1 . One evening, a man was injured in an accident and rushed to a hospital. Already in shock, he was found with multiple injuries, _________ a critical head injury. Immediate _________ was needed to stop the life-threatening situation.

At 9:00 pm, the operation started and was supposed to be _________ in about two hours. When the doctors were about to sew up the patient’s head at about 10:30 pm, a (n) _________ thing happened.

The nurse watching the monitor sensed the _________ first and called out, “An earthquake.” Yet, the doctors were too _________ to notice the situation. After the nurse _________, the doctors finally lifted their heads and noticed the danger.

Everything in the operation room was _________. Yet, if the operation was stopped and the patient’s head was left _________ , his life would be endangered.

“Calm down! Calm down!” the medical staff __________ each other. At the same time, after__________ all related equipment, they decided to continue. However, it was getting worse as the operation proceeded, and the nurses had to hold the operation table tightly to __________ it. By virtue of the team’s __________ and excellent professional skills, they completed the high-risk operation __________ before a worse condition may happen. The patient recovered well later.

Many people are __________ by the great love and selflessness of the angels in white and show thumbs-up for them.

5 . Walking by Mr. Groll’s yard is the worst part of our morning walk—the unfriendly shape nearby that shades us: Mr. Groll.

“Hello, Mr. Groll.” I _________ him as I do every morning. And he never answers me. But I know he’s there, watching, behind his fence. Why does he _________ me? It’s a mystery (迷). Maybe he’s afraid of me because I’m blind. _________ scare grown-ups sometimes. Then I _________ hearing him playing with my friend Jimmy, who’s in a wheelchair. Maybe Mr. Groll does not like Vietnamese _________. No. Every Saturday Mr. Groll and my big brother, Lien, help each other with yard work.

Me and Chó! An idea _________ my mystery. Maybe I do know why Mr. Groll doesn’t talk to me! So, I attach Chó to a post, and I _________ my way along the fence.

“Mai! Be _________!” Mr. Groll’s loud voice steadies my _________ while his hand steadies my elbow (肘部).

“You solve my mystery. It isn’t because I’m blind that you don’t like me. Or because I am a Vietnamese.” I ________. “It’s Chó who scares.”

He __________ his large voice. “I like you, Mai. And Chó, too. But up close, Chó scares my ________ away,” he says.

I tell him, “Your fear of Chó may be big, but __________ is bigger. We will help. Come with me.” I hear a smile in Mr. Groll’s voice. “OK,” he says, “I __________ you, my friend.”

Then I take Mr. Groll’s hand in mine and guide it to Chó’s head. __________, Mr. Groll pets Chó’s ears. Friendly Chó—good Chó—swings her tail. Our new friendship begins.

6 . I was sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for my annual check-up. The doctor threw in a(n) ________ that took me off guard.

“So Robin, what are you going to do after high school? Why don’t you go to college to become a(n) ________ like me?” he asked while writing on the file.

Go to college to become a doctor? Who was this man kidding? I thought he was ________ for even suggesting it. My grades were ________ and I wasn’t college material. Embarrassed by his question, I ________ to the doctor, “I’m not ________ enough to be a doctor.”

The doctor immediately looked at me straight in the eyes when he said very ________, “You don’t have to be clever to be a doctor. You just have to be persistent (坚持不懈的).”

Even though I wasn’t college material, what the doctor said ________ me. Three years later, I ________ to a college close to my home and soon found myself walking the campus as a new student.

I began ________ anything that seemed frightening. I put all my energy toward passing the assignments one by one. I ________ that when I was persistent, I could ________ things I never believed possible.

I graduated with a master’s degree in September 2023, two decades after that ________ with my doctor. I ________ I could shake his hand and tell him “thank you”. Sometimes even the smallest moments in time can have a life-changing ________.

7 . I grew up in such a family: My father was Italian, and my mother was Greek. This family _______ allowed me to learn to speak both languages with _______ . Besides speaking their native tongues, my parents often _______ in French at our dinner table; therefore, I also learned a third language. In order to further explore my gift for languages, I started to _______ French at university.

There’re many benefits of _______ different languages: It raises my cultural awareness, and broadens my horizons. Being a multicultural _______ also helps me understand and _______ with people from different parts of the world.

One day, a Middle Eastern man served me when I visited a shop. To be frank, he was _______ ignorant about responding to my questions and solving my problem. I walked away from the shop feeling _______ because he kept avoiding eye contact for 20 minutes. Later, when I recounted the ________ to my friend, he reminded me of a(n) ________ cultural truth of some Middle Eastern countries that I had ________. The cultural insight is that males and females in the Middle East are taught to ________ their eyes or avoid long eye contact with each other. This practice is a sign of propriety (得体), which can be ________ as rudeness by anyone unfamiliar with the culture.

My multiculturalism ________ me to realize that something as simple as the lack of eye contact can be a potential source of misunderstanding.

8 . The summer after my freshman year college, I had to get my first job. This was probably one of the _________ tasks I have ever had to do. I had never held a job when I was in high school because my parents wanted me to put all my _________ into my studies.

At first, it was very hard. I filled out dozens of _________ but got no calls back in the first two weeks. It made sense because I had _________ no job experience. All I could _________ was that being a high school graduate and a year of college.

However, halfway through the third week, I finally got a call back from one of the places I _________. We had set up a meeting time, and after my _________, I was more than ready to start working the following Monday. I was _________ at the chance of working for my wages.

When I started, it was very clear that I was not _________. I made mistakes with orders and often __________ sales promotions (推销). My parents made a bet I would not __________ the first two weeks, and I would be back looking for more __________. However, I stuck with it.

After working a while, I got better at orders, and always __________ the cheaper options for customers. A couple of weeks later, I had been told by the manager that I had __________ the award of the best employee of the month. It taught me a lot about responsibility and gave me the __________ of working.

9 . The teacher asked, “Is everybody ready?” I _________ wasn’t ready. It was the early 1980’s. I was in my high school typing _________ and totally confused.

I had taken it as a (n) _________ course because taking French or Spanish language seemed too difficult. _________, I wished I hadn’t chosen it. I was on _________—my fingers were shaking and my heart was beating wildly. I had thought we would just be learning to touch type (盲打), not be tested on speed and accuracy. Besides, I was the only freshman in the class, and the other students were _________ to me. My young body felt too nervous to be typing so quickly and _________.

The teacher said, “Hands on home keys. Eyes on books. Ready, type!” Suddenly, the room was alive with 30 electric typewriters’ keys _________ on. I tried my best to _________, but it was obvious that being a secretary wasn’t in my future. While I didn’t __________ many errors, my typing speed was horribly slow. And I knew I wasn’t going to get a good __________ on this test. I really __________ taking this class and wished I could be learning French instead.

Now years later, I’m a novelist. I’m so happy that I took that class and learned how to type. It has helped me write countless __________ flowing through my mind and into my __________ through keyboards. It has helped me to write e-mails full of kindness to __________ with friends and family. It has helped me to do what I should do and share what I was meant to share in life.

10 . I think I lived rather sustainably last year. I composted (堆肥) fruit and vegetable scraps, ________ my own clothes and even grew food on my balcony. I grasped every chance to make ________ in my lifestyle.

I became accustomed to getting up early, which I think came with various ________. I devoted the morning hours to breathing in the flesh air. I kept my evenings ________ to meet friends, read, or connect with family, and slowly get myself ________ to rest as dusk approaches.

The biggest ________ for me was to take a walk wholeheartedly. Having spent much time staying indoors, I wanted to take a ________ kind of exercise where I could enjoy the natural scenery, rather than an intense one. Walking not only ________ me to the beautiful creatures that lived among us, but helped me to ________ my own life.

I found out how much organic waste even a small household could ________. It is reported that U. S. households waste approximately one-third of food they buy, ________ $ 240 billion per year. Although I got my composting into place, I needed to find a ________ for the plastic waste from deliveries and takeaways. ________, I was offered a door-to-door recycling service that visited every two weeks and ________ the waste.

While I’ve always been getting clothes made by the family ________, this stopped during the pandemic. Last year, as the traveling exhibitions which ________ artisans and help them sell their products came back to the city, I bought some ________ which was made into fashionable sets and dresses. I also ________ an old block-printed dress into a jumpsuit.

Thanks to my ________, I found my life was eased back into a healthy one. I’ll stick to my ________ lifestyle from now on.