2 . Jim owned a store. A customer once asked him how he managed to stay ________ all the time. His answer was, “When I wake up in the morning, I know that the day will have good and bad ________ for me, but whatever happens, I’m going to choose to be in a good ________.”

Then one day, something ________ happened. Jim was about to leave the store when an armed robber came in, held him up at gunpoint, and made him open the ________. As he was trying to open it, Jim’s hand ________. The robber saw this and probably thought, “He’s about to attack me!” The robber ________ and fired his gun.

Jim was rushed to the hospital. In the ambulance, he felt ________ because the paramedic (医务辅助人员) kept telling him, “I’m sure you’ll be OK.”

But when Jim was in the operating room and he saw the faces of the doctors and nurses, he got the feeling that they thought he was ________ dead. He knew he needed to do something to change their ________.

There was a ________ who was asking him lots of questions, very fast. One question was, “Are you ________ to anything?” “Yes!” Jim said loudly and everybody stopped what they were doing. There was total ________. “Bullets!” Jim said, and all the doctors and nurses burst out ________. And then Jim added, “Please operate on me thinking that I’ll live, and not that I’ll die.”

Jim survived, thanks to the skill of the doctors and nurses. But what also helped was that he managed to remain an optimist even in the most ________ moment of his life.

3 . Not long ago I saw the following headline: “Anti-homework trend goes global.”

Anti-homework? Where was this trend when I was in school? And if I tried to “forget” that English ________ or history report, my dad was there to ________ me: “Don’t you have homework to do?” In short, my teachers and my parents put great ________ on the significance of homework.

No longer. From what I have read, there are powerful parental forces ________ to make homework a thing of the past. The reasoning: It stresses children and it ________ “precious family time.” As a teacher, one of the problems I often encounter is that students ________ far too little importance to their studies.

When I was a kid, homework ________ created precious family time. I still remember, after supper, clearing the table and ________ the dishes with my schoolbooks. And then my parents would sit down with me and, to the best of their ________ , help me when and where they could.

I’ve often thought that the homework problem could be ________ if one thought of homework in terms of learning to play a musical instrument. For me, this was the clarinet (单簧管), which I began learning at age 9. “Practice an hour a day,” was Mr. Markiewicz’s no-nonsense ________ .

Because my ________ was strong, I did practice an hour a day, and I made great progress. And so let’s get rid of homework, but only the word “homework,” and replace it with “________ ”. As a teacher, it’s all I ask: that my students listen ________ in class and then go home to practice, so that when they return to me to show how much they understand, I — and their parents — can be proud of them.

What could be ________ than that?

4 . I Wish You Enough

At an airport I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. Her plane’s _________ had been announced and standing near the door, he said to his daughter, “I love you, I wish you enough.” “I wish you enough, too, Daddy,” she said. They kissed good-bye and she left.

I tried not to intrude on (侵犯) his privacy, but he _________ me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be _________?” “Yes, I have,” I replied. Saying that _________ memories I had of expressing my love and _________ for all my Dad had done for me.

Recognizing that his days were _________, I took the time to tell him how much he _________ to me._________ I knew what this man was experiencing.

“_________ me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?” I asked. “I am old and the __________ is, her next trip back will be for my funeral (葬礼),” he said. “When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?” “That’s a wish that has been handed down from our generations.” He paused for a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it __________. “When we said ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with enough good things to __________ them. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life __________ much bigger. I wish enough “Hellos” to get you through the __________ “Good-bye”.

He then began to __________ and walked away.

5 . It was December 2022. I was finishing up my Ph. D. in the United Kingdom, and a professor I admired invited me to interview for a position in his lab in Japan. The interview went well. I was sure everything would go _________ in 2023.

Then, in April, my mother told me about some strange symptoms she was _________. “Have you submitted your thesis (毕业论文) yet?” she asked me. “Almost, Mom,” I said. She seemed to be _________. But I was buried in finishing my experiments, so I brushed away my _________. A week later, the doctors had an update: It was lung cancer. During the next 2 months, I was _________ between my research and my family as I prepared for my defense, _________ for mid-July. My Ph. D. supervisor (导师) encouraged me to take all the time I needed to be with my mom, but my _________ always pulled me back to the lab. In the meantime, cancer had spread throughout my mother’s body.

Yet my scientific _________ still occupied me. I was set to attend a conference in New Zealand in early July. But on my way to the _________, I got the news that my mother had 1 or 2 years left. So I flew back to Madrid instead. I __________ my Ph. D. defense. Meanwhile—in just 3 weeks—the rest of my mother’s life was changed to 1 year, then months, weeks, days. Cancer __________ my mother at the end of July. I am always __________ for losing precious time with my mother. I had never slowed down before, knowing what it takes to secure an academic __________. Losing my mother put things into perspective for me. I saw the humane side of science in the __________ and flexibility offered by my Ph. D. supervisor. And the work I missed felt __________. I defended my thesis in September and moved to Tokyo later.

Please, take my advice: If your loved ones need you now, be there for them.

7 . Have you ever felt the need to grab a pen and start writing your thoughts on paper? Words — beautiful and fascinating. But you know what is better than putting your imagination somewhere? In my case, to win the competition for the best novelist.

That was a small tournament organized by my school annually to _________ our creative writing and vivid imagination. Since I had a burning passion for _________, I decided to show my power. I thought no one could _________ me.

I finished a long story and e-mailed it. As I _________ the email every day, my eyes were wandering to _________ the line “Congratulations! It is a great pleasure to inform you that…” _________, no such thing came.

I was not accepted. I _________ my abilities. The next day at school, I tried my best to be _________, avoiding the usual contact. But in the corridor, I _________ Stacy Williams, my school rival. Could she be the __________? I started walking sneakily. In class, I was just looking out of the window at the __________ clouds which were a reflection of my soul.

Thankfully, a film that night — Forrest Gump lifted my __________. I wouldn’t let a stupid competition __________ my future. I could win on the next one or even at a better tournament. The important thing was to __________ my head and face my challenges without losing hope when everything seemed __________.

8 . At the age of 41, I still stutter (口吃). I am fine with it now but that wasn’t always the _________. It wasn’t too difficult for the first couple of years of school. In fact, I don’t recall being _________ at all, though there was a great deal of curiosity about my _________ speech.

A few years later, I began to dislike being different. I felt that I _________ for all the wrong reasons. Just _________the pain of not even being able to say your own name, I would often give _________ names when meeting new people, because it was easier. It was _________ for me to be Jason or Mike, Chris or Kevin or just whatever sounds I was confident I could make at that particular moment.

Sometime in eighth grade, my _________ changed. I turned what I’d always thought of as a negative into a positive. I finally _________ that difference and ran with it. __________ waiting in fear for the teacher to __________ my name, I raised my hand when I knew the answer to a question. I always volunteered to read and even used oral presentations as an opportunity to show my comedic talents. I went from a stuttering kid who seldom spoke a word to a stuttering man who now speaks for a (n) __________. Self-acceptance continues to be essential in the success I’ve experienced as a speaker, comedian, writer and soldier. My only __________ is that it didn’t happen sooner.

It’s never easy to be a kid. It’s especially __________ when you’re different, but it doesn’t have to be. The time to accept your __________ is now.