of him and began to _______ the other students to get off the bus ________. All the while, he kept his cool and even stopped to hug a crying student and ________ him.

While Seamus was busy with the other kids, Connor and another student ________ giving Arthur CPR (心脏复苏术). Luckily, when the police arrived on the scene, they ________ to get the driver’s heart going again. Immediately, he was ________ to the hospital.

The brothers are being praised for their brave ________. “They helped keep the situation under ________ and prevented anyone else getting hurt,” said police Gomez. “Thank them for stepping up and being heroes.”

4 . Math was my worst subject. I was so _______ when my math teacher called me to the blackboard to do a long division (除法) problem, since I often put the _______ in the wrong places or forgot to add in the zeros.

As I _______ the blackboard, I looked at the golden-haired girl next to me, trying to _______ what she was writing. Although I tried my best, she went faster than I could understand. Why couldn’t I understand this even when I tried to _______ it? Why? Why?

I _______ back salty tears and wrote some numbers randomly (随便地) on the board. The teacher read over our answers silently.

“Now, class, Susie did this problem absolutely correctly.”

“As for Tara,” the teacher said, _______ her eyes, “I don’t _______ know what she did.”

The class burst into _______, and I felt my face turned red, hoping to ________ them from seeing me at all. However, after class, my teacher wrote me a note, ________, “No one will truly make a difference to you, unless you ________ yourself to succeed.”

This ________ from middle school is the most impressive to me. The experience made me feel stronger, and gave me ________. When I get a bad grade in school, I think of that moment, which gives me the willingness to ________ all of those whys that I asked myself, and continue until perfection, or as close as I can get.

7 . Last year, I started the journey of being a remote product designer. The thought of a ________ schedule, a comfortable home office, and the escape from the crowded public transport was incredibly ________. The first few weeks were filled with a long-lost feeling of ________.

However, the ________ of working from home gradually set in. I had started my day with the best intentions, promising myself quick breaks and regular ________. But deadlines, endless emails, and virtual meetings ________ me to my computer throughout the day, leaving me little time to ________. Gone were the short walks to a colleague’s desk and the quick lunchtime walks around the office complex. Finally, my world was ________ to the walls of my home, my steps ________ in mere meters rather than kilometers.

One day, I tried ________ one of my favorite dresses and it wasn’t passing through my waist at all. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I saw a ________ person carrying extra weight, rather than someone enjoying freedom. The ________ of work and personal life had left me feeling like I was a never ending motion machine.

This incident marked the ________ of a journey of self-discovery. I made up my mind that I needed a(n) ________ not just for my waistline but for my overall well-being. It was a promise to prioritize my physical and mental health, and a commitment that I could ________ control over my life and my body.